Angus beef is superior

[ChefScotty]

I had a look in my butcher's window this morning... Aberdeen Angus fillet steak is on 'sale' (!) for 21 GB pounds per kilo.

That's $18/# which is pretty much what anything decent retail is over here. At least in the UK you're buying 100% tenderloin and they at least have the decency to sell the tail separately for a lot less than the good stuff. I hate the way they sell it retail here. I don't think the retail meat cutters have ever seen a whole tenderloin, they just get the end bits that don't go to restaurants and then proceed to just make steaks out of them so you get the chain and everything in your 'filet mignon'.

What really angers me is they ramped the price up here about 3 years ago because of some mad Canadian cow or something and as always, it just stayed where it was when it all cleared and kept going up.

Many fond memories of the days when the UK govt banned the sale of bone in beef and my butcher slipped me bone in prime rib at the back door when it got dark for our Sunday dinner at home.

 

[Ishbel]

according to today's exchange rates that 40 dollars plus a few cents. which is approx 20 dollars per (imperial) pound, if we were still allowed to use lb! I thought the prices of US/Canadian beef were way lower than ours?

 

[Alix]

I've been quiet til now, but I am going to weigh in with the Alberta Beef lovers. I am from Alberta and have grown accustomed to the quality of beef I get (from the grocery store, the butcher, buying straight from the farmer or off the back of a truck) and when I travel I rarely order beef having had it come looking and tasting like shoe leather. I've traveled widely all over N. America and into Europe and have yet to find tastier beef. (I will admit Kobe is priced insanely and so I have not tried it.)

Ishbel, I admit, I have not had your Aberdeen beef, having not had the pleasure yet of travelling to the British Isles. I will make sure I do try it when I get there though.

 

[Ishbel]

Alix: The more I read about the relative merits of various meats - Scotch beef vs Texan or Canadian - or Welsh lamb vs Scottish lamb... the more I am sure that meat, well raised and butchered tastes best when it is the local produce. So, perhaps the wonderful Texan beef or even, dare I say it, Alberta beef would be just run of the mill here, and so would Aberdeen Angus if it was shipped to the US or Canada!

Although, I have to say, some of the best beef I've ever eaten was on Cyprus.. when I raved about the beef to the chef, he told me it was 'chilled' (not frozen) beef, directly from Northern Ireland!

 

[Constance]

I lived in Texas for a while, and had some wonderful Texas Beef while I was there. A lot of restaurants in this area get Kansas City beef, which is awfully good, and one of the best steaks I've ever eaten was at Mr. Bennie's in Chicago.
A lot of cattle are grown around here...Black Angus and Charlais, mainly.

But stay away from "limousine beef", whatever that is. My FIL used to buy us a half a beef every year when the kids were little, and he bought the limosine beef a couple of times. It was tough as shoe leather.

 

[Mylegsbig]

according to today's exchange rates that 40 dollars plus a few cents. which is approx 20 dollars per (imperial) pound, if we were still allowed to use lb! I thought the prices of US/Canadian beef were way lower than ours?

Ishbel, for american kobe beef tenderloin, i pay over 30 dollars a pound

 

[kitchenelf]

Alix - didn't you send me an e-mail one time referencing Alberta beef?

I envy all of you living in/around/near places with superior beef. This is one conversation I truly know nothing about. I did have a Kobe burger one time - it wasn't that good, but I do like my burgers on the rare-ish side and this was done about 30 minutes before they took it off the grill - I'm sure that had a lot to do with it.

 

[Alix]

Alix - didn't you send me an e-mail one time referencing Alberta beef?

I just got some more Alberta Beef pix...want I should share? Good to see you here my friend, I've been missing you!

 

[FryBoy]

A good steak can always be a big wow. Just don't mess up good beef with a marinade.

Tell it, sister! Halleluiah!

Good meat needs nothing but a a rub of olive oil, a touch of salt and freshly ground black pepper before tossing it on the fire.

Marinades are for tough or flavorless cuts, IMHO.

 

[Mylegsbig]

I cook my kobe filets by rubbing them with sea salt, tons of coarse cracked pepper, and olive oil. i then sear them in a steel skillet for 2 minutes a side and throw them in a 450 degree oven for 6-7 minutes for a nice pinkness all the way through. i top them with some garlic butter that i have sauteed for a while, with finely minced garlic

 

[kitchenelf]

I just got some more Alberta Beef pix...want I should share? Good to see you here my friend, I've been missing you!

you had to ask????

