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Twenty years ago, I lived in San Jose's Almaden Valley, a block away from a dairy farm. On our walks around the neighborhood, we used to pick hay and feed it to
by Stratoscope 3y ago
Twenty years ago, I lived in San Jose's Almaden Valley, a block away from a dairy farm. On our walks around the neighborhood, we used to pick hay and feed it to the cows.
One day, my daughter named three of the cows: Treemore, Chicken Nose, and Looneycake.
Chicken Nose had a pattern on her nose that looked like a chicken. I don't remember what the other two names meant.
Around that same time, we went to a friend's barbecue. His dad was a butcher, and he cooked the thickest steak I've ever seen. It must have been two inches or more.
"Cooked" may be overstating it. When he brought in the steak on a platter, it was all loose and jiggly, with blood dripping out of it.
When I asked him about it, he said "That's not blood. It's juice!"
I kind of lost my taste for beef after that. Pork too.
But some exceptions apply. I don't enjoy a hamburger or a pork chop, but on occasion I would have a hot dog or a piece of crisp bacon.
I guess if the meat is disguised enough I don't mind it as much?
- AlotOfReading 3y agoHe was right. One of the first steps of slaughtering is draining the blood. There isn't much left by the time it gets to the butcher. The red liquid you see after cooking red meat is myoglobin, which lives inside the muscle tissue itself as opposed to the vascular system. It also turns blood-red in the presence of oxygen.
- Bjartr 3y agoTo add detail for the curious: Blood is hemoglobin, and circulates the body, delivering oxygen to where its needed. Whereas the "juice" from a piece of cooked meat is myoglobin, stores oxygen inside muscle cells until needed, and is responsible for the red color of meat in general.