Question: Which Breed Tastes Best?

TODAY'S STEAKPERFECTION QUESTION

"what is the best type of cow for Ribeye steaks,
Simmental or Angus?"

SUMMARY

There are no scientifically valid studies that rank the taste of high-quality steak from Simmental, Angus or other breeds.  Much more research is required on the relationship between taste scores and cattle breeds. 

However, a few studies by some researchers tends to show that abundantly marbled steak from the following eight beef cattle breeds would rank for taste in the following order:

• Brahman
• Gelbvieh
• Limousin
• Charolais
• Hereford
• Simmental
• Angus
• Red Angus

Until further research is conducted, the accuracy of this and other rankings cannot be verified.

ASSUMPTIONS

SteakPerfection strives for precise accuracy.  Because the question above contains several ambiguities, we assume, for purposes of this answer, that the question is directed to the following ribeye steak:

• Steer not a cow (the highest quality steaks come from steers, which are male cattle that are castrated when young, and not from cows, which are female cattle that have given birth at least once);
• Purebred (which means that the cattle are not hybrid);
• Well-raised (which means that the cattle are raised in a healthy, low-stress environment);
• Best quality (which means here that the steak is either graded as USDA Prime Grade or is its equivalent in terms of the cattle's age and its marbling quality, and that it is dry-aged for a substantial period of time);  and
• Equivalently and properly cooked (which means that the steak from each breed is cooked in exactly the same manner and is cooked properly).

THE STUDIES

There are a very few scientifically reliable studies which compare cattle breed with taste.  We rely on the following three studies:

• J.D. Tatum et al.  2008.  Producing Flavorful Beef.  Online (last retrieved on 3/30/11).
• Wheeler, T. L., L. V. Cundiff, S. D. Shackelford, and M. Koohmaraie.  2001.  Characterization of biological types of cattle (Cycle V):  carcass traits and longissimus palatability.  J. Anim. Sci. 79:1209-1222.
• Wheeler, T. L., L.V. Cundiff, S. D. Shackelford, and M. Koohmaraie.  2005. Characterization of biological types of cattle (Cycle VII):  Carcass, yield, and longissimus palatability traits.  J. Anim. Sci. 83:196-207.

APPARENT RANKINGS

As shown in Tatum's study in Figure 6 at Page 18, the relationship between marbling scores and taste scores for eight beef cattle breeds is shown.

Caution: before analyzing the following taste scores,
note that the ranking below is unreliable,
for the reasons discussed in the next section.

Figure 6 shows that the following beef cattle breeds, marbling scores and taste scores, ranked by thier taste scores, from highests to lowest:

• Red Angus (590, 4.94)
• Angus (585, 4.93)
• Hereford (529, 4.90)
• Gelbvieh (506, 4.87)
• Charolais (518, 4.86)
• Simmental (529, 4.84)
• Limousin (504, 4.83)
• Brahman (473, 4.82)

As cautioned above, the foregoing ranking is very misleading.  The taste scores were awarded for steak from different breeds that were not controlled for their marbling scores.  In other words, the study compared the taste of steaks which had different marbling scores, which is like comparing apples with oranges.  For example, the steak from the Brahman had a marbling score of only 470, but it achieved a taste score that was almost as high as the steak from the Limousin, which had a much higher marbling score (504).

Thus, we adjusted the rankings in order to account for the differences in marbling.

ADJUSTED RANKINGS

For the reasons explained above, the Apparent Rankings in Figure 6 were adjusted to account for the differences in marbling.  In order to make this adjustment, we applied a linear regressional analysis.  We calculated the expected flavor score for each breed, based upon a marbling score of 900.

A marbling score of 900 equates to
an abundant marbling score of AB-00 and
to an intramuscular fat percentage (IMF%) of 11%.

