Despite the young age of the lamb when it is processed for cooking, a lamb roast can be very tough and dry if it is not prepared properly.

Patience and low temperatures are the keys to making delectable, oven-cooked brisket. In its original condition, it's as tough and chewy as a slab of old leather, yet when properly cooked, it's tender and delicious. Getting your piece of brisket from one stage to the other requires slow, careful cooking.

Bone-in lamb loin is a large cut of meat that is more tender when cooked than traditional lamb loin. Traditional lamb loin is rolled with the bone removed, which can cause the meat to dry out faster.

Steak tips are small cuts of meat taken from the area where a cut of sirloin attaches to the bone. Steak tips are most commonly beef but they can also be taken from other animals, such as bison. Grilling is one of the most common methods of cooking steak tips, but you can cook them indoors with tasty results.

If you're in a hurry or you forgot to thaw meat ahead of time, it's safe to cook meat directly from the freezer. Allow extra time because cooking time might be up to 50 percent longer or about 10 to 20 more minutes for each 1 lb. of meat.

Many retail cuts can be found on a beef steer, some tough and some tender. The tough cuts are usually ground or slow-cooked, while the premium cuts of tender beef are grilled or broiled. The top sirloin is the lowest priced of the tender cuts for grilling.

Chuck steak is a versatile meat, and not just because it’s known by several names. London broil, shoulder steak, shoulder steak half-cut and English steak are all culinary monikers for this shoulder cut. Chuck steak is also a budget-wise buy when your family craves steak but your budget craves savings.

Cooking meat, poultry and seafood to a safe internal temperature kills many types of bacteria that can give you food poisoning, such as E. coli and salmonella. However, some types of bacteria that can make you sick are not killed by normal cooking temperatures.

Bacteria from spoiled pork can cause food poisoning, which produces symptoms such as diarrhea, stomach pain, cramping, nausea and vomiting. The symptoms can take one to three days to occur. Fresh pork can be a healthy addition to your diet. A 3.5-ounce serving of lean pork contains 190 calories and 5 grams of fat.

Like eggs and raw chicken, ground beef -- and ground meat in general -- is a food that knowledgeable cooks treat with extra caution. It can easily become contaminated with bacteria, either at the processing facility or after you bring it home, and has a limited storage life in your refrigerator.

A steak burger is similar to a hamburger except that it is made with ground steak instead of ground chuck. Using steak results in a leaner burger that contains a more delicate taste.

Rabbit remains a specialty meat in the U.S., although it is more common in other countries such as Italy and France. Farm-raised rabbit is mild in flavor and lean, which makes it extra-healthy but sometimes tricky to cook. The best methods use moist heat so that the meat never has a chance to dry out.