Marbled beef is a delicacy among meat products - Intras-Krasnoyarsk. Marbled beef: description, properties and cooking methods

Marble beef It is considered a gourmet type of meat. It got its name because when cut it really resembles a stone. The impression is created by small veins and thin layers of fat, which make this meat unusually tasty, juicy and tender. Per 100 g beef accounts for 18 g of protein and only 10 g of fat, as well as contains significantly more than usual substances that strengthen the secretory function of the digestive organs, easily digestible iron and substances that prevent the formation of cholesterol, B vitamins, phosphorus, sulfur, zinc and other metals.

It has been established that marble meat prevents the development of cancer.

How marbled beef is raised
The veins that distinguish marbled beef are formed as a result of a special regime of feeding and raising young bulls.
Several factors play a major role in obtaining real marbled beef:
1. Right choice breeds of calves. Aberdeen, Hereford, and other meat breeds that are genetically prone to streaking are used.
2. A special way of fattening calves throughout their lives.
The nutrition of animals, depending on their age, is organized according to certain patterns.

One of the schemes is "grass-fed".
1. from birth to six months, bull calves feed on milk,
2. then for up to 15 months they are on pastures with organic grasses, gaining weight,
3. From 15-19 months, bulls are kept in stalls, restricting their movement. At this time they are fed corn mixed with wheat and alfalfa with the addition of vitamin complexes and microelements.
It is on the basis of such nutrition that inclusions of light fat are formed in the muscle structure, and the meat takes on a resemblance to marble.

Bull calves are slaughtered at the age of 9-30 months. The meat turns out quite lean.

The second method of fattening is grain feeding.
1. From birth to six months, calves are given milk,
2. The bulls then receive exclusively grain and quickly gain weight.
The bulls are slaughtered at 10–11 months.

Third way - ancient Japanese technology "Kobe". It produces the most valuable types of marbled beef. This technology is used to fatten calves of the special Wagyu breed, which is a national treasure of Japan.
Meat from fattened bulls has certain grades of quality, of which the highest categories are Prime, Choise, and then several categories of regular marbled meat– Select, Standard, Commercial. Meat of lower categories is used for processing.

Features of preparing dishes from marbled beef
IN Japanese restaurants marbled meat is prepared in front of customers. It's fried on vegetable oil with sesame seeds and spices.
Beef is used to prepare shabu-shabu - a dish of boiled thin pieces of meat, vegetables and noodles, as well as sukiyaki - also of boiled meat, vegetables and noodles with the addition of bean curd and raw egg.
In other countries of the world, marbled beef is used to prepare steaks with a side dish of vegetables or green salads.
Tender marbled beef does not require long-term heat treatment.

The meat is prepared for frying in the following sequence:
1. defrost without removing from the refrigerator at a temperature no higher than + 4,
2. remove the vacuum packaging, wipe with a napkin (do not wash in water), let the meat stand for 15 minutes,
3. cut across the grain into pieces at least 2–2.5 cm thick.
The steaks are not pounded, quickly fried with a small amount of oil on all sides, then salt and pepper.

How marbled beef (semi-finished products) is sold
To preserve and sell marbled beef, it is cooled or frozen.
Semi-finished products - steaks - are prepared from frozen meat, which is stored at a temperature not lower than -1.5°. In this case, the quality and properties of the meat are completely restored after defrosting.
To increase the shelf life to 8–10 weeks (maximum 120 days from the date of slaughter), storage of chilled meat in vacuum packaging with inert gas is used.
Properly raised marbled beef is very expensive. The delicacy is supplied mainly from the United States and Australia, where fattening technology is simpler and cheaper than in Japan.

Due to the uniform distribution of fat in the muscle tissue of young bulls, when cut, the meat resembles marble, and in the frying pan, the “marble” layers melt, giving the tenderloin extraordinary tenderness and taste. The Japanese say that even a toothless person can eat marbled beef - it is so soft...

Beer and reins

However, the Japanese say a lot about marbled meat and they have the right to do so: cows of a special breed were raised exclusively in the Land of the Rising Sun for a long time and were not exported to other countries! The “growing” of marbled meat is overgrown with juicy myths and legends. The Japanese claimed that young calves are fed milk for 4-6 months, then released to graze on ecologically clean meadows - and certainly without any “human presence”, after which the calves are placed in soundproof (!) apartments, suspended on reins (so that the muscles of the calves are under constant tension to ensure even distribution of fat). They feed them selected barley and drink beer to improve their appetite, in addition, they regularly give them massages and... play Japanese classical music.

When Japanese bulls were crossed with no less “marbled” Scottish Aberdeen Angus, the new valuable species began to be bred in Australia, Argentina, the USA and other countries, and without beer and music. The imported breeders of marbled beef had one thing in common: a strong belief that Russia would never be able to handle such complex “livestock technology” in its life and we could only buy meat at the price of real marble. This is how it was for a long time: we relied on the production of chicken and pork, but few people wanted to tinker with beef, especially elite beef. But with the introduction of sanctions, it turned out that we not only can “make” marbled beef no worse than foreigners, but, it turns out, we have been doing this for a long time - in Lipetsk, Voronezh, and the Leningrad region. Imports simply prevented development...

Photo: Shutterstock.com

The envy of Dolly the sheep

How did you decide to produce such “complex” meat? - I ask Alexander Brazhnik, general director of the Sputnik breeding plant (Leningrad region).

