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LEG A leg of veal has five muscles (top round, bottom round or heel, sirloin tip or knuckle, top sirloin butt, and shank), which can be grilled separately or rolled and tied together. As with beef, the top round is the most tender, but all of the parts are delicious grilled with medium, indirect heat. Because the leg is relatively lean, it benefits from brining or marinating.

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SHOULDER, BREAST, AND SHANK Like a chuck of beef, veal shoulders account for about one-third of the weight of a carcass. They include the clod (main muscle); the blade; the chuck tender, which lies between the shoulder blade and the spine; and the first four ribs. Chops and roasts can be cut from any part of the shoulder, and although all are tender enough to grill, their texture can be improved by marinating or brining.

Veal shanks, especially the cross sections sold as osso buco, can be grilled. They are very flavorful, but decidedly tough. You can tenderize them deliciously by grilling over the lowest possible indirect heat and basting them frequently with an herbed marinade.

The veal breast corresponds to the brisket and plate sections of beef. Although it can be grilled like shanks, it is better left to pot roasting.

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CUTS OF VEAL FOR GRILLING

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1. Store Name

2. Kind of meat

3. Preparation

4. Retail Cut

5. Primal Cut

6. Freshness

7. Weight

8. Pound Price

9. You Pay

The names for a particular cut of meat change by region, culture, and marketing incentives. To help with the confusion, the National Livestock and Meat Board has created a standardized meat label that most supermarkets use. The label tells you the type of meat, its primal cut, its retail cut, how it is trimmed, how fresh it is, its weight, its price per pound, and what you end up paying. For ground meat, it will also include the percentage of lean meat.

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09. Pork

Although the demand for lean meat has changed how all livestock is raised and fattened, the raising of pork has changed the most dramatically. Thirty years ago a full-grown pig typically weighed more than 300 pounds. Now the top weight is closer to 240, which yields a carcass of about 180 pounds and a little more than 100 pounds of edible meat. Today’s pig has less fat (about an inch along the back, compared to several inches in the old days) and larger, leaner muscles.

All of these changes have made lean cuts of pork very similar to chicken in overall fat content, saturated fat, cholesterol, and calories. But this leanness has made cooking pork much more difficult. As we discussed earlier (see pages 46–47), pork is very low in moisture. What made it juicy in the past were abundant deposits of fat dispersed within its lean parts. Now that these are gone, modern pork dries out, with inedible results, if cooked at too high heat or for too long.

Pork can harbor trichina, the parasite responsible for trichinosis. The threat of trichinosis compelled old pork recipes to recommend cooking all pork to 180°F, a temperature at which all of its moisture is long gone. Although at one time trichinosis was a worry, it has been all but eradicated from pork sold commercially today. In 1950, there were 400 recorded cases of trichinosis in the United States. From 1983 to 1989, there were fewer than 30, and most of these were traced to home-grown pigs that were not inspected, or to hunted animals, like wild boar and bear.

Trichinae are killed at 140°F. The National Pork Board advises cooking pork to 160°F, but most chefs (us included) recommend cooking lean, tender cuts like chops, loins, and tenderloins to between 150°F and 155°F (still slightly pink in the center), and fattier large cuts, like shoulders and fresh hams, to between 160°F and 165°F.

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PORK PRIMAL CUTS

1. Shoulder

2. Foreleg

3. Loin

4. Belly

5. Leg

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The cuts of pork are simpler than those of beef or veal. There are only five