John Myers
The term marbling or fat marbling refers to the vein-shaped, light-colored fat deposits in a piece of meat. The marble-like structure results from the color difference between the red muscle tissue and the light, whitish fat deposits. The marbling of fat not only shows how much fatty tissue runs through a piece of meat: Since fat serves as an important flavor carrier, marbling that is as fine and consistent as possible has a positive effect on the taste of the meat. Since the fat melts during frying, a well-marbled piece of meat will later become particularly juicy and aromatic.
However, fat is not only found in the meat as marbling, but also as a so-called coating on the outside of the piece. In contrast to the marbling of fat, the layer on the meat itself is usually undesirable – an exception are many steak shapes, which can be recognized by a typical fat edge or fat eye.
The fat marbling depends on the breed, husbandry, feeding and age of the animal from which the meat came. The conditions under which the animal was reared and fattened have a major impact on marbling and therefore meat quality. This plays an important role, especially when evaluating beef. In general, high-quality beef can be identified by its fine and even marbling of fat – such as Black Angus beef, American beef, French Chardolais or Wagyu beef from Japan.
In addition to fine marbling, good fresh meat is recognizable by its fresh, neutral smell and its smooth and dry surface, which indicates that no juice has yet escaped. If the meat is already in a lot of its own juice when you buy it, this means that it will usually become tough later when frying. Other characteristics of meat of impeccable quality are a strong color that is specific to the variety and the fact that the corresponding piece yields slightly when pressed with a fingertip. With matured meat, the color can clearly change to reddish-brown, which is a sign of quality for tender meat.
