May month of learning

One of my resolutions for 2010 was to learn something a subject, something new, each month. I've been wondering what to study this month and decided to learn about different cuts of beef. I had wanted to do this in the beginning of the year as I searched for a cut of meat to roast in my crock pot, but alas, I didn't get to it.

First I started with the internet. When using the word "first" in a paragraph this usually signals to the reader that there will definitely be a "second" and, in all likelihood, a "third". I'm letting you know ahead of time that I stopped after "first". This tends to happen when using the internet for guidance.

The first website I checked into was thenibble.com and it gave me this picture of a cow. A picture of a cow with sections portioned off that would help me better understand what part of the cow I was chowing down on. As I looked over the animal and read that my roasts were coming most likely from the end of the cow I started thinking maybe knowing all of this wasn't so necessary. The poor cow just stands there in black silhouette letting me scroll over it's parts, and instead of thinking, "yummy" I was thinking, "uh, yuck".

The second website, seekingsources.com, promised to help me better understand different cuts of meat and it started my education with, "beef is muscle tissue" and continued with, "frequently used muscles are tougher and generally require long, slow, moist heat cooking methods to loosen their connective tissue". As I scrolled down reading all about the different cuts, there was the picture of the portioned cow again, only this time he had a FACE.

All I could picture from then on was my favorite, filet mignon, in the short loin portion of the cow. Right where you would pat it if you were standing next to it. Nice cow. Aren't you a pretty thing? Pat, pat, pat. Ah, feel that filet.

Eating a chicken leg is bad enough what with all the veins and blood red stringy parts pulling loose from the meat. Add this picture of the cow...now in my head...

Tomorrow I'm moving on to another subject. One without pictures.