Meat, poultry, and seafood offer excellent nutritional benefits. Importantly, a large share of basic daily food allowance (BDFA), or the monetary value required to provide a nutritionally adequate diet for one person for 1 day, is spent on meat, poultry, and seafood. This chapter explains the following topics:

Types of meat procured by the military

Grades of beef, pork, veal, lamb, poultry, and seafood used by the military

Styles of poultry used by the military Meat thawing methods

Meat cooking methods Poultry cooking methods Seafood cooking methods

MEAT

Meat is the flesh of any animal used for food. The word meat as used in the Navy foodservice means beef, veal, pork, lamb, or rabbit. Meat appears on the Navy menu in some form each day. It is the focal point of every meal, dictating what other dishes will be served. Correctly cooked and served meat is the sign of a well-informed and skillful MS.

FORMS OF MEAT

The forms of meat procured by the military are frozen, fabricated, and canned.

Fabricated meats have been either partially or completely boned, trimmed, and portion-cut into slices, steaks, chops, or roasts. Most types of meat procured by Navy messes are fabricated to some extent.

A completely fabricated meat has all bones removed and is cut into portion-sized steaks or roasts. For example, boneless beef is cut from selected wholesale beef cuts or carcass meat according to specifications of the armed forces. The meat is wrapped, packed in shipping containers, and then frozen. Bones, excess fat, gristle, and tendons are removed by the processor.

BEEF

Beef comes from cattle and is the most frequently used of all meats. There are five categories of beef.

Steer: male that is castrated when young Cow: female that has calved

Bull: fully developed male

Heifer: young female that has not born a calf Stag: male castrated after maturity

Steers and heifers are most suitable for use in Navy messes; whereas cows, bulls, and stags are older and stringier and may be found in canned products.

A beef chart  shows the location and uses of various cuts of beef procured by the military for use in the general mess (GM).

Beef Inspection

All beef and beef products prepared in establishments operating under Federal Meat Inspection Regulations are branded or labeled as follows: "U.S. inspected and passed by Department of Agriculture"; "U.S. inspected and passed"; U.S. INSP'D & P'SD"; together with the number that identifies the establishment. These stamps indicate that the beef and beef products bearing these stamps comply with the inspection regulations of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and that they are wholesome and have been processed under sanitary conditions.

Beef delivered under contract to the military within the continental United States is not accepted unless each item (or the shipping case) bears the inspection stamp or USDA label. Each item must also bear a Department of Defense stamp that indicates that the item meets all terms of the contract  .

After it is determined that the animals are free of disease and meet sanitary requirements, the USDA stamps are placed on the meat carcass.

Figure 6-1.-Cuts in a side of beef.

Grades of Beef

Beef is graded as prime, choice, good, standard, commercial, utility, and cutter. The military services generally purchase only choice and good grades.

However, utility grade or better ground beef and beef tenderloins are procured ungraded.

Beef roasts and steaks procured for the Navy are choice grade. Choice grade meats are tender, juicy, and flavorful. Some beef items such as

Figure 6-1.-Cuts in a side of beef-Continued.

diced beef may be from choice or good grade meat. Good grade beef is not quite as tender, juicy, or flavorful as choice grade, but if the proper preparation methods are used, an acceptable product is produced.

Good grade beef has less fat marbling than choice or prime grade beef.

Frozen boneless beef products that are procured include the following:

Figure 6-2.-Department of Agriculture Inspection stamps.

Figure 6-3.-Inspection stamps of Department of Agriculture and Department of Defense.

Each box of boneless beef is clearly marked to show the type of meat inside.

Bone-in beef (beef rounds and ribs) should be used only as storage space permits. It requires more storage space than boneless beef. The beef rounds have the rump and shank removed. The weight range for rounds is 40 to 64 pounds. The oven-ready weight range of beef ribs is 14 to 22 pounds.