"The meat had a depth of flavour that was almost tear-jerking”
Giles Coren, The Times
We’ve travelled the world in our search for the perfect beef to use for steaks. We’ve been to a Wagyu farm just outside Kobe in Japan, we’ve eaten our own body weight in USDA Prime (the best America has to offer) and have popped down to Argentina to try the meat of their Pampas grazed cattle in their native habitat. And our verdict? That the best animals for steak are well-loved traditional breeds born and raised right here in Britain.
Until recently Britain was rightly famed for producing the best beef in the world. It’s no coincidence that the animals that produce the best beef in America and Argentina originate from British cattle, even the famed Japanese Wagyu were crossbred with British breeds in the nineteenth century to improve their flavour.
Recent ‘advances’ in mass-meat production have gone some way to knock us off the top spot. It’s a crying shame, but most of the beef you buy in Britain now is produced to be sold as cheaply as possible, regardless of flavour. So it’s no surprise that it’s a pale imitation of what it once was. But there are still some fantastic producers out there using traditional breeds and traditional methods who are producing beef that still tastes better than anywhere else in the world.
Beef can be big business.
Fast growing cross breeds that are killed young are normal, and they are fed unnatural high protein diets, additives and steroids so they bulk out quickly and produce lean meat (people try to get rid of fat, actually fat is good and gives lots of flavour and succulence).
They are given a lot of preventative medicines such as antibiotics because the unnatural lifestyles they are forced to endure mean that they are prone to disease and infection. Residues of these can remain in the meat.
The meat isn’t hung for very long (5 days is standard). Why? Because hanging slows down the process (which costs money) and because beef loses weight during the aging process.
The end result is cheap meat that doesn’t taste of much.
We source meat from farmers who do the exact opposite.
They select breeds that taste as good as possible regardless of how much the meat costs to produce.
The cows eat a natural diet (almost exclusively grass) and graze, roam and grow naturally.
They are slaughtered at 30 months (12-18 months is standard) which gives the animals time to mature naturally and for the flavour to develop. They are slaughtered in such a way to minimise stress to the animals. Standard practices not only have animal welfare implications, but the high levels of adrenalin prior to slaughter also affects the flavour of the beef.
They hang the beef for at least 35 days which intensifies the flavour and improves the texture.
The end result is meat with amazing flavour and texture.
