How to recognize the best quality meat - tips for the best piece

Lena Goldecke
10. Oct 2022
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Meat is still part of the regular menu for the vast majority of people. Whether it is a Sunday roast, according to the old recipe of grandmother, or the extended barbecue with friends in the garden. Nowhere can the good pieces of juicy meat be missing. But with the not at all so rare meat scandals, which there were increased in the last years, the consumers pay attention increasingly to the good quality of the products. No one wants to risk having rotten meat on their plate anymore. But recognizing good and, above all, quality meat is not that difficult. With just a few small tips, it's easy to recognize the best of the best.

Where to buy

At the latest since Lockdown and Co., online grocery shopping has become all the rage. And so you can even buy meat on account. Here, high-quality meat is offered by a wide variety of online suppliers. Especially here, attention is paid to the very highest meat quality. The ordered products arrive 100% fresh at home from sustainable productions. These are not the products from the supermarket chain, where most of the scandals were to be found. The advantage of buying on account is that you get the meat delivered and only have to pay for it when everything is really right. It is worth looking here, maybe even the favorite meat producer chosen by yourself delivers via an online store.

Meat quality

In the vast majority of cases, bacteria are the reason for bad meat. These bacteria then cause the meat to change unpleasantly on the outside and also in terms of smell. But it is not always easy to recognize bad meat. And there are also big differences from meat type to meat type. But in general, it can be said that high-quality meat can be recognized immediately by the following characteristics: 

  • Smell: This is fresh and leaves no doubt about the freshness.
  • Appearance: Each piece of meat has its own unique fresh meat color. Beef, for example, should be dark red at best, pork, on the other hand, tends to be pale pink, and poultry meat can be recognized by its pale pink color.
  • Texture: Fresh meat has a smooth and, above all, dry surface.
  • Taste: Spoiled meat tastes the same. As soon as you have the slightest doubt about the freshness when tasting, you should not continue eating.

Meat differences

Beef: As soon as a greasy surface appears on beef, it can be assumed that it is infested with bacteria. The fibers of beef are firm. Also, the structure of the fib ers is associated with the age of the beef and its rearing. If you like tender meat, you should pay attention to finer fibers. High-quality beef also has a uniform marbling and is thus evenly interspersed with fat deposits. These deposits also characterize the flavor of the meat. Beef must hang out during production in order to be edible at all. This is due to the firm consistency that only beef has.
Pork: Pork is somewhat more sensitive, which is why the quality of the meat here depends particularly on the husbandry and transport to the slaughterhouse. Stressed animals exhibit the extremely unpopular PSA meat (Pale: pale/Soft: soft/Exudative: watery) at slaughter. It also produces more water than usual during preparation. Unfortunately, this then makes it very tough and dry. Pigs that come from a demonstrably good husbandry have a much tastier meat.

Poultry meat: This type of meat is particularly known for spoiling very quickly. A high degree of cleanliness is required when preparing the meat, as the formation of pathogenic salmonella can occur very quickly here. If all hygienic precautions have been observed, then the poultry meat is especially popular for its own and delicate taste. It is particularly worthwhile to purchase poultry meat from nearby rearing farms.

If you pay attention to the good quality of your meat from the very beginning and know where you get your products from, you can enjoy your dishes with meat without any worries. The traders know that they can only score points with a demonstrably good production and have long since increased the quality points here. This also speaks for a demonstrably better animal husbandry.