BEEF

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Apple Erika Janik Beef Lorna Piatti-Farnell Bread William
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 Beef
A Global History

Lorna Piatti-Farnell

REAKTION BOOKS

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 Published by Reaktion Books Ltd
33 Great Sutton Street
London EC1V 0DX, UK
www.reaktionbooks.co.uk

First published 2013

Copyright © Lorna Piatti-Farnell 2013

All rights reserved

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any
form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the
prior permission of the publishers.

Page references in the Photo Acknowledgements and

Index match the printed edition of this book.

Printed and bound in China by C&C Offset Printing Co., Ltd

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Piatti-Farnell, Lorna, 1980-

Beef: a global history. – (Edible)
1. Beef 2. Beef industry 3. Cooking (Beef).
I. Title II. Series
641.3′62-DC23

eISBN: 9781780231174

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 Contents

1 Of Beef and Cattle

2 How to Cook Beef
3 Raw and Cured
4 A Cut Above
5 The Imagination of Beef
6 The Beef Controversies
Epilogue: A Beefy Afterthought

Recipes
Select Bibliography
Websites and Associations
Acknowledgements
Photo Acknowledgements
Index

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 1
Of Beef and Cattle

The history of beef is, to some extent, the history of human civilization.
Beef – also known as Bos domesticus – takes us back to the dawn of human
evolution and the consumption of this particular meat has been intertwined
with the history of mankind around the world. In prehistoric times, our
ancestors were known to have hunted aurochs, a type of wild – and rather
ferocious – cattle that were also the ancestor to modern livestock. Now
extinct, auroch bulls are said to have reached a height of 1.8 metres (6 feet),
while cows were considerably smaller, reaching only 1.5 metres (5 feet) in
height. Cave paintings from several regions in Western Europe depicting
detailed hunting scenes testify to the importance of the aurochs to
prehistoric Homo sapiens, as the meat from these animals represented a
large amount of the food rations within hunter-gatherer tribes.
Indeed, it seems virtually impossible to discuss the global history of
beef without first talking about cows. This animal has had such an impact
on human societies and cultures over millennia, that its ultimate
transformation into beef seems hardly a point of departure. The
domestication of cattle was not just a matter of food; it also had an impact
on human evolution. Many archaeological and anthropological perspectives
have emphasized different aspects of how cows transformed human
existence. Domestication as such occurred in human organizations 12,000
years ago and primarily concerned small animals such as goats, sheep and
pigs. Evidence of the domestication of cattle, however, is present from 8000
BC onwards. The Fertile Crescent – encompassing ancient Mesopotamia and
now identified with a large area of the Middle East – has often been
credited as the place of origin for cattle domestication. Nonetheless, the act
in itself, and the consequent consumption of beef that derived from it, has
been documented throughout history in a myriad of civilizations. And as far
as hunter-gatherer communities were concerned, the domestication of cattle
changed things drastically and permanently. Once cows were domesticated,
and agriculture flourished as a result, the way of the hunter-gatherer ceased
to be. For the most part, humans abandoned their nomadic existence and
began to live in organized tribes. Cattle were raised for their meat; this was
the beginning of what I like to refer to as ‘beef’ and all that the definition
entails.

Prehistoric depictions of aurochs, from a cave painting in Lascaux, France.

A modern rendition of the prehistoric auroch.

However, and in spite of the fact that signs of cattle domestication are
present independently in the prehistoric histories of several countries
around the world, the exact reasons that spurred early humans to approach
the vicious wild aurochs are unknown. Indeed, humans are known to have
dealt with cattle across the globe, developing their ideas on domestication
in completely separate circumstances; the presence and consumption of
cattle in prehistory has been documented from the southeastern Sahara in
Africa to the Indus Valley (an area now part of modern Pakistan). And yet,
in archaeological terms, the reasons behind early attempts at domesticating
wild cattle for food, while our ancestors had already ample access to
domesticated goats and sheep, are still open to debate.
A likely explanation that has been widely developed in the last two
centuries by archaeologists and anthropologists alike seems to have a
spiritual foundation at its heart. The attraction that the prehistoric cattle
exercised on our early ancestors clearly went beyond their perspective
potential as food. In 1896, anthropologist Eduard Hahn already presupposed
that, as far as the human relationship with first wild and later domesticated
cattle was concerned, the connection was reliant on the symbol of the
moon, already an emblem of fertility in 7000 BC. Hahn contended that the
distinctively curved shape of the cattle’s horn was reminiscent of the
moon’s nascent crescent, inspiring early humans to associate with the
animals on a more permanent basis. In the Cambridge World History of
Food (2001), Kenneth Kiple and Kriemhild Coneè Ornelas also contend
that the wild aurochs were specifically domesticated with religious purposes
in mind, as their milk (and later meat) was perceived to be a ‘ritual gift
from the goddess’. Indeed, the ritualistic and spiritual value of cows
remained strong for centuries, if not millennia, as examples of sacred cows
and revered oxen – often perceived as incarnations of deities – can be
identified in the religious systems of several ancient civilizations and
modern nations, ranging from Europe, to Africa and the Middle East. The
most prominent example of this is of course India, where Hinduism
perceives cows as sacred and, as historian Hannah Velten points out,
‘mothers of the Universe’, associated as they are with the goddess Prithvi.
India has the largest concentrated population of cows in the world;
unsurprisingly, however, and in virtue of their religious associations, the
slaughter and consumption of cattle is forbidden in most areas of the
country. Indeed, the consumption of beef – seen as an abomination by most
strands of Hinduism – has formed one of the building blocks for the
longstanding rivalry with and dislike of neighbouring Muslim and beef-
eating cultural factions, now mainly residing in Pakistan.

A gift of beef on an ancient Egyptian bas-relief.

By 4000 BC, cattle were fully domesticated and had become a reliable
presence in human groups. They had also evolved into two main and
distinct sub-categories, which formed the basis for the development of cow
species around the world: these are known as the ‘humpless’ cattle (Bos
taurus) – which developed originally in Africa and the Near East – and the
‘humped’ cattle (B. indicus), more indigenous to Indian regions. Velten
asserts that, without a doubt, these two species played an ‘enormous role in
shaping civilisation’, impacting not only on lifestyle – their culinary uses
converting human existence from nomadic to sedentary – but also
functioning as an important socio-economic expression of wealth. Cattle
were used for work – providing an unparalleled aid in the development of
agriculture – and in the production of dairy products. Cattle skins also
provided warmth against the elements, transforming the cow into an all-
round reliable source for all human necessities. As distinctions between
dairy cattle and cattle intended for meat consumption evolved over the
centuries, beef became not only a primary source of food – an obvious and
expected development given the size of cattle and the large amounts of meat
they could produce – but also an important item carrying a high exchange
value within local markets around the globe. In his famous Histories,
written between 450 and 420 BC, the Greek Herodotus records the
importance of beef as part of not only the social but also the economic life
of civilizations, saying that in ancient Egypt each of the king’s bodyguards
was commonly paid with ‘two pounds of beef’ as part of their daily
remuneration.

Sacred cows in India.

Ancient Egyptian mural depicting both beef and dairy cattle.

Attic hoof vase, c. 470–460 BC.

Today, cattle are present virtually in every country, on every continent

in the world, and the consumption of beef forms the basis of many diets for
hundreds of cultures. Many cattle breeds have been developed over the
centuries specifically with beef consumption in mind. An example of this is
the Chianina cattle in Italy, which – while having been known since the first
century AD as a working breed – was specifically selected for intensive
breeding in the early twentieth century; the particular fast-growing rates of
this cattle make it the perfect specimen for the meat industry, giving great
quantities of lean and high-quality beef. Another well-known and well-
regarded breed is the Aberdeen Angus (or simply Angus), a type that was
descended from cattle native to the Aberdeen-shire and Angus regions of
Scotland. This particular cattle was developed by Scottish breeder Hugh
Watson specifically for beef consumption in the mid-1800s, with the
intention of producing large quantities of very high-quality meat. Watson
selected the best specimens from Scottish cattle and obtained what is known
as the ‘Angus’ through selective and intensive cross-breeding. In spite of its
popularity not only in the UK, but particularly also in the U.S., the quality of
Aberdeen Angus beef did not become protected until 1978, when a
specification-based, branded beef programme was initiated in order to
produce what is known as Certified Angus Beef (CAB). Within the food
service industry, the term ‘Angus Beef’ is often misappropriated and
confused with CAB. The latter, on the other hand, is an appellative that can be
given only to particular beef that has been grown and reared in an
establishment approved by the American Angus Association and its British
counterparts.
Across the globe, beef is consumed in a variety of ways, producing a
number of highly differing dishes, ranging from elaborate concoctions of
thin strips of meat, to hearty beef stews and family-feeding barbecues. It is
not only the flesh of cattle that is consumed; beef is used as the basis of
several meat by-products such as beef gravy and beef tea. A myriad of
national and internationally known dishes containing beef can be found
throughout the world. The impact of immigration and open-trade markets –
especially in the post-industrialist era of the twentieth century – have
allowed beef and beef dishes to travel across geographical boundaries. The
burger, one of the most famous and infamous incarnations of beef in the
modern world, is a known food that can be recognized in virtually every
country, the American version given by fast food chains often surpassing in
knowledge more traditional and homemade variations of the beef patty. But
the burger, however, is not the only manifestation of beef that has a claim to
fame. Well-known dishes such as beef Wellington, beef bourguignon and
beef stroganoff have conquered the eating habits of populations throughout
the globe, largely transcending and exceeding their respective places of
origin in Britain, France and Russia.

An Aberdeen Angus bull. This particular breed is often the star of cattle competitions, where the best
specimens are showcased and later sold at astronomical prices.
 How Beef Got its Name

In the modern English language, the word ‘beef’ owes its origins to factors
and circumstances that are all but English. Etymologically speaking, the
word ‘beef’ is derived from Latin; the ancient Romans referred to the meat
of cattle as bubula. This was in contrast to the term bovus, which was
commonly used to refer to anything pertaining to oxen and cows. The
influence of the Latin terminology is clearly still evident today, its impact
unmissable in everyday words such as ‘bovine’, and more scientific terms
such as ‘Bovinae’, identifying a biological sub-family that includes various
forms of hoofed animals, from domestic cattle to yaks, water buffalos and
American bison.
And yet, in spite of the similarities between Latin bubula and our beef,
the connection between the two is not as straight forward as one might
think. The Romans did conquer Britain and left much evidence of their
empire when they left the land in AD 410. However, a direct use of the Latin
language was not one such legacy. Indeed, by the time Old English emerged
as an early incarnation of the language we use today, Germanic influences
had all but revolutionized grammar, terminologies and common references.
By the seventh century, the Latin bubula had long been left behind and
early English speakers referred to cattle and their meat by the Anglo-Saxon
cu, a term that would develop into the Middle English cou, a not-so-early
ancestor of our ‘cow’. While this development is unsurprising, it does not
answer the question of how beef became known as such. For an answer, we
need to skip to 1066, to the battle of Hastings and the Norman-French
invasion. As William the Conqueror claimed the shores of Britain, he also
laid claim to its language. After the conquest, the Norman aristocracy that
took control of England had no interest in adopting the local Anglo-Saxon
idiom, as it was perceived to be inappropriate for any form of nobility or
genteel expression. As the French nobles shunned the use of the common
cou to refer to the meat of cattle, they opted for their own boef – a
derivative of the Latin term bubula and an ancestor of the modern French
word boeuf. While various manifestations of the Anglo-Saxon Cou
remained in use among peasants to refer to live cows, Norman-French
speakers – the most common consumers of the animals’ flesh who,
however, did not often deal with the live beasts – established their own boef
as a suitable term for the meat. The dichotomy became established in
Britain and cou and boef co-existed in everyday expression. Through a
convoluted etymological journey, then, the meat of cattle found its own
seating within the English language, developing through the ages and
becoming what has been known for centuries as ‘beef’.

Heracles/Theseus and the Cretan Bull, c. 490–480 BC, Attic vase.

Beef and the Romans

The Romans did not have a particular predilection for beef. It was eaten
rarely and, even then, it maintained a clear mark of luxury. Reserved for
special occasions, beef was often connected to religious ceremonies. A cow
was seen as a very apt sacrifice for the gods and its immolation was treated
with the highest respect and consideration, especially during the festival
known as tauralia. The animal was slaughtered ritually and while some of
its prime parts were actually burned at the altar and ‘reserved’ for the gods,
the organs – such as the heart, the liver and the lungs – would be given to
the priests, so that they could partake in the ancient ritual of sharing food
with the deity, an act that commemorated kinship.
Religious ritual, however, was not the only obstacle that the popularity
of beef encountered among the Roman population. Indeed, behind the lack
of preference for bovine meat there was a much more mundane, logistical
reasoning. Cows were difficult to keep because of their size. They required
pastures and the Romans preferred to use land for agriculture and the
growth of grains. By virtue of their size, cows also needed to be tended to in
various ways that were not required by other animals. So the maintenance
of cattle was laborious, time-consuming and not so cost-effective.

Mithras slaying a sacrificial OX, 2nd century AD. The killing of the astral bull, also known as
tauroctony, was at the centre of the Hellenic and Roman cult of Mithras.

In addition, beef was difficult to preserve. Refrigeration techniques

were not developed in Roman times and cows, because of their size, would
provide large amounts of meat, which proved a challenge. Cold weather
was required to keep the beef fresh, and the fact that the Mediterranean
region was hot almost year-round meant that it did not prove fitting for the
task of beef preservation. So, naturally, the Romans opted for other meats –
pork, known as sus or porcus, was the most popular among the plebeian
population, while the Roman patricians often opted for extravagant,
luxurious and highly prized meats such as ostrich and peacock.
All the same, one should not think that the Romans did not eat beef at
all. Generally speaking, cows were kept mainly for fieldwork and dairy
consumption, but that does not mean that the meat was shunned. A penchant
for veal was particularly prevalent. The famous Apicius or De re
Coquinaria – one of the earliest surviving recipe books from Roman times
– cites a number of recipes involving beef, such as bubulam cum porris
(beef with leeks) and bubula fricta (fried beef steak).

Beef in Europe

Following the influence of the Roman conquest – and subsequent fall of the
Roman Empire – beef gained an incremental favour among many European
populations. Cattle were raised throughout the continent, both as livestock
for meat and dairy products, and as draft animals. The popularity of cattle in
Europe had a great impact on rural and urban practices in several countries.
Germanic peoples were particularly fond of beef. Viking tribes – flourishing
between AD 700 and 900 – were known to exploit all parts of the cow, from
using its skin to make leather goods to consuming the flesh of the animal in
the form of roasts and stews.
Within the British Isles, the Anglo-Saxons had a distinct predilection for
beef, but their interest in the meat seems somewhat curious. Indeed, beef
was often consumed for its therapeutic properties. In the Bald’s Leechbook,
a domestic manual dating from around AD 95, several ‘recipes’ are listed that
include beef; these, however, must be interpreted more as curative remedies
than delicious dishes to be consumed for their gastronomic value. The
imagistic connection between cow and strength clearly made an impression
on the way in which the Anglo-Saxons perceived beef, building a belief that
meat deriving from cattle would bestow health upon those who ate it.
The Anglo-Saxons, however, were not the only ones to maintain a
conviction that beef could cure disease. As Anglo-Saxon lands evolved into
what would later become England, beef retained curative properties in the
popular imagination. From the sixteenth century onwards, in particular, a
large number of British domestic manuals list beef as a principal medical
ingredient. The meat was prescribed to ‘feed a fever’ in the form of beef-
based soups and teas. In the eighteenth century, patients suffering from
various ailments were often advised to drink ‘beef tonics’. Undoubtedly
encouraged by the fear of tuberculosis in the late nineteenth century,
popular belief in the invigorating power of beef-based concoctions
continued until the early twentieth century, when beef tonics became widely
advertised as an essential way to enrich and revitalize the blood.
 Beef, however, was not simply enjoyed as a medical marvel. Numerous
examples of beef recipes (to be consumed for their gastronomic value) can
be found in famous historical cookbooks, such as the French Le Viandier –
dating from around 1300 – and the English Forme of Cury, compiled by the
Master-Cooks of Richard II in 1390. Although beef had an undeniable
presence in late medieval life, it was by no means the favourite meat.
Historical records show that beef took a secondary position to fish, chicken
and pork, the latter being the most popular ‘meat’ as such. In the Iberian
Peninsula, numerous Catalan cookbooks dating from around 1450 show
that mutton was definitely the meat of choice for the local population, both
common and aristocratic.
In the early decades of the Renaissance, and following the Black
Death’s devastating impact on farming and agriculture, meat derived from
cattle was subjected to a distinct revival in favour. In fourteenth- and
fifteenth-century Italy, veal was particularly appreciated as a ‘summer
meat’, its lighter texture and flavour making it a more delectable option
than beef’s earthy and wintery appeal. Overall, beef was regarded as too
coarse for the refined upper classes, which preferred to consume delicate
and visually pleasing meats such as heron and swan. The extravagant tastes
of the aristocracy grew exponentially after the discovery of America in
1492, when exotic ingredients such as vanilla, peanuts and novel breeds of
fowl began to attract the attention of many noble gourmands.
The role of beef as a ‘peasant meat’ survived until the nineteenth
century. British cookbooks prove that ever since the Middle Ages beef has
been used as a filling for pies. In eighteenth-century England, the meat even
evolved into a popular food for the masses within cities. Beef pies were
known to have been sold in the streets of London as a quick and affordable
meal. Beef – cheaply purchased in large quantities – was often the vendors’
favourite ingredient because their customers were numerous enough to
consume the product of a slaughtered cow in a matter of days. Street-sold
pies were extremely popular and, in a way, functioned as the beginning of
beef’s longstanding relationship with ‘fast food’.

Beef in America
 Being American is to eat a lot of beef steak, and boy, we’ve got a lot more beef steak than any
other country, and that’s why you ought to be glad you are an American.
Kurt Vonnegut

As difficult as it might be to imagine today, beef is a relatively recent

addition to the American diet. Cattle were not indigenous to the American
continent, and while herds of wild bison roamed the prairies and were
consumed by Native American tribes for centuries, domesticated cattle did
not actually reach the shores of the New World until the Spanish
conquistadors introduced them in 1540. In 1623, two Devon heifers and a
Devon bull were imported to the Plymouth Colony from Britain. Although
mainly used for dairy produce and fieldwork, Devon cattle were highly
valued in the American colonies. One has to wait until the early eighteenth
century in order to witness cattle systematically raised in farms by the
colonists – likely of Spanish, French and British origin – for consumption
purposes. As the new American country grew, so did its infrastructure,
allowing early American examples of the cattle industry to blossom,
develop and fortify. By 1871, new refrigeration methods allowed the
transportation of meat to be an easy enough task and, as a result, the cattle
industry was radically transformed. A number of slaughterhouses were
quickly established across the Midwest and shipments of meat to all corners
of the country regularly took place. As the demand for cattle meat quickly
replaced the existing (and by no means erased) preference for chicken and
pork, beef was given a prominent position on American tables, from San
Antonio to New Orleans, from Detroit to New York. During and after the
Second World War, the cattle industry reached its apogee and beef became a
ready symbol for American affluence. Beef’s aesthetic qualities allowed it
to become a metaphorical representation of American sanguinity and
American science was only too obliging in confirming the meat’s
nutritional qualities, including its high content of essential protein. It was
estimated that by 1952, the average American consumed 28 kg (62 lb) of
beef a year. Finding its most American of incarnations in the hamburger
patty, beef became incorporated into the American diet to such an extent
that the historian Josh Ozersky defines the beefburger as the American
‘meal par excellence’.
Frederic Remington, ‘Roasting the Christmas Beef in a Cavalry Camp’, drawing from Harper’s
Weekly (1892).

