How to tell pre-sliced, raw mutton from beef?
Given two plates of raw, thinly sliced meat (e.g. hot pot or Korean BBQ), how can one reliably disambiguate beef from mutton?
Both appear as thin slices of red meat, with similar texture and marbling. Tasting them is not an option, nor is asking someone involved in preparing the meats.
Best Answer
What you are asking for is a classic task for learning pattern recognition, also known as the "chicken sexer problem" (derived from the people whose job at a farm is to throw recently-emerged chickens into one crate if female and another if male). The way to learn this is only one: practice. And not being able to taste is making it much harder.
Note that this is not a case where somebody could get you a description of how to recognize the difference and you could go through it and make checkmarks. Even people who succeed at the task will not be able to tell you how they know which it is (they may have a subjective explanation for it, such as "one of them smells faintly like a barn, the other doesn't", but it is not necessary true). The way to do it is to sit together with somebody who is adept at it, and watch their process intently over several hundred to thousand samples, until you realize you can tell the difference yourself. If there is no such expert available, the other way is to have those several hundred to thousand samples prepared by somebody who knows which is beef and which mutton, and you will have to start doing the process on your own, getting a correctness feedback after each sample. It will be slightly slower than sitting with an expert.
The task is likely to be rather context-dependent: you will probably have to go through a separate learning process for hot pot, and a separate one for Korean BBQ. The number of samples you need is also likely to be context-dependent, for example it is much easier to tell apart beef and mutton when grilled (there you will probably need less than one hundred samples) than when presented as salami.
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How can you tell mutton from beef?
Beef is stringy meat, the texture of mutton is smoother. The smell of beef is distinctive which you have to learn. Mutton has a gamy smell and weirdly enough it reminds you of the grass and green field. Mutton looks darker than beef when raw.How do you identify beef meat?
Beef The Major CutsWhat is the difference between mutton and beef meat?
The term mutton is often used to address lamb meat or meat from any cattle animal other than a cow, here it describes only goat meat. Beef is the meat obtained from a cow or a buffalo. Both mutton and beef are considered red meats and are higher in fat content and calories than lean meats like chicken and fish.How do you identify raw meat?
Spoiled meat will have a distinct, pungent smell that will make your face scrunch up. Texture \u2013 In addition to an unpleasant scent, spoiled meats can be sticky or slimy to the touch. Color \u2013 Rotten meats will also undergo a slight change in color. Poultry should be anywhere from a bluish-white to yellow in color.How can I tell if my meat's gone bad?
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Answer 2
Sheep are raised almost exclusively on grass, whereas beef cattle (particularly the kind that will be turned into thin slices, rather than overpriced steaks) will be finished on grain feed. Grass-fed beef and mutton will have yellow-tinged fat while grain-fed beef will have white fat. So if one of the meats has a slightly yellower fat, that's almost certainly the mutton.
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