Have you ever wondered who decides if one meat is better than another, why they have different prices, and what connoisseurs mean when they talk about qualities and brands?
The first thing to identify is that each country has its own culture, its own classifications, brands, and even different ways of naming each of the parts that make up the structure of an animal.
We can decipher the influence that the United States has on us regarding meat; not only because it's our neighbor but also because it's considered one of the main producers and specialists in offering some of the best meat worldwide. So, I find it interesting to talk a little about the main classification methods of that country.
The U.S.D.A, by its initials in English (United States Department of Agriculture), is responsible for certifying meat, mainly dividing it from highest to lowest quality into three different grades: Prime, Choice, and Select. There's an intermediate quality between Prime and Choice categorized as High Choice, and two others that don't reach a grade as such. These grades are based on two main factors. One is marbling, which is the intramuscular fat that provides tenderness and juiciness. The other factor is maturity, which corresponds to age and determines the quality of the bones and muscle texture.
Another very important characteristic to consider is the feeding, especially the breed of the animal from which the meat comes. I'll talk a little more about the different breeds in the future, but I can tell you in advance that for North Americans, the best meat comes from the Angus breed because of its performance and the high degrees of marbling it achieves. That's why many brands promote meat from the Angus breed as their main attribute.
With this brief introduction, we can have the basics to choose American meat. In the next entry, I'd like to talk about two other important countries in meat production.
Thank you very much for taking the time to read me, and I'll see you next Friday for my next blog.
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