An excellent article from SDSAB member Una on aged beef and Angus beef. My only question is regarding the USDA grading chart; how are the maturities A thru E categorized? I would guess it’s something more than just the age of the animal at slaughter, else the USDA would just use age on the chart. Also, how then does veal fit into the grading scheme?
Also, let me be the first to discourage anyone from “having a beef” with Una’s article; I’d like to think we’re far to intelligent for such an obvious remark:-)
I spoke recently to an old fella who’s worked in the industry his whole life and he said something interesting about the way it has changed over the last century.
He said he’s been in the same industry the whole time, but when he started out, he was in “the grazing business” and the focus was on owning a lot of land and everything followed from there. Then a couple of decades back things changed and he was in “the cattle business” and the focus was on raising healthy cattle of the right breed and everything followed from there and now he’s in “the beef business” and the focus is on producing (using dna analysis and so on) high quality meat and everything follows from there.
We were on holiday in the UK in June and driving through the county of Angus. My wife saw some black cattle in the field and wondered if they were classified locally as Angus beef, or just called “black cows.” (Or, with a brogue, “black kews.”)
In the Western United States, there are restaurants known as Stuart Anderson’s Black Angus Restaurant. The company also operates facilities using the name “Cattle Company” instead of Black Angus. Not that this has any bearing on the discussion.
Browsing around on Google’s Directory of Angus Breeders, I find that a quick and totally unscientific sampling indicates that UK breeders of black-colored Angus cattle refer to them as “Aberdeen Angus” or as “Angus”, and that it’s the U.S. breeders who call them “Black Angus”.
It would appear that in the UK, “Angus” means “black”, period, and that it’s the DamnYankees in the early 1950s who were responsible for introducing red as a color. There’s a fascinating history of Red Angus here.
So my guess would be that the locals call them either “Angus” or “Aberdeen Angus” if they prided themselves on their knowledge of cattle breeding, or “doddies”, or…what was the other one?..“hummlies” if they didn’t give a hoot.
Regarding the Black Angus chain of restaurants, there’s a Simpsons bit where Marge is dressing Bart up because she thinks that the end of the world is near. Generally, it goes:
Bart: Why do we have to get dressed up? Are we going to Black Angus?
Marge: Mmm…let’s just say we’re going to the best steakhouse in the universe.
Bart: (gives her the eye) So…we’re not going to Black Angus…
Yeah, I love the Internet too, but I love this Board even more. (But I suppose I could have searched instead of making a flippant comment for humor’s sake. :smack: Again, thanks for providing some reading material.)
And Una, thanks to you as well for another great, informative article.
I worked on a farm for years raising Certified Black Angus. Nothing like going to a pasture and picking out what steer you want, loading him on a trailer, driving to the butcher and picking up your succulant beef a few days later. Yummy.
In most of the catalogues before sales, and in shows they almost always refer to the class as Aberdeen Angus. Cuts down on the ambiguity.
There’s been a Black Angus restaurant in Fairfield, CT, for decades. (Yes, its steak is pretty darn good.) I wouldn’t be surprised if there were hundreds of variations on that name around the country.
