I just finished watching a cookery/travelogue type program from my hard drive

One interesting and suprising segment of it, was when the filming went into a butchers shop, where the butcher made a distinction between the meat of a cow and a steer, in both taste and apperance.

I always thought beef is beef...with no difference

Any butcher confirm this?

Penkoprod

Here's the clip:

Well I'm from a dairy farm, but we always called the castrated boys the "steers" and the rest were "beef". Not sure about any difference in taste....maybe this guy is comparing the meat of female beef cattle with the meat from steers?

Well I'm from a dairy farm, but we always called the castrated boys the "steers" and the rest were "beef". Not sure about any difference in taste....maybe this guy is comparing the meat of female beef cattle with the meat from steers?

Well thats what he IS doing..comparing both the taste and appearence.

But i didnt know there WAS a difference.

BTW, i mean the actual butcher is saying this, and not so much the presenter of the show

Not only a taste and appearance difference in the sex of the animal ( not just cattle ,by the way),also in the breed ,AND in the food they eat. Dominant difference is breed, followed by sex , and food consumed.

Well I'm not a butcher or even an "expert" on beef.

But I do know that in the U.S. at least most male cattle are slaughtered young...for the simple reason that one full-grown steer can "service" many females and therefore it doesn't pay economically to feed all newly born males to adult age. Each grown female however is a potential mother and therefore potentially profitable to feed to breeding age. For that reason even if the ratio of male to female is 50/50 at birth (it isn't, but that's another story) most young male cattle born don't make it past the first year at best. So that is the younger, more tender, and better quality beef.

There's a name for that young beef from male calves less than a year old...but my brain just went blank, and I can't remember what it's called now.

I would guess the age diference makes a big difference in the taste and quality of the young beef as compared to older and tougher beef.

I thought everybody knew that fact? But then I grew up in a dairy cattle raising area, so maybe that's not the case.

P.S. Where I grew up a "steer" was a full grown and sexually mature male cow. There is a thing called (in that region) a Hieffer (not sure of the spelling) which is a castrated male specially raised for meat. They tend to die young also...they become steaks for the grill.

Edited May 13, 201115 yr by IMA_FARANG

Umm, Definitions STEER" A young castrated bull,castrated before becoming sexually active. If sexually active, as a bull, the meat is VERY tough, cannot eat. Not only is it tough ,it tastes bad , to boot. BULL, animal entire, , sexually active, used for breeding purposes only. Never for eating. Can service many cows. HEIFER: Young female , less than 12 months old. Too young to breed. COW older female ,now breeding age ,will have 1 CALF per year, sometimes can throw twins. VEAL :The meat from a CALF still drinking milk, when slaughtered. The meat is still whitish,maybe have a pink tinge.Not red. Extremely popular in Italian cooking. The best eating is STEER, younger than 2 years old. After that , the meat tends to toughen up. HEIFERS are rarely eaten ,unless a serious oversupply situation occurs, because they are used for breeding. Generally ,tender meat.

Well I'm not a butcher or even an "expert" on beef.

But I do know that in the U.S. at least most male cattle are slaughtered young...for the simple reason that one full-grown steer can "service" many females and therefore it doesn't pay economically to feed all newly born males to adult age. Each grown female however is a potential mother and therefore potentially profitable to feed to breeding age. For that reason even if the ratio of male to female is 50/50 at birth (it isn't, but that's another story) most young male cattle born don't make it past the first year at best. So that is the younger, more tender, and better quality beef.

There's a name for that young beef from male calves less than a year old...but my brain just went blank, and I can't remember what it's called now.

I would guess the age diference makes a big difference in the taste and quality of the young beef as compared to older and tougher beef.

I thought everybody knew that fact? But then I grew up in a dairy cattle raising area, so maybe that's not the case.

P.S. Where I grew up a "steer" was a full grown and sexually mature male cow. There is a thing called (in that region) a Hieffer (not sure of the spelling) which is a castrated male specially raised for meat. They tend to die young also...they become steaks for the grill.