The adjusted rankings for each breed are set forth below, ranked in order of their adjusted taste scores, from highests to lowest, and with their assumed marbling scores and adjusted taste scores:

• Brahman (900, 9.17)
• Gelbvieh (900, 8.66)
• Limousin (900, 8.63)
• Charolais (900, 8.44)
• Hereford (900, 8.34)
• Simmental (900, 8.23)
• Angus (900, 7.58)
• Red Angus (900, 7.54)

We ascribe little confidence to this ranking and are aware that a 900 marbling score for a Brahman steer is extremely rare.  However, these Adjusted Rankings tend to suggest that a steak from a Brahman steer with a 900 marbling score may achieve a significantly higher taste score than a similar steak from a Red Angus steer. 

Actual taste tests and research are necessary to verify these Adjusted Rankings.

ADDITIONAL RESEARCH

Based upon the foregoing, we cannot and do not conclude that these Adjusted Rankings are accurate.  Instead, we conclude only that the Apparent Rankings are inaccurate.  Moreover, we conclude that additional research is required to measure the taste scores of steak from different breeds but with the same, high marbling scores.

CONCLUSION

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2011 Quest for the Holy Grail SteakPerfection

2011 QUEST

Last year, we asked where can we find the Holy Grail of Steak. This year, we begin our quest anew and ask:

Assuming that price is absolutely no object, where can we purchase a USDA Prime Grade (or equivalent), top loin (New York strip) steak, with the following 16 pieces of information about the individual cattle which produced the steak:

1. Farm(s):  What is the name and address of each farm (the cow-calf, backgrounder and feedlot operator) where the cattle was raised?
2. Breed:  What is the breed (or hybrid) of the cattle?
3. Sex:  What is the sex (e.g. steer) of the cattle?
4. Sire:  What are the name and breed of the cattle's sire?
5. Dam:  What are the name and breed of the cattle's dam?
6. Date of Birth:  What is the date of birth of the calf?
7. Weight History:  What is the birth weight of the calf, its monthly weight throughout its live, and its live weight for slaughter?
8. Health History:  What is the name and date of each vaccine, worming, antibiotic, hormone and other medication and health procedure?
9. Castration:  If the calf is a steer, what is the date and method of castration?
10. Weaning Date:  What is the date when the calf was weaned?
11. Feeding History:  What is the name, date and exact type of each feed (e.g. the exact species of grass, foliage, and grain mixture) eaten by the cattle over its lifetime?
12. Trucking History:  What is the date and trucker for each movement of the cattle from one location to another?
13. USDA Grade:  What is the USDA grade, if applicable?
14. Date of Slaughter: What is the date of the cattle's slaughter?
15. Marbling Score:  What is beef's marbling score (or IMF%) at Rib 12/13?

Note: USDA Prime Grade or equivalent means that, if a carcass is not USDA Graded, it has the same marbling and aging characteristics as a USDA Prime Grade steak would have.

We call this background information the "provenance" of the steak, and this is our 2011 Quest for the Holy Grail of SteakPerfection.

PLEASE HELP

Is our quest doomed to failure?

We know that all the major conventional producers and processors keep detailed records about every individual animal they process and that they can trace each steak back to the animal that it came from.  But we also suspect that no producer or processor makes this information available to its customers, although we believe that we consumers have a right to know everything about our steak that the producers and processors know.

We also know that the non-conventional producers and processors (such as grass-fed and organic cattle producers) also keep detailed recoreds about every individual animal they process and that they too can trace each steak back to the animal that it came from.  The major problem for them is marbling score and age of their cattle, which is usually lean and older than conventional cattle.

Can we purchase an abundantly marbled, top loin (New York strip) steak from a young steer, with all the information listed above?  Please post your comments/feedback. Thanks in advance.

CONCLUSION

SteakPerfection welcomes your comments.  Please share them below.  SteakPerfection is a complex process that involves every detail, from pasture to plate.

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The foregoing is based upon a blog posted by SteakPerfection to CattleToday.com on 122810@2136

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"Generic" Steak or "Proven" Steak?

