Thread: Dinner

Here's a dumbed down History lesson for you Snubs.
In the previous episode we were talking about your drugged up, grain fed imports

THE ORIGINS OF BEEF
The Origins of Beef

You can grind it into patties and create a meal. You can grill it, BBQ it, bake and stew it. Beef has long been not only a meal staple but a food staple for families from generation to generation. We know that beef is a product that comes from cows, but have you ever wondered how we discovered it could be eaten? Where did the cow originally come from? How did it become a meal favorite?

Beef is the third most consumed meat in the entire world, with the United States, Brazil, and China the largest consumers. A vast majority of Americans can only say their beef comes from a farm to their grocery store.

Let’s take an in-depth and fascinating look at the origin of beef, where it came from and how it became one of America’s favorite to plate.

Prehistoric
We’ve been eating bovines, or beef, since prehistoric times. The earliest cave paintings made by man depict cavemen hunting the aurochs, the primitive ancestor of today’s cows.

The Aurochs or wild ox of Europe were roughly six feet high at the shoulder and had spreading, forward-curving horns. All black, they were a species of wild cattle that inhabited Asia, Europe, and North Africa before going extinct in 1627 when the last recorded Aurochs died.

The wild ancestor of modern cattle, evidence points to the domestication of the aurochs in the Near East and the Indian subcontinent between 10,000 and 8,000 years ago. This gave rise to two major domestic types of cattle we can see today: The Taurine, lacking a hump, and the Zebu, which has a hump on its shoulders.

They existed through the Roman Empire, wildly popular as a beast to battle within Roman arenas. However, they were over hunted and by the 13th century, the wide-spread aurochs existed only in small numbers within Eastern Europe.

Aurochs in Britain became extinct during the Bronze Age of man; however, scientific study and research now point out that indigenous British and Irish cattle breeds have had substantial aurochs contributions with Kerry cattle having the most material like the ancient bovine.

While the ancient ancestor of bovines did go extinct, its DNA lives on in today’s domesticated cattle.

There’s no specific evidence to pinpoint exactly when beef became a delicacy, although it’s a good guess it happened shortly after the domestication of cattle.

American Beef: Origins
Raising cattle and consuming beef isn’t confined to the United States. Argentina, Great Britain, and India for example, have a rich history in the breeding and domestication of cattle. But we’re going to focus on how the cow became part of America’s choice cut of meat.

Spanish explorers were the most likely to have introduced the first Longhorn cattle to America, roughly back in 1534. When British colonists came to America, they brought Devon cattle, their source of leather, milk, labor, and meat around 1623.

Many breeds began to be imported into the United States as trade, travel, and as time wore on. French and English colonists brought many new breeds to the Jamestown colony, including Herefords, Aberdeen Angus, Shorthorns, Ayrshire, Charolais, and many cross breeds just to name a few. Some of them were brought to America because they were fantastic dairy producers, others for their meat.

Civil War
Surprisingly, while beef was being consumed throughout history, it wasn’t a significant part of the American diet until after the Civil War. Up until then, cattle were more widely used for dairy, butter, hides, and drafting. Wild game previously was the main meat dish before beef. After the Civil War, cattle began moving further West and cattlemen discovered that many of the Spanish missions already had amassed large herds.

In the 1860s the mythic American cowboy rose to fame along with the booming beef industry. Texas ranchers began breeding their Longhorns with Hereford and Angus to produce beef that would answer the demand for it.

In the West where the cattle were bred, food crops were more difficult to cultivate but plenty of native grasses were available. These were perfect for grazing cattle where they were moved frequently in cattle drives to feedlot after feedlot to fatten up. They were transported by train to the mid-west, slaughtered, and shipped via refrigerator cars to the heavily populated east where most of the American population lived.

Industrial Age and Today
The Industrial Age changed many things in the United States, including the way cattle are now raised, slaughtered, and processed for consumption. During the early stages of the mechanized beef industry, feedlots were becoming densely packed with cows as America embraced a production line mindset for many aspects of life. As the feedlots became overcrowded, the need for heavy antibiotic usage spiked to keep cattle healthy. Advances in bioengineering created synthetically grown hormones as well as steroids that could be used to increase beef output as well as dairy.

Eventually, the means in which we raise and handle our meat industry has changed once again.

These days, there is an increase in food safety, processing and regulations in place to ensure both consumer demand, and less use of synthetic hormones and antibiotics in raising cows for beef. The U.S and Canada both abide by strict grain-fed programs, making products from both countries very similar in taste and production.

Currently, cattle today that make up our country’s beef supply come from within the U.S. The United States Department of Agriculture estimates that 8-20 percent come from foreign sources like Canada or Mexico.