By the time the 1960s were in full swing, beef had taken on a role that
pushed its boundaries beyond its gastronomic merits. In the midst of the
Cold War, beef became a powerful symbol in propaganda. In 1960, a
famous promotional movie entitled Beef Rings the Bell proclaimed that beef
steaks and burgers were an ‘American institution’. Running on the
assumption that the audience adored beef – as was probably the case – Beef
Rings the Bell encouraged consumers to support the American cattle
industry by eating beef on a regular basis, an act that, aside from bringing
economic prosperity to the country, was levelled as a signifier of expected
patriotism. The propagandist intentions of the beef campaigns in the 1960s
clearly had the desired effect on the population and, while the cattle
industry continued to boom, by 1970 the average American was eating 50
kg (110 lb) of beef a year, almost twice the amount that had been consumed
only twenty years before.
Today, the U.S. produces about 25 per cent of the world’s beef supply
with – somewhat surprisingly – less than 10 per cent of the world’s cattle
population. Across the land, Texas remains the top beef-producing state.

Argentine Beef

The cattle industry in Argentina has a long and established history. Indeed,
beef is such an integral part of the culture of Argentina, both materially and
metaphorically, that one might venture to say that consuming the meat is
part of being Argentinian. As was the case with North America, cattle were
not indigenous to South America. Cattle were introduced to what is now
Argentina in the early sixteenth century by – unsurprisingly – Spanish
conquistadors, who obviously had a penchant for taking their cows and
oxen with them wherever they went. The Argentine pampas proved an
excellent geographical set-up for the herds of cattle that were left to roam
and, as a result of underdeveloped infrastructures, the cow population grew
quickly. With time, however, local landowners capitalized on the production
of beef and, over a relatively short period, the cattle industry flourished. By
the eighteenth century, Argentina had established itself as the biggest
producer and consumer of beef in Latin America. Once the nineteenth
century arrived, technology once again proved the most important factor in
the part beef played in the country’s economy. Railway construction aided
the establishment of commercial infrastructures and, thanks to the newly
arrived refrigeration cars, beef could be transported over large geographical
areas, causing the Argentinian beef industry to thrive on an international
scale. By 1886, Argentinian beef was in high demand and the geographical
position of the country – located in the Southern hemisphere – allowed the
meat to be available at times when European and American beef was ‘out of
season’.

Gauchos herding cattle in the Patagonia region of Argentina.

With such an imposing presence in the economic fabric of the country,

beef inevitably also played an essential part in the historical development of
local customs, traditions and, at times, even folklore. Culturally speaking,
eating habits and festivities in Argentina developed in connection with beef.
The ever-local asado – the term used for a range of barbecuing techniques
in Argentina, also giving its name to a popular social event – emerged
concomitantly with the development of the beef industry. While the meats
cooked as part of an asado festivity also included a wide range of pork and
chicken cuts, beef towered uncontested as the favourite, therefore creating a
cultural association between its consumption and a much-beloved, perhaps
romanticized, vision of community and family life. And the romanticization
of beef in Argentina does not stop at eating. The prominent figure of the
gaucho – a pampas-dwelling, brooding, poncho-wearing Argentinean who
is a loose equivalent of the American cowboy – is surrounded by an ever-
growing number of stories about courage and bravado, associating all
elements of the beef industry with a sense of Argentinian pride, patriotism
and almost melancholy attachment to the past.
Unsurprisingly, as undeniable economic advantages and passionate tales
of pampas heroism interweave in the history of the country’s cattle industry,
beef still maintains its hold on Argentina’s way of life today. In 2006, it was
estimated that Argentinians were the world’s second-largest consumers of
beef per capita, with the average Argentinian eating 55 kg (121 lb) of beef
per year. The Argentinian cattle industry maintains a reputation for
producing very high-quality beef. As a result, Argentina is the third-largest
exporter of beef in the world, after Brazil and Australia. The dream of the
gaucho roaming the pampas, guarding the cattle and gazing at the stars lives
on, it would seem. I wonder if the cows are just as starstruck. Probably not.

Japanese Beef

I know what you are thinking. You know your cows. Japanese beef is highly
prized, a special category of meat that is coveted and expensive and served
only in the best and most fashionable restaurants around the world. You are
imagining television chefs singing the praises of Kobe beef and proclaiming
its superior qualities. And you are probably assuming, just as I did, that the
Japanese might have been perfecting ‘the art of beef’ for centuries, perhaps
even millennia. As it turns out, the history of beef in Japan is not
longstanding; it is, without a doubt, a modern development.
 Prior to the year 1868, eating the flesh of four-legged animals was
prohibited in Japan. Since the country showcases strong Buddhist
influences, the prohibition does not come as a surprise. The ban over eating
large farm animals became particularly strict during what is known as the
Edo period (1603–1867) in order to support the development of agriculture.
Over time, the religious influence on food prohibitions became en tangled
with cultural parameters and the consumption of beef was perceived as a
national taboo. Nonetheless, things changed radically in 1867 with the
ascent to the throne of Emperor Meiji. The new emperor had a desire to
build strong relations – particularly of an economic nature – with the West
and regarded the consumption of beef as an essential part of his political
strategy. Wanting to reduce the traditional social and cultural barriers that
separated Japan from countries such as the U.S., Emperor Meiji lifted the ban
on beef and encouraged its consumption among the population. While pork
remained the meat of choice across the country, beef-eating slowly became
more prevalent in the early twentieth century. Specifically, the inhabitants
of the Kinki Region – which included Kyoto, Kobe and Osaka – were
known to be, and still are today, the heaviest beef eaters in the country.
Japanese folklore has it that the consumption of beef was carried out in the
Kobe region as a secret ritual even during the times of the beef ban, with
famous shoguns showing a predilection for the prized meat. While little
historical evidence exists in support of this claim, the preference for Kobe
beef throughout Japan after the Meiji culinary revolution is difficult to
argue.

Kobe beef, photographed before cooking at a restaurant in Japan.

 Kobe beef traditionally comes from wagyu cattle. The appellative of
‘Kobe’ refers to the geographical region where this type of herd was first
reared. ‘Wa’ is an ancient Japanese term for Japan, and one of the meanings
of ‘gyu’ is beef, with a specific ‘on the hoof’ connotation. Currently, there
are five principal breeds of wagyu cattle in Japan: Japanese Blacks,
Japanese Browns, Japanese Polls, Japanese Long-horns and Kumamoto
Reds. These breeds are not strictly native to the country and are the result of
a substantial infusion of European blood during the Meiji era. After 1910,
however, the importing of European breeds ceased and it was not until the
Second World War that the Japanese government began to encourage the
registration of cattle exhibiting superior traits from both foreign and native
types. In 1948, the National Wagyu Cattle Registration Association was
established and the production of beef became the focus of careful
screening programmes aimed at producing the best-quality meat in Japan.
Genetically speaking, wagyu cattle have a disposition to hold a higher
percentage of omega 3 fatty acids. This fact is responsible for the marbled
appearance of the meat, which not only functions as the trademark of Kobe
beef but also bestows upon the meat its distinctive taste. The natural
softness of Kobe beef is encouraged in the industry by adding a small
amount of sake to the cattle’s feed and massaging their muscles to support
the iconic marbling. The latter fact has given birth to the conception that
wagyu cattle are the most pampered cows in the industry, enjoying the
many benefits of true Japanese hospitality.
In spite of Japan’s cultural attachment to Kobe beef, however, most
wagyu cattle are not actually raised in Japan. While for decades the
Japanese government prohibited the export of any live wagyu cattle in an
attempt to protect and safeguard the quality of Kobe beef, four wagyu
animals were imported to the United States in 1976. By 1993, California
had become the greatest producers of Kobe beef in the world. By 2001,
Australia also claimed its place as a high-profile producer of Kobe beef.
Today, both the U.S. and Australia have an accord with the Japanese Wagyu
Association so that they can raise wagyu cattle and produce Kobe beef for
world export and consumption under strict laws. One of these laws
demands that wagyu cattle be raised within specific parameters and that the
traditional methods for obtaining Kobe marbling be respected – with
muscle massages as a strict priority. The pampering of wagyu cattle,
whether taking place in Japan or any other corner of the world, clearly still
has its desired effect and Kobe beef maintains its status as a highly coveted
delicacy.

Beef Down Under

In Australia, the beef cattle industry is one of the most profitable areas of
the country’s economy, generating more than $3 billion a year. The beef
industry has been prevalent in Australia since its colonial origins and beef
has been intertwined with the country’s growth and development for
centuries. Cattle were first brought to Australia on the First Fleet, which
came from Britain in 1788. The Fleet’s aim was to bring people to the
newly ‘discovered’ Australian continent and establish the first settlements
for British colonists. Cattle travel led with them and laid their claim to the
Australian economy very early on. In the initial years of the colonies,
however, the intended use of cattle was for fieldwork and transport.
Australian rural folklore has it that in the early 1790s, a few specimens of
cattle strayed and were found several years later, the numbers of their wild
herd having grown to 60. There is no evidence to either discard or assure
this claim; what is known, however, is that by 1820 there were already
54,000 cattle in Australia, their number having spectacularly risen to six
times this figure by 1840. The demand for beef, and the idea of using cattle
for consumption on a large industrial scale, did not appear until the 1850s,
when the Gold Rushes hit Australia and groups of hungry miners invaded
its lands. As the demand for beef grew quickly, Australian drovers moved
their cattle herds away from urban areas – Sydney in particular – and settled
them as far as Western Australia. The cattle were known to have travelled
for weeks, often having to swim long distances to reach their destinations.
By the time the twentieth century hit, Australia had become a great beef
producer, with its cattle industry booming as the country’s greatest
economic force. Today, the state of Queensland is the greatest producer of
beef, with the meat coming from popular Hereford, Shorthorn and Murray
Grey cattle. Australia, as a result, is one of the largest and most successful
exporters of beef in the world. It goes without saying that the Australians
enjoy beef immensely as well, making a cultural virtue of their beloved
summer barbecues – a true Australian institution.
 On the other side of the Tasman Sea, New Zealand also prides itself on
a developing history of beef. Cattle were imported to New Zealand from the
UK in 1814, when Reverend Samuel Marsden set up a mission station on the
northern shores of the newly formed colony. As time passed, more
Europeans settled in New Zealand and, in the early 1840s, more cattle were
imported from Australia. Most of these were what used to be referred to as
Durham, a breed that later developed into what are now commonly known
as Short horn cattle. Traditionally, however, beef cattle have often taken a
secondary position in the New Zealand farming industry, falling behind
dairy cattle – which allowed the country to become one of the principal
exporters of dairy products in the world – and, of course, sheep. As early as
1851, the ratio of sheep to beef cattle in New Zealand was six to one. The
higher ratio remained steady for more than a century, and it reached its peak
in the early 1960s, with sheep outnumbering cattle in the country by
fourteen to one. However, by the mid-1980s, and after the government
restructured the subsidisation schemes for farming, the numbers of beef
cattle inhabiting the rolling hills of New Zealand grew dramatically. Since
the 1990s, the export market has been the focus of the New Zealand beef
industry. Indeed, it is estimated that New Zealand exports more than 80 per
cent of its beef, a very impressive percentage. Overall, New Zealand
produces only 1 per cent of the world’s beef, but nevertheless supplies
approximately 8 per cent of the global beef trade.

Beef cattle roaming around the Brisbane Valley, Australia, 1914.

New Zealand cattle are mostly allowed to roam freely in green pastures
that are mainly concentrated on the North Island of the country. Beef cattle
are primarily grass-fed and not fattened on grain – the latter a health
concern that has attracted the attention of animal welfare associations
around the world and which, clearly, New Zealand as a beef-producing
country is very keen to avoid. The general population of New Zealand has
developed a distinct taste for beef over time; nonetheless, lamb still remains
the meat of choice among Kiwis, who are very happy to supply beef of the
highest standard and send it as an ambassador to promote the country’s
excellence in farming around the world.

OceanofPDF.com
 2
How to Cook Beef

Beef and cow’s meat ought to be boiled, and breast of veal also, but the back . . . requires roasting.
Maestro Martino da Como, Libro de Arte Coquinaria (1467)

Beef can be cooked in a variety of ways. The meat’s versatility lies in its
ability to reach different stages of cooking through different preparation
methods, which inevitably have an impact on the taste and therefore the
dishes that can be produced. From roasting to grilling, from boiling to
smoking, beef allows itself to be manipulated by the culinary arts in order to
adapt to a multiplicity of circumstances. Different cuts of beef are known to
be suited to different cooking methods and these pairings often owe more to
the situations in which a particular dish evolved, rather than simply being
related to matters of gustation and anatomic composition.
There are two main categories under which the methods of preparing
and cooking beef can be catalogued: ‘dry heat’ and ‘moist heat’. ‘Dry heat’
relates to any cooking technique by which the heat is usually transferred to
the meat without using any form of moisture. Dry-heat cooking methods
tend to employ high temperatures, which hover around 200°C (392°F) and
can sometimes be even hotter. Under this category one can find methods
such as roasting, grilling, broiling, frying and stir-frying. On the other hand,
the category of ‘moist heat’ usually encompasses a variety of preparation
methods that rely on some type of liquid in order to cook the beef. The
liquid can vary from steam and water to wine and stock. Typical techniques
which fall under this culinary umbrella include braising, stewing and sous
vide.
The typical brown appearance of cooked beef – achieved through what
is known as the ‘Maillard reaction’ – can generally only be gained through
cooking the meat using a dry-heat method. The browning, however, is not
meant to be a simple aesthetic quality of dry-heat-prepared beef. The
contention is that there is a direct correlation between browned beef and
exceptional taste, sporting rich flavours and deep aromas that cannot
generally be achieved through moist-heat cooking methods.
The majority of cooking methods for preparing beef are ancient in
nature and have evolved over the centuries in order to suit not only the
changing palates and demands of the world populations, but also the
sociocultural and anthropological issues that have been connected to the
consumption of beef over the ages.

Rare, Medium, Well Done

From the seventeenth century onwards, cookbook writers began to warn

their readers against the dangers of under-cooked meat. When it came to
beef, the preference was still for what we would today define as ‘well done’
meat. Although many examples of steak recipes can be found, the
propensity was still to cook and consume well-cooked beef in the form of
stews or roasts. Overall, instructions on how to achieve the ideal appearance
and flavour were still reliant on the cook’s ability to monitor and check the
meat. It was not until the nineteenth century that food scientists actually
began to examine the various levels at which beef can be cooked. It was also
during this time that specific instructions on temperatures and cooking times
began to appear, in order to achieve the coveted texture, consistency and
taste for the beef dish to be served. However, it was the early twentieth
century that witnessed a true commitment to the cooking of beef in what
was seen as an appropriate and time-efficient manner. The first meat
thermometers made a commercial appearance in the 1930s and, as they took
the culinary scene by storm, they also took the art of guessing out of
cooking beef.
The word ‘rare’ has replaced the earlier term ‘underdone’ when
discussing the cooking of beef. Without too much speculation, one could
assume that this shift happened as the word ‘underdone’ carries a number of
negative connotations with it, suggesting that the meat was not ready to be
consumed. ‘Rare’, on the other hand, specifically refers to beef that has been
lightly cooked, in order to suit the taste of diners and, at times, the specific
requirements of creating beef dishes. In the English language, the term was
thought for a long time to be an Americanism. In 1861, G. F. Berkeley, an
English sports man, famously used the term in a humorous way to refer to
its American origins. When questioned about a particular sporting
technique, he replied: ‘The wood-cock and snipe? Should be underdone, or
what the Americans call “rare”.’ In reality, this particular description of beef
was present in the English language long before Americans declared their
independence. When used to describe the doneness of beef, the word ‘rare’
itself derives – according to the Oxford English Dictionary – from the old
term ‘rear; meaning precisely underdone or “imperfectly cooked”’. The
word ‘rear’ was originally used in relation to eggs and it is only in its
transition to ‘rare’ that it came to be associated with meat. The earliest
account of the term being used in reference to beef appears in the Countrey
Contentments, a cookbook complied in 1615; the author, Gervase Markham,
warns the book’s readers to check their beef constantly while it’s cooking,
‘for as too much rareness is not wholesome, so too much driness is not
nourishing’.
The common association between rare beef and America was probably
due to a matter of preference, rather than actual origin. This connection
between the meat and the American nation was often painted – both by the
British and a select group of ‘refined Americans’ – with a layer of distaste,
almost as a testament to the social brutality of the nation. In 1902, Sarah
Tyson Rorer – author of Mrs Rorer’s Cook Book – dedicated a long section
to how to prepare beef and noted (not without a certain amount of revulsion)
that
The American fashion of serving meat ‘rare’ is certainly objectionable . . . red meats may be
served a little underdone. This does not mean that the blood must run from them as they are
carved, but that they must be pink, juicy and tender.

While the propensity to use the word ‘medium’ to define a particular

level of cooking for beef is not a twentieth-century characteristic –
expressions such as ‘medium-roasted’ or ‘medium-boiled’ are already
present in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century cookbooks – simple definitions
such as ‘medium rare’, ‘medium done’ or simply ‘medium’ in relation to
preference began to dominate cookbooks in the post-1900 era. In 1932, Bell
Lowe’s Experimental Cookery gave a lot of attention to the stages of
preparation that beef can achieve, specifically referring to such stages as
‘Rare, Medium and Well Done’. Lowe clearly states that this particular meat
is one of the few – if not the only one – that can be ‘safely cooked as rare’.
She also surveys the process by which heat alters the colour, the texture and
the taste of beef, simply suggesting that the longer a piece of beef is cooked,
‘the more the interior colour changes from pink or red to gray, and the
greater the culinary losses’. In her Joy of Cooking (1936), Irma Rombauer
signals the appearance in the kitchen of meat thermometers and offers a
detailed description of how to use them to roast beef at various stages: ‘rare,
140 degrees; medium, 160 degrees; well done, 170 degrees’.

Roasting

In historical terms, roasting itself is one of the earliest cooking techniques

mastered by the human race. The first roasting feasts were organized in
prehistory in front of an open fire and the site was often the centre of social
life for our ancestors.
When it comes to beef, the relationship between this particular food and
roasting is undoubtedly one that can pride itself in an impressive longevity.
Roasting still remains one of the most common preparation methods for the
meat, whether it is carried out on a rack over a live fire or a conventional
home oven. Over the centuries, spits have not proven popular in the process
of roasting beef. This is probably due to a logistical issue, as the sheer size
of a whole cow does not make it suitable for the spit: it would require a very
large spit indeed. While the practice of spit-roasting beef is not completely
unknown in several instances throughout history – with Argentina being a
particular exponent in this group – spits have found their greatest popularity
in the cooking of smaller animals, such as pigs, goats, sheep and, of course,
chickens. Racks, on the other hand, have proved an effective tool in the
process of roasting beef, as they allow for larger pieces of the meat to be
cooked at the same time.
With the advent in history of more sophisticated heating techniques,
oven-roasting became a common way of preparing beef that is still very
popular today. The oven allows for slower cooking of the beef, which
maintains its natural moisture, bestowing upon the meat its most distinctive
taste. Whether cooked in an oven or on an open fire, however, beef is
usually placed on a rack. During roasting, it is usually basted on the surface
with butter, oil or lard, in order to reduce the loss of moisture. As a general
rule, the meat is removed from the heat before it is fully cooked; it should
be covered and left to rest for a short period of time. While the beef rests,
the inside cooks even further, thanks to the residual heat. This phenomenon
– often referred to as ‘carry over cooking’ – is said to retain the juices of the
meat and enhance its flavour. In her Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household
Management (1861), Isabella Beeton praises the simplicity of roasting as
the method to prepare beef par excellence. She shows a certain poetic
attachment for what she sees in antiquity as ‘the age of roasting’, when the
preparation of beef started to be aided by common utensils that allowed the
meat to be prepared in a more sophisticated way.