I don't believe there is such a thing as a "male cow" and also your description of hieffer is way out. A hieffer is a young cow that has not yet had its first calf.

Well I'm not a butcher or even an "expert" on beef.

But I do know that in the U.S. at least most male cattle are slaughtered young...for the simple reason that one full-grown steer can "service" many females and therefore it doesn't pay economically to feed all newly born males to adult age. Each grown female however is a potential mother and therefore potentially profitable to feed to breeding age. For that reason even if the ratio of male to female is 50/50 at birth (it isn't, but that's another story) most young male cattle born don't make it past the first year at best. So that is the younger, more tender, and better quality beef.

There's a name for that young beef from male calves less than a year old...but my brain just went blank, and I can't remember what it's called now.

I would guess the age diference makes a big difference in the taste and quality of the young beef as compared to older and tougher beef.

I thought everybody knew that fact? But then I grew up in a dairy cattle raising area, so maybe that's not the case.

P.S. Where I grew up a "steer" was a full grown and sexually mature male cow. There is a thing called (in that region) a Hieffer (not sure of the spelling) which is a castrated male specially raised for meat. They tend to die young also...they become steaks for the grill.

Hieffer = female that has not had a calf... ...usually less than two years old

Veal = meat from younger animal and less than a year old, although the norm is about a week old

Steer = castrated male

Crypt = scrotum has been removed, but the testicals left intact not allowing them decend.

H.D.-- HEIFER is the correct spelling. VEAL: The Most important part of the definition is that the calf is still drinking milk , from the mother.That is what keeps the meat whiter.

Ran across an interesting set of definitions http://www.elcct.org/Indian%20Rock/FarmTourVocab.htm

Cattle

Bull: fertile male cattle over one year old

Calf: any young cattle less than one year old

Cow: mature female cattle that has given birth

Heifer: a young beef or dairy female that has not given birth

Ox: mature, castrated bull

Steer: an ox less than four years old

I always thought an Ox (Oxen) were a separate breed related more closely to water buffalo (also known as Thailand Beef) but that is a different topic.

Ran across an interesting set of definitions http://www.elcct.org/Indian%20Rock/FarmTourVocab.htm

Cattle

Bull: fertile male cattle over one year old

Calf: any young cattle less than one year old

Cow: mature female cattle that has given birth

Heifer: a young beef or dairy female that has not given birth

Ox: mature, castrated bull

Steer: an ox less than four years old

I always thought an Ox (Oxen) were a separate breed related more closely to water buffalo (also known as Thailand Beef) but that is a different topic.

Many fond memories of eating ox tail soup in Jamaica

Double post; why is this site so slow

Edited May 14, 201115 yr by Kilgore Trout

For those ofyou that don't know Rick Stein did a great series call Far East Odyssey, part of which was shot in Thailand, this clip is the start.

I raised beef cattle, we never made much about the difference in taste between a heifer and a steer. I don't think I could tell the difference.

You can eat bull meat, but it is important that it is not under stress prior to slaughter.

Never heard of an old steer called an ox, but nobody lets a steer get old normally as there is no economic reason to do so.

The only ox I ever had experience with was a show steer, who we had became attached to and retired him to the pasture for a peaceful existence. He weighed 2500 pounds at three and a half years. (crossbreed)

Beef experts can taste the difference between heifer and steer meat, and can pick the difference visually. I might be able to do the latter but the taste test would probably be beyond my expertise. Especially after living and consuming beef here in Thailand for a time.

Canuck, Yes you can eat Bull meat, but do you want to after it has been sexually active?. I certainly don't. Tough and has an unpleasant taste. For sure ,steers are always sold young, generally max. age is 2. Older than that and the economics work against you. . After that they tend to toughen up, as well. Steers and heifers are BOTH, as I intimated ,previously are both tender to eat. If consumed young enough .Slapout ,Good point about taste , after consuming Thai beef !!!