Concept
Tenderness
Also known as Meat tenderness
How readily meat yields to the bite, set by connective tissue, muscle structure and ageing.
Tenderness is how easily meat gives way when chewed, and it rests on a few things: how much connective tissue a cut carries, the state of the muscle fibres, and how long the meat has aged, since the meat's own enzymes gradually break down structure and soften it. Hard-worked muscles and older animals eat tougher; ageing and the right cut eat more tender. In curing it matters most where a product is eaten as a slice of muscle rather than a comminuted mix.