‘Roasting’, from Tacuinum Sanitatis. This 14th-century manuscript illustration depicts a common
beef-roasting scene.

Beef is perfectly suited to roasting since it is a good method for cooking

large cuts of meat. Cuts of beef are commonly tied up with string prior to
roasting. Tying is known to hold the meat together during roasting and
allows the beef to maintain a circular profile, which encourages even
cooking and makes the beef easier to carve once it is ready to be served.
Today, the knot of choice for tying a cut of beef is the reef knot, usually
formed by tying a right-handed overhand knot followed by a left-handed
overhand knot. More tradition ally, beef roasts would have been tied with
the packer’s knot, an ancient binding knot that is secured by tightening the
string into a figure of eight around the standing part in such a way that both
ends emerge from the same point. The ends are then pulled tight over the
standing part and secured with one last overhand knot. While the packer’s
knot historically has not only been used in the culinary arts, its particular
popularity as the knot of choice for tying beef roasts has granted the
technique its common name of ‘butcher’s knot’.
The term ‘roast beef’ carries important cultural connotations that
transcend its basic definition of being meat that has simply been roasted or
baked in the oven. Historically, beef has been the ‘national meat’ of
England. Roast beef has many patriotic connotations associated with it,
which have been surviving in the country for centuries. And there is
certainly no doubt in the fact that, as a nation, the British love beef. The
meat has occupied a privileged position in the British diet for centuries. In
1698, the travelling Frenchman Henri Misson, who was visiting London at
the time and observing the culinary habits of the British with a keen eye,
poignantly stated:
It is common practice, even among People of Good Substance, to have a huge Piece of
Roast-Beef on Sundays, on which they stuff until they can swallow no more, and eat the rest
cold, without any other victuals, the other six Days of the Week.

Overall, the tendency of the British population to consume large

quantities of beef has generated scorn among other populations. A notable
example concerns precisely the French, who have been known to refer to the
British derogatively as rosbif, openly mocking the overactive preference for
simple and straightforward roasted beef in the British Isles.
In 1817, William Kitchiner – author of the well-respected Apicius
Redivivus; Or, The Cook’s Oracle – recommended his readers to eat as much
as 3 kg (6½ lb) of meat every week, in order to ensure good health. Beef
was clearly selected as the most beneficial meat of choice. In his book,
Kitchiner describes in detail how to prepare a ‘noble sirloin of about fifteen
pounds’, taking special care in recommending that it should be placed by
the cook on an open fire at least four hours before going to church on
Sundays. Kitchiner’s instructions state that the meat had to cook slowly on
racks, hooks or on small spits, and the large quantities of beef prepared
would feed the household not only as a hot roast on the Sunday itself, but
also in the guise of stews, pie fillings and cold cuts for the rest of the week.
While Kitchiner’s method notably shows a high level of respect for cuts
of beef, which must be handled with special reverence, only the wealthiest
members of the community could afford the luxury of a wide-open fire and
large quantities of beef. The less well-off members of the population had to
make do with preparing smaller portions of beef and it is a recorded fact that
they would drop off their roasts to the local bakers on their way to church,
so that the beef could be cooked in the cooling ovens. This particular
practice is what began the association in Britain between Sunday and beef
roasts, a strong connection that is still maintained and respected in the
country today.
The meat has been part of the British diet for so long that its image has
permeated many of the most distinctive features of the country. At the
Tower of London, the Yeoman Warders – the royal bodyguards – have been
known as ‘beef eaters’ since the fifteenth century. There are many
explanations for this; in folklore, the guards are said to have been paid in
beef, therefore giving them the affectionate and well-known appellative. A
later historical source attributes the creation of the name to Count Cosimo,
the Grand Duke of Tuscany, who visited the Tower in 1669, and is said to
have commented: ‘A very large ration of beef is given to them daily at court
. . . that they might be called Beef-eaters.’
The presence and impact of roast beef, however, cannot be measured in
Britain alone. The traditional beef Sunday lunch is a common meal in
several countries around the world, particularly those which historically
have had a strong connection with the former British Empire, such as the
U.S., Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and Australia. In the countries that used
to be British colonies, however, roast beef has refused to simply stay in its
traditional incarnation. While examples of the Sunday dinner still remain
popular, roast beef has also been served in a variety of different ways. In the
U.S., for instance, roast beef is a very popular filling for sandwiches. A well-
known example is the ‘beef on weck’ sandwich, which is found primarily in
the western New York area. Although its precise origins are not clear, the
‘beef on weck’ sandwich is said to have come from Buffalo in the early
1800s. This particular roast beef sandwich is German in origin and is said to
have been introduced to the Buffalo culinary scene by a German immigrant
who owned a bar. Weck is the Southern German word for roll. The sandwich
is made with roast beef on a kummelweck roll. The beef is usually served
rare and the bun is often dipped in the meat’s jus.

The quintessential Sunday lunch: roast beef served with vegetables, gravy and Yorkshire puddings.

Grilling

Grilling is another popular way of cooking beef. It employs dry heat, which
is usually applied to the meat either from above or from below. As grilling is
a form of ‘direct heat’ cooking, the temperatures involved can reach in
excess of 260°C (500°F). The meat tends to be cut into pieces or slices before
it is exposed to the heat, and it is usually cooked on a grill, a griddle or a
griddle pan. A grill tends to have an open grid with the heat source coming
from both directions. With this system, the heat is transferred onto the beef
primarily through what is known as thermal radiation. A griddle, on the
other hand, is a flat plate with the heat source coming from below. Finally, a
griddle pan – which is very similar in concept to a frying pan – has raised
ridges that allow it to mimic the cooking effects of an open grill. These last
two grilling methods differ in concept from the open grill in that they rely
on direct heat induction being transferred onto the beef.
In the UK, and several other Commonwealth countries such as Australia
and New Zealand, ‘grilling’ is the term used to refer to cooking beef directly
under a source of dry heat. Especially in Britain, ‘the grill’ is a specific part
of the oven, and is often granted its own, self-standing layer. Grilling in an
electric oven, however, can be a dissatisfying experience. Apart from the
inconvenience of having to keep the oven door open, grilling beef in an
electric oven causes a lot of smoke and splattering of fat and oil. The
contention is that the meat also does not present its distinctive grilled
flavour, remaining blander if undoubtedly easier to cook.
In Japan, a popular way of consuming beef is in the form of yakiniku, a
way of cooking and serving which broadly refers to all grilled meat dishes.
Widespread throughout Japan, yakiniku restaurants are mostly likely derived
from an original group of Korean restaurants which opened in Osaka and
Tokyo in 1945 – although several chefs in Japan refute this contention,
claiming that the grilling method and the yakiniku dishes that derive from it
are strictly Japanese in origin. The base for a yakiniku meal usually consists
of beef and offal, with chuck slices, ribs and tripe being principal
ingredients. The meat is cut into small pieces and cooked on griddles and
gridirons over a low flame of wood charcoal. Recently, pork has also begun
to make an appearance as an additional ingredient at yakiniku restaurants; in
spite of this, however, beef remains the favourite meat of choice for this
particular grilling method. At yakiniku restaurants, the meat is chosen by the
patrons and is taken directly to their table still in its raw form. The diners
themselves cook the pieces of beef and offal on a grill. The cooked meat is
then dipped in a variety of soy-based sauces, known collectively as tare,
before being eaten. The popularity of yakiniku in Japan has become so
widespread since its inception in the 1940s that in 1993 the All Japan
Yakiniku Association (Zenkoku Yakiniku Kyoukai) proclaimed 29 August to
be the official ‘Yakiniku Day’.
Yakiniku bears a close resemblance to the Korean bulgogi (or bul go gi),
a dish consisting of beef, usually sirloin, marinated in a mixture of soy
sauce, sesame oil, sugar, garlic, peppers and mushrooms. The beef is
traditionally grilled with garlic, onions and chopped green peppers; noodles
are also often added as an accompaniment. Bulgogi is said to have
originated during the Goguryeo era (37 BC–AD 668), when grilled beef
became a popular food. The long history of the dish means that it has seen
many changes and adaptations over time. Its contemporary incarnation is
derived from a mixture of its original Goguryeo manifestation of grilled
beef – which was referred to as maekjeok – and neobiani, a dish of ‘thinly
spread’ beef which was popular among the aristocracy in the Joseon
Dynasty (1392–1897). In the modern age, bulgogi has often been served
with a salad or – even more commonly in recent years – as the base for a
Korean version of the hamburger, where the burger patty is prepared in the
traditional bulgogi marinade before being grilled.

Yakiniku beef grill.

Grilling finds its most common and well-known incarnation in the

barbecue. In this particular method, ancient in origin, the heat source comes
exclusively from below the meat. There are several examples of barbecuing
instruments and techniques that commonly cook beef around the world,
including the Japanese hibachi – a cylindrical open-top container designed
to hold burning charcoal and originating in the Heian period (AD 794–1185)
– and the Middle Eastern kebab, a special dish of grilled meat displayed on
a large skewer. In etymological terms, the English term barbecue has
evolved from barbacoa, a form of cooking meat that originated in the
Caribbean; the word literally means ‘sacred fire pit’.
A modern interpretation of the Korean bulgogi.

While in itself a barbecue can be composed of several meats, with pork

often being the meat of choice, there are instances in which a barbecue
‘means’ beef. An example of this is the well-known Texas barbecue, where
beef surpasses any other type of meat in preference and is cooked on open
grills, allowing for several larger pieces of meat to be prepared at the same
time. The propensity of Texans to prefer beef should not come as a surprise,
since the state prides itself on having the highest numbers of cattle in the
whole country. An all-beef barbecue in the U.S. is also often referred to as a
‘cowboy barbecue’; the choice of meat is also reflected in the tendency to
employ more direct heat forms and to use barbecues with larger grilling
areas.
Indeed, a beef barbecue is not, paradoxically, just a matter of beef. It is
often a social event, the word ‘barbecue’ signalling a gathering of family
and friends where meat will be present. On occasion, however, the most
sought-after quality of ‘the barbecue’ is not necessarily the grilled meat, but
the event itself. The barbecue as social function takes many shapes and
forms around the world, although, admittedly, on all these occasions meat is
more likely to be served than not. A significant exponent within this
category is the South African braai. The term is an Afrikaans word meaning
literally ‘to grill’. The word has been widely adopted by English speakers in
South Africa and is usually interchangeable with the term ‘barbecue’.
Although several meats can be cooked as part of the braai grill, beef takes a
special place on the list of ingredients. The fact that beef’s flavour is
enhanced when it is barbecued, and the widespread presence of cattle
throughout South Africa, have transformed beef into the braai meat par
excellence. Beef is prepared on a variety of braai grills, all of which
maintain the barbecuing prerogative of having the heat source coming from
below. The ‘skottel braai’, a particular concave solid metal surface on legs,
is particularly favoured for barbecuing beef, as the sauces and meat juices
which escape during cooking are collected in the dip and can be reused
repeatedly for basting. The kettle grill is also particularly favoured for the
beef braai, as the domed shape allows larger cuts of meat to cook
thoroughly.

Carl Rudolf Huber, Cattle Herd Under Pollarded Willows, late 19th century, oil on canvas.

However, and in spite of its obvious feeding function, the braai is above
all a social occasion and custom. The event is dictated by specific social
norms; women, for instance, are rarely known to cook the braai,
maintaining (as in many areas of the Western world) the almost prehistoric
cultural association between men and grilled meat. Traditionally, while the
men gather around the braai with trays of beef, the women prepare the
accompaniments and the trimmings, such as salads, vegetables and desserts.
The customary importance of the braai as an icon of cultural heritage is
even commemorated in South Africa with ‘Braai Day’, which is widely
celebrated on 24 September. The beauty of the braai is that it enables the
host to be at the centre of attention around the grill, allowing for social
mingling and entertainment. And, in so doing, the braai also highlights
beef’s longstanding ability to act as an unbreakable bonding agent, recalling
the open fires and close tribal connections of our Neolithic ancestors.

Broiling

Broiling is a method of cooking beef that is usually classed as a sub-

category of grilling. In reality, there are some fundamental differences
between the two processes, which allow them to be seen as two separate
ways of preparing the meat. Many modern recipes for beef suggest
‘broiling’ instead of grilling, but fail to identify the basic distinctions and
similarities that can make a cooking session either a success or a failure.
Like grilling, broiling relies on the use of radiant dry heat. And like grilling,
broiling necessitates direct heat and high temperatures to cook the beef; both
methods, therefore, require a watchful eye on the cook’s part in order to
avoid burning or excessive drying. Both methods also allow the beef to
acquire a similar level of caramelization and charring which give the meat
one of its most distinctive flavours. Unlike grilling, however, broiling is
usually done indoors – commonly in the oven – and is very convenient if an
open grill in the garden proves a difficult tool to find or operate. A broiler
pan is to be used when broiling beef in the oven. Traditionally, a broiler pan
comes in two pieces, a deeper, solid lower pan – known as a drip pan – and
a slotted upper pan. As a cooking method relying on dry heat, broiling is not
known to particularly soften the fibres of beef, and it is not usually
recommended for ‘tougher’ cuts of meat.
The term ‘broiling’ is most likely derived from the Old French ‘bruller’
(to roast or to burn). The Middle English word ‘broillen’ appears commonly
in fourteenth-century culinary records, likely used as synonym for ‘cook’. In
North America, there is a tendency to refer to all forms of grilling as
‘broiling’, which often causes confusion. Historically, gridirons were
employed to broil beef and other meats in the oven. Many of the practices
that are common, albeit ill-advised, when broiling beef today – such as
scoring the beef, or even basting – are strongly opposed in a number of
historical cookbooks. In The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy (1784),
Hannah Glasse warned prospective cooks ‘never to baste anything on the
gridiron, for it only makes it smoked and burnt’. The quality and
preservation of the gridirons are also granted particular attention on several
occasions, as the blackened quality of a misused iron is said to affect the
taste and texture of the broiled beef. In The Servant’s Guide and Family
Manual (1831), cooks were also warned to keep their gridirons polished and
‘bright’ before and after broiling, since ‘there is no good cause for the bars
ever becoming black’. Once it reached the irons and was put in the oven, the
beef had to be greased with lard to stop sticking, and ‘to prevent the meat
from being marked by the gridirons’ (The Cook’s Own Book, 1832).
Smoke was viewed as an extremely detrimental side-effect of broiling
beef, a perspective that is still maintained today. Fires were to be kept clear
and vigorous at all times. In Buck-master’s Cookery (1984), we are offered a
good tip to avoid our beef from producing smoke and engulfing the kitchen:
When the fat smokes and blazes too much remove the grid iron for an instant, and just
sprinkle the fire with a little salt. Arrange your gridiron, if possible, so that it may be from
two to five inches above the fire and slightly inclined towards the cook.

In terms of handling the meat, historical cookbooks suggest using ‘steak

tongs’ (or even simply fingers) rather than a fork in order to avoid breaking
the surface of the beef and causing the juices to run out. In The Complete
Servant (1826), Samuel and Sarah Adams dedicate a sizeable part of their
writing to the preparation of beef and suggest ‘broiling it quick and
turn[ing] it often, with steak-tongs, to keep in the gravy and make it a nice
brown’.
The name ‘London Broil’ is used to describe a famous dish consisting of
a marinated and quick-broiled flank steak. The meat is then cut across the
grain and served in thin strips. In spite of its name, the dish is completely
American in origin and is unknown in Britain. Indeed, the very few
instances in which ‘London Broil’ appears in British cookbooks make it
clear that the dish is North American and continue to refer to it as such. The
origins of the dish are still shrouded in mystery and all that is known is that
it was introduced in American culinary books sometime during the years of
the Great Depression. Renowned food historian John Mariani has observed
that the first instance of ‘London Broil’ appearing in print dates to 1931, as a
feature in Charles G. Shaw’s ‘Nightlife: Vanity Fair’s Intimate Guide to
New York’. Plenty of American butchers have been known over the years to
refer to a particular cut of beef as ‘London Broil’; this is, however, a
misinterpretation of the term. London Broil is not, in fact, a cut of meat at
all. It is a recipe, a way of preparing and serving beef. As Merle Ellis of the
Los Angeles Times declared in 1979: ‘Cattle don’t have London Broils.
Recipe books have London Broils.’ For decades, flank steak was considered
synonymous with ‘London Broil’, as this particular cut was the most
commonly used in preparing the dish. In recent years, however, top round
roasts have been erroneously labelled as ‘London Broil’, together with other
various cuts of beef – such as sirloin, chuck or shoulder clod – which have
been known to be marketed as the perfect base for this particular recipe. In
1973, the National Livestock and Meat Board in the U.S. issued an official
recommendation for the appellative of ‘London Broil’ to be removed when
butchers were merchandising beef, as its various incarnations were a source
of confusion for the consumers. Nonetheless, ‘London Broil’ still makes a
regular appearance in butchers’ shops in America as a particular product that
one can purchase. The cuts’ disparities across the States are clearly not a
deterrent in the marketing campaigns for the beef.

Alfred Grey Hochlandrinder, Highland Cattle, 1887, oil on canvas.

The preparation of the steak to be used in ‘London Broil’ is labour

intensive. As the muscle fibres run through the entire length of this cut – in
instances where the intended flank steak is actually used – the beef can
become tough if it is not appropriately tenderized prior to cooking.
Massaging and pounding are an essential part of preparing the steak, not
only making it easier to cook, but also rendering it more tender when being
cut and consumed. Marinating the flank steak – in a traditional mixture of
vinegar, sugar, garlic and oil – is also an essential part of the preparation of
‘London Broil’. In spite of the fact that many suggestions relating to their
usefulness appear in American cookbooks – especially those written in the
1950s, such as the Good Housekeeping Cook Book (1955) – other
preparation methods such as stabbing and scoring are not recommended in
the preparation on ‘London Broil’, since the cuts inflicted on the beef before
it is cooked cause the meat to become very tough, as essential juices and
moisture are allowed to escape from the beef flank and run into the broiling
pan.
While ‘London Broil’ is an American invention, a curious version of the
dish can be found throughout Canada. This variety sees a ground beef patty
being wrapped in flank steak. While the ‘beef on beef’ concoction remains
the most popular throughout the country, some Canadian butchers have been
known to use a pork sausage patty as the filler, while maintaining the beef
flank steak as the wrapping sheet. In Ontario, another variety of the dish –
known commonly as ‘London Broil loaf’ – has the flank beef steak wrapped
around a spiced portion of ground veal.

Stewing

A stew is usually a combination of meat and vegetables which is allowed to

cook in liquid in a casserole dish over a period of time and is served with
the gravy that results from the cooking process. Beef is a favoured meat for
this dish, since the strong nature of the meat means it tends not to lose its
flavour while cooking for longer times. Tougher cuts are particularly suited
to this method of preparation, since the meat is allowed to cook slowly and
tenderize so that it literally ‘falls off’ the bone. Stewing is a form of low-
cost cooking, as the wet heat permits the use of cheaper cuts, which are
softened with time without losing any moisture. A method of preparing beef
similar to stewing is braising. In this process, however, only a small amount
of liquid is added to the saucepan, which does not entirely cover the meat.
Instead of being simmered slowly on the fire, braised beef is also usually
browned in a frying pan before being put in the oven to finish cooking.
Stewing in a very ancient method of preparing meat – especially beef –
going as far back as prehistoric times. The term stewing comes from the
Middle English stewen, meaning literally ‘to bathe in a steam bath’. The
word originates from the Old French estuver, a derivative of the Vulgar
Latin term extufare, meaning ‘to bathe’. Several examples of beef being
slowly cooked in liquid can be found in the historical cookbooks of many
nations and cultures around the world. In his Histories, Herodotus records
that in the eighth century BC the Scythians – the term used by the ancient
Greeks to refer to certain Iranian populations – were already known to ‘put
the flesh into an animal’s paunch, mix water with it, and boil it like that over
the bone fire’. Herodotus claimed that this rudimentary way of preparing
stew allowed the ‘bone to burn very well’ and that ‘the paunch easily’
contained ‘all the meat’ once it had stripped off, so that ‘in this way an OX’
was ‘ingeniously made to boil itself’. Other historical records also show that
examples such as goulash (or gulyàsleves), a traditional Hungarian beef
stew served over noodles, was already commonly eaten in the Magyar
region in the ninth century, pre-dating the very existence of Hungary by
several centuries. Guillaume Tirel’s Le Viandier – the oldest French
cookbook in existence, circulated in 1395 as a version of an earlier French
cookery text – relates several recipes for beef stews and ragouts.

