What a great and versatile meat even for this time of the year. Cold roast beef salad or steaks and burgers for the BBQ.
Beef is a prime example of the difference between buying a quality local product and a mediocre supermarket commodity.
The trouble is, Beef is complicated, breed, time and type of hanging/maturing, age, different cuts, butchery method, type of feed, are all factors influencing taste and tenderness. And why so many people often opt for the wrong cut and pay far too much.
A great example is my cousin who bought the finest ‘fillet’ of beef from a supermarket only to throw most of it away because it was so tough. A piece of well-hung ‘topside’ would probably have been half the price and twice as good. Likewise the ‘chopped shin’ of a well-hung rare breed animal could be better and cheaper for stewing, than the more expensive ‘best stewing steak’ from the supermarket.
The great news is you don’t have to go to college or even buy a book, simply ask. Go and see your local butcher or better still, local beef farmer, and ask, how long the beef has been hung, what they recommend as well as how to cook it.
You can get great “minute’ steaks seam butchered from fore quarters at half the price of a usual sirloin or rump and make your own burgers from lean mince that has been well hung.
It is in the butcher’s and farmer’s interest to look after you, as they want you to buy again and tell your friends where you got the great meat.
So all you have to do is use our map to find your local beef, or for a delivery check our MarketPlace for beef or see if there are any deals in or Deal of the Day page, and don’t be afraid to phone first and get a recommendation. And for inspiration try our recipes.
Couldn’t agree more – all our animals are born and reared on our farm, which is also certified as Organic. Our customers love the fact our beef (and lamb!) is completely traceable and it tastes as good as it gets – it’s Aberdeen Angus and matured on the bone for 21 days for exceptional tenderness and flavour.
Alternatively, you could go for native rare breed Red Ruby beef, reared and grass fed on our farm and hung for 3 weeks, from Field Power, which is also carbon neutral and even the delivery to your door will be carbon neutral.
We don’t do things by half!
As Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall says in his River Cottage Meat book: “The Red Ruby cattle have an excellent, mild temperament and are extremely well adapted to unfertilized grazing. Bred to withstand harsh winters, they grow more slowly and have natural ability to put on fat reserves. It is this natural growth pace that makes the close-grained, well-marbled meat British beef at its best. They simply produce the best beef I have ever tasted.”
Once you try it, you’ll never buy anything else.