Preparing and cooking field&flower meat

Advice on preparing meat

The care given to meat before cooking is equally as important as after cooking. Therefore:

1. Remove the meat from packaging and dab any excess liquid off the meat
2. When cooking beef or lamb allow it to reach room temperature, this helps the meat to relax and improves the cooking process
3. Season and oil the meat shortly before cooking

Advice for cooking meat

Ovens and grills vary enormously in their behaviour and you’ll know yours best.

We advise:

Joints

• Searing and browning quick roasting joints is advisable to seal in the juices
• The fat covering keeps joints moist – so don’t discard it
• Use a heavy based roasting dish or ceramic pot for joints
• Baste the joint with the excess juices a couple of times during cooking
• Allow the joint to rest for half the time you cooked it for
• Remember to remove the butcher’s string before serving!
• Refer to the cooking chart for recommended cooking times

Tip: A good way to test whether pork is ready – get a skewer and pierce the underneath of the joint – juices should run clear not pink

Steaks and chops

• Use a griddle, skillet or pan to cook steaks and chops
• Allow the griddle, skillet and pan to get just smokey hot
• Always oil the steaks and chops not the pan
• Have long handle pair of tongs to hand to turn once through cooking
• Hold the rind on its side to sear at the end of cooking
• Rest the meat for half the cooking time – this allows the meat to relax and the juices to run back through the meat – making it tasty and tender to eat

Tip: Try not to cut the steak during cooking as it may dry out

Burgers and Sausages

• Use a griddle to cook our burgers and use an oven or grill for our sausages
• Don’t pierce our sausages as the juices will escape meaning a drier sausage
• Sausages are cooked once the juices run clear
• Don’t be afraid to cook our burgers medium – we use high quality meat
• Always use fresh good quality buns – the burger deserves it.

Tip: Don’t press down on the burger during cooking – this can make it dry