Another London Broil question?

Question

i asked how to make one and have some great answers, but they are all telling me to cut against the grain and on the bias. Can someone tell me what that means? In wood i know what against the grain is but i didn't know meat had a "grain". That sounds like a really stupid question as i read it but nonetheless i don't know what it means so if someone could help it would be appreciated.

Answer 1

The grain of the meat is the way the string like fiber run. If you cut it with the grain the meat will be fibrous and stringy. Cutting against it will make the meat appear more tender. always remember that if when cut the meat falls apart into small easy to chew pieces, as opposed with the grain which will be harder to chew and easily stuck between the teeth. It's not easy to learn I still have a problem figuring out the grain but with one slice I can figure it out. Hope I helped.

Answer 2

There definately is a grain in meat just like wood. You can see the straight grain lines in the side of a roast and when it is cut cross grain and cooked in pieces it becomes more tender. If you still have doubts, ask the butcher at the market where you buy meat to show you.

Answer 3

meat is muscle.Muscle is made of long elastic protein strands that expand or contract as the muscle is being used.
The grain of a steak therefore is the direction that the long muscle fibers are running. To cut against the grain is to cut perpendicular to the long fibers. To cut on the bias is to do a cross cut with the blade tilted back at a 45 degree angle.

Answer 4

Usually a cut of Top Round london broil the grain runs longways.
For example if the meat is 7 inches long and 3 inches wide, you will cut the shorter 3 inch pieces.

You cut on a bias or slant like this
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This makes the meat a little more tender and gives you wider cuts.

Answer 5

Meat totally has a grain. Most of the time you can see it. Look at your London Broil and you should see streaks running through it. Cut across those streaks and the meat will be very easy to chew. Cut with them and they will be really tough. Cut a few slices and look at them, they should be very easy to pull apart. Cut a few slices from the adjacent side and taste both, you should be able to notice the difference in texture.

Answer 6

Imagine cutting a piece of rope. You would cut it perpendicular to the rope...that's against the grain. If you cut parallel to the rope, you get long strings. Same thing with meat. Think of meat a connected strands.

Answer 7

your right, as a chef the best way I have found is to cook it as rare as you can take it, as it loses the moisture fast, bias like you said with the wood statement is againist the grain, and make sure your knife is sharp