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Get some expert tips from the butcher
Fat
An experienced butcher can often tell the breed, age and sex of an animal just by the colour of its fat. The colour will also depend on what the animal ate during its life. For example, the fat in grass-fed beef may look more yellow than the fat in barley-fed beef, which is usually white. But this doesn’t affect the eating quality you’ll be pleased to learn. What is important is that the fat is firm and dry.
- Meat colour
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It's a common misconception that the redder the meat the better it is. All a bright red colour really indicates is that the meat has been recently cut. About 20 minutes after cutting the red pigment in meat gradually turns brown naturally. So meat displayed in butchers shops and supermarkets can vary from bright red to reddish-brown, but this won't affect the eating quality.
Meat that has been matured for longer tends to be darker. The variations in the colour of delicious Welsh Lamb and Welsh Beef disappear once you start cooking it.
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Flavour
The flavour of meat after cooking is partly dependent on the proportion of lean to fat. Traditionally, good flavour has been associated with fatter meat. Those threads of fat interspersed between the muscles – known as marbling – are thought to add extra flavour. And a covering of fat on a joint can help keep the lean meat moist during roasting, making it more succulent on the plate.
But these days we’re being encouraged to cut down on the amount of fat in our diet, so the trend is towards leaner cuts of meat.
Some people will still prefer the taste of meat which contains more fat, others will be perfectly happy with lean. It's a matter of taste and preference.
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