“Why decide,” Alexander shrugs. - By the way, the Aberdeen Angus breed is quite unpretentious, quickly acclimatizes and is resistant to diseases. It all started with the fact that in 2006 we brought 200 heads of bulls and began to fatten them. Then another 300, and then 300 heifers were brought from America and began selection. All our animals are high-breed, with almost royal pedigree. We don’t feed them with beer, but we grow them with the utmost care and using the most modern technologies. We feed only environmentally friendly, natural feed: barley, corn, cake, water clean water, we prepare hay ourselves - it is of the highest quality. In addition, to fatten “1 head” you need 1 hectare of pasture - we diligently comply with this norm, although, of course, there is not enough land. The number of our herd is 1500, and it could be more if “the land allowed”.

The breeding plant practically resembles a space station - everything is so modernly equipped. Every cow and bull has a chip in its ear. A mega-modern slaughterhouse was recently built - so that precious marbled meat reaches customers in vacuum packaging. It has its own boiler room and cultivated areas where environmentally controlled hay is grown. And the main thing that amazed me is that they are doing such miracles with selection that Dolly the sheep would be jealous. Several breeding plant specialists were trained in the USA to transfer and... wash out embryos. Well, this is when the embryos of a “fashionable” cow, inseminated from an elite stud bull, are washed out in a special way and implanted into surrogate mothers. What's the focus? The surrogate mother of “unremarkable appearance” carries and gives birth to an elite calf... And it was also femininely upsetting that cows have no names - only numbers, and only stud bulls have nicknames. Why such discrimination? It turns out that stud bulls are an “elite squad”... “We are constantly working to improve the breed,” A. Brazhnik concludes the tour. - We sell some bulls, buy others, and cross them. Work is in full swing from 6.30 am to 8 pm, and now we leave even later - haymaking. We work hard, but the state helps - subsidizes for the offspring, for the safety of the herd. We sell marbled beef for 360 rubles per kg, in a restaurant for this price they will serve you 50 grams... What else are you interested in? Do I eat my “wards” myself? I'm sorry, but I eat. The marbled beef is very tasty!”

“Typically Russian guys”

In the Voronezh region there are several enterprises for breeding Aberdeen-Angus cows and producing marbled meat, and they were launched only a few years ago, but quickly and powerfully - there regional authorities They help a lot with land, electricity, water and subsidies. In addition, as Voronezh farmers say, confirming the words of A. Brazhnik, despite the “Japanese fairy tales” about the exceptional pampering of marble bulls, they turned out to be “typical Russian guys.” They don't care about any frost, they can all year round carry under open air, they have a rapid increase in meat, so it is already difficult to find a “non-elite” cow in the Voronezh region.

And the famous Lipetsk company Albif (now occupies about 20% Russian market marbled beef) generally began to produce premium meat because of... corn. “In 2004,” says co-owner of the company Nikolay Bobin, - the holding company, which grew grains, had a pleasant surprise - a gigantic corn harvest. There was simply nowhere to put it! And I just returned from Canada, where they showed and told me that corn is an ideal feed for raising marble bulls. We bought 5 thousand bulls in Australia, built a farm (part of the interest rate on loans was subsidized by the state) - and the business took off.” Now there are so many cows that we even had to build our own processing complex.” Sanctions have also boosted production in the Voronezh, Lipetsk, and Leningrad regions - the demand for domestic marbled beef has increased significantly. “Previously, marbled beef was brought to us from Australia,” sums up Oleg Rybakov, assistant to the chef of the culinary studio of Yulia Vysotskaya, - and recently received it from the Voronezh region. It looks and tastes inimitable.” Like this. And without any Japanese classical music. I would like to say in Japanese: “Bite the mow!”...

Marble beef is rightfully considered the queen of meat delicacies. This is probably why there are many legends about this type of meat. For example, to obtain marbled beef, bulls are suspended from the ceiling on reins, fed with beer, and to maintain a good emotional state, they are given a massage. Moreover, the entire growing process takes place to the sounds of classical music. Production technology marbled beef really complicated, but still not to the extent that many might think at first glance.

Marble beef

Beef meat is called marbled because its appearance really looks like marble, dotted with white layers. These fatty patches are formed in the thickness muscle mass bulls of certain breeds as a result of a very complex rearing process. The more fatty inclusions in the structure of the meat, the juicier and better it is, because during heat treatment this fat enters the structure of the meat, and it becomes soft, juicy and tender. This meat is just beginning to appear here, but many restaurants are already working with this meat.

A little bit of history

It is curious that Nikita Khrushchev was the first in the Soviet Union to discover the taste of marbled beef. During his first trip to the United States, the Soviet Secretary General tried a real American steak. Its taste impressed Khrushchev so much that he set the Kremlin chef the task of learning the recipe and cooking the steak in the Soviet Union. The chef completed the task - found out and cooked. Khrushchev was disappointed: the dish did not live up to his expectations. That's when it turned out that it was not the recipe, but solely the meat. Americans used marbled beef, produced from special breeds of cattle, to prepare steak.

Marbled beef - delicacy meat

And then, on Khrushchev’s orders, a strictly secret farm was set up in the north of Ukraine, where bulls of a special breed were brought from Great Britain, and the technology for their cultivation was learned in the USA. According to it, calves were not separated from cows until they were 8 months old; they grew up on free grazing, and grown bulls were transported to a farm located in Crimea. Here, in a warmer climate, the bulls were fed in stalls with a strictly balanced feed based on corn and wheat. The meat was sent by plane straight to the Kremlin...

What breeds do marbled beef come from?

There are many different breeds of cattle. However, it is impossible to obtain real marbled beef from dairy animals; it is produced exclusively from beef cattle breeds.