YOUR STEAKHOUSE WINE AND STEAK

Your favorite steakhouse probably takes justifiable pride in educating you and its other customers about wine, including the name of the farm which grows the grapes, the location, geography, terrain and weather of the farm, the type of grapes, the year of the crop and harvest, the age of the wine, etc.  The sum of all these details is the "provenance" of the wine.  A wine with a known provenance is called a "proven" wine (from the word provenance).  So your steakhouse tells you quite a lot of information about the provenance of the wine they serve you.

Yet, even though it is a steakhouse, it gives you almost no information about the provenance of your steak!  Your steakhouse doesn't reveal the name or location of the farm, the cattle breed, sex, date of birth, age, the feed, or other information about the cattle or steak.  All these and many more attributes affect the taste and texture of your steak.  Yet your steakhouse does not give you any of the provenance, because the steakhouse itself has none of this information.

So your steakhouse tells you more about your wine than about your steak. You are informed about the difference between a Cabernet Sauvignon and a Merlot, but nothing about whether your steak is male (steer) or female (heifer), whether its breed is a Shorthorn or Friesian, whether the calf was born in the Spring or Fall, whether it was fed grain or only grass, whether it was raised in the snow or in the desert, and so forth. You know everything about your wine and can even visit the winery, but you know almost nothing about your steak.

Why?

Because, although beef processors keep detailed records of the cattle they process, they provide none of that information to the distributors. As a result, the butchers, markets, steakhouses and you know nothing about where the farm or cattle where your steak came from.  The beef industry today operates in exactly the same way as the wine industry in past decades.

"GENERIC" JUG WINE

In the 1960s, most Americans drank "jug wine" at their favorite steakhouse -- jug wine like Gallo Hearty Burgundy.

At that time, there were many different grape farms, which grew many different types of wine grapes (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc, etc.).  The grape farms sold their grapes to a central processor (a winery), which mixed and blended the grapes together to produce "generic" wine. 

In the 1960's, this "generic" or "jug wine" was almost the only wine available, and the consumer had no information about the provenance of the "generic" wine, including the name of the winery, the location of the vineyard, the type of grape, the year it was grown, etc.

"PROVEN" WINE (WITH A PROVENANCE)

In the 1970s, the best wineries began to teach consumers about the differences in grapes and geography, and Americans began to demand wine with a vintage, varietel, and known provenance.

Wineries taught consumers, who demanded that vendors not sell only "generic" wine but also "proven" wine -- wine that was sold with a disclosed provenance.

Today, "jug wine" has all but disappeared from the shelves of American markets, having given way to the era of "proven" wine -- with a known provenance.

"GENERIC" STEAK

Steak in 2011 is like wine was in the 1960s. Today's steak is like "jug wine" -- from an unknown farm, and unknown breed, and unknown age, etc.

Beef processors today treat cattle like wineries treated grapes in the 1960s.  Beef processors purchase dozens of breeds of cattle from thousands of individual farmers.  Then the processors mix and process all the cattle together, where the cattle are slaughtered and the beef is cut.  At the end of the process, the beef is boxed, and no purchaser can know anything about the farm that raised the cattle or the cattle's breed, sex, date of birth, feed, etc.

Thus, Americans today can purchase only "generic" steak.  A "generic" steak means a steak which comes from an unknown heifer, steer, cow or bull, with an unknown breed, unknown date of birth, raised at an unknown farm, fed an unknown diet with undetermined additional hormones and antibiotics, etc.  Unfortunately, the only steak available at almost all steakhouses and butchers today is "generic" steak.

In contrast, a "proven" steak (from the word "provenance") includes all the details of the steak's origin, including its breed, sex, age, feed, etc. This detailed information may be printed on a label or may be available online.  "Proven" steak is extremely rare today, sold at only the most exclusive (and expensive) steakhouses and by only the very best butchers and markets.

