Andy M.
Certified Pretend Chef
Midday on a quiet Thursday, I was at the supermarket picking up some things for Easter dinner. Business was slow in the store so, as I was passing the meat counter, I stopped to chat with the meat manager, who according to his name tag, has been in the business for 37 years.
I have been thinking for some time about Angus/Black Angus beef and how it compared to the 'regular' beef we all have been buying for decades (more or less). I wondered if it was all a marketing gimmick or if there was a real difference.
I posed the question to my friendly meat manager. He was a little hesitant to answer at first, as if he was giving away a trade secret.
I put it to him like this, "If there were two steaks - same cut, cooked the same and one was Angus and the other not, could you tell the difference between the two?". He said he could not.
He also said, in response to another question, that comparing two pieces of raw beef he would not be able to tell the difference. That the only way the could tell it was Angus was that it came in boxes labeled Angus.
He also said some people claimed to taste a difference but he felt he could constrict an impartial test that would disprove that.
All in all a revealing discussion.
I have been thinking for some time about Angus/Black Angus beef and how it compared to the 'regular' beef we all have been buying for decades (more or less). I wondered if it was all a marketing gimmick or if there was a real difference.
I posed the question to my friendly meat manager. He was a little hesitant to answer at first, as if he was giving away a trade secret.
I put it to him like this, "If there were two steaks - same cut, cooked the same and one was Angus and the other not, could you tell the difference between the two?". He said he could not.
He also said, in response to another question, that comparing two pieces of raw beef he would not be able to tell the difference. That the only way the could tell it was Angus was that it came in boxes labeled Angus.
He also said some people claimed to taste a difference but he felt he could constrict an impartial test that would disprove that.
All in all a revealing discussion.