Word: beef
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...idle question. Despite concerns about hardening arteries and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE or mad cow disease), the average American still eats 95 lbs. (43 kg) of beef a year, and the average European puts away 40 lbs. (18 kg). Yet in taste terms, little of the 66 million tons of beef produced annually is worth the cholesterol it contains. All too often, unwitting consumers splurge on a steak dinner and end up with shoe leather. Thanks to anti-BSE measures and rising feed prices, most cattle are slaughtered at less than 30 months; they're too young and too crowded...
...surrounding San Sebastián, from where we would eat our way cross-country to El Capricho, a restaurant near the tiny town of Jiménez de Jamuz in the northwestern province of León. We knew that José Gordón Ferrero, the restaurant's beef-obsessed owner, had been rounding up old, free-ranging oxen, pasturing them for up to four years, and then dry-aging the meat for as long as three months. When I heard that he planned to slaughter five of these rare beasts for a side-by-side comparison...
...that simple, of course. The more beef I ate, the more paradoxes and marketing myths I found. A new emphasis on breeds and denominations of origin helps distinguish premium beef, but is hardly infallible. Limousin and Charolais are the glory of France, while modern Tuscans still sacrifice snowy Chianina cattle, prized by the Romans and Etruscans, for their Florentine steaks. Brits stake their rosbif reputation on Aberdeen Angus. However, labels of origin are often misleading and sometimes meaningless, especially when cattle are trucked long distances and merely finished for a few weeks at whatever highway exit will give them more...
...indicator of quality, a myth; it signals juiciness but not flavor. The leaner, leggy Galician Blonde was just as tender as the fattier German. Zaldúa claims that the sum qualities of an individual animal - feed, upbringing, genetics - are more important than breed or regional origin. The best beef is raised free-range on grass, with whole cereal and hay over the winter. Zaldúa says that two weeks of aging will tenderize the best meat, while no amount of aging can save the toughest...
...even the most genetically blessed beef can turn tough if it is not treated properly. Chilling the meat immediately after slaughter triples its toughness. The ultimate steak has to be cooled gradually and then properly dry-aged. Most importantly, it must be cooked to no more than 140ºF (60ºC), or medium rare...