The demand for better treatment as well as grass-fed, eco-friendly and environmentally conscious farming has grown as we learn more and more about our relationships with the ecosystem.

Cattle in this era are experiencing more open pastures, better care, and less man-made control leading to what many have pointed out are healthier lives for both humans and cows.

Grass-fed, free grazing was how the ancient aurochs lived, in a time where cavemen were first painting the animals they hunted. It seems a fitting loop to find the cows today living exactly as their ancestors once did.

Where Does Beef Originate From? | Wholey'''s

Originally Posted by Reg Dingle

It all came from the UK you fukkin bell-end

We took all the good cattle and left you wankers with all the shit, apparently.

Originally Posted by Mendip

I'm gonna try next time I fire up the convection oven.

Originally Posted by hallelujah

I'll have the odd one as long as it's served with a sauce to give it a bit of flavour, but I mostly find them boring and hugely overrated.

Being a huge beef ribeye, filet, prime rib, NY, T bone steak guy there are 3 major factors. Grade of the meat, thickness and how prepped. Hal if you had one of my steaks you would want another. Being my granddad was a butcher for 40 years I learned a lot about cuts, how to prep and most important, cut thickness. Of course how you spice them makes a huge impact as well.

Originally Posted by Reg Dingle

Your US beef is pumped full of fukkin steroids antibiotics and growth hormones.

There is some truth to that RD, However nowadays you can easily find range fed cows and if you do research you can see what certs they have. The US and Australian have some really good farms. There is a huge market for quality beef without all that shit. Sure you pay for it but its all money well spent.

^ ^Your forefathers much like yourself, didn't travel much after refusing to pay the taxman.

We dumped all our inbreds on you, the cattle and folk from Mendys birthplace and you are still thriving with those bloodlines today

^ It's true. The Pilgrim Fathers came from the West country.

I'm sure I've read that the origins of the American accent came from the West country in the UK.

Originally Posted by Reg Dingle

We dumped all our inbreds on you

You better be nice or us Americans are going to come over there and take the baked beans we gave you back. Then what would you eat with every other meal?

Originally Posted by Reg Dingle

We dumped all our inbreds on you

Originally Posted by Shutree

Mussels look good. I tried some from Makro once and tbh they didn't have a lot of taste.

I am deathly afraid to eat any mussel, clam, snail in Thailand, full stop. I have known a dozen or more that have had them here at various restaurants and got deathly ill. In the US there are certain times of years you are not to eat shellfish due to a chemical they produce. It can make you sick as hell. Here its Open 365. Even my wife will not eat them and being a Thai, we all know that's saying a lot.

The dish looks good though, but I will pass.

Originally Posted by Stumpy

Being a huge beef ribeye, filet, prime rib, NY, T bone steak guy there are 3 major factors. Grade of the meat, thickness and how prepped. Hal if you had one of my steaks you would want another. Being my granddad was a butcher for 40 years I learned a lot about cuts, how to prep and most important, cut thickness. Of course how you spice them makes a huge impact as well.
.

I'm sure I would. I'm just not really into steak in the main though and don't really know too many people who are in my circle of friends and family.

If I'm in an Italian and they serve it with a dolcelatte sauce, I will sometimes order one though and used to occasionally cook my own with a blue cheese sauce on the side. I do enjoy it from time to time, but it's just not something I'm a huge fan of.

Interestingly, and relating to one of your comments yesterday, I would almost always go for lamb over beef in general anyway.

Originally Posted by Stumpy

I am deathly afraid to eat any mussel, clam, snail in Thailand, full stop.

Many years ago in Singapore I once had really bad food poisoning from cockles and it knocked me for six for several months until a specific anti-biotic was used to kill off the infection. I've tried cockles once since and it came straight back so I haven't touched them for years now.

You have to trust the source of mussels (or any marine filter feeders) and the provenance can often be hard to determine in Thailand. These that I (my wife) cooked were New Zealand imports which I trust and have never had a problem.

Originally Posted by Mendip

^ It's true. The Pilgrim Fathers came from the West country.

I'm sure I've read that the origins of the American accent came from the West country in the UK.

Thank God I am Sicilian. Tough being a Mercan......

But Godamn do I love a good steak......

Are you connected?

Originally Posted by Stumpy

But Godamn do I love a good steak.....

It's like the magic roundabout on here

Originally Posted by Mendip

You have to trust the source of mussels (or any marine filter feeders) and the provenance can often be hard to determine in Thailand.

And that right there scares the piss out of me. I had a colleague come over before covid. We went to dinner. He ordered a big plate of chili mussels. Forgot where they claimed to be from. the next morning he didn't show up for the Van ride. I went to his room. I had to take him to the Bumrungrad hospital. He was there 4 days. After he had to rest another 4 days in his room Damn near croaked. I said F that. Steak please..........

