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The United States Department of Agriculture, known as the USDA, inspects and grades meats based on nationally uniform Federal standards of excellence. These standards are applied by USDA graders, who then are monitored by supervisors who travel throughout the United States to make sure that all graders are applying the standards in a uniform manner. A cut of meat with USDA approval must meet the same grade criteria no matter where or when you buy it. Each USDA beef grade is a measure of quality. There are eight USDA grades, Prime, Choice, Select, Standard, Commercial, Utility, Cutter and Canner.

Prime, the highest grade of meat, is of course the most expensive. Prime grade beef is supreme in tenderness, juiciness and taste. It is rich with marbling — flecks of fat within the lean — which enhances both flavor and juiciness. Prime roasts and steaks are unexcelled for dry-heat cooking such as roasting and broiling.

Choice grade beef has less marbling than Prime, but is of very high quality. It is easier to find at your local market and is a little easier on your wallet. Choice roasts and steaks from the loin and rib will be very tender, juicy and flavorful and are suited to dry-heat cooking. Many of the less tender cuts, such as those from the rump, round and blade chuck, can also be cooked with dry heat.

Select grade beef, sometimes known as Good grade, is very uniform in quality and somewhat leaner than the higher grades. It is fairly tender, but because it has less marbling, it may lack some of the juiciness and flavor of the higher grades. Only the tender cuts should be cooked with dry heat. Other cuts should be marinated before cooking or cooked with moisture to obtain maximum tenderness and flavor.

Standard grade beef is from low-quality young animals, with a very thin fat covering and virtually no marbling. The youth of the animals gives the grade a bland flavor and tenderness cannot be counted on. Use moist heat cooking methods only.

Commercial and Utility grade beef comes from old animals. Maturity and fat content give these grade good flavor but are tough, even when cooked properly.

Cutter and Canner grades are seldom, if ever, sold in stores but are used instead to make ground beef and other meat items such as frankfurters.

Besides being graded, meats can also be marked with another USDA stamp, the Yield number. The Yield number indicates in increasing proportion from 1 to 5 the amount of excess fat content or waste. The usual yield number available in most stores is Yield 2. When buying meat the smallest percentage of bone and fat make the best buys and the price per pound may go down for bonier cuts with more fat.

The USDA will also inspect meat and label it as Kosher, or “clean” meat. This means the jugular vein has been removed to drain the blood of the animal at the time of slaughter. The Kosher stamp will also guarantee the freshness of the meat, as ritual demands, it needs to be eaten within 72 hours after the slaughter.

Michael Russell

Your Independent guide to Food

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We all have heard about barbecuing, but we are unaware of the real tricks in it. Barbecuing is also a form of art. To a person who is new to this art may get confused, because cooking meat in an open fire is a really tricky method. In order to get a really good and delicious bbq dish, one must have a lot of patience.Barbecuing can be done in two methods: through grilling and smoking. Grilling is the quickest method of cooking meat over a direct source of dry heat, whereas, smoking is a slow process, where the food is kept at a particular distance from the fire. Now let us take the two separately, to know the real processing.

BBQ Grilling

Grilling is of two types: direct and indirect. But before going into the details,let me tell you that there are three varieties of grills: charcoal grill, gas grill and electric grill. Charcoal grills are relatively inexpensive when compared to the other two. Now we’ll go back to the types of cooking. Direct method is a high heat method and is used for cooking relatively small pieces of food. Steaks, chops, chicken breasts,etc are some of the typical foods that can be grilled directly. In indirect method, as the name suggests, the food is kept to the side of the heat source. It is somewhat like baking a cake or such type of foods.Now we will move on to smoking.

BBQ Smoking

Smoking is the finest way to cook food,even though it takes time. If grilling is best for cooking smaller pieces, smoking is best for cooking larger pieces. Roasts, ham, ribs, brisket, etc are some of the foods that can be smoked. One must maintain a steady temperature, to come up with a deliciously smoked food. The normal,suited temperature for smoking is between 200-225 degrees. If you cook the meat until it’s 165 degrees in the middle, it would make the meat more tastier,as the smoke flavour gets deep into it.For basic bbq smoking, you can use the regular grill. The only thing that one must be aware while smoking is, the selection of right type of wood.Because, each wood is different in its own way. So we have to experiment with all sorts of wood to find out which one is the best. Smokers may vary in shapes and sizes.There are smokers running in gas and charcoal.But the heat coming from any type of smoker is a cooler one,which is why it takes a lot of time to smoke.

Now to end with it, barbecuing has to undergo one more process, that’s topping it with sauce.In fact it is the topmost ingredient, which one can’t omit while barbecuing.Types of sauce varies according to the region. If vinegar-base sauce is typical in Southern United States, tomato-base sauce is typical in Western United States. The best time to apply sauce is during the last stage of cooking.ie,when you are sure that the meat is well cooked,because,sugar is one of the main ingredients in barbecue sauces and it tends to burn easily. So you must cook the meat before you burn the sugar.

To know more about bbq sauces, log on to http://www.Insanechicken.com Chris McCarthy,the owner of this website, is a bbq enthusiast.He had started this website,because of his intense love for it. So checkout for more varieties of bbq sauces at Insanechicken.com and experience a different taste of barbecuing.

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An energy sports drink can be very helpful especially for the athletes and enthusiasts who want to try out sports. Most athletes have relied upon energy sports drink to give them extra stamina so that they can practice all day.

People who treat sports as their profession surely force themselves to take energy sports drink so that they can increase their performance and work. Some of these sports player are basketball players who are exposed to lots of warm ups and trainings.

They even spend a whole day and continued practice just to put their body in good condition and master their shooting skills. The runners are also some of the athletes who take energy sports drink. They need speed and endurance and they should not tire off easily because they will lose it.

Running is not a joke because you give off all your strength and rest for a little while and hit the tracks again. However helpful, it has been said that energy sports drink do not give a good effect to the human body. Some people know it but they know that they don’t have a choice but to drink it to give them the power and strength they need.

If you are quite concerned enough, you can try to look at the ingredients and contents of the energy drink. If you are still young, you should not drink energy sports drink because it might not bring a good effect to your body and to your health as well. Most of these athletes can also experience side effects in their body.

Some may not feel it at once but as time goes on and with continued use, probably they will feel it when they grow older. It may even shorten a person’s life or cause sudden death if taken more than the usual. But that is only a probability because there are no proofs that it had brought dangers to a person.

If you are into sports, it is true that you need the energy sports drink. But as long as you can handle the pressure, you can try to bring out the very best in you. If not, choose an energy sports drink which has low caffeine because it is known to men that said ingredient may bring side effects to your body.

Also, as much as possible, do not drink it excessively. Drink it only when you need it to save your body from too much caffeine contamination. If you drink energy sports drink at the desired dosage, it may be helpful to a person’s build up. The only hazard is when a person drinks too much.

Energy sports drink have been known and proven to increase activity of the body, brain activity, performance and endurance. This will make a person finish a long day’s activity without wearing easily. If you have kids, make sure that they don’t drink energy sports drink like you do because it will damage their health the most.

These drinks will surely increase your energy but make sure that you know how to handle your body properly to keep you healthy and in shape. Want to start the day and end the day right? Get an energy sports drink and warm your body up.

This content is provided by Low Jeremy and may be used only in its entirety with all links included. For more info on Energy Drinks, please visit http://energy-drink.articlekeep.com

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