Uruguayan Beef

[SBonner]

Helen and I purchased a few tenderloins of Uruguay beef that we picked up at Stong's on the weekend. According to the packaging it is free range grass feed. Absolutely tasty on the grill with a simple coarse sea salt and fresh pepper rub.

Anyone else tried this great beef?

Stephen Bonner

[stovetop]

Hi Stephen:

When the BSE crises hit the country; beef prices, specifically Alberta beef went through the roof. Meat suppliers had carried Uruguayan beef before but through need I ordered some to try. The price was right and I figured it could not be any worse then Aussie beef.

Aussie beef and Uruguayan beef are both wet aged and so is a lot of Canadian beef. Wet aged beef enables meat to travel and the producer to keep the moisture (water) in. When you hang a side you will loose a lot of weight and weight is money.

I am a fan of dry aged beef because the problem with wet age meat is we the consumer pay for all that water and unless you dry out the beef you are really boiling the meat on the char broiler. I am not just picking on Uruguayan beef but the whole wet aged Cryovacking or as some call sous vide.

I believe quality beef is all about how it is processed - where it grazes is also so important but that wonderful care can be lost in an instant with bad processing. Beef really needs to be hung for at least 14 days.

Cargill has really changed the way we eat beef and before the BSE crises we were becoming so limited on choice because of the control Cargill has on the beef industry.

BC has been in Crises for years and the BSE crises really broke down the beef industry here in BC. One other BC problem is the Campbell Gov is trying to cut out all the local abattoirs so our choice will become even smaller. We do fortunately live next door to some of the best beef on the planet. Alberta not like BC is helping cattle farms and they are breaking the walls down. The processors there are growing not downsizing like here in BC. They will be Johnny on the spot when BC only has large processors doing wet aged beef and Alberta's dry aged beef industry is growing leaps and bounds and the old days of really good steak sandwich’s from a New York cut not some tough cut from a sirloin. Alberta dry aged beef will be available and maybe the Canadian consumer will know what a good steak is all about. Not some wet rotting hunk of beef from 1000 miles away.

So when you are ready to cook that wet aged steak add all that water to your price point and the cost really is not great of a saving when you do servable yield tests- you begin to see what you are paying for. When you sauté the product look and see how much water is in your pan--- you are paying for that

You can not beat fresh air dried farm raised Alberta beef.

Steve

[Mark Donnelly]

Stephen, I'm sure the beef tasted great, but my own philosphy is to buy local (unless so obviously inferior) whenever possible. I've no idea why Canada (and BC inparticular) has to import much foodstuff.

Support local produces and cut down on food miles.

[Keith Talent]

Bought strip loin. Very good steak. Good texture, great flavour, decent marbling. I'll definitely buy again.

And if local free range cattle can be brought to market that tastes as good as the Uruguayan stuff, then lets have it. I'm not certain comparable quality is available from local cows in commercial quantities. I've bought (strongly grassy tasting) beef from Nomad Cows which is brought in from Alberta, and if we're talking local, Alberta and Uruguay are one in the same. Plus the Nomad beef is literally twice the price of the Stong's stuff.

[canucklehead]

What's the pricing? Have you had the Blue Goose BC Free Range Cattle @Whole Foods?

It would be interesting to compare.

[Keith Talent]

The NY's were 10.00 a pound on special.

[mtigges]

"Alberta and Uruguay are one in the same"

Say what? I've always enjoyed your posts for good insight, but I'm missing your point here Keith.

I agree with Mark. I think it is absolutely deplorable, morally, to purchase food from half way around the world. I suspect that in 20 years people will view habits like this as insane as we now view smoking. (And yes I'm a bit of a hypocrit on this one, but I would never buy beef from the southern hemisphere.)

[Keith Talent]

If were talking local, neither Alberta nor Uraguay are local, so unless you grade on a sliding scale of evil, they're both the same. I'd go so far as to add Salmon Arm based Blue Goose in there. Not local. (The distance between Vancouver and Salmon Arm is the equal to crossing two or three European borders, pretty tough to argue that it's even vaguely local.)

If you wanted to do an environmental audit, I'd be willing to wager that Uruguayan bulk containerized ocean shipped beef has a lesser impact than trucked Alberta beef in terms of Carbon emissions. (To be clear, ships are very efficient due to the massive quantities of goods carried, diesel fuel big rigs are not.)

[2roost]

Stong's have carried Free Range Grass Fed Uruguayan Beef for at least two years.

I personally enjoy the flavour of grass fed beef and have always enjoyed the Uruguayan beef from Stong's. I prefer the rib eyes to tenderloin and in the summer this product is often available at $7-$8 a pound.

As for the local argument I have to side with KT on this one, Alberta is not local, and if anyone can provide me with available "local BC free range grass fed beef" at a comparable (up to 20% premium) I'll happily buy it.

