On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 269

visible fat marbling — at all packing houses subject to federal health supervision U.S “Prime” beef was born in 1927 A few years later, governmentfunded studies found that heavy marbling d o e s not guarantee either tender or flavorful beef But the prestige of heavily marbled Prime beef persisted, and the United States became one of only three countries — the others being Japan and Korea — to make fat content a major criterion for meat quality So economic forces have conspired to make mild, tender meat the modern norm, but small producers of more mature, flavorful meats, sometimes from rare “heirloom” breeds, are finding their own profitable market among consumers willing to pay a premium for quality Meat Animals and Their Characteristics Each of the animals that we raise for food has its own biological nature, and its own history of being shaped by humans to meet their changing needs and tastes This section sketches the distinctive qualities of our more common meats, and the main styles in which they’re now produced Domestic Meat Animals Cattle Cattle are descendents of the wild ox or aurochs, Bos primigenius, which browsed and grazed in forests and plains all across temperate Eurasia Cattle are our largest meat animals and take the longest to reach adulthood, about two years, so their meat is relatively dark and flavorful Breeders began to develop specialized meat animals in the 18th century Britain produced the compact, fat-carcassed English Hereford and Shorthorn and Scots Angus, while continental meat breeds remained closer to the rangy, lean draft ...Each of the animals that we raise for food has its own biological nature, and its own history of being shaped by humans to meet their changing needs and tastes This section sketches the distinctive qualities of our more... sketches the distinctive qualities of our more common meats, and the main styles in which they’re now produced Domestic Meat Animals Cattle Cattle are descendents of the wild ox or aurochs, Bos primigenius, which browsed and grazed in forests and plains all across... and grazed in forests and plains all across temperate Eurasia Cattle are our largest meat animals and take the longest to reach adulthood, about two years, so their meat is relatively dark and flavorful