One New Zealand bloke has done his own research after being “horrified” with all the liquid that came out when he cooked supermarket meats. His discovery is pretty bloody shocking.
Ol’ mate, who goes by @thecontraversialkiwi on TikTok, bought a kg of ‘5% fat’ meat from an NZ supermarket and a kg of ‘premium’ meat from a local butcher. He weighed them both before and after cooking them in a pan. Prior to weighing them the second time, he would strain the liquid out.
He found that the supermarket meat weighed almost 30% less (from 1000g to 713g = 287 grams lost), while the butcher’s meat was just 10% lighter (from 1000g to 909g = 91 grams lost).
“Can anyone explain this to me?” he asks at the end of the video. “I think I know why it’s happened, but can anyone explain why, when I go to serve it up with nothing added at all, I'm losing 290 grams on the Countdown one and 90 grams on the butcher's one?”
He also wrote in the comments that the butcher’s meat was actually cheaper than the supermarket’s.
Commenters on the TikTok didn’t have many answers but shared their shock at the results.
“Not an expert but you will always lose some liquid during cooking however over 1/4 seems a bit excessive." wrote one person.
“I didn't realise the difference was so big,” said another. “I'll be shopping at the butcher now."
“I returned 400ml of liquid from my mince to the local butchers,” a third added. “He refunded me and was embarrassed. THEY KNOW.”
A Countdown spokesperson denied injecting any fluid into their meats.
“Increasing the water content of a meat product would negatively impact it by increasing the risk of contamination,” they told Newshub.
They also provided possible reasons for the amount of moisture.
“This includes the amount of intramuscular fat and water in the meat, how the meat is prepared, and how long the meat has aged before it's vacuum sealed or stored.”
The CEO of Beef + Lamb New Zealand provided more explanations.
“Ageing beef can result in lower moisture content, possibly reducing weight loss during cooking,” he told Newshub.
Don't know about you guys, but I prefer my meat with more actual meat.