A 1970s advertisement for Dinty Moore’s beef stew, a popular item in the USA.

In modern times, a large number of beef stew recipes build up the

culinary fibres of many international cuisines. Admirers of this particular
cooking method are truly spoiled for choice. In Vietnam, for instance, bo
kho is a traditional beef stew that is richly spiced and served with bread, rice
or noodles. In the U.S., beef booyah is an elaborate beef stew that takes
several days to prepare and is typical of the Upper Midwestern states.
Booyah is especially cooked in ‘booyah kettles’, large-scale pots that were
invented in the early 1900s by Clarence Rogers – also widely credited with
the invention of booyah – that can hold multiple gallons of the stew. The
name is thought to be an Anglicized amalgamation of the French bouillir (to
boil) and bouillon (broth). Historically, booyah has been served in
Midwestern states as a ‘community dish’, which is consumed collectively
by the whole village during festivals and fundraising events.
The most well known incarnation of beef stew around the world,
however, is perhaps beef bourguignon – also known as beef Burgundy or,
most traditionally, boeuf à la Bourguignonne. The dish originates in the
Burgundy region of France (La Bourgogne). The distinctive feature about
this beef stew is that it is prepared with red wine, usually of the Burgundy
variety, mixed with beef stock and then seasoned with onions, garlic and the
traditionally French bouquet garni. Mushrooms are also added towards the
end of cooking, in order to enhance the dish’s already prominent earthy
taste. In the American imagination, beef Bourguignon was popularized by
renowned chef Julia Child, who made it one of her signature dishes.
Historically, beef bourguignon was part of the peasant cook book of
France. The rural legacy of the dish lies in its use of tough beef cuts such as
chuck; the wine was arguably added to the stew in order to help tenderize
the meat, which was naturally harder in texture than some of its more
sought-after and sophisticated counterparts. In modern times, there has been
a successful effort to refine the dish as an example of haute cuisine. A recipe
for beef bourguignon appears in Auguste Escoffier’s culinary textbook Le
Guide Culinaire and offers instructions to prepare the dish that are still
commonly followed around the world in order to maintain its original
flavour. In even more recent times, the dish is thought of, outside of France,
as a standard French dish, encapsulating all the charm and the sophistication
of this particular European country.

Sous vide

Sous vide – French for ‘under vacuum’ – is another particular way of

cooking beef that has been known for centuries. Another example of moist
heat, the modern version of the method sees beef being cooked in sealed and
airtight plastic bags. The bags are placed in water for a long period of time,
sometimes as long as 72 hours, at the superficially determined temperature
of 60°C (140°F). The intention behind this particular method is to ensure that
the meat is cooked evenly on both the outside and the inside. Many sceptics
of the method have termed it an unnecessarily sophisticated version of the
old ‘boil in the bag’. In reality, sous vide proves the perfect method for
maintaining control in the kitchen. The typical tough nature of beef makes it
an ideal candidate for undergoing the sous vide treatment, allowing it to stay
juicy in spite of longer cooking times.
While sous vide as a precise technique may be a relatively new
invention, the fundamental elements of the practice are known to be ancient.
Many cultures – especially in central and Southeast Asia – have traditional
beef-based dishes in which the meat is tightly wrapped in various artefacts
and cooked slowly at a low temperature, maintaining moisture within the
food. In written records, sous vide is first described as such by the physicist
Sir Benjamin Thompson in 1799. While being treated as a common and
somewhat unsophisticated way of preparing meat for centuries, sous vide
was rediscovered in the late 1960s, when what is known as the ‘modern era
of sous vide’ began. During this time, sous vide was used as an industrial
preservation method that proved particularly effective with beef. French
chef Georges Pralus for the Restaurant Troisgros officially adopted the
method for cooking meat and put sous vide in the spotlight.
In industry terms, sous vide is also known as ‘cryovacking’, which
literally describes putting food in plastic bags and vacuum packing. This
particular term was coined by Bruno Goussault, a pioneer in developing the
appropriate parameters and cooking times for the technique. In 1974,
Goussault presented a study on the sous vide cooking of beef shoulder at an
international frozen-foods conference in Strasbourg, France. He found that
cooking the beef sous vide extended its shelf life to 60 days. Since then,
sous vide has remained a standard cooking method for beef and other meats
in restaurants worldwide.
The popularity of sous vide has re-emerged even on the home market in
recent years thanks to the endorsement of renowned British chef Heston
Blumenthal. He has been experimenting with the method since the late
1990s; his ‘beef steak sous vide’ gained a lot of attention in the British
media and is praised as an example of culinary art that is as close to perfect
as beef could ever be. On several occasions, Blum en thal has declared that
sous vide will revolutionize the way people cook at home. Sous vide’s
failure to enter the home market has been partially due to the expense
involved in the method, as special boiling machines – manufactured by
Supreme for decades – are necessary to achieve the intended results.
Blumenthal, on the other hand, intends his new line of sous vide machines
to be more affordable for the general public, carrying the assurance that a
common piece of sirloin will be cooked to be so tender and juicy that guests
will believe it is in fact beef fillet.

OceanofPDF.com
 3
Raw and Cured

In a famous episode from the British television series Mr Bean, starring

Rowan Atkinson, the title character goes to a sophisticated French
restaurant to celebrate his birthday. After giving himself a birthday card, Mr
Bean orders a posh-sounding dish from the menu. His anticipation for the
culinary delights promised by the dish, however, quickly disappears as the
order appears on the table: it is steak tartare, a dish of raw beef. Unable to
admit to the waiter that he is unhappy with his order – as he was in fact
expecting to receive a cooked steak – Mr Bean’s reaction to the famous raw
steak is nonetheless pure disgust. Its taste and texture cause poor Mr Bean
to be repulsed by the very sight of it. He then proceeds, between one
retching moment and the other, to cut up and hide pieces of the steak tartare
in a variety of different places, including an ashtray, a sugar pot, a tiny vase
and a hollowed-out bread roll.
More so than any other types of meat, beef can be enjoyed raw.
Although the idea itself may turn the more delicate stomach, raw beef has
been transformed into a delicacy in several countries. Towering among all
renowned raw beef recipes across the globe is definitely Mr Bean’s own
choice, steak tartare, a dish made from minced or very finely chopped raw
beef. The meat must be of the highest quality and for this reason filet
mignon is usually the preferred cut. Tartare is often served with capers,
chopped onions, a variety of seasonings – including Worcestershire sauce –
and a raw egg yolk on top. The dish made its first ever appearance in
French restaurants at the beginning of twentieth century. In those days, what
we now generally call steak tartare was actually referred to as steak à
l’Americaine. This dish consisted simply of raw beef, with no additional
accompaniments or seasonings. The modern steak tartare originated from a
later variation of steak à l’Americaine, when it was served with tartare
sauce on the side. This incarnation of the dish first appeared in Auguste
Escoffier’s Le Guide Culinaire (1921 edition). Escoffier, however, does not
mention the presence of egg yolk in this particular dish. With time, the clear
distinction between steak tartare and steak à l’Americaine disappeared. In
Larousse Gastronomique (1938 edition), steak tartare is clearly described as
a dish of raw, finely chopped beef, served with a raw egg yolk. This
incarnation does not mention tartare sauce at all.
The idea of serving beef raw is, of course, not only found in France. The
propensity to eat beef raw can be found in several cuisines around the
world, even historically pre-dating the appearance of steak tartare on French
dinner tables. In Korean cuisine, for instance, yukhoe is a popular dish.
‘Hoe’ refers collectively to a number of raw dishes in the country and
yukhoe specifically is usually made from raw, ground beef which is then
seasoned with spices or even sauces. Known in the industry as the ‘Korean
steak tartare’ – a particular appellative that Korean chefs would probably
refuse to acknowledge – yukhoe also uses the most tender parts of beef.
Unlike in steak tartare, however, the beef for yukhoe is thinly julienned
(instead of being finely chopped) and the fat is completely removed. The
meat is usually mixed with soy sauce, oil, salt, sugar, garlic, sesame seeds
and bae (a Korean pear); like in the most recent incarnations of steak
tartare, a raw egg is also added on top of yukhoe.
Historically, the dish is said to have reached Korean shores from China
in the late Goryeo period and became fashionable during the Joseon era.
Yukhoe made its first written appearance in the late-nineteenth-century
Korean cookbook Siuijeonseo, compiled by an anonymous cook. In this
particular account, it is recommended for slices of raw beef to be washed
several times in water to remove all traces of blood. After the beef is
seasoned, Siuijeonseo also recommends for the yukhoe to be served with
chogochujang, a specific dipping sauce made with chillies, sugar and
vinegar.
Another dish of raw beef comes from Italy and is, of course, the famous
carpaccio. This consists of thinly cut slices of beef, seasoned with olive oil,
Parmigiano-Reggiano or Grana Padano shavings, lemon and rocket. The
lemon juice is said to ‘cook’ the beef to some extent, mitigating its taste and
texture. In recent years, mustard has been used by more experimental chefs
as a seasoning, in order to counterbalance the acidity of the meat with a
creamier, softer taste. According to culinary folklore, the dish originated at
Harry’s Bar in Venice, where it was first served to countess Amalia Nani
Mocenigo by the bar owner Giuseppe Cipriani. The countess had allegedly
been ordered by her doctor to consume only raw meat. Carpaccio was
named after the fifteenth-century Italian painter Vittore Carpaccio, as
Cipriani claimed that the colours of the dish reminded him of the palette
commonly used by the Renaissance artist in his paintings. Although the
history of the dish is more attributable to legend than actual historical fact,
this does not affect the popularity of carpaccio itself, which still remains
one of the most popular and distinguished ways to consume raw beef
around the world.

The popular steak tartare.

Beef carpaccio, presented at a restaurant in Italy with the modern addition of mustard as a topping.

In Chile, crudos is a typical dish of raw beef mince served between

slices of bread and seasoned with lemon juice, onion and a yoghurt-based
sauce. In Ethiopia, the local cuisine includes kifto, a special dish of raw beef
marinated in mitmita, a spicy chilli blend, and niter kibbeh, a clarified butter
infused with spices and herbs. The term kifto – sometimes spelled kefto –
derives from an ancient Ethio-Semitic root (k-f-t) meaning ‘to mince’. An
Eritrean variation of kifto is gored gored, where the raw beef is left
unmarinated and is served cubed instead of minced.
Recently, health concerns have reduced the popularity of raw beef
dishes in some parts of the world. Particularly in Western countries, the fear
of contamination by parasites and bacteria – which have been found to live
in raw meat – have turned the stomachs of many adventurous beef-eaters.
Taenia saginata and Toxoplasma gondii are but two examples of harmful
parasites that can fester in raw beef. Nonetheless, if basic hygienic rules are
followed and methods of preparation monitored, the risk of contracting
these parasites is very low. Even salmonella infections are known to be very
rare if the raw beef is stored correctly and handled appropriately during
preparation.
Overall, however, the popularity of raw beef does not seem to be
completely threatened by widespread health concerns. Caution must be
exercised, though. Raw beef makes for an extraordinary and almost surreal
experience. Even to the most trained palates, the taste is peculiar, pungent
and forceful. While the distinguished Carpaccio calls for admirers and
camouflages its true, red-blooded nature underneath layers of lemon juice,
rocket and Parmigiano-Reggiano, a candid steak tartare is not for everyone.
Its raw honesty can be a difficult gift to accept.
In a similar fashion to its raw counterpart, cured beef takes many shapes
and forms, including several types of flavouring and preservation processes
that range from smoking to salting and pickling. Salt and sugar have been
known historically to be two of the most widely used additions in the
preservation of beef, especially in European regions. The process of
preserving beef with salt, in particular, is known to be ancient, as a number
of historical accounts from around the world testify to the practice being
common among multiple cultures. Examples of dry-cured salted beef –
which have evolved greatly over the centuries – can be located in Europe,
Africa, South Asia and the Americas. Cured beef is appealing in concept as
it allows the preservation of large quantities of meat for very long periods
of time, permitting for a food source to be readily available even during
periods of scarcity or poor weather conditions.
One of the most well-known types of salt-cured beef, known in several
cultures around the world, is corned beef. The term ‘corned’ does not have
any affinity with actual corn; indeed, many an inexperienced eater has
expected a layer of corn around the beef and been rather disappointed at its
absence. In this case, in fact, ‘corned’ derives from the Old English word
for grain, which used to refer to anything that was round in shape. Where
corned beef is concerned, the ‘roundness’ refers to the salt grains that are
still used today in preparing and curing the meat.
In terms of written records, early references to dry-salted beef appear in
the eleventh century. The historian Regina Sexton points out that a similar
salted product is mentioned in Aislinge Meic Con Glinne, a Middle Irish
tale of unknown authorship. The first mention of corned beef as such
appears in Richard Burton’s Anatomy of Melancholy, a text published in
1621: ‘Beef a strong and hearty meat . . . for labouring men if ordered
aright, corned, young, of an OX.’ In modern times, ‘corned beef’ is used
commonly and interchangeably to refer to a number of cured beef varieties.
Indeed, there are several ways in which what we call corned beef can be
produced. The most traditional type of corned beef is a cured product
dehydrated with grain salt, which maintains a firmer and drier texture for
the meat and can be made with various and different cuts of beef. This
product is usually served ‘fresh’ in delicatessen shops. The canned variety
of corned beef, on the other hand, while still being prepared with grain salt,
is known to have an oily and crumbly appearance and texture. In the UK,
canned corned beef is also traditionally referred to as bully beef, a term
derived from the French boeuf bouilli, meaning liter ally ‘boiled beef’.
These two types of corned beef still qualify as ‘dry-cured products’.
A can of corned beef. The process of canning as a
standard preservation method proved essential in
establishing this product’s popularity on an international
scale.

Another variety of corned beef, however, can be wet-cured in strongly

spiced brine, which allows the meat to preserve a suppler and tender
texture. This pickled form of corned beef is particularly popular in North
America, where brisket is the favourite cut to make the product. In the U.S.,
corned beef is still the main ingredient in what is known as the Reuben
sandwich, a common lunchtime speciality consisting of corned beef, Swiss
cheese and sauerkraut. Modern manufacturers of corned beef are known to
include saltpetre in both the dry-curing salt and the brine in order to
preserve the characteristically pink colour of the meat.
Corned beef is a historically charged variety of cured beef. Its own
history, popularity and development are closely tied to the history of the UK,
the U.S. and Ireland. Although the practice of salt-curing beef is ancient, the
mass-scale production of corned beef is known to have started during the
British Industrial Revolution. It was during this time that a lot of the
farmland in Ireland was converted to pastures in order to accommodate
cattle for the production of beef. Ireland was without a doubt the biggest
producer of corned beef in the eighteenth century, supplying most of the
meat for the Atlantic trade. The city of Cork had already earned itself a
name as a beef-producing city in the seventeenth century; by 1668 Cork
was responsible for half of the entire beef production of Ireland.
During the years of the Irish Famine (1740–1741), the cattle industry in
Ireland – demanding large portions of the land and intensified to sustain the
high demands for corned beef by the British Navy – contributed to, in
parallel to the already poor weather conditions, preventing the raising of
sustainable crops that could feed the Irish population. In Beyond Beef,
Jeremy Rifkin points out that the ‘British taste for beef had a devastating
impact on the impoverished and disfranchised people of Ireland’, as they
were pushed off ‘the Celtic grazing lands’ and into ‘small plots of marginal
land’. In spite of the fact that Ireland was one of the biggest producers of
beef for the British, the prohibitive cost of the meat forced the local Irish
population to turn to less nourishing crops, cementing a long-lasting
association between the Irish diet and the potato.
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, it was not usual practice to
distinguish between common and prized cuts when producing corned beef.
Rather, the distinction was carried out according to the size and weight of
the cattle, producing what was known as ‘small beef’, ‘cargo beef’ and
‘best mess beef’ – with the first being considered the worst quality and the
last the best. The most desirable portions were usually the ones that were
kept for English consumption either at home or in the colonies, while the
less prized consignments were traded on the foreign market.
In the late eighteenth century, the development of canning as a way of
containing and preserving meat transformed the production of corned beef
into an international form of trade. Canned corned beef was officially
distributed to the British Armed Forces in 1813 and proved a convenient
source of nourishment due to its long-lasting and unperishable nature. In the
late nineteenth century, corned beef began to lose its role as a commodity
for the British Royal Navy and Army; nonetheless, its importance as an
enduring source of food was greatly restored during the world wars. During
the Second World War, in particular, corned beef was not only shipped to
the British Armed Forces in Europe, but also became a staple ration of the
civilian population. At this time, however, the beef consumed by the British
mainly came from South America, with Uruguay and Argentina having
become the biggest source of corned beef for the UK by 1943.
 In the U.S. and Canada, corned beef – coupled with cabbage – is still the
main ingredient in the culinary celebrations for St Patrick’s Day.
Historically, there is no association between St Patrick, corned beef and
cabbage, but this does not deter the Irish-American community from
consuming large quantities of the meat as part of the cultural and religious
festivity. Indeed, corned beef and cabbage are not part of the national diet in
Ireland. The closest dish that one can find is a traditional pairing of cabbage
and bacon, testifying to the longstanding Irish preference for pork. The
switch from pork to beef was probably due to the low prices of canned
corned beef in the nineteenth century in America, which likely inspired the
newly arrived Irish immigrants to develop a penchant for consuming the
beef product. It is strange to think that the Irish were known to salt beef for
the British for centuries, but did not actually begin to consume it as a staple
food until the late 1800s when they emigrated to the New World.
In Eastern areas of the U.S. – such as New York City – the Jewish
community have also been known to produce a kosher salted beef, which
has been sold in Jewish American delis for centuries. Many disputes have
taken place about the shared cultural and culinary heritage that both Irish
and Jewish communities have in connection to corned beef in the U.S. In
truth, the Jewish version of corned beef – usually served on rye bread –
developed almost independently from its Irish counterpart. Both the Jewish
and the Irish were known to produce dry-salted beef long before they met
on the American shores of the Atlantic. The only connection between the
two cultures, when it comes to beef, was the shared trade circles that both
communities were known to rely on when obtaining the meat.
A traditional North American St Patrick’s Day feast of corned beef and cabbage.