Most best breed The Aberdeen Angus breed of black hornless bulls is considered to be suitable for producing marbled beef. It was bred in the north of Scotland in the counties of Aberdeen and Angus in 1879. In Great Britain, this delicacy became a cult food, and Americans very quickly adapted it to their culinary culture. The Aberdeen Angus breed is now bred all over the world.

Beef bulls

Another British beef breed is the Hereford (or Hereford). These white-headed red bulls were bred in Herefordshire and also spread throughout the world.

Bull fattening and maturation

The second component of marbled beef production High Quality is fattening bulls. Throughout the entire rearing (such bulls are slaughtered at a young age), fattening must be correct and balanced. Particular attention is paid to the last 3-4 months: then a certain complex diet is developed and maintained for the animals, including grain, corn, alfalfa and many other components.

But in order for beef to meet the highest standards, it must undergo a maturing process. It is then that the meat becomes softer and acquires excellent taste. Ripening can be wet or dry.

To produce marbled meat from bulls you need special care

When wet ripened, the meat is vacuum packed and contains no blood. Before packaging, it is cooled to 0 o C. The process takes place without oxygen and lasts from 10 to 21 days, depending on the manufacturer’s technology.

The dry aging process is more labor intensive: the meat is hung on bones in a refrigerated room at the desired temperature. There should be fat or skin left on it, which will then be removed.

Producing countries of marbled beef

Just a couple of years ago, virtually all the goods supplied to the CIS countries were imported from North America. It was there that the technology for growing beef bulls with intramuscular fat inclusions was fully developed.

American farmers have taken a very scrupulous approach to the issue of beef production. They divided its marbling into several categories. The highest category in America is prime. Next comes choice. Angus is also divided into prime and choice. And then select, standard, commertion follow. The meat is classified by independent experts. The job of marbling classifiers is very prestigious and highly paid.

The Americans described and standardized literally every part of beef, from cuts and steak sizes to offal. They have published specialized catalogs on this topic. Therefore, it was very convenient to work with the USA: orders could be made simply from the catalogue. Majority Russian companies We started ordering American marbled meat.

Marbled meat is considered a dietary product

But in the fall of 2003, mad cow disease was discovered in one of the US farms, and virtually all countries closed their borders to American beef. In December 2003, a ban on trade in American beef was introduced in Russia.

Marbled beef is also produced in Japan, but this is a small country in area, it is there that all the myths can come true, and it is there, according to the ancient Kobe technology, bull calves can be raised in limbo, giving them beer for appetite. And although the cost of marbled beef is high even without this (it starts from 1 thousand rubles per 1 kg), the cost of meat grown using this technology is incredibly high even by restaurant standards: the price of 1 kg reaches $500 and more. The leader in the supply of marbled beef to the CIS markets today is Australia.

What do they do with marbled meat?

Australian Green Fed marbled beef (grain-fed) is also classified according to the degree of marbling (Marbling, abbreviated as MB) from 1 to 9, but the market mainly offers categories MB 1/2 or MB 3/4 (the cost of 1 kg of such tenderloin is 1200 rubles .). It is extremely rare for restaurants to order marbled meat of categories MB 5/6 and 7/8. It is very expensive - up to $200 per 1 kg.

The cuts also have their own categories: tenderloin (cut), ribeye (thick edge), striploin (thin edge) and T-Bone steak. The T-Bone steak combines meat that varies in structure and degree of marbling: it is portioned meat on a T-shaped bone, with a thin edge on one side and tenderloin on the other.

Marbled meat must be defrosted in packaging and in a cooled chamber and is strictly forbidden microwave oven. It needs to be defrosted only a little, not completely, and portioned immediately so that all the juice remains in the meat.

Dishes made from marbled meat are very tasty and varied.

There are several degrees of meat frying. Very rare and Rare (fry at a temperature of about 55 and 60 ° C, respectively) - the steak is very raw or raw, the meat is red when cut, with blood. Medium rare and Medium (frying temperature about 63 and 71°C, respectively) - medium raw and medium steak, medium-rare meat, grayish-pinkish in cut, with translucent blood sac. Well done and Very well done (temperature about 77 and 82°C) - the steak is completely ready and over-ready, the meat is fully fried, gray in cut, with transparent juice. Because marbled beef matches everything sanitary standards, she passed all the tests, you can safely eat it with blood.

This meat is served in restaurants of the highest category, it is cooked to order - fried only when the guest has indicated what degree of frying he prefers. Most often they order medium doneness.

Nowadays, there is a growing trend towards the development of meat animal husbandry for the production of marbled beef. It has become fashionable, because now a lot of people travel abroad, try marbled beef there and want to see it here.

Told by - Ivan Shishkin, March 4, 2013

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Marbled meat is considered to be a standard product for quality. Special beef breeds of cattle and a carefully selected feeding regime provide the ideal combination of muscle fibers and fatty inclusions in the meat, which ensures the standard taste of the finished product. Ivan Shishkin, chef of the Moscow restaurants Delicatessen and Tapa De Comida, believes that all this is nothing more than a beautiful marketing story.

Ivan Shishkin

About the juiciness and fat content of meat

I'm not against marbled meat as a food product. Such meat is popular in the market, it is in demand, and it is eaten. Another thing is that marbling of meat should in no case be the leading quality criterion.

Pay attention to what people order in restaurants today. An adult man, a healthy boar, enters a restaurant and orders tenderloin - the most textureless, tender, most flaccid meat from a taste point of view. In my opinion, there is no point in frying tenderloin - it's cotton wool. However, men order Filet Mignon or Chateaubriand, which 15 years ago were considered dishes for fragile girls.

