Beef – great value, endless options
Beef is highly versatile and can be great value for money, particularly if you know what cuts to look out for when you’re shopping. A joint of beef is a fabulous choice as the leftovers from Sunday roast can be used to make a variety of mouth-watering meals from cottage pie to sandwiches.
From rib of beef to lesser-known cuts such as shin, shoulder steak, flat rib and skirt, our “Meet the Butcher” video, will advise you on what you should keep an eye out for when you’re visiting your local butcher or shopping at the local supermarket.
From the importance of colour, texture and marbling to how to cut and prepare the meat, you’ll find all the information you need to help you confidently select beef.
Where can I buy British beef?
There are several places to buy great quality British Beef depending on where you live and what you are looking for.
Your local butcher will not only be a great source of quality British beef but also have an in depth knowledge of the different cuts available. While most meat sold will be assured to a high standard, make sure that you ask your butcher to confirm the provenance of the meat you’re buying so that you can be confident it is sourced from UK farms.
If you are lucky enough to have a local farm shop nearby then these often provide excellent quality meat direct from the producers. Make sure that you ask about provenance because you’ll often get a great story about the meat. Some of the beef we used in our shoot with Lynda Bellingham was bought from Fodders in Harrogate and the meat was sourced directly from one of the Ladies in Beef, Rosey Dunn’s farm in North Yorkshire.
One of the most convenient ways is to buy from your local supermarket where you should look for the Red Tractor logo on pack. The logo guarantees that the food you’re purchasing has assured standards all the way from farm to pack and those standards include food safety, animal welfare and benefit the environment. The union flag in the Red Tractor logo also means that you can tell where your food is from. It doesn’t just cover meat either, so you can look for the logo on all your seasonal vegetables too.
So, whether you’re purchasing Red Tractor assured beef from your local supermarket or assured beef from your local butcher or farm shop, you can be confident that you are helping to support local economies directly.
A quick introduction to cuts of beef…
- Roast beef tenderloin
A beef tenderloin roast is one of the most delicious, expensive and luxurious cuts of beef you can put on your table. It comes from the short loin portion of the animal and is tender enough to cut with a fork. A beef tenderloin roast is a fine choice for a celebratory meal.
A beef tenderloin is the long muscle that runs along the spine of the animal. A part of the short loin section of the animal, the tenderloin attaches to the backbone at one end and to the pelvis at the other. Since this muscle doesn’t get much use, a beef tenderloin is one of the most tender cuts of beef. It also is one of the most expensive -this muscle also is the source of filet mignon.
- Joint of beef topside
Topside and top rump are very lean cuts of beef for slow roasting. Either is best served rare or medium rare carved into large, thin slices, something easy to do as there are no bones. Silverside and, again, top rump are both good for pot roasting, too. The principle of pot roasting is long, slow cooking of the meat in a fairly heavy cooking pot (with a tight-fitting lid) in a small amount of liquid which can be stock, wine or cider. This creates a steamy atmosphere inside the closed pot, which keeps the joint moist as it cooks.
- Shin
Also known as the shank, it is a cut of beef taken from the front lower leg of an animal. Due to the connective tissue, this cut is very tough so it is commonly braised or slow cooked to tenderise the meat. The Beef Shin is commonly used in making slow-cooked soups and stews, providing a flavourful cut to enhance and add much flavour to the foods being prepared.
- Skirt
Skirt steak is a cut of beef steak, from the plate. It is a long, flat cut that is prized for its flavour rather than tenderness. It is located between the brisket and the shank.
- Brisket
Brisket is a cut of meat from the breast or lower chest of beef or veal. The beef brisket is one of the eight beef primal cuts. The brisket muscles include the superficial and deep pectorals. As cattle do not have collar bones, these muscles support about 60% of the body weight of standing/moving cattle. This requires a significant amount of connective tissue, so the resulting meat must be cooked correctly to tenderize the connective tissue.
- Short Ribs (a.k.a. ‘Jacob’s Ladder’)
Short ribs are a popular cut of beef. Beef short ribs are larger and usually more tender and meatier than their pork counterpart, pork spare ribs. Short ribs are cut from the rib and plate primals and a small corner of the square-cut chuck.
A full slab of short ribs is typically about 10 inches square, ranges from 3-5 inches thick, and contains three or four ribs, intercostal muscles and tendon, and a layer of boneless meat and fat which is thick on one end of the slab and thins down to almost nothing on the other. There are numerous ways to butcher short ribs. The ribs can be separated and cut into short lengths (typically about 2 inches long), called an “English cut”; “flanken cut” across the bones (typically about 1/2 inch thick); or cut into boneless steaks.
- Chuck
Chuck steak is a cut of beef and is part of the subprimal cut known as the chuck. The typical chuck steak is a rectangular cut, about 1″ thick and containing parts of the shoulder bones, and is often known as a “7-bone steak”. (This is in reference to the shape of the bone, which resembles the numeral ’7′, not to the number of bones in the cut.) This cut is usually grilled or broiled; a thicker version is sold as a “7-bone roast” or “chuck roast” and is usually cooked with liquid as a pot roast. The bone-in chuck steak or roast is one of the more economical cuts of beef. In the United Kingdom, this part is commonly referred to as “braising steak”. It is particularly popular for use as ground beef, due to its richness of flavour and balance of meat and fat.
- Denver, Bullet and Flat Iron (new from Morrisons)
Morrisons has introduced three exciting new cuts of beef from traditional breeds of British cattle historically renowned for their flavour and texture. The new cuts- Denver, Flat Iron and Bullet are easy to prepare. Simply pop in a hot frying pan and cook to your liking!
Meet the butcher – John Mettricks, JWMettricks & Sons butchers:
JW Mettricks butchers source all of their meat from farms within the Peak District, the Northwest and Midland, usually within 35 miles of their shops. JW Mettricks butchers process local beef, lamb & free- range pork through their own small abattoir. All meat from JW Mettricks is locally sourced, environmentally sensitive, produced to the highest welfare standards and matured traditionally resulting in tender succulent meat with unbeatable flavour. Their family has been producing delicious high quality meat this way for 100yrs.