Corned beef, however, is but one example of how beef can be cured and
made available for consumption over periods of time. The techniques for
curing beef are varied and produce similar, yet differing, products.
Bresaola, for instance, is a type of air-dried, salted beef originating from the
Valtellina region of Northern Italy. The meat is aged for at least three
months until it becomes hard and assumes its characteristic dark red
colouring. Although bresaola can be made from various cuts of beef,
including underloin, loin and haunch, legs of beef are usually preferred for
the task.
The origin of the name bresaola is uncertain. Some believe the term
derives from ‘sala come brisa’, a reference to the salting process that is
used to preserve the meat. Others claim that it derives from brasa, a local
dialect word used in reference to the braces or ‘embers’ employed in the
heat chambers during the drying phase. The first historical testimonies of
bresaola can be found in Italian records from the fifteenth century.
Nonetheless, it is likely that a meat similar to bresaola had been known to
the area of Valtellina for much longer before that, as salting and drying was
the favourite method used by local families to preserve their meats. Legend
has it that, for centuries, bresaola was particularly favoured by local
smugglers, who – thanks to the cured beef – had a long-lasting source of
food while travelling across the mountains into Switzerland in journeys
lasting weeks at a time.
Bresaola is granted a special status in the European Union as a PGI
product (or ‘Protected Geographical Indication’). Its production in Italy is
safeguarded by Consorzio Bresaola della Valtellina, which ensures that the
meat is prepared and marketed in the approved manner. The consortium
regularly issues specific guidelines that the producers must abide by in
order for their finished product to be granted the name of ‘bresaola della
Valtellina’. The consortium calls specifically for the trimming – where the
fat is completely removed from the meat – and subsequent dry-salting of
the beef. The meat is carefully covered with salt, which contains
flavourings such as sugar and spices. While working within the
consortium’s guidelines, each producer is allowed to add particular
flavourings, such as wine, juniper berries, cinnamon and nutmeg, in order to
create a specific taste that is particular to their own production.
 There are several steps that must be followed in order to create proper
bresaola della Valtellina. During the salting process, the beef is rubbed
thoroughly so that the salt mixture can penetrate deeply below the surface.
The beef is then pressed and wrapped in casings – which can be either
natural, such as the cow’s intestines, or artificial – and readied for the
drying process. The drying is done in boxes of low humidity with a
temperature that usually ranges between 20°C and 30°C (68°F and 86°F).
During this process, the beef is quickly drained of its moisture, losing more
than 40 per cent of its original weight. In the final process of making
bresaola, the beef is allowed to cool in areas where natural air exchange
takes place. This final drying stage must last for at least four weeks.
Afterwards, bresaola is usually served in thin slices so that it can be
sprinkled with olive oil and black pepper, in a manner not too dissimilar to
the raw dish of carpaccio. The taste, however, is completely different to that
of raw beef; bresaola is sweet-flavoured with a smoky aroma.
Cured beef, however, is not only a prerogative of European food
makers. A good example of this is biltong, a dry-cured meat that originates
in South Africa. It has traditionally been made with a variety of meats,
ranging from beef to game. Nonetheless, beef is now one of the most
common and primary ingredients, to the extent that the appellative ‘beef
biltong’ has become redundant. The finest cuts are used to make biltong,
including sirloin and fillet steak. The name ‘biltong’ is a composite of the
Dutch words bil (rump) and tong (strip). Biltong, therefore, means literally
‘strip of meat’. Its name is mirrored in the meat’s distinctive shape – it is
often seen hanging in strips in various butchers’ shops in South Africa.
When it comes to shaping the history of biltong, local African folklore
has it that when migrating tribesmen were herding their stock, they would
place strips of meat under the saddles of their horses. The chafing was said
to tenderize the meat, while the saddle was meant to flavour the beef. This
story, although picturesque, is enough to make culinary adventurers queasy
and it is a true relief that the biltong-making industry has decided to leave
its traditional tenderizing and salting methods behind. As it is known today,
biltong owes a lot of its composition, texture and flavour to the traditions of
the Dutch pioneers in South Africa – the Voortrekkers – who were known to
sun-dry their meat during their travels across the subcontinent. The drying,
of course, was intended to preserve the meat for longer periods of time. The
basic mixture used to season biltong was – and still is today – a remarkable
blend of salt, vinegar, coriander and spices. These were abundant in what
was known in the nineteenth century as Cape Colony, thanks to its
geographical position on the East Indian route.

A platter of sliced bresaola della Valtellina.

Today biltong is widely consumed not only in South Africa, but also in
several countries around the world. Currently, the biggest producers of the
cured beef outside of the African subcontinent are Germany and New
Zealand. In the latter, the impact of substantial immigration from South
Africa has transformed biltong into one of the most widely known dry beef
products in the country, so that it can be commonly found in all food shops
and supermarkets.
In the Americas, cured beef has found one of its most popular
incarnations in jerky. This particular type of dried meat is made from very
lean beef which is trimmed of all fat and dried to preserve it. The process to
make beef jerky is relatively simple, since all that is needed is a constant
heat source and a good supply of salt, which will inhibit the growth of
bacteria and preserve the meat. Modern manufacturing methods have the
beef marinated in a seasoned liquid or powder, and then dehydrated – or
sometimes smoked, as was preferred in older times – with a low heat that
usually hovers around the 70°C (158°F) mark. Some makers of jerky,
especially in areas such as Texas, prefer to use the ‘traditional’ method of
preparation, simply salting the beef slices thoroughly and allowing it to sun-
dry slowly. The result of both modern and traditional methods is a salty,
smoky product which can be easily consumed as a snack and stored for
several months. Unlike bresaola, the drying process in jerky happens
quickly and, in present-day factories, it takes place in large ovens made
with insulated panels, rather than in drying chambers. On occasions, sweet
varieties of jerky can be produced by adding sugar to the marinating rub.
This sweet variety puts jerky in stark contrast with other dry beef varieties
such as biltong, where salt and vinegar (rather than sugar) are used to
inhibit bacterial growth and ensure preservation of the meat.

Biltong at a butcher’s shop in Johannesburg.

The name ‘jerky’ is a corruption of the Spanish term charqui, which in

itself was derived from ch’arki, a common word in the Quechuan language
– spoken by the Incas and their descendants – meaning literally ‘burnt
meat’. The history of jerky is open to debate. There is a tendency to believe
that Native Central American tribes made several variations of jerky for
thousands of years. The first written record of jerky being produced in the
Americas can be found in Spanish records from the 1500s, in which the
Quechuan people are reported to consume large quantities of dry meat.
When European explorers arrived in the New World, they found that the
native tribes could preserve meat for long periods of time thanks to specific
drying processes. They were immediately intrigued by the possibility of
having meat that would not spoil and could be transported easily on their
travels. The explorers gained knowledge of how to cure and prepare the
meat and how to season and dry it in order to transform it into jerky. Jerky,
however, reached the height of its popularity in the eighteenth century,
during the years of the North American expansion. Once again, colonization
and land discovery was at the heart of dry beef’s success in several
communities, as its ability to be transported for days, if not months, without
spoiling made it the perfect food for eager and adventurous explorers.
As the industrial age boomed in North America, the popularity of beef
jerky did not diminish and the meat began to be mass-produced. Jerky, of
course, is not made only with beef, as other popular incarnations include
buffalo jerky, venison jerky and, more recently, ostrich jerky. However, the
widespread presence of cattle and cheaper prices of beef have allowed beef
jerky to become one of the most common and widely available types of
cured beef one can find in North America. Today, jerky is consumed in
large quantities by many populations around the world, its uncompromising
taste still carrying a touch of the adventurous life on the pioneer trail.

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 4
A Cut Above

Before it is cooked or prepared for consumption, beef must first be divided

into primal cuts. These are large pieces of meat which are originally
separated from the carcass during the initial stages of butchering.
Subsequent sections of beef – such as steak – are cut from these large pieces
of meat. One should not be tempted to think that both the primal and
secondary division of beef is simply a matter of practicality and common
sense. Culture and social organization have a strong impact on how beef is
cut in different countries and geographical areas. The Koreans and the Bodi
people in Africa are known to be the most thorough and specific in dividing
beef for consumption. The Bodi people are known to have 51 cuts of beef,
while the Koreans go as far as separating the meat into an amazing number
of 120 cuts. These divisions are not only connected to the specific culinary
uses that are intended for the beef, but are also reliant on ritual associations
that are fundamental to the practice of butchering cattle around the world.
In Western countries, the principal ways of cutting beef are divided into
American and British cuts. Although these are not universal in any way,
they can be used as a starting point to unravel how cuts of beef are
differentiated and prepared. In American primal cuts, the carcass is split
along its axis symmetrically into ‘halves’, then divided across into front and
back quarters – what are also known as forequarters and hind-quarters.
Forequarters cuts include the chuck, the rib, the shank and the plate. The
chuck is usually the source of bone-in steaks and boneless clod steaks and
roasts. The first references to ‘chuck’ as a cut of beef appear in sixteenth-
century English cooking manuals, although the origin of the term is
uncertain.

A colour illustration from Webster’s Illustrated Dictionary (1920).

The rib contains the short ribs, the prime rib and rib eye steaks. The
plate is a section found below the ribs used primarily for pot roasting. A full
slab of short ribs is usually 25 square centimetres (4 square inches) and 7 to
12 centimetres (4 to 5 inches) thick. They can also be cut into boneless
steaks, although these must not be confused with ‘boneless country-style
beef ribs’, another cut that was recently introduced in the U.S. as a cheaper
alternative to rib steak. The rib eye steak – also known as ‘Scotch fillet’ in
New Zealand and Australia – is mainly composed of Longissimus dorsi
muscle on the carcass. The rib eye is the base for the famous ‘Delmonico
steak’, a particular way of preparing beef meat that was made popular by the
renowned Delmonico’s Steakhouse Restaurant in New York City in the mid-
nineteenth century. In spite of the fact that the rib eye has been commonly
associated with the Delmonico steak, there have been many controversies
over the years surrounding which cut would have originally been used.
Many sources claim to have proof on the matter and it is estimated that up
to eight cuts could have qualified as the original cut for the world-famous
steak. These ranged from rib eye steak (boneless and with bone) to sirloin.
The main controversy was centred on whether Delmonico steak should be
boneless or not. Historically speaking, the two principal chefs that were
working at Delmonico’s in the 1840s and 1850s – Alessandro Filippini and
Charles Ranhofer – both wrote recipe books citing the Delmonico steak as a
boneless cut of beef, whether sirloin or rib eye. In the twenty-first century,
the controversy around Delmonico steak seems to have settled, so that the
name has been widely used as a fancy term for rib eye steak, whether
broiled, grilled or fried.

Delmonico steak, as served at the restaurant of the same name in New York.

Brisket, on the other hand, is a cut that is used primarily in the West for
barbecues or for making corned beef. This does not tend to be the tendency
in Asia, however, where brisket is used primarily for stews. A famous
Chinese dish employing this particular cut is five-spice beef, a preparation
method made famous in the U.S. by celebrity chef, talk-show host and
television personality Rachael Ray. As a cut, the shank is also used mainly
for stews and soups. As this is the part of the animal that does most of the
work, it tends to be cooked mainly through moist heat. It is not a surprise,
then, that beef shanks are often the main ingredients in dishes such as Irish
stew or beef bourguignon.
Hindquarters on the carcass of beef include loin, round and flank. The
round is a relatively lean cut of beef, mainly used for round steak and
particularly popular in Argentina, Brazil and Germany; in the latter, round
steak is the main ingredient in rinderbraten, a spiced beef dish stuffed with
pork fat. A particular variation of rinderbraten was exported to the U.S. in
1961 by William Jacobs, a German meatpacker originally from Wittenberg,
and found its New World incarnation in spiced round, a beef dish once very
common as a Sunday meal in the Nashville area.
The loin comprises three principal sub-primal cuts: the short loin, the
sirloin and the tenderloin. The short loin forms the basis for T-bone and
porterhouse steaks; if cut boneless, this section of beef is used as strip steak,
and is also known as New York strip. The name ‘porterhouse’ is uncertain in
origin, although two likely – and utterly differing – stories have been
circulated over the years. One account claims that the steak originated in
historic Midway, Kentucky, a popular dish at the Porter House, an inn that
operated between 1864 and 1901. Another source insists that porterhouse
steak has its origins in New York City, where this cut of beef was first
served at Martin Morrison’s Porter House in 1814. In spite of the
disagreeing sources in existence, however, the general consensus is that
porterhouse steak probably originated in the nineteenth century from some
form of ‘porter house’, a tavern that served food. Rather than being named
after the form of establishment in which it was served, it is believed that
porterhouse steak took its name from ‘porter’, a popular ale beverage served
at these particular taverns.
T-bone, on the other hand, first appeared on menus in the U.S. in 1916.
The cut is named after the bone section that runs down the lumbar vertebrae,
surrounding the spinal muscle and forming a distinctive ‘T’ shape. T-bone is
mostly suited for fast cooking methods that rely on dry heat. In Italy, a
world-famous way of cooking T-bone steak is bistecca alla Fiorentina
(steak ‘Florentine style’). For this dish, the beef is usually taken either from
the Maremma or Chianina cattle, breeds that are popular and widespread in
the Tuscan region of Italy. In recent years, porterhouse steak has also been
used for this dish, although T-bone remains the favourite cut. The typical
bistecca alla Fiorentina is 2–5 centimetres (1–2 inches) thick, depending
not only on availability but also on the preference of the eater. This steak is
not only thickly cut, but also very large in size. The bistecca is usually
grilled over a charcoal fire and seasoned with salt. It is invariably served
extremely rare and, in virtue of its size, is often intended to be shared
between two people. During the years of the ‘mad cow’ scare in the 1990s,
bistecca alla Fiorentina was banned from restaurants in Italy and Europe,
only to return to the scene in 2001 to the welcoming roar of its avid fans.

Prime cut of beef fillet, prepared with mushrooms.

Bistecca alla Fiorentina as served in Florence. The thickness of the steak, which has made the dish
famous all over the world, is clearly visible here.

British primal cuts are somewhat similar in concept to American cuts.

Indeed, many terms of reference are used to describe the same parts of the
carcass. Nonetheless, British cuts tend to be more numerous and more
specific in their sub-divisions. The front of the carcass is usually divided
into neck, chuck and blade and clod. These cuts tend to be tougher and are
traditionally used in stews or braised dishes. The rib and leg areas are
divided into fore rib, thin rib, brisket and shin. The brisket cut within the
British system is much smaller and thinner than its American counterpart,
and elongates towards the belly of the animal rather than being located
strictly above the leg. The mid-section of the carcass is divided into sirloin
and flank. The British sirloin primal cut is once again much smaller than the
American one and is the section from which the fillet is derived; this sub-cut
is usually put aside for grilling or frying by virtue of its natural tenderness.
The back quarters of the carcass are instead divided into rump, silverside,
topside, thick flank and leg. Rump steaks are a rough equivalent to round
steak in the American system, while top side, silverside and thick flank
work best for roasting. The leg, forming the base for braising steak, makes
the perfect ingredient in stews and casseroles.
In spite of the general impact of American and British cuts, one should
not think that these form the only divisions for beef. In France, for instance,
it is possible to find a large selection of cuts that are cheaper or most
expensive according to their tenderness and intended use. These include
bavette – a cheap undercut that comes from the skirt of the animal and is
usually textured with muscle fibres – and aloyau, a sub-cut roughly
equivalent to British sirloin. French cuts of beef also tend to include beef
tongue, langue de boeuf. This cut, however, is not exclusive to French
cuisine. Historical records show that beef tongue has been consumed by
humans for centuries, its popularity beginning at the dawn of civilization
when Palaeolithic hunters were known to favour the fatty parts of the
carcass as they provided a higher caloric intake – beef tongue is 75 per cent
fat. As a cut, it is a popular ingredient within several cultures. Belgium,
Mexico, Germany and Portugal are but a few countries that have beef
tongue as a principal cut in their culinary repertoire.

Raw beef steaks, ready to be sold at a butcher’s shop in England.

Grilled beef tongue. The cut is presented here as part of a fusion dish, incorporating ingredients from
Western and Eastern cuisines.

Even in America, while this particular cut has now lost some of its
favour among buyers, beef tongue is known to have been a popular choice
for centuries, especially as filler for sandwiches. Particularly in the
nineteenth century, American cookbooks were crowded with luncheon
recipes that featured beef tongue as a main ingredient. Mrs Webster’s The
Improved Housewife (1844) offers a simple recipe for a quick and tasty
sandwich, comprising of ‘slices of biscuit’, buttered and filled with ‘a very
thin slice of tongue’. Mrs Cowan’s American Ladies’ Cookery Book (1866)
gives boiled tongue as a versatile ingredient in summer luncheons, ideally
served with buttered bread and mustard. In 1942, American cook Ethel X.
Pastor also praised the qualities of beef tongue in her Wartime Entertaining,
listing her dish of ‘Sliced Sweet and Sour Tongue’ as an absolutely delicious
addition to any dinner party. Nonetheless, hope is not lost for modern
American connoisseurs as beef tongue has made a recent triumphant return
in the U.S. as part of the popular tongue toast, an open-faced sandwich
commonly served for breakfast and lunch in restaurants and hotels.

Ageing

Preparation, however, takes place long before the beef is even cut into steak
and roasts. Cooking and eating are but the final step in the process that
allows the meat to be ready for human consumption. Once the animal has
been slaughtered, its flesh has to be put through scrupulous steps. The newly
butchered meat has the tendency to be tough and still strongly held together
by its connective tissues. In order for the meat to tenderize, the beef is
usually put through a rigorous ageing process. This is done in order to break
down the muscular fibres that would otherwise be extremely hard to chew.
Beef can be aged through either dry or wet processes. Dry-ageing relies on
the meat being hung and rested in a large cooler for a period of time. It is
expensive, as it is time-consuming, taking up to 28 days to complete, and is
usually reserved for larger pieces of beef and more highly prized cuts. Dry-
ageing is usually a prerogative of beef that is purchased in expensive
restaurants and steakhouses. Wet-ageing, on the other hand, is a much
quicker process that is carried out in a vacuum-sealed bag. This is the most
common method of ageing beef, especially in the U.S. and the UK, since it is
relatively inexpensive. Most of the beef that can now be purchased in
butcher shops in the West has been wet-aged. The taste of the beef, of
course, is highly dependent on its ageing process and dry-ageing is without
a doubt a more efficient way of tenderizing the meat and bringing out its
most flavoursome qualities.
Chaim Soutine, Carcass of Beef, 1925, oil on canvas.

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 5
The Imagination of Beef

To claim that beef figures prominently as an imagistic medium in literature

and art would be an outlandish statement. Nonetheless, even if it has not
always taken the most central place in cultural forms throughout history,
beef has played an important part in externalizing human fears and desires
about their lives and conditions. There is no doubt that over the centuries
beef has gained many cultural and social associations which art, literature
and (in more recent years) films have helped to establish and maintain.
The impact of beef and cattle are evident in cultural organization not
only in terms of economy and culinary preference, but also in linguistic
terms. The English language, in particular, has many expressions containing
the term ‘beef’ as a reference; the examples can be wide and disparate.
When having arguments or complaining, people are said to ‘have a beef’.
‘To cry beef’ is to give alarm and ‘to beef up’ something is to make it
stronger and more effective. When someone is particularly well-built and
muscled, the expression ‘beefy’ is widely common and ‘beefcake’ is a term
used to denote a seminude or nude male body, especially in the body-
building world. The appearance and reputation of beef as a strong and
plentiful meat have clearly had a sizeable impact on the way in which this
particular food has entered and conquered common expression and idioms.
Aurochs found on the Forneau-du-Diable rock in Bourdeilles, France.

