Meat Masterclass #1: Beef

”I will argue to the ends of the earth in my belief that Britain has the best meat in the world, we have some of the best meat producing animals in the world, the Aberdeen Angus cow, the Welsh salt marsh lamb, the Gloucester old spot pig an of course our beloved Sussex chicken. The thing that really grates me about this country when producing meat (and I could rant for hours about this) is that we are a fool to ourselves, we moan at the supermarkets to produce the cheapest meat possible, and then we moan about the way the animals are treated. It stands to reason that supermarkets give the customer what they want, so instead of moaning what we should be doing is asking the stores to give us free range organic meat and poultry at an affordable price, when I say affordable I mean somewhere in between the cheap rubbish and the more expensive free range stuff.

Anyway that is enough of me ranting on, Today is number 1 of a series of meat masterclasses, the idea is to help the meat eating man understand what he is buying, what to look for and guidance on buying meat. The first in the series is a guide on beef, we all know and love the bovine beast but how much do you know about what your buying and what your shoving in your gob, and more importantly do you care? well you should, because with a little knowledge and shopping savvy you will vastly improve your beef eating experience. Enjoy.

A Lesson In Cows

I won’t go into major detail about the breed of cow your putting in your mouth as it’s not very interesting, but it does help to know what the best 3 breeds are to buy, so you know your getting the best tasting beef. First off I will tell you that the black and white patched cow you see all over the place are not eating cows before you decide to go on a  drunken ‘cow catching’ rampage after reading this post, those are called ‘Fresian’s’ and they are used solely for milking, and when they die of natural causes or old age they are used for dog food, so yeah not very tasty.

The main 3 breeds to look out for when purchasing beef are:

• Aberdeen Angus – the most expensive British breed and has become the most popular luxury choice in recent years
• Devonshire – obviously comes from Devon, this is probably the cheapest out of the 3 but very tasty
• Herefordshire – This cow is second only to Aberdeen Angus, it is my preferred choice as its way cheaper than Angus, but is meat is soft, silky and down right tasty.

Why should I buy beef that is ‘hung’?

You may have seen or heard the name ‘hung’ or ‘matured’ when buying beef, and realised it’s more expensive and so gone for the cheaper option, but trust me you don’t know what your missing out on. Hanging meat is vitally important in developing texture and flavour and in my mind no meat should be sold until its been hung for at least 2 weeks.

The process of hanging meat is simple, the beef carcass is hung in a chiller normally for 21 days, as it matures the enzymes in the beef flesh start to break down, making the meat softer and more tender and also developing the flavour. Some people get put off by the thought of this as they think the meat will be crawling with maggots and such, well its bollocks, the meat is sealed in a chiller away from any flies or bacteria, so the meat is not rotten, it is just the same process in maturing cheeses like Stilton and roquefort. A word of warning though, don’t think you can go to tesco and buy a cheap piece of beef and hang it yourself, it simply won’t work, the reason is that cheap beef has already been exposed to various different bacteria so hanging it will only harbour them, meaning after 21 days your beef will be rotten and putrefied.

Always ask you butcher or look on the packaging if the beef has been hung, you can also get an indication if the beef was hung by the colour, hung beef is a dark ruby red, an if you press your finger into the meat it shoud leave a depression.

What does good beef look like?

For me it is easy, I go to my butcher and my trained eye picks out what is good without even thinking about it. There are 4 main things to look for in good beef, they are:

• Covering fat – good beef has a nice thick layer of fat on the outside
• Colour – A good piece of beef should be a deep dark ruby red
• Fat marbling – Good beef should have a marbling of fat running through the flesh
• Texture – Press your thumb into the beef, if it’s good it will leave a depression

Here are 2 pictures of beef to give you a better idea what I mean:

Is it going to cost me loads?

No not really, obviously it’s going to be more expensive than the rubbish alternative but it certainly won’t cost the earth. If  I were to buy any beef from a supermarket it would have to be Morrison’s, simply because I find there beef is of a better quality than the other supermarkets, and they also sell hung beef at a reasonable price. But in all you should really buy all your meat from your local butcher, we should be supporting this dying trade by having a good relationship with him/her. Your butcher should also be able to give you advice on all aspects of meat and poultry.

How to find a good butcher

Once you find a decent butcher you should stick to him like glue, he should not only be your butcher, but your friend and confidant, invite him round for dinner, go to the pub with him and be his mate, that way he will look after you. Finding a good butcher is not that hard, but unfortunately there are some dubious ones out there and you have to keep well away from them. Below is a simple guide on what to look for:

Good butcher:

• Has a large selection of meats including the less popular cuts
• Has a vast amount of knowledge and is willing to advise
• Is friendly, cheerful and confident in his products
• Knows where his produce comes from
• Has a selection of local produce such as jams, pickles, egss etc

Bad Butcher:

• Has a large amount of cheap meats such as ‘10 pork chops for £5′
• Sells alot of ‘chinese chicken’ and ‘BBQ chops’ this is a way of covering up crap meat
• Knows very little about his meat and is unwilling to help
• has a large amount of already wrapped meat
• Dodges questions about where his meat comes from

Conclusion:

I hope you enjoyed this long but informative post. Remember, follow this advice and you can’t go wrong, and trust me when I say, once you have tasted good beef you will be glad you did. In the next post I will talk about Lamb.”

I also recommend this book by Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall, I have this book myself and has proved invaluable to me, it is a large heavy book, but is packed full of info:

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Main picture by vicky.seba