If you’re not a dab hand in the kitchen, then learning how to cook meat can seem an overwhelming task at times.
An inexperienced cook can feel intimidated by a raw leg of lamb or a fresh chicken.
The most important thing to remember is that it is actually quite difficult to cook meat badly if you remember the rules!
It is always best to cook slowly in the oven and some meats can take quite a few hours to cook so it usually pays to plan ahead!
A good meat tin and a selection of herbs both fresh and dried will be your best assets when you first begin to cook meat for your family, friends or simply for yourself to enjoy.
Beginning with a roast chicken which is one of the most popular meat dishes to cook, we will discuss how best to make sure that your chicken is tender and juicy without being raw inside! Undercooked chicken is very dangerous and can lead to severe stomach upsets.
First things first, turn on your oven to pre-heat then unpack your chicken and place it on a rack within a baking tin. This is to ensure that the chicken does not sit in its own juices and turn out soggy instead of crispy! Nobody likes soggy chicken and many people love crispy skin!
Remember that when you cook meat, it is important to avoid touching other surfaces when your hands have been in contact with the uncooked meat. This will help to minimize cross contamination.
Once your chicken is on its rack then it is time to begin preparing it for the oven.
As long as it has had its giblets removed then you are almost ready to go. Most chickens today are oven-ready and need no further preparation other than some butter or oil rubbing on their skin and a little salt rubbed in after that.
If you want to get fancy then you can score the thighs with a sharp knife to aid cooking. Thighs often take longer to cook through than the rest of the bird and scoring them helps the heat to penetrate.
Place the chicken into a pre-heated oven, gas mark 5, 375 F, (190 C) and roast for twenty minutes per llb for a perfectly cooked chicken.
Learning how to cook meat well is actually closer to an art than to any boring domestic skill. A perfectly cooked leg of lamb for instance is a wonderful thing to behold.
Lamb has a very robust flavour, so it can be cooked without any seasoning and be perfectly delicious. As quite a fatty meat it needs no oil or butter adding to it at all.
Many people love the flavour of rosemary with lamb though and fresh herbs are easy enough to find in the shops these days. To cook meat really well I would always advise fresh herbs as the perfect compliment, although dried will suffice if that is all that is available.
To cook a 2Kg leg of lamb on the bone, preheat your oven to gas mark 6/200C/400F.
Put the meat into the tin and cover it loosely with foil, then cook for 30 minutes. At the end of 30 minutes, remove the foil and return to the oven for another 40 minutes.
So there you have it, learning how to cook meat is not complicated at all! Once you are confident then you can begin to experiment with seasonings and preparation. Remember that your local butcher is your friend and will happily explain different cuts of meat and the best ways to cook them.
Invest in a good stock of herbs and spices and you’re ready to begin wowing your friends and family!