Art offers, perhaps, some of the greatest examples of how beef can be
represented metaphorically. Indeed, beef – or at least cattle – was the
subject of the earliest pieces of art produced by the human race. Aurochs
are depicted in several Palaeolithic cave paintings from Europe and ancient
Mesopotamia. The most famous of these are probably the ones found in
Lascaux and Livernon in France. The hunting scenes portrayed in these
paintings give us an insight into how important beef and beef consumption
was to the lives of early men.
As humanity developed, beef remained a recurrent subject in paintings
and frescoes, even if the meat itself was often a secondary agent in the
picture, with the activities of people around it – usually hunting, cooking or
eating – gaining centre stage. During the Renaissance, scenes depicting
slaughtered cows were common, especially when the subject of the painting
had a biblical connection. The parable of the prodigal son often received
particular attention in this sense, with the carcass of beef – a symbol of
celebration and wealth – functioning as a representation of the father’s
happiness upon his son’s return home. An example of this is the famous
engraving by Philips Galle depicting the carcass of beef being prepared for
the upcoming banquet, while people are dancing and celebrating around it.
Beef carcasses in art often functioned as a reminder of emotion for
humanity. While beef could represent joy and happiness, it could also be a
reminder of death, a memento mori made of meat. Martin Van Cleve’s The
Slaughtered Ox (1566) is one of the first paintings to place the beef carcass
at the centre of the image. The beef is hanging from the ceiling and ready to
be rested; around it, the slaughterhouse workers enjoy an earned moment of
rest, while children play in the background, blowing bubbles out of the
cow’s bladder (a common toy at the time). The beef carcass is
uncompromising and confronting, probably functioning as a reminder of the
frailty of life.
Almost a century later, in 1655, Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn
painted a small picture of a slaughtered OX. The beef carcass is the subject of
the picture and hangs in a small, badly lit room; the OX is beheaded and
skinned, and the organs and hooves have already been removed from the
carcass. There are no human activities being performed in the painting, the
only true remnants of human life within the room being the beef, as a
reminder of the slaughtering which clearly occurred at some point. For lack
of a better word, the painting can be described as eerie. The atmosphere is
gloomy, with the light coming from unknown source. The room depicted is
empty but for the beef, and the absence of other major elements add to its
mystery. The memento mori motif – ‘Remember that you must die’ – is
particularly unavoidable in this piece.
Rembrandt’s Carcass of Beef, one of his later versions of the original painting from 1655, oil on
canvas.

On the literary front, Lord Byron in particular showed a penchant for

discussing beef in his poetry, often choosing curious ways to introduce the
meat. In his satirical epic poem Don Juan (1824), for instance, Byron
praises beef as a great ally when travelling at sea:
The best of remedies is a beef-steak
Against sea-sickness: try it, sir, before
You sneer, and I assure you this is true,
For I have found it answer – so may you.

In terms of novels, however, Charles Dickens wins the culinary prize for his
delightful descriptions of Victorian breakfast, lunch and dinner, in which
beef figures on almost every occasion. Dickens speaks fondly of a ‘jolly
round of beef’ in Barnaby Rudge (1841) and of ‘beef-steak puddings’ in
Martin Chuzzlewit (1844). Picnics centred on beef delights are also given
particular attention in The Pickwick Papers (1837), with ‘cold beef’ and
‘cold tongue’ appearing as primary presences. In Great Expectations
(1861), ‘roast beef’ is presented as the ideal meal to be proudly consumed
with a pint of ale and plum pudding. Plentiful descriptions of ‘boiled beef’
also pepper the pages of Dickens’s other works. In truth, Dickens gives us
an accurate insight into the importance of beef in the British diet, ascribing
to beef itself the ability to make a celebration out of every meal.
The imagistic connection between food and nationality is no more
prominent in history than when it comes to the close love affair that the
British have with beef. In historical terms, beef did not become figuratively
associated with England until the eighteenth century, but the connection
between the two was definitely known before then. In his Compendyous
Regyment, or a Dyetary of Health (1542), Andrew Boorde clearly states that
‘beef is a good meate for an Englyssman’. Shakespeare’s most patriotic
play, Henry V (c. 1599), confirms that already in the sixteenth century the
English liked to think of themselves as a proud, beef-eating people. In Act
III, Scene 7, the French – on the eve of the battle of Agincourt – scorn the
English love for the meat; planning their strategy for battle, the Duke of
Orleans comments that victory for France will be assured, since the English
troops are ‘shrewdly out of beef’ and therefore unable to fight. It is
particularly ironic that the French words are spoken on the eve of one of
England’s greatest military victories. Clearly, Shakespeare did have a sense
of patriotic humour, even if of the culinary variety.
In the eighteenth century, beef emerged as a central presence in English
patriotic songs and propaganda. Perhaps the most famous within this group
is Henry Fielding’s ballad ‘The Roast Beef of Old England’, performed in
1731 as part of his play the Grub-Street Opera. Fielding uses beef as a
metaphorical representation of the worth of England, which was mighty and
great in older times. Beef also represents the wealth of traditional and
reactionary beliefs:
William Hogarth, The Gate of Calais, or O The Roast Beef of Old England, 1749, engraving.

When mighty roast was the Englishman’s food

It ennobl’d our veins and enriched our blood
Our soldiers were brave and our courtiers were good
Oh! The roast beef of Old England, and Old English roast beef.

The unwelcome foreign influence on British ideals is represented in

culinary terms as well, with foreign food ‘invading’ the once magnificent
country. The French, in particular, are pictured as the worst influence, with
their flimsy ‘ragouts’ distracting good English men from their purpose and
strength. In modern times, Fielding’s ‘The Roast Beef of Old England’
maintains its evocative power and the tune is played at formal dinners both
by the British Royal Navy and the United States Navy Bands whenever
beef is presented.
Beef also played an important role in British satirical vignettes,
mirroring both the cultural battle between the French and the English and
widely commenting on the general political situation in Europe. William
Hogarth’s painting The Gate of Calais, or O The Roast Beef of Old England
(1748) has beef as the central metaphor to encompass instances of English
xenophobia. The picture borrowed its title from Fielding’s patriotic ballad.
Handling images with incredible dexterity, Hogarth transforms an
apparently simple meaty foodstuff into a powerful symbol. The scene is
organized around the gate itself – famously built by the English – where a
servant carries a glorious hunk of English beef, which is put in stark
contrast to a measly pot of French soup. The beef acts as a central point
around which stereotypical figures of the time are grouped, such as a
soldier, a friar and a free painter. The beef clearly represents the plentiful
nature of England, well-satiated and faithful to tradition. The focus on the
English meat reveals the inferiority of the French, who – being fed on light
soup and, clearly, progressive ideals – are hungry both physically and
psychologically as tyranny proves a depriving force. Beef acts as the ideal
satiric medium to manipulate single stereotypes, in order to move from the
institutional to the national level.
The cultural association between beef and liberal ideas was even
honoured in Britain with the establishment of the Sublime Society of Beef
Steaks in 1735. The club was founded by Hogarth himself and concerned
itself primarily with organizing dinners for exclusive male guests and
members. The diners would be consuming large quantities of beef and, with
appropriate patriotic flair, discuss issues such as liberty and prosperity. The
concepts largely attracted Whig sympathizers; notable members over the
years included John Wilkes and Samuel Johnson. The society soon became
celebrated as a patriotic group associated with the greatest men in the
country; in 1785, the popularity of the society reached royal ears and even
George IV – then the Prince of Wales – joined enthusiastically. In its stead as
prized meat and patriotic symbol, beef maintained its place as a symbol of
affluence, greatness and, of course, unremorseful patriarchy.
In the years after the French Revolution, the uses of beef as a proper
British symbol reached their satirical zenith. These were the years when
John Bull, a national personification of England, began to make a steady
appearance in political cartoons and graphic works. In his earliest
incarnations – originating in 1712 – John Bull was actually portrayed as a
humanoid bull. In later works, and towards the end of the century, he was
usually depicted as a stout, middle-aged man, commonly wearing a Union
Jack waistcoat. One of the most significant characteristics of John Bull –
aside from his virility, stubbornness and constant dislike of anything
foreign, especially French – is that he is an avid beef eater. Some artists
were known to use the figure of John Bull as a national emblem in
caricatures of political situations, depicting particularly the contrast
between post-Revolution France and Britain. A major exponent of this
group was James Gillray, who amply used John Bull and his beef-eating in
his satirical sketches. A famous example of Gillray’s beef satire is French
Liberty, British Slavery (1792). The picture depicts both a Frenchman and
an Englishman consuming their stereotypical meals. The French man – a
ragged and emaciated sans-culotte – eats his meagre dinner of green onions,
praising France’s monarchy-free status. The Englishman, on the other hand,
is depicted as grossly fat and is carving a large piece of roast beef. In spite
of the fact that the John Bull character continues to complain about the
‘ministry’ and the ‘taxes’ in England, it is clear to the viewer that Gillray
means to praise Britain, showing the living conditions in this country to be
superior to those of France, where ideals of liberty obscure the meagre
living conditions of its population.

James Gillray, John Bull Triumphant, 1780, coloured lithograph.

The strong positive association between England and beef continued to

remain robust during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This
connection was known and appreciated both in Britain and on the foreign
scene. In Erik Geijer’s Impressions of England, 1809–1810, the Englishmen
are described as ‘patriots’, whose stomachs seem to ‘feel for the native
land’. Geijer comments that Englishmen sit contentedly ‘at their dinner-
table, busy with their roast beef in as quiet and proud felicity as if they felt
the whole worth of their favoured island on their tongues’. In the 1800s,
prized breeds of cattle were also developed in Britain and beef became one
of the country’s greatest exports. Towards the end of the nineteenth century,
beef was also established in England as traditional Christmas fare, and
‘Christmas beef’ also came to represent the importance of the family unit
for the country’s stability. When the First World War hit, beef became
emblematic of the war effort, as this particular meat was part of the rations
sent to the troops at the front. It was also during this time that the figure of
the beef-eating John Bull was resurrected as a propagandist symbol,
encompassing a disdain for Germany that reached its apogee during the
years of the Second World War.

James Gillray, French Liberty, British Slavery, 1792, hand-coloured etching.

A First World War advert for Bovril, laden with obvious beef propaganda.

Promotional poster for the movie City Slickers (1991).

It is not just in England that beef and the cattle industry maintain a
certain romanticized quality. As the gauchos of Argentina gaze into the stars
at night, so do the cowboys in the U.S. This particular figure still manages to
exercise its dreamy magic on the American population. In the film City
Slickers (1991), for instance, the cattle industry is surrounded by a layer of
wistful expectations, as a group of city-dwelling holiday makers – captained
by Billy Crystal – take a trip herding cattle across the desert. As they dream
of starry nights and campfires, the men’s romantic vision of the roaming
cowboy is put to the test as they realize not only that the life of the cattle
herder is not easy and relaxed but also that beef – which has a tacit presence
throughout the movie – is the result of their cattle herding, at the expense of
the cows. The thought of dead cows and slaughterhouses is so strong that
Crystal’s character, Mitch, even refuses to leave behind Norman – the calf
he helped to birth on his herding trip – turning him into an unlikely family
pet. In the end, however, the longstanding loyalty towards the cattle
industry takes over and a sense of American pride drowns out any animal-
orientated thoughts that might destroy one of the most beloved fantasies the
country holds.
Popular culture is undoubtedly tuned in to the ways of beef, providing
many instances for discussion and reference. Cartoons and children’s shows
have incorporated the presence of beef over the years, ranging from Jiggs’s
passion for beef and cabbage to Desperate Dan’s enormous cow pie and J.
Wellington Wimpy’s love for hamburgers. The latter loved burgers so much
that he was even the inspiration for the name of the Wimpy burger
restaurants, an American chain which was founded in the 1930s. The
Simpsons, Futurama, Family Guy and American Dad are but a few of the
several animated series aimed at adults that have featured beef in many
situations, tackling important issues such as vegetarianism and beef
hormone use in the cattle industry, often through a light-hearted but
poignant perspective. It is hard to ignore the value of the episode of The
Simpsons’ entitled ‘Bright Lights, Beef Jerky’ as a pointed critique of
commercialized life in contemporary societies. In the world of Japanese
anime, beef takes a special role in Hayato Date’s Naruto, where the title
character consumes large quantities of his famous beef ramen every time he
wins a battle.
In recent years, the controversies surrounding beef have indeed
managed to add a layer of prohibitive and outrageous value to the artistic
uses of this meat. In September 2010, American pop star Lady Gaga
‘shocked’ the eyes of the world when she attended the MTV Music Awards
ceremony in Los Angeles dressed in pieces of bright red raw beef, arranged
on her body to form a suitable outfit. Gaga’s ‘beef dress’ was
complemented by an array of equally meaty accessories; she appeared on
the red carpet complete with a beefsteak hat and red marbled steak boots.
To complete her escapade into a very literal interpretation of the beef
imagination, Lady Gaga also posed naked for Vogue Hommes Japan with
nothing but beef steak covering her modesty. Needless to say, Gaga’s
provocative outfits generated the attention she was no doubt interested in,
and the outrage of animal rights and humanitarian groups alike.
There is no doubting, however, that beef makes its most unavoidable
appearance in contemporary art forms – including films, animations and
novels – through the medium of the burger. The presence of the burger as
both a cultural and national icon, especially when it comes to the U.S., has
been amply explored in a variety of media, with an impressive number of
books and articles (both academic and popular in nature) being published
on the subject in recent years.
Advertising has also played an important part in emphasizing the
imagistic value of beef not only as food, but also as a cultural medium. ‘Eat
Mor Chikin’ is the famous slogan of fast food chain Chick-fil-A. The
company opened its first free standing store in 1986 and has been using the
famous phrase in its advertising campaigns since the early 1990s. The
adverts themselves usually feature cows holding signs enticing customers to
‘eat more chicken’. According to Chick-fil-A’s advertising folklore, the
cows have united against the consumption of beef, in an effort to reform
American food habits. Over the years, the cows have received a lot of
attention as a popular culture icon – especially on the Internet – and are
widely known even outside of the U.S. The ‘Eat Mor Chikin’ ads were
momentarily suspended in 2003 in the wake of BSE, in order to show
sensitivity (or so it was claimed) to the difficulties experienced by the cattle
industry. The cows made a triumphant return to the advertising scene in
2004.
Lady Gaga wearing one of her beef outfits.
The famous advertising campaign for Chick-fil-A, created in 1995.

Beef, however, finds its most popular advertising connection in the

incredibly famous Wendy’s campaign focused on the catchphrase ‘Where’s
the Beef?’ The catchphrase made its debut in a 1984 ad, in which actress
Clara Peller visits a Wendy’s competitor and receives a huge bread bun
containing a tiny beef patty. Peller reacts with outrage and anger to the
small burger and (famously) exclaims ‘Where’s the beef?’ The advert found
huge success in the industry and the catchphrase quickly transcended its
commercial domain. To this day, the slogan is used commonly in the U.S. and
Canada as an all-purpose phrase used when questioning the substance or
quality of a product or idea. Beef, it would seem, does not disappoint,
especially when it comes down to being an apt medium of communication.

OceanofPDF.com
 6
The Beef Controversies

Any of us would kill a cow, rather than not have beef.

Samuel Johnson

There is no way around it: if you want to eat beef, you’ve got to kill some
cows. Slaughterhouses are the middle step of the beef industry, and yet
represent the most significant stage in the creation of meat, the moment
when the animal ceases to be a cow and becomes ‘beef’. There is a certain
sense of detachment in the Western world about the process that transforms
a living and breathing animal into dead matter fit for consumption.
Nonetheless, slaughterhouses and slaughtering methods have often been the
centre of political controversies and cultural disputes.
Most countries have civil laws regulating the slaughtering process. In
the U.S., for instance, the Humane Slaughter Act – out lined in 1958 –
required all cattle to be unconscious before they are shackled and hoisted up
on the slaughtering line. Unfortunately, the standards and regulations
surrounding the slaughtering process vary significantly around the world. In
several areas of the world, the slaughter of cows is regulated mainly by
tradition and custom, rather than civil law. In Westernized countries, where
slaughter is carried out in a mechanized fashion, the cows reach their final
destination in the slaughterhouse through repetitive factory processes that
usually rely on exsanguination – bleeding to death – to kill the animal.
Rumours that cows are allowed to suffer unnecessarily in the slaughtering
process have attracted the attention of several pro vocative animal welfare
groups, such as the Humane Farming Association. In her book Slaughter
house (1997), Gail Eisnitz investigates the beef industry and claims that
cows are made to endure terrible conditions during the slaughtering process,
causing them fear, dread and a painful death. In even more recent years, the
beef controversies have prompted many scientists and industry experts to
develop more ‘humane’ ways of slaughtering cows even in high-number,
mechanized Western slaughterhouses, with well-known psychologist
Temple Grandin leading the team of research.

Beef carcasses being inspected in Texas in 1966.

The issues surrounding the slaughter of cows, together with other

animals, are not new in concept. Religious customs and prohibitions are
probably some of the most well-known rules (in certain parts of the world)
dictating the ways in which cows should be slaughtered and beef produced.
In Muslim countries and culture, the slaughter of cows and the production
of beef must be carried out according to allowed procedures – also known
as ‘halal’ – as outlined by Islamic law. Dhabiha is the prescribed method for
slaughtering animals, consisting of using a sharp knife to make a swift,
deep incision in the cow’s throat. The person carrying out the deed should
be a Muslim of good faith and mental condition. In similar fashion, Jewish
custom prescribes that cows should also be slaughtered in a ritual fashion
allowed by Talmudic law (also referred to as ‘kosher’). The slaughtering
process, known in Judaism as shochet, can only be performed by a trained
and pious Jewish individual who strictly follows the regulations outlined by
Jewish law and who has been trained to sever the carotid artery of the
animal swiftly with a large sharp knife.

Lovis Corinth, In the Slaughterhouse, 1893, oil on canvas.

As both halal and kosher slaughtering methods require the cow to be

conscious through the entire process and until the moment of death, the
customs have caused controversies in Western countries, not only of a
cultural but also a civic nature. In many areas, the practice of having the
animal conscious at the point of death goes against regional and national
regulations. The majority of Western countries where large Jewish and
Muslim communities are present have allowed special regulations to be in
place so that kosher and halal beef can be produced. This does not mean,
however, that the practices are fully and widely accepted (in cultural terms)
in non-Jewish and non-Muslim countries and the controversial methods
have often been on the radars of humane societies and animal rights groups.

Mad Cows
In recent years, ‘mad cow’ disease became one of beef’s most dreadful
challenges. Although primarily a cattle illness, the incredibly contagious
bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) could be transmitted to humans
through consuming parts of an infected animal, especially in the brain and
digestive tracts of the carcass. In spite of the fact that the disease primarily
affects the nervous system, it is also known to spread through the blood,
leaving traces in the muscular tissue. Infection, therefore, could take place
through consuming the flesh of cows, putting human consumers at risk.
Although the disease has been known to mutate regularly and present itself
through different symptoms, an illness similar to BSE – affecting mainly
cattle, but known to spread to humans – was reported by Hippocrates in the
fifth century BC. In the fourth century AD, Roman writer and military
historian Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus also recorded cases of the
disease affecting both cattle and, on occasion, legionnaires. In its late
twentieth-century incarnation, the disease affected millions of cows
worldwide and virtually destroyed the cattle industry around the globe. The
first reported case in North America was in 1993 and the specimens came
from Alberta, Canada. The UK was famously the most affected country; the
first case was diagnosed and accepted by the British Ministry of Agriculture
in 1989. By 1997, more than 180,000 cattle had been diagnosed with the
disease. More than four million were slaughtered and their remains
destroyed as a precaution during the lengthy eradication process.

When Oprah had a Beef

In 1996 one of the biggest controversies faced by beef in the U.S. was
captained by none other than Oprah Winfrey, the media mogul with an
apparently enhanced social conscience. At the extreme height of the mad
cow disease scare, Oprah invited Howard Lynam, a retired cattle rancher
who had become vegetarian, to speak on her daytime show. The aim of the
appearance was to discuss several controversial practices within the
American beef industry. The most heated topic was a process – now banned
in the U.S. – called ‘rendering’; this involved turning cow organs into cattle
feed. While Lynam’s heartfelt account of the process was plagued by
exaggerated statements that were challenged openly on the show, Oprah
was extremely shocked by the beef industry revelations and declared that
the news had stopped her ‘cold from eating another hamburger’. The effect
of the beef episode on the Oprah Winfrey Show on the cattle industry in the
U.S. was devastating. Barely two weeks after the interview with Lynam had
aired, beef prices plunged to a ten-year low. In response to this reaction, a
group of outraged cattle ranchers from Texas filed a lawsuit – to the tune of
$10 million – claiming that Oprah had slandered the entire beef industry
and been responsible for its subsequent decline. A verdict was reached in
Amarillo, Texas, in 1998. The cattle ranchers lost their battle, as the jury
ruled in Oprah’s favour. Oprah showed her happiness openly about the
judgement and claimed, with a touch of irony, that she was still ‘off
hamburgers’.

