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What in your opinion is the best tasting breed of cattle? Lets take price out as a factor.
I did not know much about different cattle breeds, and the marbling. All I knew was Kobe/Wagyu has the best marbling. But then I learned there is another breed from Europe called Charolais that also have marbling on par with Kobe or it is said
I heard of angus beef too, but I never knew why that prefix of Angus is significant. I cannot taste the difference. The supermarket and the restaurants dont tell you what type of breed their product is. I wish they did though. I wish supermarket labels had the breed listed. In all honesty, I also dont think Kobe/Wagyu is that great either. I dont taste the difference.
I don't think breed matters.
The highest quality steaks come from steers, pure breed and well raised on quality pastures.
And even that doesn't matter if the cook can't cook...
We raised feeder calves when I was growing up and weaned the calves in the summer and fed them out and sold the following year. They were pulled off the pastures and we fed mixed feed and added additional grain for weight. For the ones we butchered, we doubled the grain for more fat and flavor. I don't know if the breed really matters but you want them to put on weight fast. There are breeds that are easier to manage and lower stress. That probably helps. The seasoning helps a lot, especially the salt.
Genuine pasture raised, and not finished on grain. Breed irrelevant.
Agreed. We put a 3 yo Longhorn bull in the freezer due to an injury. That breed is not known for marbling, and being a bull, he was more muscular than a steer. heifer or cow...he was on nothing but grass and he was some of the best tasting beef we've ever had.
I always shake my head when I see organic, grass fed beef selling for a premium...when it is way cheaper for the producer to raise on grass....no grains, no growth hormones. Marketing magic I guess.
The best beef I've ever had was Kobe in Tokyo (I dont know which type of Kobe it was, except I'm positive that it wasn't the super high end, ridiculously expensive type.)
That said, the best MEAT I've ever tasted was ostrich carpaccio in Capetown, SA.
Beef is most affected by processing and aging. Then the flavor is greatly affected by what the animal was eating. You are very unlikely to buy properly aged beef at the supermarket. However, there is a difference in the choice grade Angus and the select grade beef I buy. The choice grade has very obviously been aged longer. The select often smells green and it has a higher moisture content.
A local market sells Wagyu beef and it is pretty darn good. The same market also sells certified Hereford, and that is quite good. The Hereford is not graded but, visually, it looks like choice grade.
The flavor of Holstein is excellent and the texture of the meat is quite fine. It's not economical to raise as beef, so you won't be finding any certified Holstein in the market.
In my opinion, the flavor of Angus has slipped. It has become too mild. The Angus breeders have a great program where they breed for size of rib eye, low birth weights, ease of calving, amount of marbling, but they forgot to breed for flavor.
That is not true about Charolais cattle. They are a double muscled breed and the meat has a tendency to be a bit tougher. They don't put on any more or any less fat than any other cattle breed.
If you can afford it and you can find the farmer, you can buy a side from someone who is raising beef for their own table so they aren't skimping of feed quality and care. The breed doesn't matter much. It is more about what is fed and how the animal is butchered and aged.
Last edited by oregonwoodsmoke; 01-17-2021 at 11:47 AM..
Adding this: my local market that sells certified Hereford, sells a rib eye that is aged for 5 weeks. That will show you what aging does for beef. That is one spectacular piece of beef ( and not cheap).
The really expensive steak houses are serving a very well aged steak. You know, the kind of meat you can't buy for yourself and you have to go and shell out the huge price at their restaurant in order to get one of theirs.
Agreed. We put a 3 yo Longhorn bull in the freezer due to an injury. That breed is not known for marbling, and being a bull, he was more muscular than a steer. heifer or cow...he was on nothing but grass and he was some of the best tasting beef we've ever had.
I always shake my head when I see organic, grass fed beef selling for a premium...when it is way cheaper for the producer to raise on grass....no grains, no growth hormones. Marketing magic I guess.
Regards
Gemstone1
I also like grass fed meat, but my understanding of the price difference, is that it takes the animal much longer to gain weight & get to the right size for harvesting. Grain makes them grow much quicker. So as they harvest fewer animals, the cost is more.
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