Cold Meat

[bigbear]

I think that most stuff tastes better at about "body temp," which is about 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit for everyone, except tommy, of course.

[snowangel]

I think cold meat loaf is great, but cold hamburgers are awful (cold meaning out of the fridge, not room temp). Why?

[jhlurie]

You know... brisket is pretty good cold. Different from steak, which I think has to be slightly warmer.

Hamburger? As a full patty its horrible cold, but crumbled up when cold and put into a salad as a cold topping it works.

[bushey]

By "cold" do we mean "chilled", as in right from the refrigerator? Or cold as in room temperature or a bit less?

Took the words right out of my mouth.

I prefer cold as in room temperature. The flavor seems much better to me than fridge-cold meat. I love cold fried or bbq chicken best, followed by cold steak sliced thin and added to a salad.

Meatloaf: never. It was bad enough having to eat it hot, but when my mom would start in with "this will make a lovely sandwich for lunch tomorrow with ketchup" it was hard to stop the gag reflex. My dad loved it, though. I think the only time he ever had my mom pack lunch for him was when we had leftover meatloaf.

[Suzanne F]

Snowangel is definitely onto something here. TEXTURE. Cold (or if you prefer, not-hot) meat usually has a firmer texture. So you have to chew it a bit more, which increases saliva flow etc. etc. Cold from the fridge is even firmer and requires even more chewing, more internal juice flow, and so on. But that's just my experience.

[Bux]

Interesting, too, that I don't think anyone has mentioned mixing the cold meat with other ingredients -- rather, they prefer to serve it on the side.

I think I mentioned composed salads which should include tossed salads and mixed salads and certainly cold steak on greens with dressing (mayo, vinairgrette, etc.)

[jhlurie]

Yeah... I did too (specifically with hamburger meat, but hey, same idea)

actually - checking timestamps--I mentioned it AFTER snowangel's quote... sorry.