Many talk about meat marbling, but few truly understand its significance. Today, we want to provide you with valuable information to help you distinguish quality meat and better understand what meat marbling is and why it’s important in selecting meats.
Defining Meat Marbling
Meat marbling refers to the distribution of fat within the animal’s muscle tissue. Marbled meat features small, evenly distributed white veins that resemble marble, hence the term “marbled meat.”
The appearance of marbling depends on the health and diet of the animal. For this reason, this characteristic is an important quality indicator in meat selection. The higher the degree of marbling, the more premium the meat.
Meat Marbling as a Quality Indicator
Examining the distribution and quantity of fat in the animal’s muscle tissue allows us to assess the degree of meat marbling. This is a crucial technical parameter because it certifies high quality derived from the healthy growth of the animal and, therefore, an excellent rearing process.
Is marbled meat tougher? Many think so, but this is a misconception. During the cooking process, the finely distributed marbling fat melts, ensuring flavor, fragrance, and tenderness. The result? A tastier and more tender meat.
So, how do you choose excellent quality meat based on marbling? How do you recognize the various classification levels?
According to the Ministry of Agricultural Policies, the fat concentration will be:
- Very scarce, if it is only present within the rib cage;
- Scarce, if visible in the intercostal muscles;
- Moderately important if there are high concentrations of fat inside the rib cage and intercostal muscles;
- Abundant if prominent fat veins are visible inside the thigh and intercostal muscles;
- Very abundant in case of prominent fat everywhere or in a thigh entirely covered where the fat forms small and diffused contours resembling parsley leaves.
The perfect marbling of meat, which identifies excellent quality meats, is classified as abundant or very abundant. These types of marbling characterize the most famous premium meats such as Angus, Wagyu, Pata Negra Iberico, or our own Marango, whose free-range breeding and special diet contribute to developing the perfect degree of fat infiltration into the muscle fibers and, therefore, marbling.
Unlock the secret to exceptional flavor and tenderness – choose marbled meats.