This is due to the emerging marketing situation. After the introduction of intensive livestock farming technologies, it turned out that cows that grew up immobilized in cramped stalls (feedlots) produce very soft meat - due to the fact that their muscles do not experience the same stress as those of “free-roaming” cows. A lot of such soft meat appeared on the market, and the people who sold it managed to convince everyone that it was a premium product.

A stall selling marbled beef in Japan.

Japanese Wagyu bulls are given massages, beer is added to their diet for appetite, and they are given classical music to listen to.

To explain more high price, they began to say that this meat is “marbled” and that it is more tender and juicy, which, of course, is not true - the fat content of the meat does not mean juiciness. Although there is some truth in this statement - intramuscular fat has a soft structure. And its melting point is lower, about two degrees, than that of skeletal fat. Intramuscular fat imparts a certain softness to the finished product.

Where did marbled meat come from?

By and large, the myth about the elitism of marbled meat arose by accident. The technology of “marbling” meat appeared at the turn of the 19th–20th centuries in Japan. When the Japanese first brought cows to the islands (this happened in the middle of the first millennium BC), the animals developed completely independently, the breed did not cross with anyone, that is, it was a monoherd, genetically homogeneous, pure. At that time, cattle were used as draft power; they were not raised for meat.

Raising cows for meat in Japan began in the mid-19th century. And there is very little space for this on the islands, so the animals were driven into these cramped stalls. And the cows began to get fat quickly. More precisely, it’s not cows, but bulls—it’s bulls that are raised for meat. Although now there are several farms producing exclusively cow meat.

Marbling of meat is a consequence of the body’s natural ability to accumulate fat between muscle fibers. But this property manifests itself only in captivity. Animals growing in free conditions almost never accumulate fat, that is, wild animals will never produce marbled meat, because they are constantly on the move, get their own food and do not receive an excess amount of calories.

To obtain marbled meat, the first step was to immobilize the animals, place them in a stall and transfer them from a natural grass diet to a diet containing a large amount of carbohydrates, namely a grain diet. Such a diet is unnatural for a cow - it gastrointestinal tract adapted for repeated grinding, fermentation and re-fermentation of coarse cellulose feed. And there is much less cellulose in grain than in grass, so fermentation occurs in a completely wrong way - flatulence occurs in animals.

Chianina bulls are the largest on the planet in size and weight

Steak Florentine is often ordered for a large group.

When the Japanese learned to make marbled meat, this knowledge remained within their culture for a long time. The rest of the world was content with cows that roamed freely and were herded over vast distances.

Today, meat growing technologies have led to the fact that it is possible to produce not only marbled beef, but also lamb, pork, and even horse meat. It's quite strange and quite interesting. I actually think marbled ducks will appear soon.

Marbling of meat is not a quality criterion

In Italy, they raise the famous breed of tall bulls - Chianina. These are the largest bulls on the planet in terms of size and weight. The average three-year-old bull weighs one and a half tons, and is up to two meters tall at the withers. Previously, they were used to plow and pull carts with cargo. This breed is not prone to marbling at all. But, nevertheless, the most famous Italian specialty - Fiorentina steak - is prepared from a huge cut of the lumbar part of Chianina. Such a steak cannot be eaten alone - it is a romantic dinner for two, or even for a whole company. I once witnessed how a Florentine steak was successfully divided between eight grown men, who fell away full of it.

So, this steak - a cult meat specialty - does not contain marbling at all. That is, it turns out that quality criteria consist of other components:

— the ratio of meat and fat in the carcass;
- aging, cold ripening;
- of course, the breed. U different breeds – different sizes muscle fibers. The fibers can be long or short, thin or thick - this is what determines the taste of the meat and what makes the meat soft, not because of the fatty streaks.

Some breeds are more prone to intramuscular fat accumulation, others less so. Everyone knows Angus dogs are predisposed to marbling. But the same Angus gives excellent taste and fantastic quality meat if it lives in free-range conditions. Its carcass contains the most magnificent skeletal fat, so yellowish, in contrast to the bright white intramuscular fat. This fat accumulates carotene from plants. That is, there is already some benefit in this. But this fat is more refractory.

A bull that was kept on a grain diet - fat folds are clearly visible.

The chef of the BLT Steak restaurant (Miami) demonstrates a piece of meat from which a premium steak will be made.

If the animal walked a lot and covered long distances, then, of course, its meat will be denser. But such meat can be prepared completely differently. You need to put the steak on the grill, turn it over, cut off the fried parts from it - this can take several hours.

This is how it is customary to prepare bull meat from Latin America, who don’t just walk, but are specially driven, like Sidorov’s goats, they are racers. They have a very high calorie diet. In season they eat good food in open meadows, they accumulate protein mass well; their diet contains a lot of legumes enriched with nitrogen. Their meat tastes great.

Be a man - chew meat!

In my opinion, marbled meat is truly a premium product. It is soft, expensive and makes life easier for everyone: producers, sellers, cooks, and buyers.

It is beneficial for the producer to raise cows in cramped stalls - it is much more expensive to keep them on free grazing. And the resulting product is sold at a higher price than the meat of free-grazing cows. The sellers are also happy. From a business perspective, this is brilliant. From the point of view of humanity and attitude towards nature, it is a complete disgrace.

Nowadays, eggs from chickens that were not kept in poultry houses, but roamed freely, are very popular. These eggs really taste better, and people buy them with pleasure. But keeping chickens free-range is cheaper than keeping cows. With poultry it is possible to escape from intensive livestock farming, with large cattle this won't happen in the near future.

