Meat and spices - 1

Regardless of what you will use to prepare a particular product – beef, pork, lamb, poultry, general factors affect the quality. These are the breed and features of the content, the slaughter technology and the method of cutting, the observance of the technology of cooling and ripening of meat.
“Farmed” or household meats tend to taste better. “Commercial” is mainly produced in large complexes, it can be paler and more watery. The price difference can be significant, as can the taste of the finished product. Of course, freshness, the presence of veterinary control, good organoleptic characteristics are a must in any case. You should not purchase ready-made minced meat and finely chopped pieces for making dry-cured sausages. It is difficult to control the quality of meat in this form.
The characteristics of different types of meat, in addition to taste, are associated with the nature of the fat, the presence of sinewy parts, which makes some cuts more suitable for sausages, others for cooking as a whole. This must be understood when planning purchases for cooking, for example, sausages according to traditional recipes.
The main cut for sausages is usually the shoulder blade. But, when purchasing already cut meat at retail, it is not necessary to use only a shoulder arm roast, as in most recipes. The ham, for example, is not offered in them because, as a rule, it is used whole – for the gammon. The same goes for the brisket, from which the pancetta is made, the pork neck for the coppa. Therefore, the main thing in the choice is to understand the fat content, density of meat, the presence of connective tissues in it and how this will manifest itself in the finished product.