Today, we live at the beginning of a new era, in which the consumer will be able to find "proven" steak, not just "generic" steak.  Steak with a known provenance will become more widely available, where the name of the farm, the breed of the cattle, its age and breed, and other attributes can be determined by the consumer.

"PROVEN" STEAK (WITH A PROVENANCE)

On March 20, 2010, at the annual North American Meat Processors Management Conference in Chicago, a panel of distinguished American chefs explained the benefits of offering "proven" steak.  Some beef processors continue to object to the extra work involved in tracking the provenance of each head of cattle.

However, as Carrie Oliver of The Artisan Beef Institute has been teaching for years, the wine industry went through the same "provenance" issue two generations ago.  In the 1960s, the wineries which did not recognize the beginning of the new era of "proven" wines were doomed to fail. 

Today, the beef processors, steakhouses, butchers and markets which do not recognize the end of the era of "generic" steak and the beginning of the era of the "proven" steak are doomed to fail, just as the Gallo lost the market dominance of its Hearty Burgundy jug wine.

SteakPerfection welcomes the day when a steak buyer at a steakhouse or butcher can decide whether to purchse a "generic" steak or a "proven" steak. 

EXAMPLE STEAK INFORMATION

Here is an example and sample of the information that will soon be available with the purchase of a "proven" steak. This type of information will be avaialbe, not on the label or menu, but online at the farm's website and with the entry of the steak's serial number:

• On September 18, 2009, the male calf was born at the CC Farms in San Luis Obispo, California;
• The breed of the calf was Friesian;
• The calf was castrated at birth, thus becoming a steer, since castration at birth results in increased marbling (but decreased yield);
• During the 8 months from September 18, 2009 through May 18, 2010, the calf was milk-fed at CC Farms;
• On May 18, 2010, at the age of 8 months, the calf was weaned and trucked humanely and with minimal stress by C. Trucking from CC Farms to VV Farms in Brawley, California;
• During the 10 months from May 18, 2010 through March 18, 2011, the steer was raised at VV Farms, where it was fed a 100% vegetarian diet consisting of a mixture of corn, barley, alfalfa, soy and molasses, with the addition of vitamins and minerals but no hormones or antibiotics;
• On March 18, 2011, the steer was slaughtered at the age of 18 months at BB Processing, in Central City, California, where it was inspected, graded as USDA Prime Grade, scored as Abundantly-Marbled-40, and processed into various subprimals, including two Short Loin subprimals, which were cryovaced and boxed;
• During the 14 days from March 20 through April 3, 2011, the short loin was wet-aged in the cryovac package at a temperature of 33°;
• During the 56 days from April 3 through May 29, 2011, the short loin was dry-aged at Bob's Butcher Shop in West Beach, California, in an aging room with a temperature of 33°, humidity of 80%, air-flow of 0.5 meters/second, and bacterial control of 100% UV;
• On May 29, 2011, the short loin was removed from the aging room, trimmed of fat, and cut into the several 2"-thick steaks, which included 3 Porterhouse steaks;  3 T-bone steaks;  and one loin steak (which is the authentic Delmonico steak);  and
• On Memorial Day, May 30, 2011, the top loin was grilled to perfection and enjoyed.  

If you want a "proven" steak, then the solution is for you and your friends to ask your favorite steakhouse and your favorite butcher to give you the same information about your steak as they do about your wine.  Encourage them to try, and give them a little time to succeed.  But if they cannot give you this information, then give your business to steakhouses and butchers who do provide information about your steak.

CONCLUSION

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Trim The Fat Before Grilling The Steak

This morning I was asked, "Do you eat the fat on a prime steak?"

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

There should be no fat on any grilled steak. Period.

There should be no fat layer or fat chunks on a grilled steak, whether or not it is USDA Prime Grade. Any untrimmed fat layer and chunks will burn and taste horrible, and it will harm the taste of the entire steak.

On the other hand, the fat layer and chunks should not be trimmed off a steak which is cooked at a low temperature. In that case, the fat melts and makes the steak juicier and tastier.