The Beef Hormone Dispute

On an international scale, the beef hormone dispute represents another

controversy – of transatlantic agricultural proportions – that has pained the
cattle industry in recent times. Unsurprisingly, this controversy was also
tightly connected to the era of BSE crisis, as a fear of this particular disease
also raised public and scientific awareness in relation to all aspects of the
beef industry. In the late 1990s, the European Union banned all meat
imports that had been treated with artificial beef hormones. Beef fared
particularly badly in the U.S., since artificial hormones had been used by
cattle ranchers for decades. The hormones banned by the EU in cattle
farming were progesterone, estradiol, testosterone, melengestrol acetate,
zeranol and trenbolone acetate. While the first three are known to occur
naturally in animals, the last three were artificially developed as a cost-
effective way to enhance cattle growth. The EU allowed for artificial
hormones to be used only as a veterinary precaution or cure and not as a
growth-enhancing strategy. All meat imports that had been treated with the
artificial beef hormones were banned in the EU by the end of 1996. The
hormone ban, however, was met with opposition on the international
market. The World Trade Organization (WTO) – while commonly using bans
as part of their beef industry policies – demanded to see scientific evidence
that the hormones represented a health risk to human consumers, signalling
the need for a specific trade embargo. As a result of the doubts raised by the
WTO – and the EU’S inability to produce convincing scientific evidence – the
 . and Canada opposed the ban and began legal action against the EU in
U.S
1997. The clash resulted in a long battle, which ended in 1998 as the WTO
found that the EU had no substantial veterinary evidence to ban the use of
beef hormones. In the absence of appropriate procedures for risk assessment
on the part of the EU, the ban on hormonally enhanced beef was lifted on 13
February 1998.

Beef disputes. Cartoonist John Jonik imagines how the cows would react to consuming their ethically
disagreeable food.

Organic Beef

The effect of the beef hormones dispute on consumers was great. Public
awareness was raised about the possible dangers of artificially enhanced
beef. As a result of the WTO’S ruling in 1998, all beef is allowed on the
international market – whether its growth has been enhanced with artificial
hormones or not – provided it meets transcontinental quality standards.
Inevitably, the thought that hormone-enhanced beef was put on the market
for unaware consumers to buy generated fear and mistrust among the
public. A survey conducted in the U.S. in 2002 confirmed that more than 80
per cent of American consumers wanted to know whether the beef they
were buying was treated with artificial hormones or not, demanding a label
on the packet. The aftermath of the beef hormone dispute motivated
American consumers to search for organically reared beef, which boosted
the growth of the organic cattle industry immensely. It is estimated that
between 2002 and 2003 the American organic beef industry had a growth of
77 per cent, accounting for a total profit of $23 billion within the whole
organic market. In spite of the controversies, beef continues to sell.
‘Organic’ just functions as a new and improved label for quality that
contentious American consumers strongly rely on.
The arrival of the term ‘certified organic’ on the global beef market in
2002, however, created a lot of confusion for consumers of beef in Western
countries. It is a common mistake to assume that ‘organic’ and ‘naturally
reared’ are interchangeable definitions. In reality, organic beef, defined as
such, is subject to strict regulations. The criteria for the appellative refer not
only to what the cattle are fed, but also what veterinary care they received.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, organic beef can come only
from cattle that have been born and raised on pastures, never received
growth-hormones (whether natural or artificial), never been given
antibiotics, are fed untainted grass and grains and have continuous access to
outdoor areas. ‘Natural beef’, on the other hand, earns its name simply by
being raised without additives. Raisers of natural cattle may choose to use
antibiotics and growth-hormones if they wish, as no third-party verification
is necessary for the beef to retain its name.

An early 1990s satirical take on the life of the modern beef cow.
 In recent years, the cattle industry has been subject to much scrutiny
from both humanitarian and animal rights groups. The poor and constricted
conditions in which the cows are kept before and during slaughtering –
especially in Eastern European countries – have been the centre of much
dispute. This has spurred the emergence of free-range farms promising not
only a decent existence for the animals, but also peace of mind for beef
consumers, who can put their conscience at rest as they sink their teeth into
a juicy slab of beef.

Environmental Issues and Health Concerns

The ascent of beef in the twentieth century has also been conceptually
connected to the rise of a new wave of capitalism in the post-Second-
World-War era. The widespread presence of automobiles cemented the
emergence of fast food chains all over the world, with the U.S. fronting the
development of the industry. With the number of fast food restaurants
growing, so did the popularity of the beefburger, one of the most common
and beloved incarnations of the meat. Writers and commentators such as
Eric Schlosser have identified the growing love for beef in the U.S. as a
cultural, social and economic issue. In his Fast Food Nation (2002),
Schlosser claims that the twentieth-century love for ‘fast beef’ goes well
beyond taste preferences and taps into a whole vision of life and labour
within capitalist societies.
Environmental groups have also blamed the beef industry for the
growing deforestation of some world areas. The claim is that the demand
and high prices of beef encourage cattle ranchers to burn down forests so
that the land can be used for the rearing of cattle. Cultural anthropologist
Richard Robbins claims that in Brazil, Guatemala and Honduras, hundreds
of thousands of acres of tropical forest have been levelled to create pasture
for cattle. Beef production is considered extremely wasteful in terms of
energy and materials, since the largest amounts of corn produced around the
world are actually used to feed cattle. In the U.S., half of the water consumed
by the country is used to grow the corn for cattle feed. Overall, cattle farms
use almost 40 per cent of the total world grain production. The beef industry
has also been named as one of the main causes of desertification, as the
constant pounding of hoofed cattle is said to disturb and eventually destroy
the delicate roots which keep the soil layers intact.
Nonetheless, while the environment seems a far removed concern that
barely touches on the cattle industry, it will not be strange to learn that
health concerns for human consumers represent one of the main problems
faced by contemporary beef. In nutritional terms, beef is composed mainly
of protein and fat. It is also a very good source of minerals, including
selenium, phosphorus, zinc and, of course, iron. Being classed as ‘red
meat’, beef is also the principal and most significant source of carnitine, a
quaternary ammonium compound that, in living organisms, is essential for
the transport of fatty acids during the breakdown of lipids – a process
absolutely necessary for the generation of metabolic energy. Carnitine is
particularly important during growth and pregnancy, ostensibly making beef
an essential part of any human’s diet. With this in mind, the old mantra that
‘meat is good for you’ would seem to apply, with beef truly being the most
apt candidate for the position. And yet recent development and research
studies have endeavoured to prove otherwise.
By the end of the twentieth century beef had already been charged with
several health crimes that continue to prey on the minds of aficionados of
the meat today. As the twenty-first century made an appearance, beef was at
centre of health controversies. Famously, a scientific connection was made
between the consumption of beef and forms of human cancer. In 2007, a
study released by the World Cancer Research Fund claimed there was
‘strong evidence’ that red meat was one of the principal causes of ‘bowel
cancer’. The same health report also recommended to consumers that the
average consumption of beef should not exceed 300 grams per week,
stating clearly that surpassing this amount corresponded to ‘the level of
consumption . . . at which the risk of colorectal cancer can clearly be seen
to rise’.
It should not be surprising that health warnings around beef are
particularly targeted at consumers in Western countries, where the
consumption of fast food is statistically at its highest. A direct correlation
has been established – both scientifically and in popular culture – between
the consumption of fast food and the rise of health issues in the population
such as diabetes and heart disease. As beef is often the meat of choice at
fast food restaurants, this particular meat has been at the centre of the health
controversies, since associations have been made between eating
beefburgers and obesity in human beings – the ratio being particularly high
in countries such as the U.S. and the UK. In the past ten years, restaurant
chains such as McDonald’s and Wendy’s have increasingly included more
‘healthy options’ on their fast food menus, which do not feature beef as an
ingredient at all.

Franz Marc, Yellow Cow, 1911, oil on canvas.

Bronze bull statue by artist Laurence Broderick, as it appears outside the avidly frequented ‘Bull
Ring’ shopping centre in Birmingham, UK.

However, consumed in small quantities, lean beef is indeed a great

health benefit to the human body, providing minerals and protein that are
essential for a healthy diet. The Harvard Public School of Health
recommends small quantities of lean beef to be consumed regularly in
virtue of its high selenium and vitamin B12 content. No one seems to realize
that the health issues arising from consuming burgers and fast food on a
regular basis do not have beef as a central factor. It is true that some beef
cuts can contain high levels of saturated fat, and (unfortunately) lean cuts of
beef are seldom used by the fast food industry, since they are expensive and
require longer cooking times. What is served as the basis for beefburgers in
fast food chains is often of very poor quality and, in several instances,
mixed with fat and connective tissue to increase its bulk. In addition, most
regular consumers of fast food greatly exceed the recommended dose of this
particular type of food, getting through enormous quantities of cheap
beefburgers. Human greed and fattening cooking methods – often rich in oil
and butter-based sauces – have indeed shaped the quality of the eating
experience in fast food chains and, in so doing, have ruined the reputation
of beef in the minds of thousands of consumers around the world.

OceanofPDF.com
 Epilogue:
A Beefy Afterthought

Controversially or not, beef continues to have a hold on the world’s culinary

preferences, economies and cultures. It seems odd to listen to the various
claims that deem beef and the cattle industry as the primary agents in the
degradation of many developed and Westernized countries. Although one
cannot deny that the impact of the burger almost transcends issues of mere
hunger in contemporary cultures, it is strange to think of beef as the main
culprit in the destruction of human society and health. Beef has existed in
human societies for thousands of years, long before capitalism and
consumerism had made their appearances, some say as plagues of human
existence.
In spite of the problems surrounding the cattle industry, it would
definitely be unwise to end an assessment of beef’s history on a negative
note. Beef gives us an insight into a culture’s ways of life; methods of
preparation, eating customs and perceived prized cuts offer us a hands-on
interpretation of what human groups favour and dislike on both local and
global scales. Beef is entangled with so many layers of social life that its
presence on family and restaurant menus signals the attachment to a sense
of tradition and custom which often forms the basis for imagined systems of
belief and organization.
Beef refuses to disappear from our tables and our industries. Its ability
to generate controversy is itself revealing of the inquisitive wonder that is
the human mind. If it is true that human societies developed alongside beef,
then we must pay attention to how we produce this meat. Beef is not just a
way to feed: it is a reflection of our customs, beliefs and values.

OceanofPDF.com
 Recipes

Historic Recipes
For the modern cook, making beef recipes from earlier times can be a frustrating experience. In
historical cookbooks very little attention is dedicated to measurements and timings. Assembling the
right ingredients can also be an exasperating task, since – in most documented cases – it was
common practice to amalgamate the necessary ingredients into the basic instructions, rather than
having them clearly listed. Nonetheless, beef’s innate versatility allows an inventive and adventurous
modern cook to add a little touch of personalization to the historical recipe, without sacrificing any of
the taste and purpose that were wholeheartedly intended by the bygone chefs.

Bubula Fricta
—from Apicius de re Coquinaria (c. AD 940); this translation is based chiefly on Albanus Torinus’
Latin edition (1541)

For a sauce with fried beef take pepper, lovage, celery seed, cumin, origanum, dry onions, raisins,
honey, vinegar, wine, broth, oil and reduced must.

NOTE: Some of the ingredients for Bubula Fricta – especially the ‘reduced must’ – might be difficult
to locate in our modern kitchens. If you cannot find reduced must, a splash of reduced red wine will
do the trick. The taste might not be as ‘authentic’ as intended, but it will still be an excellent rendition
of an ancient Roman recipe.

Boiled Beef and Leeks

—from anon., Bald’s Leechbook II (c. AD 950)
Against hiccupy stomachs or swellings take [horned cattle] flesh [seethed/boiled/cooked] in vinegar
and with oil [thickened] with salt and dill and leek, partake of that [for] a seven night, henceforth
relieven thence the afflicted stomach.

Stewed Broathe for Bief

—from anon., A Propre New Booke for Cokery (c. 1545)

Take halfe a handful of rosemary and as muche of tyme / and bynder it on a bundell with threde after
it is washen / and put it in the pot / after that the pot is clene skyned / and lette it boile a while / then
cur soppes of white bread and put them in a great charger and put on the same skaldynge broth / and
whan it is soken ynough / strayne it through a strainer with a quantitie of wyne or good Ale / so that it
be not to tarte / and when it is strainer / poure it in a pot and than put in your raysons and prunes and
so let them boyle tyl the meate is inough. If the broathe to be sweete / put in the more wyne / orels a
lytell vinegar.

Collar’d Beef
—from Hannah Woolley, The Queen-like Closet (1672)

Take a good Flank of Beef, and lay it in Pump water and Salt, or rather Saltpeter, one day and one
night, then take Pepper, Mace, Nutmegs, Ginger, and Cloves, with a little of the Herb called
Tarragon, beat your Spice, shred your Tarragon, and mingle these with some Suet beaten small, and
strew upon your Beef, and so rowl it up, and tie it hard, and bake it in a pot with Claret Wine and
Butter, let the pot be covered close, and something – in the pot to keep the Meat down in the Liquor
that it may not scorch, set it into the Oven with Houshold bread, and when it is baked, take it out, and
let it cool, then hang it up one night in the Chimney before you eat it, and so as long as you please.

NOTE: Some of us may not have a ‘chimney’ ready to accommodate our newly prepared beef dishes.
If this applies to you, covering the dish with foil (for a short while) or storing it in an airtight
container (for a longer period of time) will work perfectly.

Beef Royal
—from Hannah Glasse, The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy (1747)

Take a sirloin of beef, or a large rump, bone it and beat it very well, then lard it with bacon, season it
all over, with salt, pepper, mace, cloves and nutmeg, all beat fine, some lemon-peel cut small, and
some sweet herbs; in the meantime make a strong broth of the bone; take a piece of butter with a little
flour, brown it, put in the beef; keep it turning often till it is brown, then strain the broth, put all
together into a pot, put in a bay leaf, a few truffles, and some OX palates cut small; cover it close, and
let it stew till it is tender; take out the beef, skim off all the fat, pour in a pint of claret, some fried
oysters, an anchovy, and some gerkins shred small; boil all together, put in the beef to warm, thicken
your sauce with a piece of butter rolled in flour, or mushroom powder. Lay your meat in the dish,
pour the sauce over it, and send it to the table. This may be eaten either hot or cold.

Olives of Beef
—from Elizabeth Moxon, English Housewifry (1764)

Take some slices of a rump (or any other tender piece) of beef, and beat them with a paste pin, season
them with nutmeg, pepper and salt, and rub them over with the yolk of an egg; make a little forc’d-
meat of veal, beef-suet, a few bread crumbs, sweet-herbs, a little shred mace, pepper, salt, and two
eggs, mixed all together; take two or three slices of the beef, according as they are in bigness, and a
lump of forc’d-meat the size of an egg; lay your beef round it, and roll it in part of a kell of veal, put
it into an earthen dish, with a little water, a glass of claret, and a little onion shred small; lay upon
them a little butter, and bake them in an oven about an hour; when they come out take off the fat, and
thicken the gravy with a little butter and flour; six of them is enough for a side dish. Garnish the dish
with horseradish and pickles.

To Make Beef Tea

—from William Kitchiner, Apicius Redivivus; Or, The Cook’s Oracle (1817)

Cut a pound of lean gravy meat into thin slices; put it into a quart and half a pint of cold water; set it
over a very gentle fire, where it will become gradually warm; when the scum rises, let it continue
simmering gently for about an hour; then strain it through a fine sieve or a napkin; let it stand ten
minutes to settle, and then pour off the clear tea.

Boiled Beef
—from Charles Elmé Francatelli, A Plain Cookery Book for the Working Classes (1852)

This is an economical dinner, especially where there are many mouths to feed. Buy a few pounds of
either salt brisket, thick or thin flank, or buttock of beef; these pieces are always to be had at a low
rate. Let us suppose you have bought a piece of salt beef for a Sunday’s dinner, weighing about five
pounds, at 6½d. per pound, that would come to 2s. 8½d.; two pounds of common flour, 4d., to be
made into suet pudding or dumplings, and say 8½d. for cabbages, parsnips, and potatoes; altogether
3s. 9d. This would produce a substantial dinner for ten persons in family, and would, moreover, as
children do not require much meat when they have pudding, admit of there being enough left to help
out the next day’s dinner, with potatoes.

Beef Collops
—from Isabella Beeton, Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management (1861)
Mode: Have the steak cut thin, and divide it in pieces about 3 inches long; beat these with the blade
of a knife, and dredge with flour. Put them in a frying pan with the butter, and let them fry for about 3
minutes; then lay them in a small stewpan, and pour over them the gravy. Add a piece of butter,
kneaded with a little flour, put in the seasoning and all the other ingredients, and let the whole
simmer, but not boil, for 10 minutes. Serve in a hot covered dish.

Frizzled Beef
—from F. L. Gillette, The Whitehouse Cookbook (1887)

Shave off very thin slices of smoked or dried beef, put them in a frying pan, cover with cold water,
set it on the back of the range or stove, and let it come to a very slow heat, allowing it time to swell
out to its natural size, but not to boil. Stir it up, then drain off the water. Melt one ounce of sweet
butter in the frying pan and add the wafers of beef. When they begin to frizzle or turn up, break over
them three eggs; stir until the eggs are cooked; add a little white pepper, and serve on slices of
buttered toast.

Beef Stew
—from C. Houston Goudiss and Alberta M. Goudiss, Foods That Will Win The War And How To
Cook Them (1918)

Soak one-half of the meat [450 g/1 lb of meat from the neck, cross ribs, shin or knuckles] cut in small
pieces, in the quart of water for one hour. Heat slowly to boiling point. Season the other half of the
meat with salt and pepper. Roll in flour. Brown in three tablespoons of fat with the onion. Add to the
soaked meat, which has been brought to the boiling point. Cook for one hour or until tender. Add the
vegetables, and flour mixed with half cup of cold water. Cook until vegetables are tender.

Chili of Beef
—from Mary Wilson, Mrs Wilson’s Cook Book (1920)

Cut flank steak in one-inch blocks and then roll in flour and brown quickly in hot fat. Add onions,
pimentoes, tomatoes and water. Cook slowly until meat is tender and then season with salt and
paprika. Add beans. Heat to boiling point and then serve.
 Modern Recipes

Eye Fillet with Warm Potato Salad

—Ray McVinnie, professional chef, food editor, columnist and judge on MasterChef New Zealand.
Printed with permission.

This recipe makes a simple but tasty dish suitable either for an everyday family dinner or as part of a
special multi-course meal.

800 g (1 lb 12 OZ) eye fillet of beef in one piece, trimmed of all

fat and sinew
30 ml (2 tablespoons) olive oil
½ teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
800 g (1 lb 12 OZ) new potatoes, well scrubbed
2 spring onions, thinly sliced
3 tablespoons capers
zest and juice of 1 lemon
extra virgin olive oil

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F. Rub the oil and pepper all over the beef. Heat an ovenproof frying
pan over a high heat and brown the beef all over. Place the pan in the oven for about 10 minutes to
cook medium rare. Turn the beef once or twice as it cooks. Remove from the oven and rest in a warm
place for 5 minutes. Meanwhile boil the potatoes in plenty of well-salted water until tender. Drain
well and slice. Place on a serving platter and sprinkle the spring onions, capers and lemon zest on
top. Dribble plenty of extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice over everything. Season with salt and
pepper. Slice the beef thinly, place on top of the potatoes and serve with salsa spooned over the top.

