I was rummaging around for a good Cuban Sandwich recipe and came upon this article from Good Eats that I thought you all might enjoy. It provides a good backgrounder for preparing meat in general:
"Most meat can be categorized into two categories: slow twitch muscle, and fast twitch muscle.
Fast twitch muscle is the stuff that the animal rarely uses except in short bursts. The breasts on a chicken that let it flap its wings rapidly when escaping danger. The loins on a cow that, well, barely get used at all. Fast twitch muscle is characterized by tenderness (think chicken breast, pork chops, or New York strip steaks) and finely textured grain and is best cooked using fast-cooking methods like roasting, grilling, or sautéing. With fast twitch muscle, optimal eating conditions are met pretty much as soon as you reach your final serving temperature (say, 145°F or 63°C for a chicken breast and 125°F or 52°C for a steak). Extended holding at that temperature can increase tenderness slightly, but you won't see any major changes in texture or flavor.
Slow twitch muscle, on the other hand, comprises the continually working muscles in an animal. The shoulders and haunches that keep the animal upright and walking. The tail muscles that keep the flies off. The muscles around the flank that keep the animal breathing. Slow twitch muscle is characterized by robust flavor, but a very tough texture with lots of connective tissue that needs to be cooked for extended periods of time to be broken down. With slow twitch muscle, the tenderness of the finished product is dependent not only on the temperature at which it's cooked, but also the length of time it is cooked for. Beginning around 160°F tough collagen begins to break down into tender, juicy gelatin. The hotter the meat, the faster this breakdown occurs."
You can read more of this article here.