Now it makes no sense for a cook to try to convince a client who already has a strong stereotype that marbled meat is the best product. For the cook, this is even more convenient in some ways - now you just need to throw a piece of meat on a hot grill, heat it on both sides, no matter how many times you turn it over, flavor it and serve it.

For the consumer, everything is also very easy - he receives a deliberately soft piece of meat, he eats it without encountering any resistance: there is no need to chew - it melts in the mouth. And we are no longer talking about where the taste of beef is, where it all comes from, what it’s all for.

What is primary is not softness, not fatness or texture, but taste! But it is not present in soft meat - it is, in fact, lost. Wanting to make the job easier with a knife, fork and teeth, we lost the real taste of meat.

“It’s easier to raise marbled beef than non-marbled beef. The cows stand in their stall, eat high-calorie food, they don’t need space to graze, they don’t need anything.”

Although in our time, when everyone’s teeth are in order, dental care has become accessible, it would seem, let’s make normal meat! We will chew it and enjoy it, feel the juice entering our mouth with each chewing movement and enjoy it. But no - everyone wants to mash it with their teeth and swallow it without chewing.

But the premium product that is marbled meat is a delicacy that cannot be eaten every day. Everyday food should be simple and truly tasty. But we continue to live with the imposed stereotype that marbled meat tastes better.

Producing marbled meat is easy!

In fact, no matter how strange it may seem, it is easier to raise marbled beef than non-marbled beef. Cows stand in their stall, eat high-calorie food, they don’t need space to graze, they don’t need anything. Take out the manure, bring in the feed – that’s all. It's like a chicken coop, they are locked in their own manure.

Japanese manufacturers say that they even play music to make the cows calmer, and they also massage them. So the tradition of massaging cows did not come from the fact that they wanted to make the meat more tender and softer. After all, massaging a cow is nonsense! A boxer could hit her and she wouldn't feel a thing. She has thick skin and a high pain threshold. But in reality they massage the cows because they are overcrowded. Cows in narrow stalls are simply immobilized; massage creates the illusion of movement.

This immediately raises the question of a double standard. All over the world there are organizations that are trying to ban something - foie gras, for example. But raising poultry for foie gras is a common family farming activity in many countries around the world, of course, most of all in France. The question is, how does force-feeding geese differ from forcibly transferring an animal to high-calorie food?

Premium product trademark Iberico.

Steak Florentine is the most famous Italian specialty.

Moreover, a cow should not be tube fed. Her digestion is structured in such a way that it is impossible for her to fill her belly up to her throat. She has a movement of ruminant mass - both down and up, she periodically regurgitates part of the intestine and chews it again, then this mass is fermented. It is impossible to force a cow to eat, but you can stimulate its appetite, say, by pouring beer into its food so that it infuses, broods, and accumulates excess fat.

Wet aging is another myth

In the entire history of the “marbling” of meat, there is a grain of slyness. I will say more - with the proper technology for preparing a steak, in blind testing, meat in the “select” category in the American grading system does not differ from meat in the non-marbled category at all. I think the average consumer won't notice any difference at all if it's good aged meat that's already matured and has a rim of skeletal fat and has been refrigerated fermented.

Fat has no taste as such; it is only a carrier of taste. The taste of beef that is present in the meat without the marbling.

How to cook meat from a free-range cow

When it comes to cooking steak, you need to remember: the slower you go, the slower you go. This rule applies to any process related to cooking.

5% of dishes benefit from being cooked quickly, but the vast majority benefit from slow cooking, and steak is a good example. Just throw a piece of marbled meat into a frying pan heated to 220-250°C and turn it over a couple of times. Looks ready on the outside and warmed through - time to serve.

Marbled Angus bull meat.

Free-range Angus steak - no intramuscular fat.

It's not like steak cooked on a slow grill at about 160°C. If you cook it on a slow grill, turn it often, heat it evenly on all sides so that not only does the crust form, but the piece is still cooked inside. You cannot allow the muscle fibers to be shocked, contract and thereby squeeze out all the moisture. If there is a rim of fat, it must be left for the duration of frying - this is strictly necessary condition to concentrate the taste. There is no desire to eat fatty meat - this crust can be cut off, but only after the meat is completely cooked. Then you will get quality, taste and texture comparable to marbled meat.

Why marbled meat does not bring happiness

I guarantee that free-range bulls will taste more like beef. This is exactly what I look for in meat. I’m not just looking for a protein product that’s easy to pop into my mouth and chew, but I’m looking for taste. I look for the taste of beef in beef, and the taste of pork in pork. Many people say that pork has no taste, but this is not true: pork has its own distinct taste, which you like or not, just like lamb and goat meat. The taste of any meat depends on a gentle post-processing process.
There is no happiness from this marbled meat. It is important that the meat is clean, well-fed, properly slaughtered, properly seasoned and cooked according to the rules.

Marble beef is a rather expensive type of meat, which in terms of taste and quality is classified as a delicacy. Japan is considered the birthplace of this product, which is unusual in all respects. It was there that the first animals that were able to produce extraordinary meat were fattened, and it was there that huge farms were subsequently built with animals of a special breed that had the necessary characteristics. The fame of this unusual product has long gone beyond the borders of the country. cherry blossoms, and today “marble” cows are bred in all countries of the world. In addition to beef, you can also find marbled pork and horse meat on store shelves, the cost of which is very different from the usual meat of these animals.

