United States Restaurants, France and Spain are already offering grilled cuts of meat from eight-year-old cows as a luxury dish.
Laurasofía Polanco Hincapié – lpolanco@larepublica.com.co
Wine is not the only thing that improves with age. Some chefs who are fond of the American-style grill have established a trend in this type of cuisine: prepare dishes with cuts from “old” or mature cows.
Usually, a head of beef cattle is slaughtered when it reaches 26 o 30 months old. In the case of mature cows, the cattle are taken to the slaughterhouse when they are six or eight years old.
This practice sounds unconventional, since since the middle of the last century, The meat industry began to regulate the age at which cattle were slaughtered in order to prevent some diseases that affected the cuts..
In fact, when the meat is removed from a mature beef, the entire spine must be removed before making any cuts. This prevents possible infections or silent diseases from affecting the meat..
That would be another reason why this type of cut is not found in organs, but in pieces of muscles, like the steak that Corrida serves, a restaurant specialized in the subject and located in Boulder, Colorado.
The idea of using this meat as a barbecue dish arose from the tradition of the Spanish steak., specifically, that of the region of Galicia.
For example, at Bazaar Meat in Las Vegas, This type of meat began to be offered in 2014, when the offer was still a culinary rarity. According to the restaurant's statements to The Wall Street Journal, The number of diners who visit the establishment to try this dish has grown 15%.
Among the attractions of meat from mature cows, the intensity of the flavor stands out., the harder consistency of the cuts and the texture that the fat achieves once it is placed on the charcoal. That would be the correct preparation.
Just as there is a particular method for preparing these cuts, aging meat does not work for all cattle.
