Terminology: "Age Verified"

AGE VERIFIED

The term "age verified" has a precise and important meaning in the beef cattle industry. The term means that the age of the cattle has been tracked and verified.

This permits cattle purchasers to know the exact age of the cattle and beef purchasers to know the exact age when the cattle was processed.

IMPORTANCE OF AGE VERIFICATION

The term "age verified" became important in recent years, primarily because of the 1990's outbreak of "mad cow disease" (Bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE). BSE is a cattle disease that affects only older cattle and is a major health risk for humans who eat infected meat.

To eliminate the human risk of BSE, several countries adopted regulations to prohibit trade in cattle older than 20 months and to require that all cattle be age verified.

SIMILAR TERMS

There are several similar terms that are used in the industry that have similar but very different meanings. These include the following:

• Source Verified
• Traceable
• Trackback
• Brand
• Vintage
• Provenance Verified or Proven

Some of these terms, like Source Verified, Traceable and Trackback, mean only that the beef can be traced back to each farm and processor where the cattle was raised and the beef processed.

Other terms, like Vintance and Provenance Verified, mean that the beef is sold with information about the ranch/farm(s) where the cattle was born and raised (including the ranch's terrain and weather), the cattle breed, sex (e.g. steer or heifer), diet, health and care (including medications, vaccines and antibiotics), the processing plant, the beef's USDA Grade, its marbling score, etc.

It is important to remember that age verification concerns only one factor: the age of the animal. Similarly, source verification concerns only one factor: where the animal and meat were raised and processed.

CONCLUSION

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Two Buck Chuck and Your $50 Steak

You know more about a bottle of Two Buck Chuck than you know about your $50 Steak.

TWO BUCK CHUCK

"Two Buck Chuck" means the bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon wine, which is sold at Trader Joe's for $1.99 ("Two Bucks") and which is produced by the Charles Shaw vineyard ("Chuck") .

The wine label tells the story of the wine:

• The vineyard is Charles Shaw, and the grapes are grown, fermented, aged and bottled in California;
• The wine in produced from the Cabernet Sauvignon grape; and
• The wine was produced from grapes grown in a specified year and aged for a specified amount of time.

In summary, when you purchase a bottle of "Two Buck Chuck", you not only know all the details of the wine but you can be certain that, if you purchase a second bottle, it will taste exactly like the first, because it too was grown at the same vineyard from the same grape and in the same year.

YOUR $50 STEAK

You might buy a $50 steak at Morton's, Flemings, Ruth's Cris or other steakhouse or restaurant, and you might purchase an expensive steak from your local buther or supermarket.

When you do:

• You won't know the name of the ranch, the terrain, the weather or the feed where the cattle was raised;
• You won't know the breed of the cattle; and
• You won't know the age of the cattle or steak.

In short, when you purchase a steak, you know none of the details about where your steak came from.

COMPARISON

You know much more about a bottle of Two Buck Chuck than your $50 steak.

• ORIGIN: Even a cheap bottle of wine gives the name, location, terrain and weather where the grapes are grown, but steak from cattle raised on many different ranches, locations, terrain, weather and feed are mixed and packaged together;
• BREED: Even the cheapest bottle of wine names the variety of grape that was used to make it, but steak from many different breeds are mixed and packaged together; and
• AGE: Wine labels disclose the year of production, which is very important for a consumer to find the same wine taste, but steak from different years are mixed and packaged together.

DUPLICATE THE TASTE

When you purchase even a cheap wine like Two Buck Chuck, you know all the details about the wine. As a result, if you like that particular wine, you can purchase an identical bottle (the same vineyard, grape, location and year), and you will experience the identical taste. Different bottles of the same wine will taste exactly the same.

However, when you purchase a steak at a steakhouse or butcher, you know none of the details about the steak. As a result, if you like that particular steak, you can never duplicate the taste of that steak, since you don't know any of the details about the steak (the ranch, breed, year etc.). Different steaks at the same steakhouse or butcher do not taste the same, because they come from a single box in which steaks from different ranches, breeds and years are mixed together.

CONCLUSION

Consumers should demand to know as much about their steak as they know about their wine. Consumers have a right to know as much about their steak as the rancher who raised the cattle, including the geography, terrain, weather, cattle breed, sex, feed, age, health and care of the cattle.