The marble delicacy got its name due to the structure and appearance of the meat, visually reminiscent of marble. Good quality meat shimmers in the light and looks exactly like the product in the photo. Marbled meat is never tough due to its high white fat content. After cooking, products made from it remain juicy and simply melt in your mouth. The taste of the product differs from ordinary beef and is very high.

The development of this livestock industry was made possible thanks to the rapidly growing demand for products, but the high cost of raising animals and the ever-increasing costs of production turned out to be limiting factors, which determine such small volumes of marbled beef production. This is what makes meat so expensive. In Japanese currency, the cost of real marbled beef reaches one hundred and fifty euros per kilogram. Marbled meat, which is the basis of restaurant dishes, makes the delicacies very expensive. That is why many housewives are looking for meat on sale and recipes for cooking from this valuable product.

Real Japanese marbled meat goes on sale only fresh and already cut into thin slices. Buying such a product outside of Japan is problematic. This is due not only to the high consumption of the product within the country of origin, but also to the fact that the technology for preparing the product does not involve freezing. Without refrigeration, the workpiece (even vacuum-packed) has a very short shelf life. Therefore, livestock farmers looked for and found a way to distribute a valuable product throughout the world: “precious” cows began to be bred everywhere. Thanks to this, today in our region you can find a fairly large amount of delicacy tenderloin on sale.

The pulp consists of chilled meat, vacuum-packed, as well as products that have only undergone cooling.

Marbled beef produced in European countries has a lower price than the natural Japanese product, although it is still an inaccessible delicacy for many categories of citizens.

Composition and beneficial properties It is noted that the calorie content of the product is higher compared to regular beef, which is directly related to other product indicators. Research has confirmed that the preparation differs markedly in terms of such criteria as fat content and amount of protein, which, in turn, depend on what part of the carcass the product was prepared from. The meat on the rump is considered the fattest, and the true quality of an animal’s meat can be assessed by the pulp removed from the back.

Like any beef, the meat of marble cows is rich in vitamins K, E, D and the entire B group, as well as minerals such as:

• phosphorus;
• sulfur;
• potassium;
• iron;
• zinc;
• calcium;
• copper;
• chromium;
• sodium;
• magnesium;
• manganese;
• selenium.

All of them are in a bioavailable form and make it easy to saturate the body. Marbled meat is considered especially useful from a nutritional point of view in human nutrition:

• with weakened immunity;
• those suffering from vascular weakness and disorders of the cardiovascular system;
• patients with hypertension;
• having hormonal dysfunctions;
• patients with diabetes mellitus;
• suffering from anemia;
• having neurological problems;
• obese patients and those with other diseases associated with metabolic disorders.

Marbled beef is useful for pregnant and lactating women and adolescents during puberty and active skeletal growth. But despite all of the above beneficial features, in the nutrition of young children and younger age This product should not be used. The limitations are primarily related to the method of preparation and the high fat content of the finished product, which will be very difficult for an immature digestive system.

How do you get the delicacy?

The delicacy called marbled meat is obtained exclusively from cows of certain breeds, raised in special conditions and fed using special technology. The latter is that young male calves from a certain age, more often after they reach fifteen months, are placed in kept and fed only grain or rice, and also fed with natural intoxicating rice beer. The animal is restricted in its movement by being suspended from the ceiling with straps. He is not allowed to stand or lie down. According to the Kobe technology, invented by the Japanese, the animal must be in a soundproof room and listen to classical music. Several times a day, the animal is subjected to light vibration, which acts as a massage. Artificially created forced conditions are aimed at changing the structure and density of the animal’s muscle mass, in which fat begins to predominate. After ten months from the start of keeping in the conditions described above, the animal is slaughtered, and its meat is used in cooking to prepare delicacies. But it is impossible to say for sure how useful the product obtained in this way can be considered.

In addition to this far from humane method of obtaining meat, there is another option based on raising young animals of a special class - wagyu. Currently, cows of this variety are bred in agricultural complexes around the world, which include animals belonging to the following breeds:

• Japanese brown;
• Japanese hornless;
• Japanese black;
• shorthorn

In addition to Wagyu cows, meat marbling is proper care can also be obtained from animals classified as such breeds as:

• Angus;
• brownview;
• Hereford;
• Holstein;
• Jersey;
• Murret Gray;
• Charolais

Following this technique, animals are raised under certain conditions that do not imply complete immobilization and restriction of freedom. A feature of the process is considered to be a certain approach to animal nutrition, which allows you to achieve the desired result in a short time.

1. The basic principles in feeding animals in order to obtain highly valuable marbled meat are: Limitation of the physical activity of bulls, which is achieved by rare grazing of animals. Most
2. Animals spend their lives, not exceeding thirty-six months, in a stall, but there they have the opportunity to take a comfortable position.
3. Creating a monotonous diet, mainly grain composition, which, against the backdrop of low energy expenditure, allows one to achieve fat deposition - the same marbling effect in the muscles throughout the animal’s body.
4. Mandatory daily body massage, which is carried out on farms using special machines, and in small farms manually using hard mittens.

Animals that are raised to produce a delicious product require constant care and attention. Any failure in power supply or service will result in the manufacturer being unable to obtain the product of the desired quality and the planned profit.

All consumers need to know that properly prepared marbled beef must undergo a maturing process before packaging and slicing.

It consists of keeping unbleached (that is, with skin), but bled and gutted half-carcasses of animals at a temperature close to zero degrees Celsius, in special refrigerators for a long time: from three to fifteen days. Only after the meat has been kept in such conditions, the carcasses are skinned and then cut into portioned pieces, which are classified, labeled and evaluated depending on the quality of the resulting product, and are also packed in special vacuum packaging.

