As discussed in part 1 last week, we can no longer deny there is a tenderness problem with today’s beef. As a result, I will not order a steak in a restaurant that is not a filet or a flat iron. Those two steaks will almost always provide an extremely enjoyable eating experience. Other cuts, however, will disappoint me most of the time. Call me a traitor – but I would rather eat chicken than a tough steak.
We have a problem! How can we fix this problem? The status quo beef industry’s proposed solution to this problem was to increase the marbling and fat content in the beef carcass by feeding the animal longer. Intense selection for more and more marbling started four decades ago. Up to a point, we all like marbling – but marbling only accounts for a mere 10% of the variation in tenderness. In other words, the correlation between marbling and tenderness is very low.
INTERESTING NOTE: I recently read in the Angus Journal that they have reason to believe there is a strong correlation between high-marbling genetics and the genetics for low fertility and bad feet. Whoops!
The picture of the ribeye roll below was sent to me by Tim Goodnight, who is a former PCC™ team member. Tim said, “This came from a large-framed, grass-finished steer. The ribeye size is way too big. Even so, it looks like a $100 piece of well-marbled meat. However, it ate like a $10 piece of meat because it was so damn tough.” Had this steer been finished on grain there would have been more excess fat to trim off that is only worth 40 cents per pound – and the steak would still be tough!
Now, there is a better way to solve the tenderness problem. Frank Hendrix and his team at TENET® Beef have created a DNA test that identifies beef animals with the highest level of beef tenderness. I fully believe this will become the biggest Game Changer in the entire history of the beef industry! Several market studies have shown that consumers are willing to pay much more for beef with known tenderness. Once consumers have access to Guaranteed-Tender Beef, most of the beef with average tenderness will be made into ground beef.
Quote Worth Re-Quoting
“A lie doesn’t become the truth, wrong doesn’t become right, and evil doesn’t become good, just because it is accepted by the majority.” ~ Booker T. Washington