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As some have said, I believe it is the corn fed / feed lot fattening issue that causes bland beef in the USA. OTOH, I patronize a couple of places that only serve organic beef, mostly grass fed (occasionally corn finished, but at most), and there's plenty of flavor, plus no worries of growth hormone, antibiotics, etc.
Interestingly enough, Australian and Argentine beef are mostly grass fed, and IMO some of the most delicious beef there is. In the US, just take care of where you source your beef. I don't eat beef often, but when I do I want really good beef. One cut I've used is the beef chuck shoulder tender filet, a usually delicious cut with more flavor and leaner than filets mignon or IMO. And if you want to save a bundle at home, ask your butcher for beef chuck shoulder tender filet – sometimes sold under the name "T major roast" for $7.99 a pound around Sacramento, CA. Corti Bros. (Sacramento) butcher Mike Carroll told Allen Pierleoni of the Sacramento Bee, "It comes off the top of the cross-rib shoulder and weighs between three-quarters of a pound and a pound," Carroll said. "It just sits up there and doesn't do much (work). Like the beef tenderloin, it's just along for the ride. That's what makes it so tender. It's a very lean piece of meat that's been forgotten by most butchers. Traditionally, it's thrown into the trim bucket for hamburger." http://media.sacbee.com/smedia/2013/...Va7m.Hi.4.jpeg Sacramento Bee photo - "T major roast" We brought some home and cooked it two ways. The first steak was cut into medallions, rubbed with olive oil, coarse-ground black pepper and coarse Vignalta herbed salt from Italy, and pan-seared in olive oil to medium rare. The meat was shockingly full of flavor and more tender than many filet mignons (sic) we've had. We seasoned the second steak the same way and put it under the oven broiler, turned it several times, removed it and let it rest, then cut it into slices. The rare beef was delicious, but the pan-fried version was better. Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/03/06/523...#storylink=cpy |
Dang it... had my hopes up. All I saw was "beef tasting" ... that's a tasting tour I would totally sign up for and get cow-drunk.
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I'd much rather eat bison than beef. Bison steaks taste to me like I remember beef steak tasting back when I was a kid. Bison is lean, has a slight sweet taste to it, and needs to be cooked rare.
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That is horrifying. Makes me glad to know my farmer!
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Originally Posted by dancingtravel
(Post 24368716)
That is horrifying. Makes me glad to know my farmer!
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My simple observation is that US supermarket beef (including from the likes of Whole Foods) is that it's more tender but less tasty than beef in much of the rest of the Westrern world.
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North American beef for mass consumption has been tasting bland since producers decided to work towards the largest cattle brought to market in the shortest period of time. The result is bland, watery beef that while tender is quite tasteless.
I was reminded of this after spending a month in Namibia where the beef is free-range, hormone-free and grass fed. It's a little tougher but the taste is magnificent (the pork was very good too.) My first restaurant steak after returning home was a sad excuse for a piece of meat. |
One of the major issues with US beef is that fast food chains are still the largest purchaser and the 3 big packaging companies raise the beef for them. The fast food chains what uniform flavor and the only way to do that with organic material is to breed it less flavorful, then add stuff back in processing.
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