What part of the animals does the meat we eat come from?

In Brazil, there are 23 basic beef cuts. Meet some of them

1. Termite and rib
The termite is an intertwined meat and fat and can be wrapped in aluminum foil to be protected from heat and not harden. The rib takes up to six hours to cook and can be prepared on skewers stuck in the ground and over hot coals, in the typical gaucho barbecue.

2. Chest
Breast meat has tough parts and needs to be cooked for a long time. This is where carpaccio comes from – thin slices served as an appetizer. The tail, the protagonist of the famous oxtail, has fatty meat mixed between bones.

3. Breast, sirloin steak and flank steak
Barbecue meat has to be tender, tasty and juicy. The flank steak, for example, is one of the most succulent. The titty – also known as tip of the rump – and the rump cap are naturally soft. The picanha is the national preference because it has more fat than the others.

4. Rump, hard coxão, soft coxão and filet mignon
More “homemade” cuts, such as coxão mole, rump, sirloin steak and filet mignon, are more tender and, therefore, speed up the preparation of steaks. Hard coxão and other fibrous cuts with nerves are indicated for soups and stews. It’s just that they only become soft after slow cooking.

5. Duckling
The ground meat that breaks a branch in homemade recipes is prepared with chopped cuts that can even be of good quality, such as chuck and duckling. These parts are also highly recommended for the preparation of stews.

Chicken meat is the second most served on Brazilian tables

1. Wing and breast
The wings are present in the portions of bars and restaurants, such as the “frango a bird”. The breast is more versatile and can be cut into fillets, cubes or shredded to accompany soups and filling snacks and pies.

2. Thigh and drumstick
The thigh is served roasted, breaded or fried. The drumstick, on the other hand, goes well, already boneless, in stews such as chicken soup. They are lean meats, but are usually accompanied by chicken skin, which is very greasy.

3. Kids
The chicken heart is very popular in barbecues. Gizzard – a muscular compartment of the digestive system – and liver are generally used, and camouflaged, in the preparation of farofas to stuff roast chickens.

Belly and loin make beautiful fillets, but good sushi depends on more precise cuts

In Japanese cuisine, the best meat – full of fat and flavor – is in the center of the tuna belly, shown above. Less fatty parts of the belly come next in popular preference, ahead of sirloin meat. In Japan, salmon is rarely used for raw cuts – this Western custom started in the US.

The pork feed industry does not only live on meat

1. Bacon
It is taken from the fatty area below the belly skin: the back fat. The meat goes through a smoking process before being cut into pieces or thin strips.

2. Loin
It can be prepared with the whole piece, in the form of a steak or rolled up. Under the skin of this region, bacon is also extracted, often used in typical dishes from Minas Gerais.

3. Leg
In addition to being roasted for Christmas, it also gives rise to raw ham, highly appreciated in Italy and Spain. When deboned, it generates cuts with the same names as parts of the beef, such as soft coxão, hard coxão, rump, sirloin steak, duckling and filet mignon.

4. Leftovers
Leftover pork cuts are crushed, seasoned and embedded in various formats. Sausages are usually made with pork, beef and chicken leftovers. Sausages use ground pork, packed in casings, and seasoned with pepper and spices – salami is similar, only with bacon and ground meat. The ham is made with smaller parts of the loin or with the meat of the front leg, the shoulder