Categories of marbled meat

Marbled meat is divided into several categories based on visual differences. The scale represents the division of a product into the highest, middle and lowest grade in almost every class out of five possible. As a result, you can get 12 varieties of marbled meat. Class A meat contains more than seventy-two percent fat, class C limits this figure to below sixty-nine percent in total weight

product. The picture for this section of the article shows the classic division of marbled meat into classes according to the Japanese scale. More detailed information

, systematized and transferred to the realities of the world gourmet product market, you will find in the table below.	Type of meat

Classification All over the world, class A meat of the fifth category on the Japanese scale is considered the most expensive. This is exactly the product that has best degree coloring of meat fibers, the highest surface gloss and the most tender fat.

The largest exporters of marbled beef around the world are the USA and Australia. At the same time, American, and, in fact, other international indicators of product quality, which allow the classification of marbled meat, are divided into only three ranks, which are called:

• prime;
• choice;
• select.

The listed criteria are not based on the color of the meat, which is given much attention in Japan, and are based only on the “marble picture” - the amount of intramuscular fat between the fibers. According to this classification, meat of the select category has the least marbling, which, for comparison, on the Japanese scale is equivalent to the second class out of five. Prime beef is considered the best. It is from it that the best restaurants in the world prepare signature dishes that have exorbitant prices.

Marbled beef of the choice variety is slightly inferior in taste to meat from the prime series, although it is quite easily distinguished from the product highest quality according to its external characteristics.

In the above classification, this type of meat corresponds to the third and fourth class of meat. I would like to note that it is not possible to find marbled meat of the fifth class in European markets, but samples of the third and fourth categories prevail, and it is quite easy to purchase them.

Use in cooking Such a coveted delicacy as marbled meat can be found quite wide application

. All dishes with this product require heat treatment, during which the fat contained between the fibers is converted into an appetizing and very delicate juice. Traditionally, marbled beef delicacies are prepared right in front of visitors, by baking thin pieces of flesh on special open baking trays.

• This meat is also used to produce such Japanese delicacies as:
• sukiyaki, which is a mixture of tofu, Chinese cabbage, shitake mushrooms, bean noodles or udon, seasoned when served with a raw chicken egg and spring onion;
• shabu-shabu, a sukiyaki-style hot appetizer served with dipping sauce and pickled winter mushrooms;

nabe, which is a very unusual-tasting soup with boiled beef, all kinds of vegetables and root vegetables, rice noodles and seaweed, served with soy cheese and a raw chicken egg.

• Tender meat in Japan is also served raw, for example, used to make sashimi. All over the world, marbled steaks make excellent delicacies, such as:
• barbecue meat;
• grilled meat;
• chops;
• rump steak;
• roast beef;
• shashlik;
• schnitzels.

In America, it is believed that all of the above meat dishes, served in burgers and thin pita bread, as well as with sauces and toppings, have a special taste. The most popular are sauces based on young horseradish rhizomes or a dressing made from young red wine and shallots.

Preparing the latter is more than simple. To do this, the cook will need to fry two peeled and finely chopped small shallots in two tablespoons of natural cold olive oil until transparent, and then add to them:

• a pinch of salt
• two tablespoons of Dijon mustard,
• half a teaspoon of ground black pepper,
• one glass of dry red grape wine.

The resulting mass should be brought to thickening with constant stirring, and then removed from the heat and cooled until room temperature. After some time, the cool mixture is vigorously beaten with one hundred and twenty grams of good butter, and then the finished topping is placed in freezer, where it is kept until the oil hardens. The delicate product is served cut into small neat cubes, the weight of which should not exceed ten grams. A delicate mass of a pleasant creamy-pink hue easily spreads over a freshly cooked steak and reveals the wonderful taste and aroma of a delicious meat product, allowing the taster to feel like a visitor to an expensive restaurant!

And if preferences in the use of marbled meat all over the world come down to preparing steaks from it, then in the vastness of the post-Soviet countries the delicacy is used somewhat differently. Marbled meat is cut into strips and cubes with a knife, and minced meat, both finely ground and chopped, is also prepared from it. Chopped products are used to prepare:

• goulash;
• dressings and gravy for pasta, various cereals, potatoes and other side dishes;
• casseroles;
• cutlets;
• medallions;
• sausages;
• fillings for dumplings;
• salads;
• meatballs.

On sale you can find not only pure meat, but also semi-finished products from it. Don’t think that dumplings or cutlets contain the highest quality meat. Based on the high cost of the product, the thick fatty edge and the meat located near it, which has the highest fat content and does not greatly attract buyers with its appearance, as well as meat of lower ranks, which is a cheaper product with weak marbling.

In traditional European and American cuisines, marbled beef is used exclusively for preparing steaks. Despite the high cost of the delicacy, marbled meat is a very popular product in Europe. In order to cook a steak to the desired tenderness, flavor and fat content, you need to know where the meat came from. When cutting up carcasses, they are distinguished:

• ribeye steak;
• roundramb steak;
• club steak;
• striploin steak;
• porterhouse steak;
• T-bone steak.

Rib eye steak can be extremely fatty. The product is obtained from the subscapular region of the carcass or removed from the shoulder itself.

Roundrab steak is the meat from the top of the animal's pelvis, as well as the thighs and shanks. This product has a more pronounced, rich color and greater rigidity, unlike all other listed types of marble delicacy.

