Why does prepackaged deli meat taste better when you take each slice and "fluff" it?
If you take a package of deli meat and remove the slab, place it on bread and add your condiments in never tastes as good as when you take the slab and "fluff" up each piece as you lay it on your sandwich.
Best Answer
This deli meat you speak of is generally made of small scraps of mechanically-separated meat that are essentially "glued" together into a solid mass by enzymes that partially break down the tissue. This processed "meat brick" doesn't really have the same texture as an intact muscle tissue, which has individual muscle fibers aligned along a "grain" that makes it pleasantly chewy. Folding/layering/rolling slices of processed meat gives it more of a texture and chew, and tricks you into thinking you're eating an actual piece of animal muscle instead of meat-flavored jelly.
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Is fresh cut deli meat better than packaged?
So if you're searching for a healthier lunch meat option, consider these tips: Always choose fresh deli meat over prepackaged lunch meat. Deli meat that is sliced fresh off the bone or slab contain natural nitrates and is minimally processed.What is the difference between packaged lunch meat and deli meat?
Prepackaged lunch meats have a shorter shelf life in their original container than do deli lunch meats in their original container. The difference lies in the fact that the deli lunch meat is opened to slice it for multiple customers, compromising its shelf life dramatically.Why does thinly sliced meat taste better?
Does this have to do with surface area exposed to air? Professional cook here. This is exactly why food tastes better thinly sliced. It exposes more of the surface to air and therefore releases more aromatic molecules.Is grocery store deli meat processed?
Most cold cuts are considered processed meats. The American Institute for Cancer Research defines processed meat as "meat preserved by smoking, curing or salting, or addition of chemical preservatives."Taste Test: Marshmallow Fluff (USA) | One Pot Chef
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Answer 2
Similar to @uncle brad's comment, I would consider that it's related to the air:
A larger amount of air is trapped close to the ham, and hence is scented by it. This means that the ham-scented air is released into your mouth as you bite, which then escapes through your nose, increasing your perception of the ham (as taste is largely composed of smell).
I'm now actually quite hungry.
Answer 3
I think that Stuart has almost the right idea. Rather than trapping air close to the ham, and letting aromas diffuse through that, though, I think that it's simply a matter of surface area.
When you smell something, air flows over the surface area, and picks up the volatile compounds that form the aroma - those are what you smell, and clearly they don't have to have been trapped next to it to get a strong scent. When you eat something, you've got the smelling part going on, plus the food on your tongue - and surface area could easily help there too, letting more of the food come into contact with your taste buds as it's moved around in your mouth.
The best analogy, I think, is citrus zest. Clearly you can smell a whole lot more from finely shaved zest than you can from a hunk of peel, and this is true even without any air being trapped next to it. If you need convincing, just give some zest repeated sniffs, or carefully blow on it to remove trapped air, then smell it.
Answer 4
The increased surface area and air also allow the fat to warm up a little and give more flavor, so you're not eating stacked meat with still 'jellied' fat in the middle.
Answer 5
To fold ingredients to expose them to more air is a well known technique in cooking to ENHANCE flavoring.
The more air that infuses each bite, the better. Oxidation to food is essential to good flavour. So yes! When you make a sandwich, fold the meat to create air channels, if you have or can slice your cheese very thinly, then do the same as well.
If you make a sandwich with three pieces of meat, do not just stack them one upon the other; this is "truck driver" mentality. instead, layer them to enhance the flavour value. This is a well known technique among chefs and gastronomes alike.
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