Number 8

Let’s talk about Meat!

Since we arrived in Costa Rica, we have heard about the toughness and the taste of their beef.  Of course you can buy USDA graded beef in the large supermarkets if you don’t mind paying the extra costs. Most people buy their meats directly from the butcher.  Images of the 1950's come floating into my mind.  I grew up with my parents buying meats from butchers, but today watching a butcher cut the beef produces a yuck factor in me.

We want our beef to be packaged cleanly (no blood on my hands), the meat must be tender (measured by cutting it with your fork) and of course tasty (we all know what good beef taste like).  We want it all, and in the US we get exactly what we get.

Whether or not meat is tender and tasty, or tough with an off flavor is determined by several important factors.

·         The age of the animal when sacrificed; the older the animal is, the less tender.  The US can afford to slaughter animals when they are young.

·         Costa Rica does not have a system of being inspected, graded, and certified.

·         Choice beef usually come from cows slaughtered at between 9 and 30 months of age, but especially in cows used for breeding and milk, the time for sacrifice may be up to even 15 years. An animal over 40 months of age is usually considered not choice but commercial grade beef.  So it makes some sense that the farmer would “use” as much of the animal for breeding and milk before slaughter time.

·         Another very important determinant of meat tenderness is the amount of concern for the animal’s welfare prior to and at the time of slaughter. Traveling for many hours in an overcrowded truck, for example, tends to make them stressed, tired, and distressed when they arrive at the butcher. Their adrenalin soars; their muscles tense up and stay that way. 

·         The key factor in the quality of beef is in the processing, and the main part of this is aging. Most beef consumed here in Costa Rica has not been aged, and for that reason, frequently has a “metallic” taste, not very tender, and lacks a typical beef flavor that we all appreciate. Most of the meat here is not aged, because the costs can be high, not only in refrigeration costs, but also in weight loss of the beef (up to 15% or more)

So when I eat a steak or as we cooked a lamb roast recently, we try to make the cut of meat as tender as we can.  Acid foods will break down the toughness and coco cola is also used as a marinade.  But through all this,  I have been wondering, did our great Grandparents complain about the toughness of their beef?