Read on for the details and reasons.

MARBLING

Marbling does not refer to the fat layer around a steak or to the large chunks of fat on the interior of a steak.

Instead, marbling refers to the tiny specks and thin streaks of fat in the steak meat. These tiny specks and thin streaks are called "marbling" because they resemble the white streak in Italian black marble.

Marbling itself is made from fat, but it does not mean the thick layer of fat on the outside of a steak or the large chunks of fat that are sometimes found on the inside of a steak.

Marbling is always desirable, but whether the fat layer and chunks are desireable depends on the cooking method.

BUTCHERS' STEAKS

When steaks are sold by butchers, the fat layer around the steak and the chunks of fat inside the meat itself are rarely trimmed off. There are two reasons for this.

The first is that, since steak is sold by the pound, the butcher wants to increase the weight, by leaving as much fat as possible. Therefore, butchers usually sell steak with untrimmed fat, since it increases their profits.

The second reason is that butchers do not know how you are planning to cook your steak: at a low temperature, or at a high temperature. If you cook at a low temperature, then you will probably want to cook the untrimmed steak. But if you cook at a high temperature, then you will probably trim the steak yourself to remove the outside fat layer and large interior fat chunks.

LOW TEMPERATURE COOKING

If you're planning to cook the steak at a relatively low temperature (e.g. sauteeing at 350F), you want the steak with a thick fat layer and abundant fat chunks. As the steak cooks, the fat layer and chunks melt away into the meat.

When cooked with the fat at a low temperature, the melted fat enhances the juiciness and flavor of the steak meat, and even the remaining steak fat may be eaten and taste good.

HIGH TEMPERATURE COOKING

However, if you're planning to cook the steak at a relatively high temperature (e.g. grilling at 750F), you yourself will have to trim off the fat layer and the big fat chunks in the meat. Why? Because otherwise, when your untrimmed steak is cooked at a temperature over 400F, the fat doesn't melt, it burns.

Beef fat has a "smoke point" of 400F. The smoke point means the temperature at which fat begins to break down. Every fat (including cooking oils and butter) has a different smoke point. When fat exceeds its smoke point, the fat breaks down and takes on a foul odor and taste, which it transfers to any other food in its presence.

In the case of an untrimmed steak that is grilled over live coals, the fat layer and chunks immediately burn and fill the air with acrid smoke. The burning fat ruins the flavor of both the fat and the meat around it.

Moreover, scientific studies are beginning to show that grilling an untrimmed steak creates "free radicals", which may pose a cancer risk. Whether or not further studies prove or disprove the cancer link, the fact is that burned fat tastes bad and makes the steak meat taste bad.

Therefore, a steak that is to be grilled should be first trimmed of the surrounding layer of fat and any fat chunks inside the meat.

CONCLUSION

SteakPerfection welcomes your comments.  Please share them below.  SteakPerfection is a complex process that involves every detail, from pasture to plate.

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BBQ: Different Styles of Sauces

The following is an article that I wrote in 1991,

when I was President of the California Barbeque Association,

entitled "Experts know the many different styles of traditional barbecue sauces".

INTRODUCTION

Traditional United States barbecue includes many different sauces, and barbecue veterans must have a familiarity with the many styles.

Most sauces have their origin in different regions, and this is the most common way to classify them: Eastern North Carolina, Western North Carolina, South Carolina, etc.

But in this story, we classify them by color -- the same sauces with a different way of looking at them.

CLEAR

The most basic and earliest of all traditional barbecue sauces is the simple Eastern North Carolina vinegar sauce, a clear sauce made simply of cider vinegar with a little salt and pepper. The origin of this clear vinegar is English ketchup: early ketchup included no tomatoes, which were of course unknown in Europe prior to the discovery of the New World.

Clear vinegar sauce is used on whole hog barbecue, the staple of the Eastern half of the State.

