Taste of different breeds

InchicoreDude

Not sure if this is suited to a farming forum or would butchers be more experts.

But I always wondered if different breeds of cattle tasted differently.

Often you see "Angus Beef" advertised as if Angus is the best meat. I think I only ever saw "Limousine Beef" advertised once and that was outsde Ireland.

Is there actually a difference in the taste of different breeds?Is there a difference in the quality of meat? Why are companies so eager to advertise that it is Angus meat?

To me, I think Limousine & Charlois breeds are usally far more impressive than Angus when I look at the animal.

JohnBoy

Different breeds produce different styles of meat alright. The angus and herefords tend to produce a more marbled steak.

marbling is the presence of small veins of fat through the muscle, and much and all as the healthy eating people would hate to admit it, fat tastes good.

It also really helps keep the meat moist while it's cooking.


A limo or charolais is a far more impressive beast, but wouldnt have the same marbling. I'd love to see a sample of the same cut of beef from the various breeds for comparison. I often wonder what belgian blues must be like given they're so muscled.

ZETOR_IS_BETTER

^^^^^^^^

Crikey, John is making sure he is getting his point across anyway

JohnBoy

arse. twas acting the bollox, I'd actually given up trying to post, didnt realise that not only had it gotten through, but it had done so lots of times.




EDIT: That's better.... it let me delete the four extra posts.

ZETOR_IS_BETTER

JohnBoy wrote: »

arse. twas acting the bollox, I'd actually given up trying to post, didnt realise that not only had it gotten through, but it had done so lots of times.




EDIT: That's better.... it let me delete the four extra posts.

They were excellant points though

8k2q1gfcz9s5d4

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00k9bms

If you can try and get that on youtube it will answer a lot of the OPs questions. I seen it last aug and it really opened my eyes a lot.

ravima

I saw a Charolais joint longside a Freisan joint once in my butchers. There was no fat at all on the Charolais one. Friesan one was fatty.

Personally, I buy Angus meat, but that's cos I like Angus. Aldi ro Irish Angus meat and I note that Lidl are doing Hereford. I haven't tried the Hereford, but the Angus one is lovely.

Tesco also do AA . I understand that Tesco pay an extra 5c lb to farmer for the meat.

AA finish cheaper than the continentals, but the continentals will weigh more so give the farmer a bigger cheque. Whether its a bigger profit is open to discussion!

himwdah

does it not depend on what they are fed, as much as the breed?

dar31

if you are ever in paris there is a group of restruants that do steaks from 7 differant breeds of cattle
blonds
charlois
limo
aubrac
salers

http://www.hippopotamus.fr/index.php?c=hippoetviande
someone who understands frech can work it out, google translate wont work on page

Manoffeeling

A neighbour of mine put a bbx on the freezer. They all got lock jaw!! Like eating lino they said!

dzer2

There was a comparision test done on ear to the ground years ago 4 different breeds were bred and slaughtered and cooked and tested by about 100 people. Angus won on that day I think

DMAXMAN

Manoffeeling wrote: »

A neighbour of mine put a bbx on the freezer. They all got lock jaw!! Like eating lino they said!

have eaten bbx beef from a friends herd and cant say there was any problem with it , it was actually lovely. was very lean and would not want to be overcooked imo. it was from a 20 month old heifer that had got ad-lib meal for two months pre slaughter. also was hung for 3 weeks before cutting up carcase

Markcheese

A few years ago I heard results from BBC radio 4 good food competition , anyhow they had a beef taste test and winners were geurnsey Charolais cross ...
Best steaks I've ever had here were dexter sirloins ( and they'd been frozen)

JohnBoy

Markcheese wrote: »

they had a beef taste test and winners were geurnsey Charolais cross ...

Jerseys too are supposed to give a great tasting cross. the challenge is to get them to produce the meat, but supposedly what little they produce is top stuff.

bogman_bass

but the fat with jerseys tends to be yellow instead of white which can put people off.
Not that that means anything about the flavour...

Dont be daft

Hereford prime killed in AIBP Nenagh won a best steak in the World competition last year so I'd rate herefords very high up on the taste scale.

When you see the Hereford Prime Scheme/Angus Premium in place thats a fairly good indication. You can spot a hereford steak no bother when raw, the marbling is unreal.

As for what its fed, I'm nearly 100% sure Teagasc or maybe Bord Bia did taste tests with beef that was raised on a grass only diet and beef that was raised on a combination of grass and concentrates.
Apparently none of the testers could tell the difference.

InchicoreDude

Thanks for the replies. Interesting stuff.

And wow, this farming forum has gotten really popular since I was here before!

Kovu

Dexter or Irish Moiled have been the best I've tasted so far. Yet I may have eaten Hereford and not known it.
Does growth rate not have something to do with it? The slower growing or hardier animal has different fat layers so it creates the marbling? Or maybe I'm gone daft :P