Naked Science Forum
General Science => General Science => Topic started by: @bunnybacon on 05/11/2010 13:30:02
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@bunnybacon asked the Naked Scientists:
Is there any scientific way to tell if meat tastes good? Do unfit people taste better, worse or the same as fit ones?
What do you think?
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Some gourmets would tell you that the conditions that a veal calf are kept in massively affect the taste of the meat. I think a calf kept in a tragically small crate, unnaturally fed, and unable to move will, in general, be less fit than a calf in a field with its mother; yet it is widely held belief that the former tastes better.
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In my experience, veal tastes like cardboard.
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No science can develop a mechanical way of testing the taste of meat.
Bacteria count, chemical testing, visual presentation comparison, but for taste it is a good ole cooking skill that can not be taught. It is acquired through pratice.
Some can tell you how ripe the meat is in its curring stage, where the meat originated, etc...
If meat taste like cardboard, you should take it out of the frozen TV dinner box before microwaving, sometime that won't help either... just kidding Bored Chemist.
Good breaded veal cutlets, have a pale pink color because the calf was milk feed that is prime meat, Italian seasoned and fried can not be beat. The Butcher should have cut the fillet across the meat grain to assure tenderness.
Veal is so expensive, any farmer that wants to stay in business will not want to screw around with the feed. Inspectors will ride them for ever if they mess up once and it that slips up the customers will not come back.
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In my experience, veal tastes like cardboard.
You may be right BC, but what I would like to know is, how do you know? Have you been scoffing cardboard boxes for some weird and wonderful reason? There may be more nutrition in some cardboard boxes than the tasteless mechanically recovered bilge contained within them.
As to the question, 'Is there any scientific way to tell if meat tastes good?' No, I can't see that there could possibly be any scientific procedure which could establish a quality of taste, since you would need to set a standard by which to make a comparison. Such a standard is possible in terms of nutritional value, but not in taste, since that is a matter of personal..... erm, well, taste! My taste, your taste, and obviously BC's taste, may all differ. Who is to say which should be set as the 'standard'?