LIGHT RED

Western North Carolina deserves credit for putting the tomato into barbecue sauce. But in a manner befitting Southern traditions of moderation, their sauce starts with the clear sauce and adds a little tomato for color and flavor and perhaps a little sugar for sweetness.

The traditional Western North Carolina sauce is neither sweet nor thick. The color is light red and the dominant flavor is the vinegar, tempered with the tomato and perhaps sugar. In this part of the State, barbecue can mean either whole hog or just pork shoulder, and this Western North Carolina light red sauce goes well with both.

YELLOW

Vinegar complements pork, because it cuts the taste of fat. Add a little salt and pepper, and you have a Eastern North Carolina clear sauce, described above, which is the foundation and base of almost all other sauces. Thus, Western North Carolina cooks added a little tomato for color and flavor.

In South Carolina, instead of adding a little tomato, the cooks added a little mustard to the foundation. The traditional sauce is light in appearance and texture -- watery, not thick.

Cooks today will add many other ingredients, such as honey, onions and peppers like paprika and cayenne, so that many yellow sauces today are thick, sweet and spicy. But the traditional Carolina yellow sauce is not thick, sweet or spicy.

WHITE

The theme of vinegar continued into Alabama. The basic clear sauce of vinegar with a little sugar, salt and pepper was enhanced with eggs, and the result was Alabama white sauce.

Of course, eggs blended with fat and added to the basic clear sauce of vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper is mayonnaise -- a French word for a sauce that was in widespread use in Europe and America by the late 17th Century. To be more precise, if the fat is from lard or (nowadays) vegetable oil, then it is called mayonnaise; if the fat is butter, then it is called hollandaise. Mayonnaise and hollandaise developed because, without refrigeration, fresh eggs could not be preserved and thus were unknown in areas far from chicken farms. When blended with fat, salt and vinegar, however, eggs could be stored and transported.

Traditional Alabama white sauce is not heavy, like modern mayonnaise, but is very light, almost watery in texture, with the taste of vinegar tempered with (and not overwhelmed by) the taste of the eggs. Additionally, the color is not so much white as a pale yellow.

BLACK

Kentucky lies next to Alabama, but for reasons now lost in the mists of history, cooks around Owensboro developed a black sauce, which is served traditionally with Mutton (old sheep).

The traditional sauce begins with the basic clear vinegar sauce, to which Kentucky cooks added dark molasses. Molasses, of course, is a by-produce of sugar production and adds sweetness and sometimes bitterness as well. (Recall that the educated human tongue distinguishes only four taste elements: sweet, bitter, sour and salty.) Molasses is the most well-known ingredient which imparts both a sweet and a bitter flavor.

When dark molasses is added to vinegar, salt and pepper, the result is a strong sauce perfectly suited to the strong taste of mutton.

MEMPHIS RED

Memphis is on the Mississippi River in the middle of the South, and the traditional Memphis sauce reflects this centrist theme. The traditional Memphis sauce combines the elements of the South into a sauce which is medium-bodied, medium sweet and medium spicy.

Traditional Memphis red sauce relies on the tomato for its body and combines molasses for its flavor and texture. The result is a rich, red sauce which is not too sweet, not too thick, and not too spicy.

TEXAS RED

Traditional Texas red sauce starts with a base of Memphis red, but the taste is enhanced and sharpened with jalapeno, serrano or other chile peppers. As a result, Texas red sauce has an edge unknown in the traditional sauces of other regions.

Traditional Texas red sauce tends to be very thick -- thicker than Memphis red, because it includes onions and other thickening ingredients. The result is a sauce which is very different from and heavier than Memphis red in texture, flavor and spiciness.

KANSAS CITY RED

If Memphis is the center of the South, then Kansas City is the center of the country. The traditional end of the cattle drives from Texas, and the beginning of the railroad east, Kansas City produced an eclectic barbecue sauce which combined almost all the elements of the sauces form other traditional regions. The result is the thick, red, sweet, tangy barbecue sauce that most Americans today identify as "the" authentic barbecue sauce.