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Steak Myth #1: Searing Seals in Juices

Steak Myth #1: Searing Seals in Juices

A prevalent myth in grilling steaks is that "searing a steak seals in its juices."

Fact: Searing Does Not Seal in Juices

Searing a steak creates no “seal” or barrier that prevents juices from escaping from the inside.

Steaks do not have pores. Pores exist only in the skin (epidermis) of an animal. Searing the outside of a steak does not close any pores or create any other seal or barrier. In fact, rather than sealing in the juices, searing the meat does almost the opposite: it dries out and removes juices (moisture) near the steak's surface, so searing causes a loss of moisture rather than protecting against it.

Searing Is Important!

There is an important reason to sear a steak, but it is not to "seal in" the juices. Instead, the reason to sear a steak is to caramelize (i.e., in scientific terms, to use the Maillard and browning reactions) to create a flavorful exterior crust.

When a steak is grilled in the heat and smoke of a wood fire, the result produces several desirable contrasts:

• Taste: the caramelized exterior versus the beefy interior;
• Texture: the crunchy exterior versus the soft interior;
• Juiciness: the dry exterior versus the juicy interior;
• Appearance: the dark-brown exterior versus the pinkish-red interior.

In short, searing a steak creates a contrasting exterior taste, texture, juiciness and appearance.

Harold McGee

Harold McGee, the esteemed author and food scientist, explains, in "On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen", p. 112:

SEARING IN JUICENESS AND FLAVOR

There is one misconception about meat cookery that still enjoys great popularity, even though it has long since been discredited. Does the gist of this description of cooking sound familiar?

"Thus as the exterior pores contract, the moisture contained in the object cannot escape any more, but is imprisoned there when the pores close."

This quotation comes not from a blurb for convection ovens, but from Aristotle's treatise on meteorology (Book 4). The theory has changed little except for the terminology -- today we would say that the food's juices are "sealed in" by high temperatures, keeping it moist and tender.

McGee then traces the history of this theory through the 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th Centuries, including the mid-19th Century explanation of the "science" for the "sealed in" theory by the German chemist, Justus von Liebig in his "Researches on the Chemistry of Food. McGee continues:

We know today that most of [Liebig's science] is simply not true. . . . Any crust formed around the surface of the meat is not waterproof. . . . But in its day, Liebig's account answered the unspoken need for some rational, systematic approach to cookery. . . . But even after Liebig's rationale for the early-searing method had been disproven, the method itself lived on under various guises, often rather eccentric. . . . [T]he grounds of the argument have shifted since Liebig's time. The issue is no longer nutritional value or juiciness, but taste. And here we are on firmer ground. We do know for a fact that whether done early or late, searing does not seal, but it does brown: it won't prevent flavor from escaping, but it creates flavor via the complex browning reactions. . . . So there is a good reason to sear meat, but it has nothing to do with nutrition or juiciness. The many recipes and ads that perpetuate Liebig's theory probably do so because the image it evokes is vivid and appealing.

CONCLUSION

Perhaps it is understandable that laymen and amateurs wax poetic about how high heat "sears in" their steaks' flavor and juiciness. However, expert steakmasters should dispel this prevalent myth and explain to others the science of SteakPerfection.

For more information about this Steak Myth #1 and other myths, click here for our Steak Perfection website.

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This updates an earlier blog at http://bit.ly/apACTJ

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Sous Vide

Sous vide is a cooking method that is becoming more popular. Sous vide is French, pronounced "sue VEED" (accent the second syllable), and means "under vaccuum".

In this method, food (meat or vegetables) is sealed in a plastic bag. The plastic bag is put into hot (but not boiling) water, heated to around 140°F. The bood in the plastic bag cooks for a very long period of time, often over 24 hours. The food is done when the interior temperature of the food reaches the temperature of the water.

In the case of steak, the sous vide method has the benefit of preventing evaporation while it tenderizes the meat.

Professional kitchens have the equipment and chefs to cook a great steak with the sous vide method. Those who want to try sous vide at home must be very careful and use the correct equipment and technique, because a major danger of sous vide is botulism poisoning. Botulism is a grave danger with sous vide.

In this video, Erik Williams, executive chef of MK Restaurant in Chicago, uses the sous vide method for a tenderloin.



This video is on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKdDfunjYio.

Again, be very careful, when using the sous vide method, to avoid botulism poisoning.

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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

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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