One of the finest parts of cooking the gourmet way is choosing and purchasing your gourmet meat. There are such a wide variety of different gourmet meat cuts, gourmet meat tastes and gourmet meat methods of preparation that your senses will be constantly on high alert as you experience everything that gourmet cooking has to offer. You may be able to save a significant amount of money when purchasing your gourmet meat, especially if you follow the suggestions mentioned here.
* When you are selecting a gourmet meat cut, you need to make sure to remember that the more effort that goes into preparing the cut will mean a higher price. This does not necessarily mean that the cut of gourmet meat is going to be tastier, just that it was more time consuming to the person preparing it.
* Choosing gourmet meat with the bones still in it is a good way to save money. You can also buy gourmet meat that has been filleted, but this usually costs more money because it meant that more time was put into the preparation of the cut of meat than the alternative. A cut with the bone in also tends to be tastier, though, so it might be wise to pay the smaller price and prepare the meat yourself, especially if it means getting higher quality gourmet meat flavor in the process.
* If you do not know what you are looking for, selecting gourmet meat can be expensive as well as time consuming. Make sure that you are coming prepared by listing the cuts and the styles of gourmet meat that you want before you ever leave home, making your shopping expedition significantly easier in the process. Meat cuts are never all created equally, so make sure that you know what you are specifically looking for before you buy.
* You can save a lot of money simply by buying your meat cuts that have taken the least amount of time to be prepared or serviced. What this refers to is how much preparation time went into creating the gourmet meat, such as by slicing it up, tying it together, removing skin, removing bones and so on and so forth.
* Another term to keep in mind is marbling, which means how much fat strips are visible on the sides of the meat. Fat is not actually necessarily a bad thing for you. Removing the fat will not necessarily be healthier for you. Removing the fat may actually cost you flavor, so choose meat that has present flecks of fat rather than large strips and you will get the flavor and the healthfulness of the gourmet meat.
* Do not be afraid to ask your butcher questions when it comes to the gourmet meat that you are buying. Most butchers are more than willing to talk about their meats, their cuts and other details to make sure that you get the right thing.
