Why is cutting meat against the grain important? What determines grain direction?
In: Biology
Basically the connective fibres run a certain way. If you cut parallel to it you aren’t severing those long connective strands so the meat will be tougher since it’s still structurally stable. If you cut it perpendicular to the grain, you cut those connective strands and the meat, being less structurally stable will be softer and tender.
Grain direction just comes down to physiology but I can’t expand on that.
The grain is the direction of the muscle fibres. Against the grain means to cut across the fibres.
For tougher cuts of meat (and meat generally) or cuts with long grains (eg london broil), cutting across the fibres makes it easier to chew and the meat feels more tender. If you cut along the grain, the muscle fibres remain long and it makes the meat feel more tough and chewy – most people find this less nice to eat.
Like with wood the “grain” is the direction of the different colored lines/streaks you see in the meat. This is easier to identify in certain cuts of meat over others. With meat the grain is actual muscle fibers.
The reason it matters is because cutting across (perpendicular) breaks apart the muscle fiber rather than having long stretches of the same muscle. When you’re chewing meat breaking apart these fibers is most of the work your mouth is doing. This means if the piece is already cut across the grain breaking those fibers up the piece will be less chewy and more tender.
because the grains are like strings running parallel. when you cut with the strings you get lots of strings that tend to be tough. when you cut against the grain, the strings get cut into small pieces, thus becoming more tender.
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