Originally Posted by Mendip

They still don't have any baked beans in stock.

Fear not, I shall have a tin of them in your honour tonight

Might have a decent well done steak with them as well

Oh yeah, fvck any shell fish sideways.
Not worth the risk unless it's those shrink wrapped crab sticks from Aldi for 99p.

Originally Posted by Joe 90

Fear not, I shall have a tin of them in your honour tonight

Of course, you will because that is about all you lot eat.

Originally Posted by Joe 90

Might have a decent well done steak with them as well

We have a very different account of well done versus incinerated. Out of pure curiosity Chitty. Have you ever bought and cooked say a 2" thick steak? I noticed most steaks in your pics are maybe 1/2" to 3/8" thick and they are already probably med Rare before you torch them on the skillet.... Just saying.

Carry On

Originally Posted by hallelujah

Interestingly, and relating to one of your comments yesterday, I would almost always go for lamb over beef in general anyway.

I need to try some lamb. I think I ate it once 20+ years ago. It was a rack of lamb IIRC. Didn't grab me so it was binned as a dinner option. Funny though, I would easily eat alligator, snake or ostrich (which I have had numerous times) before lamb. Last trip to the US I had a really good Cuban dish with horse meat.

My list of no eats

Shellfish (Excluding Raw oysters)
Snails
Any animal guts
and soups where the fish is looking at me.

Originally Posted by Mendip

Many years ago in Singapore I once had really bad food poisoning from cockles and it knocked me for six for several months until a specific anti-biotic was used to kill off the infection. I've tried cockles once since and it came straight back so I haven't touched them for years now.

You have to trust the source of mussels (or any marine filter feeders) and the provenance can often be hard to determine in Thailand. These that I (my wife) cooked were New Zealand imports which I trust and have never had a problem.

Many years ago in Taipei we used to frequent an eatery affectionately known as The Dodgy Clam. I never knew anyone get seriously unwell and the Russian Roullette aspect was part of the fun.

Later I was at a very smart eatery in Hong Kong with a friend who suddenly dashed off to the bathroom. It was that quick, coming out of both ends. He made a full recovery, some days later.

Maybe I am a wuss but I won't touch those snails the Thais seem to love at the diy bbq places. Life is short enough, I don't need it to be any shorter.

Originally Posted by aging one

You do know that surimi is not crab in anyway. Its chopped up left over reformed "stuff". I feel sorry for you chitty mate. You grew up eating badly, this has changed your diet forever.

I believe it was another of Britain's gifts to the world, the crabstick. Shitty fish bits and some pink food colour for the proletariat visiting the seaside. Somehow they made a case for it being 'traditional' and it dodged the Trade Descriptions Act. It is a British version of the Asian fishball, but pink.

Originally Posted by aging one

You do know that surimi is not crab in anyway. Its chopped up left over reformed "stuff". I feel sorry for you chitty mate. You grew up eating badly, this has changed your diet forever.

Why did you attach my name to Chitty's post? I never said any of that crap. I love shellfish and where I live we have some of the best in the world, and it is perfectly safe to eat.

Originally Posted by Shutree

I believe it was another of Britain's gifts to the world, the crabstick. Shitty fish bits and some pink food colour for the proletariat visiting the seaside. Somehow they made a case for it being 'traditional' and it dodged the Trade Descriptions Act. It is a British version of the Asian fishball, but pink.

Originally from Japan, apparently, and later introduced by an American company internationally.

Crab stick - Wikipedia

Habitually sold in pubs in the North West of England by "the fish woman," who is driven around selling crab sticks, cockels, mussels (and, rather incongruously, peperami sticks) to boozers looking for something different to a packet of crisps.

I don't think I've ever seen anyone specifically ask for them outside of this environment!

Edit- maybe on the front in Blackpool too.

Originally Posted by bsnub

Why did you attach my name to Chitty's post? I never said any of that crap. I love shellfish and where I live we have some of the best in the world, and it is perfectly safe to eat.

You know there is a problem with quoting here, I did not check and copied a post you made that included chitty's post. Its fixed now.

My wife loves those fake crab sticks. I laugh..Even say on the packet, "Imitation" crab meat. Nothing crab about it. Speaking of that, I do not eat any meat that is round here. Pork, fish balls are flat nasty. I see endless packs at Makro and most look gray in color.

Call me picky, I am.

Originally Posted by hallelujah

Originally from Japan

If Wiki says so then I am wrong. I have always thought of them as a curiously British anomoly. Did we give the world the name 'crab stick' or was that too borrowed from the Japanese?