Traditional Kansas City red sauce contains the ingredients of almost all the other traditional sauces (excepting eggs). Thus, it includes the vinegar, salt and pepper of the basic clear sauce; the tomatoes, introduced in Carolina red sauce and enhanced with sugar for their flavor and texture in Memphis red sauce; mustard, first used in South Carolina yellow sauce; molasses, used in Kentucky black sauce; chile peppers, introduced in Texas red sauce.

SUMMARY

No one can be considered a barbecue expert without knowing the history and styles of the traditional barbecue sauces. An expert barbecue cook can prepare each of the sauces to perfection, and an expert barbecue judge can identify each by its appearance and taste alone.

The sauces discussed here include only the major traditional sauces of the United States. There may be other traditional sauces of the United States -- perhaps a green sauce or orange sauce. (Please email if you have any such information.)

This story does not address the evolution of these traditional sauces. Today, for example, Alabama white sauce is usually made with modern mayonnaise, blended with vegetable oil, so it is truly white in color, while the traditional sauce was a pale yellow. Moreover, most modern variations of these traditional sauces include ingredients not found in the originals, as a result of which the appearance and tastes have evolved. (This is not to say that they are better or worse, just different. An expert can tell the difference and determine whether or now a particular sauce is well-made and a worthy example of its heritage.)

This story also does not discuss traditional sauces from outside the United States. Since barbecue was "rediscovered again" from the Taino in the Caribbean by the Spanish Explorers, the islands certainly have a rightful claim to the "most traditional" of traditional barbecue sauces, including the sweet-sour sauces with tamarind from Jamaica and environs. But this story does not address them.

Finally, this story does not describe the many hundreds or thousands of barbecue sauces which are available now, both throughout the United States and around the world -- not processed sauces, but those hand-crafted examples of culinary excellence. If chemistry -- the study of combining about 100 different elements to form new materials -- has just scratched the surface of possible combinations (dealing with only 100 different elements), then the study of barbecue and its sauces has yet to reach its infancy. How many thousands or even millions of potential ingredients have not yet been tried in a barbecue sauce? How many fruits and vegetables, in addition to tomatoes and onions? How many peppers, in addition to red pepper, cayenne, paprika, jalapenos and serranos?

Barbecue experts stand with one foot firmly anchored in the rich history of barbecue, and the other foot grounded in the limitless discoveries yet to come.

CONCLUSION

SteakPerfection welcomes your comments.  Please share them below.  SteakPerfection is a complex process that involves every detail, from pasture to plate.

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BBQ: Owensboro Mutton with Black Sauce

Owensboro Mutton Barbeque

Perhaps the most unusual barbeque tradition in the United States is the Owensboro (Kentucky) tradition of barbequeing mutton. Mutton is an old sheep, so its meat is naturally tough. Therefore, the barbeque cooking method, which is smoking the meat for many hours at a temperature of around 250F, is perfect for mutton.

Black Sauce

Kentucky lies next to Alabama, but for reasons now lost in the mists of history, cooks around Owensboro developed a black sauce, which is served traditionally with Mutton (old sheep).

The traditional sauce begins with the basic clear vinegar sauce, to which Kentucky cooks added dark molasses. Molasses, of course, is a by-product of sugar production and adds sweetness and sometimes bitterness as well. (Recall that the educated human tongue distinguishes only four taste elements: sweet, bitter, sour and salty.) Molasses is the most well-known ingredient which imparts both a sweet and a bitter flavor.

When dark molasses is added to vinegar, salt and pepper, the result is a strong sauce perfectly suited to the strong taste of mutton.

CONCLUSION

SteakPerfection welcomes your comments.  Please share them below.  SteakPerfection is a complex process that involves every detail, from pasture to plate.

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(The section on Black Sauce was first published by Joe O'Connell in 1991 for the California Barbeque Association.)

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