A Beef World of Words...
AGE: Simply, we mean the chronological age of the beef: the younger the animal the more tender the beef – the older, the tougher. Our beef is 16-20 months of age.
AGING: Commonly referred to when sellers of beef want to describe a superior product. Chemical changes occur in beef after it has been processed. These changes tenderize the meat and develop more flavour. Hanging meats in coolers under controlled conditions to provide time for this natural tenderizing is called aging. Beef can be aged because high-quality carcasses have enough fat cover to protect them from bacteria and from drying. Veal has no fat cover, so it is not aged. There are two main aging processes:
- Dry Aging: Is the traditional way of achieving natural tenderness. At the butchers, the chilled cooler provides a perfect aerobic environment to allow the natural process to develop and to tenderize the beef from which your steaks and roasts are cut.
- Wet Aging: Cryovac aging is a modern trend that sees the carcasses broken down into smaller cuts and wrapped in air and moisture-proof plastic bags. The wrapping protects the meat from bacteria and mold, and prevents weight loss due to drying. Cryovac-aged meats often lose more weight in cooking than do dry-aged meats. Aging in a cryovac bag is inferior because the natural aerobic process can not happen. Its aged but lacks the true development of the beef flavour and texture.We only know of provincially inspected butchers (like ours) who have the space and attitude to age beef in the cooler.
DIET: It’s important to know what the animal has been fed. There used to be an ‘Alberta Red Brand’ beef in stores, say 50 years ago. It had a great following, was so well known and liked that even today we still get asked about it. What made it special was that Alberta had the same genetics (British breeds), see below, but used barley as the main finishing diet. There is a difference in the flavour of the meat if it was finished on grass, barley, corn, or feeds like carrots or potatoes. So, if you can find out what diet was used to finish your beef then you will get to know which flavour of which finishing diet you like best.
GENETICS: There are two main groups of beef genetics, British and Exotic.
- British genetics include Hereford and Angus
- Exotic genetics include Limousine, Charolais and Simmental.
- British genetics have more marbling, won’t grow as big and use less grain to finish
- Exotic genetics provide more lean growth, have less marbling and need more grain to finish. Most producers have a cross of these main breeds on their ranches. Again, the more you know about the breed or the crosses, the more you will know what you like and the consistent your BBQ results will be.
GRADING: Represented by an “A”, “AA”, “AAA” mark on packaging and signage at the store. The grading system refers primarily to the ‘marbling’ content of the meat and assures the consumer that animal that produced the meat was mainly 30 months of age or younger. The bottom line is:
- “A” stands for meat that has very little ‘marbling’,
- “AA” has more ‘marbling’,
- “AAA” has the most ‘marbling’ of the three grades. Some retailers, like M&M meats, sell some “non graded” beef products which means they are purchasing beef from ‘off shore’ suppliers – from animals that have not been graded by your federal government. In order to achieve product consistency the beef may be further processed with commercial marinades or spices.
MARBLING: This is the term used to describe the intramuscular fat within the meat cut, not the external fat. Marbling is extremely important for flavour and cooking characteristic. If you cook a grade “A” steak the same way you would a grade “AAA” steak, you will be very disappointed in the outcome. It will be tough and flavourless. As far as fat is concerned, in general, most store counter meat is trimmed to a about a 1/4″ of fat around the outside of the meat cut.
PRIMAL: The SIDE is divided into 8 larger portions of meat: Chuck, Rib, Loin, Round, Flank, Short Plate, Brisket, Shank. It's from these larger portions that the portion cuts are extracted
WEIGHT:
- LIVE WEIGHT: (AKA “on the hoof”, or “hoof weight”) It’s just as it says, the live weight of the animal before processing.
- HANGING WEIGHT: (AKA “on the rail”) This refers to the weight of the beef carcass as it hangs in the butcher’s cooler once the head, hide, feet, organs and blood are removed. The butcher bases its processing fees on this weight and we use it to determine the cost of your order (at $5.75/lb).
- ORDER WEIGHT: This refers to the actual weight of all the packages of individual cuts of meat that you will put in your freezer. When the carcass is broken down into recognizable items, there is some further loss when cuts are deboned and fat is trimmed away. The final weight will also depend on the types of cuts you selected for your side (especially the amount of boneless cuts you choose).
