Introduction
As you walk to aisle in the local meat market, you will quickly realize the diversity of pork cuts from loin chops and shoulder roasts to cured cuts like ham and bacon (my personal favorite). Do you find yourself thinking that all the chops look alike? You may think isn’t all ham the same? As you venture through this activity, you will gain a basic knowledge of how to select quality pork cuts based on United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) standards.
Task
Students will place a class of pork loin chops, create a complete set of reasons for the placing, and present the reasons live or by video to be shared during.
Process
Visit University of Nevada Cooperative Extension Meat Judging PowerPoint to answer the following questions,
1. Meats judging focuses on ___________ _____________ of meat.
2. When judging carcass or retail cuts (we will focus on retail cuts for this assignment), one should look at four factors:
A. Amount of _______
i. What is the internal fat called? ____________ ii. What is the external fat called? _____________
B. Size of ________
C. _________ of the meat
D. _____________/_____________
(skip to slide 20)
3. Explain in your own words why Loin Chop #2 is placed first over Loin Chop #1.
(skip to slide 22)
4. In your own words, explain the placing for these three Pork Steaks.
You may continue through the end of the powerpoint for practice. Please focus only on pork cuts as beef and lamb judging are much different than pork.
Visit University of Illinois Meat Sciences to view a practice class walk-through with Dr. Tom Carr, who will further explain how to place pork retail cuts.
5. When you first look at the class, what cut do you think is the best and why?
6. One cut looks much different from the others. What is the difference?
7. Ultimately, how was the class placed? ________________
8. Why is the presence of a “tail” not good from an economic standpoint?
Visit Texas A&M University Department of Meat Science to view practice classes for pork. You may view any of the pork classes you choose. Each class has official placings. I encourage you to place each class prior to looking at the officials. I would also encourage you to take notes on why you placed each class the way you did. The following website posted by TAMU Meat Science may prove helpful in notetaking: www.tinyurl.com/meatsnotetaking
9. In 3-5 sentences, explain how well you did on the practice classes.
You may need to go back and review information previously presented in this assignment if you did not do as well as you had liked.
Evaluation
Place the following class of pork chops. Once you have placed the class, create a viable set of reasons for your placings. Your placings must be presented orally or through video during class.
Loin Chop 1
Loin Chop 2
Loin Chop 3
Loin Chop 4
| Areas | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| General Presnetation | Student shows good overall preparedness; presents at least two points for each placing; used no notes. | Student shows minimum prepardness; does not present at least two points for each placing; used notes 25-50% during the presentation. | Student shows only minimum preparedness; does not present at least two points for each placing; uses nots 25-50% during the presnetation. | Student show not preparedness; does not present points fo reach placing; uses notes throughout during presentation. |
| Voice | Volums is acceptable; voice is clear; uses appropriate terminology for meat placing more than 90% of the time during the presentation; does not use "uh" | Volume is somewhat acceptable; voice is clear most of the time; uses appropriate terminology for meat placing at least 50% of the time during the presentation; does not use "uh" | Volume is not always acceptable; voice is only minimally clear; uses appropriate terminology less than 50% of the time during the presentation; | Volum is not acceptable; student mumbles or is soft-spoken; uses appropriate terminology less than 25% of the time during the presentation. |
| Posture | Student maintains a confident yet relaxed appearance; does not slouch; maintains eye contact more than 90% of the time during the presentation | Student maintains a confident yet relaxed appearance more than 75% of the time; does not slouch; maintains eye contact more than 75% of the time during the presentation | Student maintains confident yet relaxed appearance more than 50% of the time; does not slouch; maintains eye contact more than 50% of the time | Student fails to maintain a confident yet relaxed appearance at least 50% of the time; Slouches; Fails to maintain eye contact at least 50% of the time |
Tips:
- You may want to present your reasons to a classmate, friend, or parent. Have them judge your presentation using the attached rubric.
- You can rehearse in front of a mirror so you can see areas where you need to improve.
Conclusion
Congratulations on learning the basics of judging Pork Loin Chops! Mastery of oral reasons for placing classes will help you create a better mental picture for classes, which will also help you on questions classes another part meats judging.
Credits
University of Nevada Cooperative Extension (https://www.unce.unr.edu/4H/programs/stem/files/ppt/MeatJudging.ppt)
University of Illinois Meats Science Professor Dr. Tom Carr (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXWIgecaoRI)
Texas A&M Unversity Department of Meat Science (http://aggiemeat.tamu.edu/example-classes/)
Texas A&M University Department of Meat Science (www.tinyurl.com/meatsnotetaking)