 

[RPCookin]

Having just returned from 3 weeks in Italy, of which 8 days were spent in exploring Tuscany and Chianti, I have to chime in on this discussion. I had some of the best beef I've ever eaten, and I didn't even have what the region is famous for... Bistecca alla Fiorentina. The cattle are Chianina (pronounced ka-nee-na), they are pure white and they are huge, and there many breeds in the US that have been crossed at some point with Chianina. And the porterhouse cuts that are used in the above dish are also much larger than we are used to (which is why I never got to try it... my wife and I together could never have eaten one). I had sirloin twice and a filet once and all were incredible.

See this site for some info on these cattle. http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/cattle/chianina/

As far as eating beef locally, we have bought our beef for several years on the hoof from a farming friend who raises about 25 head of herefords a year just for sale locally. He buys weaned calves at auction, runs them on the range and feeds them his own mix till the next February, then sends them to the packer as yearlings. They are raised with no steroids, and no antibiotics unless actually needed. His customers (me in this case) give their custom cutting instructions to the packer, and pick up the beef cut, packaged, and quick frozen. This is hands down the best beef I've ever eaten on this side of the Atlantic, and that includes going to some ridiculously overpriced, ritzy steakhouses.

 

[Phil]

I'm still lovin' angus here....

because, on sale at $7.99 a lb., it's hard to beat. Last week we had a shoulder roast cooked as a pot roast and I told my wife that if we could have it this good everytime, I'd take this in place of turkey and dressing on Thanksgiving. That was the best roast I ever ate. I give my wife all the credit on that one. After my original post of "superior" beef, what I really meant to say is that the angus beef, in my neck of the woods, is superior to "supermarket" beef. From ground beef to rib-eyes, I really enjoy it. The real joy is I get to grill year round here in Texas.

 

[jpmcgrew]

Gretchen,I agree totally! No marinade on a good steak or maybe just a little worchestershire before cooking.
I know some people who buy the most expensive cuts of meat and I mean expensive and then totally destroy the meat with a whole bunch of beef rub seasoning followed by a whole bunch of dry herbs and then soaked in a ton of worchestershire OVERNIGHT no less, by the time its cooked it tastes nothing like the meat but just of seasonings.Bleech.I cant convince them other wise.
I believe people tend to over marinade most meats any way, its supposed to enhance the meat not turn it it into a ,a a, I dont know what.

 

[Phil]

And....

Gretchen,I agree totally! No marinade on a good steak or maybe just a little worchestershire before cooking.
I know some people who buy the most expensive cuts of meat and I mean expensive and then totally destroy the meat with a whole bunch of beef rub seasoning followed by a whole bunch of dry herbs and then soaked in a ton of worchestershire OVERNIGHT no less, by the time its cooked it tastes nothing like the meat but just of seasonings.Bleech.I cant convince them other wise.
I believe people tend to over marinade most meats any way, its supposed to enhance the meat not turn it it into a ,a a, I dont know what.

Thanks for not mentioning "Ketchup".

 

[Katie H]

Thanks for not mentioning "Ketchup".

Pure sacrilege!! Ketchup!

Buck and I enjoy a beautiful piece of beef with no additives except some garlic salt...after it's come off the grill. This way we can enjoy the full flavor of the meat.

I might also add that we like ours with the "moo" slapped out of it and the center nicely pink.

 

[Mr. P]

Pure sacrilege!! Ketchup!

Buck and I enjoy a beautiful piece of beef with no additives except some garlic salt...after it's come off the grill. This way we can enjoy the full flavor of the meat.

I might also add that we like ours with the "moo" slapped out of it and the center nicely pink.

Agreed! Anyone that adds ketchup OR cooks/orders well done a beautiful piece of beef should be shot on site!

 

[Katie H]

Sadly, Mr. P, my mother cooked steaks until they could be used to shingle a roof. I don't know how my father stood it because he liked his barely warmed up. I guess that's why he always ordered steak when we went out for dinner.

 

[jpmcgrew]

Ketchup?Ketchup? I love ketchup but only for certain things.Oh my goodness what better way to ruin a good piece of prime beef.,steak etc.Ketchup is pretty good on a burger but is much better on french fries.
Did you know that the germans like to eat their fries with mayonaise ?

 

[jpmcgrew]

Yes over cooking is so,so bad why do some people just not get it?I worked at a a place when someone would keep sending back a piece of meat over and over because they wanted it more done,we would just finally put it in the microwave and really kill it and then they were happy.SHOE LEATHER!