What's the beef ?

Recipie for perfect beef - RF Sadler

Recipe for perfect Beef!!

Some of these observations may surprise you, but my experiences right back to working with my Father in his business and through extensive analysis with J Sainsbury, with beef from there own Scottish farm, through to intensively reared young bull’s in the 1980’s. I have concluded that the best tasting and most succulent beef in this country is produced from beef cross heifer’s from suckler cows.

Given that “God sends the meat and the Devil sends the cook”

My formula for “Perfect Beef” would be as follows;

   

And now for my next tripe

Observer Food Monthly

For the uninitiated - picky wimps, the lot of them, if you ask me - there is something scary about Fergus Henderson's cooking. 'Eew!' they say, when you tell them that, for lunch, you ate pig's cap with dandelion, or blood cakes with fried eggs. 'No! You DIDN'T!' they squeal, when you admit that, for dinner, you scoffed tripe and onions, or giblet stew.

Occasionally, people wander into his restaurant, St John, in Smithfield in the City of London, knowing little or nothing about his menu. This is when things get interesting. A few wrinkle their noses and scuttle off in search of seared salmon, or the nearest outpost of Pizza Express. The rest knuckle down and order.

Green Grass - Red Meat

Published: (04-05-2007)

Cows fed on grass rather than concentrate produce beef with a more appealing red colour and may be healthier too. This is the message audiences will hear at this year’s Beef Expo 2007, held at Skipton, North Yorkshire on 17 May.

Professor Nigel Scollan from the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research (IGER) in Aberystwyth will tell delegates that research has shown that raising beef on a diet of natural forage crops keeps its appealing red colour for longer than concentrate-fed beef when both are kept under conditions designed to simulate display on a supermarket shelf.

“When fed on grass, cattle take in around 15 times more vitamin E per day than they do on a typical concentrate diet, and levels in the meat can be between two and three times higher as a result,” said Scollan.

“Work by the IGER team has also linked forage-feeding with raised levels of beneficial omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in beef whilst other ongoing studies are investigating claims that grass-fed beef also has a flavour advantage,” he added.

Scollan’s institute is leading a £13m research project into beef called ProSafeBeef. Its aim is to reduce microbiological and chemical contaminants in beef and beef products and to enhance quality, choice and diversity in the beef-chain from farm-to-fork in order to boost consumer trust and invigorate the industry.

Thousands of beef producers from all over the UK and Ireland, as well as Poland, Germany, Belgium and other European countries are expected to attend this year’s event.

Scollan said the ProSafeBeef project will enable the beef industry in Wales and beyond to deliver innovative, novel and improved fresh beef and beef products from lower value and underutilised beef cuts that are safe, attractive to the consumer and of a high nutritional quality as beef farmers look to restore profitability to their businesses following the end of production-based subsidies.

IGER is working in collaboration with another 42 leading research and industrial organisations from all over Europe, as well as Brazil, New Zealand, Australia, the USA and Canada.

Clear idea of a good meal

Visitors to a major British pub chain can not only enjoy a good meal but also be sure where their food has come from.

The Chef and Brewer chain has become one of the first pub chains to introduce menu transparency and has also adopted the British Pig Executive (BPEX) Quality Standard Mark for its pork.

It has more than 150 outlets in the country and they have all adopted both menu transparency and the QSM.

BPEX Foodservice Trade Sector Manager Tony Goodger said: "We have been tracing their supply chain and seeing where new links needed to be forged in the supply chain to qualify for the QSM."