A real club steak is obtained from the flesh cut from the back of the carcass. Often the product may contain small pieces of bone, which are ribs. It is this part of the meat that chefs around the world prefer to use when preparing delicacies from beef on the bone.

Striploin steak, as well as club steak, is obtained from the meat of the dorsal part of the carcass. The strips are cut closer to the spine. This product never contains bones, and it is the most expensive.

Porterhouse steak is the kind of meat that has a thick edge with a high fat content. This meat makes very juicy schnitzels, and many people use it to prepare minced meat and a variety of meat dishes.

T-bone steak got its name due to its location on the carcass in the area of ​​the T-shaped bone. A similar notch is located on the border of the lumbar and dorsal parts of the animal’s carcass. That is why the meat from this section is the softest and at the same time has average marbling and fat content.

The ability to choose correctly the right type meat will allow the chef to obtain dishes of the highest quality and please his household with a homemade delicacy of restaurant quality.

How to cook?

Meat that is unique in all respects can be prepared different ways, for example, fry in a regular cast-iron frying pan, as well as make any other tasty dish with your own hands:

• on the grill;
• on a fire or coals;
• grilled or skewered;
• in the oven, baking the pulp in a sleeve, in foil or on a baking sheet;
• in a slow cooker.

In addition, the preparation of marbled beef is divided according to the degree of roasting of the product. Traditionally, there are six degrees of roasting, including:

1. Very Rare or Blue (BL): meat with minimal roasting, and the steak is served almost raw. This delicacy is prepared over high heat, but it is important and very noteworthy that the meat inside it should remain cold.
2. Rare (R): raw meat with blood, which means frying the workpiece in a dry frying pan for no longer than one minute on each side.
3. Medium Rare: The steak is cooked medium-rare and the fibers release slightly curdled, thick pink juices. You get this delicacy by frying the meat for two minutes on each side.
4. Medium (M): sufficient degree of doneness to maintain tenderness of the meat. It should be noted that such a product will contain clear juice in large quantities. The process of preparing this type of meat can last about ten minutes. The readiness of meat is determined by the color of the product on the edges, which ideally should turn grey colour without inclusions. When cut, the steak should be dirty pink and not smell like raw meat.
5. Medium Well (MW). A product of this degree is considered fully fried. When cut, a marbled beef steak will be gray, and the juice, into which the internal fat will turn, will become completely transparent, but its amount will be insignificant. Raw meat is fried to this state for fifteen minutes.
6. Well Done (W). A steak cooked to this degree will be dry and slightly tough. A similar product can be obtained in about twenty minutes of preparation. When preparing this dish, the meat requires special attention from the cook, otherwise it risks turning into a completely dry Very Well (VW) steak, which is obtained by frying the meat for the longest possible time - twenty-five minutes.

It should be remembered that the thickness of cutting steaks when preparing high-quality delicacies from marbled beef should not exceed two and a half centimeters, and it must be done across the grain! According to established cooking rules, tender meat does not need to be beaten, salted or marinated before frying or baking: the delicacy is used exclusively raw, and all the spices and salt are added when the delicacy is served. The only exception to the rule is the preparation of kebabs from this type of beef. But this dish is more of a side dish than a main one. If you decide to cook shish kebab, then take into account the characteristics of the meat and do not use vinegar for impregnation! The best marinade for such a delicacy would be table red or semi-dry white wine, and for spices it is recommended to use rosemary, thyme and ground black pepper. Marbled beef gets along well with onions

, tomatoes and hot peppers, but completely loses its taste with dairy products, nuts, cheese and mushrooms.

Storing marbled beef Storing marbled beef is no different from the principles of storing any other ordinary gourmet meats. The best option Preparing gourmet meat for future use requires cooling.

In this state, the product, like any other fresh meat, will be edible for three days. It is at this time that marbled meat has the highest quality indicators and has a greater amount of nutrients, and therefore maximum nutritional value.

Longer storage of this valuable food product can be achieved by canning it under vacuum. In sealed packaging, the product can be stored at a temperature not exceeding eight degrees Celsius for ten weeks without losing the quality declared by the meat manufacturer. Note to all housewives: the product is not frozen!

Considering the high cost of meat and the high cost of raising animals in subsidiary or small farms, it should be remembered that marbled meat will not be sold on the market like regular beef. This exquisite product can be purchased exclusively in super and hypermarkets, as well as in online stores with delivery directly to your doorstep. When purchasing marbled beef, be sure to pay attention to the storage conditions of the product and their compliance with the seller, and also carefully study the information on the label. Special attention pay attention to where the meat was imported from and whether the price corresponds to the quality of the product: imported delicacies can cost more than one hundred and fifty US dollars per kilogram, and marbled beef from a domestic producer will cost about five times more than regular veal tenderloin.

Harm and contraindications

Despite all the beneficial and tasty qualities of marbled beef, this is a very valuable product and can also cause harm to humans. In order not to find yourself in an awkward situation, everyone who wants to try this amazing delicacy should know that very fatty meat can cause problems with the gastrointestinal tract and aggravate some chronic diseases. The following are considered contraindications to eating meat:

• pancreatitis and cholecystitis in remission;
• peptic ulcer of the stomach and duodenum;
• gout;
• renal failure;
• osteochondrosis and joint inflammation.

In addition, those who have an individual intolerance to beef or are prone to allergies after eating protein products should not eat meat.

Tasty and nutritious meat will definitely be appreciated by tasters, and if you decide to surprise your guests with some unusual and amazing delicacy, then a marbled beef steak with a delicate sauce and without any side dishes is exactly what you need!