Serves 4–6

Monkey-gland Steak
3 medium onions, peeled and coarsely chopped
15 ml (1 tablespoon) cooking oil
30 ml (2 tablespoons) tomato sauce
30 ml (2 tablespoons) Worcestershire sauce
30 ml (2 tablespoons) vinegar
500 g (1 lb) steak, such as rump steak
salt and pepper
Sauté the onions in the cooking oil until light brown. Add the tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce and
vinegar. Season with salt and pepper and simmer for about 2 minutes, stirring continuously. Cut the
meat into portions. Season with salt and pepper. Place the steak in the sauce mixture and fry on both
sides over a moderate heat until done, taking care not to burn the meat. Serve hot with mashed
potatoes, peas and salad.

NOTE: Needless to say, ‘monkey-gland’ steak has nothing to do with monkeys. The origin of the dish
is shrouded in mystery. One likely explanation, however, sees some French chefs lured to work at the
old Carlton Hotel in Johannesburg in the early 1950s. The story claims that the patrons of the hotel
lacked the sophistication to appreciate the many fine nuances of haute cuisine, especially when it
came to meat. Exasperated by the diners’ requests for well done steaks, the chefs concocted a sauce
made with what they saw as the most commercial and least refined ingredients they could find in
their kitchen. Pleased with the result, they proclaimed it to be ‘monkey-gland sauce’, which they
smothered generously on newly grilled steaks. The chefs’ joke proved popular with the clientele’s
taste buds and, just like that, a South African culinary legend was born.

Modern Beef Bulgogi

—Michael Choi, Professional Chef (School of Hospitality and Tourism, Auckland University of
Technology)

This dish is a reinvention of traditional Korean bulgogi dish with accompaniments.

Bul go gi Steak Marinade

300 g (10 OZ) eye fillet
90 ml (6 tablespoons) soy sauce
90 ml (6 tablespoons) water
45 g (1½ OZ) sugar
20 ml (1 tablespoon) sesame oil
15 g (½ OZ) garlic, minced
15 g (½ OZ) spring onion, finely chopped
pinch of ground black pepper

Mix ingredients well and marinate the beef in them overnight. Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F. Grill
or pan-sear the beef on a hot pan and then roast in the oven for 5–6 minutes (medium rare). Let the
meat rest for 5 minutes and slice into 6 pieces.

Crispy Oxtail Roll

bul go gi marinade
1 kg (2 lb 2 OZ) oxtail
100 g (3½ OZ) carrot, cut into 5–6 pieces
200 g (7 OZ) onion, chopped
1 spring roll sheet

Use bulgogi marinade to marinate oxtail overnight. Cook in a pressure cooker for 45–60 minutes.
Remove the meat from the bones while still warm. Roll onto the spring roll sheet 10 cm (4 inch) long
and 1 cm (½ inch) thick. Panfry until golden.
 Sesame Rice Ball
100 g (3½ OZ) cooked rice (short grain)
20 g (½ OZ) toasted sesame seeds

Roll the rice into 4 balls and coat with sesame seeds. Garnish with cherry tomatoes, asparagus spears
(blanched), one courgette (sliced lengthwise and blanched), enoki mushrooms, watercress and
shallots.

Serves 2

Mamma Elena’s Traditional Beef Carpaccio

500 g (1 lb) beef fillet
juice of 2 lemons
rocket
olive oil to taste
Grana Padano cheese to taste
100 g (3½ OZ) rocket
salt and pepper

Cut the raw beef fillet into thin slices. Portion slices into individual plates. Squeeze some lemon juice
onto each slice. Top each plate with rocket, olive oil and Grana Padano shavings. Season with salt
and pepper and enjoy.

Serves 4–6

Modern Sukiyaki
—John Kelleher, Professional Chef (School of Hospitality and Tourism, Auckland University of
Technology)

This is a plated version of the classic Japanese one-pot dish, now a delicacy in Japan due to the high
price of grain-fed beef.

15 g (1 tablespoon) grapeseed oil

200 g (7 OZ) beef sirloin, well marbled
3–4 baby leeks or spring onions, cut on the bias
200 g (7 OZ) ito konnyaku noodles or shirataki
1 large Portobello mushroom, cut into 6 pieces
½ grilled tofu (yakidōfu) cake
handful of baby mizuna or rocket

Sauce
75 g (5 tablespoons) mirin
 75 g (5 tablespoons) sake
75 g (5 tablespoons) dark soy sauce
30 g (2 tablespoons) palm sugar
100 g (3½ OZ) dashi, prepared (Japanese stock)
2 eggs, lightly beaten (optional)

Massage the oil onto the sirloin then season with sea salt and freshly milled black pepper.
Prepare the sauce by bringing to the boil the mirin and saké. Add the soy sauce, sugar and dashi
and reduce the heat to medium, simmer uncovered. Grill the 2-cm (¾-inch) thick piece of beef on a
hot griddle pan until evenly marked with a criss-cross design, and add to the simmering sauce –
remove from the broth when medium cooked, don’t overcook, keep warm. Lightly grill the seasoned
baby leeks, set aside. Meanwhile, rinse the ito konnyaku in warm water for one minute until the
noodles become whiter, drain and set aside. Add the mushroom, tofu and grilled baby leeks to the
sauce to finish the cooking process. Finally, add the noodles.
To serve, remove the noodles and place on a hot plate to resemble a flowing river, arrange the
rest of the hot ingredients along the noodles. Garnish with baby mizuna leaves. Serve with steamed
white rice and try dipping a slice of beef in the beaten egg.

Serves 2

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 Select Bibliography

Applestone, Joshua and Jessica, The Butcher’s Guide to Well-raised Meat (London, 2011)
Byard, Jack, Know Your Cattle (London, 2008)
Civitello, Linda, Cuisine and Culture: A History of Food and People (Oxford, 2009)
Clutton-Brock, Juliet, A Natural History of Domesticated Mammals (London, 1999)
Davidson, Alan, The Oxford Companion to Food (Oxford, 1999)
Fiddes, Nick, Meat: A Natural Symbol (London, 1991)
Fussell, Betty, Raising Steaks: The Life and Times of American Beef (Boston, MA, 2009)
Grandin, Temple, Humane Livestock Handling: Understanding Livestock Behaviour and Building
Facilities for Healthier Farms (North Adams, MA, 2008)
Hunt, Tamara, Defining John Bull: Political Caricature and National Identity in Late Georgian
England (Farnham, 2003)
Kiple, Kenneth F., and Kremhild Coneé Ornelas, The Cambridge World History of Food, vols I and II
(Cambridge and New York, 2001)
Mariani, John F., The Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink (New York, 1999)
Mennell, Stephen, All Manners of Food: Eating and Taste in England and France from the Middle
Ages to the Present (Urbana, IL, 1995)
Montgomery, M. R., A Cow’s Life: The Surprising History of Cattle and How the Black Angus Came
to be Home on the Range (New York, 2004)
Murray, Sarah, Moveable Feasts; From Ancient Rome to the 21st Century, the Incredible Journeys of
the Foods We Eat (New York, 2007)
Ozersky, Josh, Hamburger: A History (New Haven, CT, 2008)
Piatti-Farnell, Lorna, Food and Culture in Contemporary American Fiction (New York, 2011)
Rhulman, Michael, Brian Polcyn and Thomas Keller, Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking and
Curing (New York, 2005)
Rifkin, Jeremy, Beyond Beef: The Rise and Fall of Cattle Culture (New York, 1993)
Rimas, Andrew, and Evan Fraser, Beef: The Untold Story of How Milk, Meat and Muscle Shaped the
World (New York, 2009)
Robbins, Richard, Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism (London, 2010)
Rogers, Ben, Beef and Liberty: Roast Beef, John Bull and the English Nation (London, 2003)
Schlosser, Eric, Fast Food Nation: What the All-American Meal is Doing to the World (London,
2002)
Shiva, Vandana, Stolen Harvest: The Hijacking of the Global Food Supply (Cambridge, MA, 2000)
Sim, Alison, Food and Feast in Tudor England (London, 2005)
Smith, Andrew F., Hamburger: A Global History (London, 2008)
Standage, Tom, An Edible History of Humanity (New York, 2010)
Tannahill, Reay, Food in History (London, 1988)
Thomas, Keith, Man and the Natural World: Changing Attitudes in England, 1500–1800 (London,
1983)
Torode, John, Beef and Other Bovine Matters (Newton, CT, 2009)
Toussaint-Samat, Maguelonne, A History of Food (Oxford, 2000)
Velten, Hannah, Cow (London, 2007)

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Websites and Associations

American Angus Association

www.angus.org

Argentine Beef Association

www.argentinebeef.org.ar

British Agricultural History Society

www.bahs.org.uk

Gode Cookery
www.godecookery.com

Historic Food
www.historicfood.com

Kobe Beef America

www.kobe-beef.com

New Zealand Beef Association

www.beef.org.nz

The Bovine Bazaar

www.bovinebazaar.com

The Food Timeline

www.foodtimeline.org

U.S. Department of Agriculture

www.usda.gov

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 Acknowledgements

Writing this book was a very different experience for me and I absolutely loved it. I am very grateful
to Andrew F. Smith, editor of the Edible Series, and Michael Leaman at Reaktion Books for giving
me the opportunity to delve into the history of beef.
I am grateful to Ray McVinnie, Michael Choi and John Kelleher from the School of Hospitality
and Tourism (Auckland University of Technology) for showing so much interest in the project and
contributing their beef recipes and photographs.
Thanks go to Catherine Orr and Colette Wood for their help with South African beef recipes and
preparation methods. I am grateful to Marjory Farnell for discussing historical recipes with me at
length, and Alessandra Mastrogiacomo for providing photographs of the traditional bresaola. Very
special thanks go to Frances Nelson, for sharing her culinary memories of hot summer days in New
Zealand.
I am incredibly grateful to all my friends and family for their endless help and support. A special
‘thank you’ goes to my mamma and papá, Elena e Giorgio, who were incredibly patient and listened
to me dutifully, while I spent hours talking about beef.
Finally, and as always, my most heartfelt thanks go to my husband, Rob Farnell, who never
doubts me.

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 Photo Acknowledgements

The author and the publishers wish to express their thanks to the below sources of illustrative
material and/or permission to reproduce it:

Author’s collection: pp. 23, 56, 74, 79, 100, 101, 106; Deitchman/McNeill: p. 8; Charles Hamilton
Smith: p. 9; The Louvre: pp. 12, 16, 94; Metropolitan Museum of Art / Rama: p. 13; British Museum:
p. 18; Shadwell Aberdeen Angus/Justin Eric: p. 15; Art City LV: p. 25; John Oxley Library,
Queensland: p. 31; Biblioteca Casanatense, Rome: p. 39; Adactio: p. 43; Michael Choi: p. 48; Mjoro:
p. 46; Rainer Zenz: p. 64; The Bitten World: p. 70; Eigene Autnahme: p. 67; Sebastian von Kracht: p.
75; Ivan: p. 87; Minneapolis Institute of Arts: p. 90; Archie MacDonald: p. 83; FoodieBuddha: p. 81;
Sifu Renka: p. 87; Orlando Calvo: p. 28; Tate Britain: p. 96; Metro Goldwyn Meyer: p. 102;
Shutterstock: p. 105; Staatsgalerie Stuttgart: p. 110; Cushing Memorial Library: p. 109; John Jonik:
p. 114; sdadefend.com; p. 116; Luke Byfield: p. 120; Guggenheim Museum, New York: p. 119.

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 Index

italic numbers refer to illustrations; bold to recipes

Adams, Samuel, and Sarah Adams, The Complete Servant 52

Africa 9, 11, 12, 66, 73, 78 see also South Africa
ageing process 89
America
Central 76
North 14, 16, 21, 22–4, 26, 36, 37, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 57, 68, 69, 70, 71, 74, 77, 102, 103, 112,
115 see also United States South 24, 25, 69, 74
Anglo-Saxons 16, 17, 20
Angus beef 13–14, 15
animation 103, 104
Apicius, or De re Coquinaria 14, 124–5, 127
Argentina 24–7, 69, 82, 137 see also gauchos
asado 26
aurochs 7, 8, 9, 10, 92
Australia 26, 29, 30–31, 43, 44, 80

barbecue 14, 31, 46–9

beef booyah 57
beef bourguignon 57–8
beef etymology 15–17
beef-related expressions 91
Beef Rings the Bell (promotional film) 24
beef tea 14, 127
beef tongue 87, 88, 95
‘beef on weck’ (sandwich) 43
beefburger see hamburger
‘Beefeaters’ (Yeomen Warders) 42
Beeton, Isabella, Book of Household Management 40, 128
biltong 73–4, 75
bistecca alla Fiorentina 82–6, 84–5
Blumenthal, Heston 59, 60
Boorde, Andrew, Compendyous Regyment, or a Dyetary of Health 95
Bovril 101
braai 49–50
Brazil 26, 82, 117
bresaola della Valtellina 71–3, 74
brisket 68, 81, 86, 127
Britain 14–17, 20, 22, 30, 37, 41–2, 44, 53, 59, 61, 68–9, 86, 88, 95, 97–100, 112, 137
British Armed Forces 68, 69, 97
Broderick, Laurence 120
broiling 35, 50–55, 81
BSE see ‘mad cow’ disease (BSE)
Buckmaster’s Cookery 52
bulgogi 46–8, 48, 132
burger see hamburger
Burton, Richard, Anatomy of Melancholy 66
Byron, Lord (George Gordon) 95

Canada 43, 55, 69, 107, 112, 115

carnitine 118
carpaccio 62–3, 64
cattle 7–13, 16, 17, 19, 20–32, 48, 53, 68, 77, 83, 91, 100–03, 106, 108–19, 116, 119
cave paintings 7, 8, 92
Chianina, cattle 13, 83
Chick-fil-A (restaurant) 104, 106
Child, Julia 67
City Slickers (film) 102–03, 102
colour, of beef 35, 38, 63, 68, 71
cooking stages: rare, medium, well done 35–8
Cook’s Own Book, The 52
Corinth, Lovis, In the Slaughterhouse 110
corned beef 66–71, 67, 70
cowboys 26, 48, 102
cuts of beef
American 78–86
British 86
French 86–8

Delmonico steak 80–81, 81

Delmonico’s (restaurant) 80–81
dhabiha 110
diabetes 119
Dickens, Charles 95
Dinty Moore (brand) 56
domestication of cattle 8–11

Edo period (Japan) 27

Egypt 10, 12, 13
England 20, 21, 41, 69, 80, 87, 95–100, 127
English language 15, 16, 17, 36, 47, 49, 51, 55, 66, 91
environmental issues 117–18
Escoffier, Auguste, Le Guide Culinaire 58, 62
Europe 7, 11, 19–22, 26, 29, 66, 69, 72, 73, 76, 86, 92, 97, 113, 117

Fertile Crescent 8
Fielding, Henry, ‘The Roast Beef of Old England’ 96
Forme of Cury 21
France 8, 15, 17, 21, 22, 41, 56, 57, 58, 59, 61, 62, 67, 86, 88, 92, 96, 99, 131

Galle, Philips 93
gauchos 26, 27
Germany 74, 82, 88, 102
Germanic tribes 16, 20
Gillray, James 99–100
John Bull Triumphant 99
French Liberty, British
Slavery 100
Glasse, Hannah, The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy 51, 126
Good Housekeeping Cook Book 54
gridirons, use of 45, 51–2
grilling 34, 35, 44–50, 51, 81, 83 86, 87, 131

halal 110–11
hamburgers 14, 23, 24, 46, 103, 104, 107, 113, 117, 120, 121, 122
health concerns 118–21
heart disease 119
heat types
dry heat 34, 45, 44, 51, 82
moist heat 34, 35, 58, 81
Herodotus 12, 56
Hinduism 11
Hochlandrinder, Alfred Grey, Highland Cattle 53
Hogarth, William, The Gate of Calais, or O The Roast Beef of Old England 96, 97, 98
hormone dispute 103, 113–15
Huber, Carl Rudolf, Cattle Herd Under Pollarded Willows 49
Hungary 57

India 11, 12, 74

Indus Valley 9
Ireland 43, 66, 68–70, 81,
Italy 13, 21, 63, 64, 71, 72, 82, 83, 86

Japan 27–30, 44, 45, 47, 103, 104, 133

jerky 74–7
Jewish
cuisine 70–71
custom 110–11
John Bull 98–9, 101
Jonik, John 114
Kiple, Kenneth, and Kriemhild Coneè Ornelas, Cambridge World History of Food 10
Kitchiner, William 41, 127
Kobe beef 27, 28, 29, 137
Korea 45, 46, 48, 62, 78, 132
kosher 111

Lady Gaga 104, 105

Larousse Gastronomique 62
London broil 52–5
Lowe, Bell, Experimental Cookery 37

McDonald’s (restaurant) 120

‘mad cow’ disease (BSE) 86, 111–12
Marc, Franz, Yellow Cow 119
Markham, Gervase, Countrey Contentments 37
Maillard reaction 35
Maremma cattle 83
meat thermometer 36, 38
medieval see Middle Ages
Meiji
Emperor 27
era 29
Middle Ages 21
Middle East 8, 11, 47
Misson, Henry 41
Mr Bean (character) 61
Mrs Cowan’s American Ladies’ Cookery Book 88
Mrs Rorer’s Cook Book 37
Muslim customs 110–11

natural beef 116

New York City 23, 43, 53, 70, 80, 81, 82
New Zealand 31–2, 43, 44, 74, 80, 130
nutritional content of beef 118–19

organic beef 115–17

packer’s knot 40
parasites, found in raw beef 65
Pastor, Ethel X., Wartime Entertaining 88
pies, made of beef 21–2, 42
porterhouse steak 82–3

raw beef 61–5

Ray, Rachael 81
Rembrandt, Harmenszoon van Rijn, Carcass of Beef 93, 94
Remington, Frederic, ‘Roasting the Christmas Beef in a Cavalry Camp’ 23
Reuben sandwich 68
rinderbraten 82
roast beef 41–3, 95
‘Roast Beef of Old England, The’ (song) 96–7
roasting 20, 23, 34, 35, 38–43
Romans 15, 16, 17–19, 112, 125
Rombauer, Irma, The Joy of Cooking 38

sacred cow 10–11

salting 66–7
saltpetre 68
Schlosser, Eric 117
Servant’s Guide and Family Manual, The 52
Shakespeare, William, Henry V 96
sirloin 41, 45, 54, 60, 73, 80, 81, 86, 88, 126, 133
slaughterhouse 23, 108–10
sous vide 35, 58–60
South Africa 49, 50, 73, 74, 131
see also Africa
Soutine, Chaim, Carcass of Beef 90
Spain 22, 25, 76
steak 19, 22, 24, 35, 52, 53, 54, 59, 73, 78, 80, 81–3, 84, 86–7, 87, 89, 95, 104, 128, 129, 131, 132
steak tartare 61–2
stewing 14, 20, 35, 42, 55–8, 81, 86, 125, 126, 129
St Patrick’s Day 70
Sublime Society of Beef Steaks, The 98
sugar 45, 63, 66, 72, 76, 132
Sunday lunch 42–3

Tacuinum Sanitatis 39
tauralia, festival of 17–18, 18
T-bone 82–3
tonic, of beef 20

United States 29, 97 see also America

Vanity Fair (magazine) 53

Viandier, Le 21, 57
Vietnam 57
Vikings 20
Vonnegut, Kurt 22

wagyu cattle 27, 28, 29

Webster, Mrs A. L., The Improved Housewife 88
Webser’s Illustrated Dictionary 79
Wendy’s (restaurant) 106, 120
‘Where’s the Beef?’ 106–7
Winfrey, Oprah 112–13
yakinuku 44–5, 46–7
yukhoe 62–3

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