[SBonner]

"Alberta and Uruguay are one in the same"

Say what?  I've always enjoyed your posts for good insight, but I'm missing your point here Keith. 

I agree with Mark.  I think it is absolutely deplorable, morally, to purchase food from half way around the world.  I suspect that in 20 years people will view habits like this as insane as we now view smoking.  (And yes I'm a bit of a hypocrit on this one, but I would never buy beef from the southern hemisphere.)

←

I buy local when I can but I have yet to see BC foie gras, Surrey Single Malts or Surrey Stilton I doubt the car you drive is using BC petrol? The beef as Kieth stated is great value and I'm all for value for the $ and we just picked up a few more tenderloins for the bbq tonight with a couple of bottles of Bordeaux.

Stephen Bonner

Edited April 10, 2007 by SBonner (log)

[Keith Talent]

That'd be North Van Bordeaux, right?

[stovetop]

Some LINKS about Uruguay beef:

http://www.naturalbeefdistribution.com/id25.htm

http://beef-mag.com/mag/beef_foreign_competitors_uruguay/

http://gremolata.com/gremolata082.htm

http://gremolata.com/uruguaybeef.htm

http://www.beefinfo.org/pdf/CBIFF_P.pdf

Canada only produces 2.5 % of the worlds beef and Argentina is 5.3 %

So if BC is only 6% and Alberta is 40% and Argentina is 5.3 % and Canada 2.5 % wow!!!

_________________________________________

Canadian beef

http://www.cbef.com/Supplierlist.htm

http://www.geocities.com/capitolhill/5202/carinc.html

http://www.beefinfo.org/pdf/CBIFF_P.pdf

BC is only six percent of beef production and Alberta is 40% (do the math)

__________________________________

{"Alberta and Uruguay are one in the same"}

mtigges said: “Say what? I’ve always enjoyed your posts for good insight, but I’m missing your point here Keith.”

2roost said: “As for the local argument I have to side with KT on this one, Alberta is not local, and if anyone can provide me with available “local BC free range grass fed beef” at a comparable (up to 20% premium) I’ll happily buy it.”

“Stong's have carried Free Range Grass Fed Uruguayan Beef for at least two years.”

Keith Talent said: “If were talking local, neither Alberta nor Uraguay are local, so unless you grade on a sliding scale of evil, they're both the same. I'd go so far as to add Salmon Arm based Blue Goose in there. Not local. (The distance between Vancouver and Salmon Arm is the equal to crossing two or three European borders, pretty tough to argue that it's even vaguely local.)”

Keith Talent said: “I buy local when I can but I have yet to see BC foie gras, Surrey Single Malts or Surrey Stilton I doubt the car you drive is using BC petrol? The beef as Kieth stated is great value and I'm all for value for the $ and we just picked up a few more tenderloins for the bbq tonight with a couple of bottles of Bordeaux.

__________________________________________________

You all have valid points.

For me it is not always about price point and maybe it is my red neck and proud to be Albertan and Canadian and even being away for ten years (Alberta) I still have that I would walk a mile to buy from my province and home country.

In BC Sysco has no tie to any industry here and they have been selling Argentinean beef for about ten years and Aussie beef since I have lived here. Both Products I have not been happy with the constancy and I too have not found consistency with BC meat or what they sell as.

The one thing I notice is that beef here does not have a grade mark on it any more Does BC even have any beef processing plants or do they process the beef in the US.

The meat is so green when it gets to you and you have to age it at least 14 more days before it has any taste.

I was in Alberta all last summer and had steak in so many places and so many times. I worked for a company called NORALTA Lodge and they serviced the oil and logging field up in northern Alberta. They had steak night every week and would buy locally processed beef and it did not need any aging it was Alberta “AAA” New York steaks” that would nock your socks off. I do not care what planet you are from. There is nothing that can come in the same ball park. Except for maybe Kobe beef from Japan.

The other thing about the BC market in both restaurants and retail is they sell Sirloin but steaks…What up with that!!…. In Alberta they sell New York cut and like 10oz and nobody bats an eye.(price) The other observation I have noticed and it is a problem in Alberta as well is it is hard to find someone who can cook a steak properly. Like a MR when you ask for a MR.

Finally my last words are I am going to work hard to find a way to bring good quality beef here and I wish we had some decent processors here on the island and lower mainland. I like Intercity but I think we could do better. Also they do not do dry aged that is the key to a good steak.

No matter where it comes from… steak in a bag just does not cut it for me anymore and saving money for the sake of saving money for a tough steak just does not wash in my world. Go big or stay home.

After 28 years of cooking professionaly all over Canada with some of the best restaurants and chefs … I do know what a good steak is!

steve

Edited April 11, 2007 by stovetop (log)

[stovetop]

To add

Mr. Bonner I do understand where you are at

if you have found your self a good steak

Eat it

I would

Your right

Does matter where your from

With Tenderloins wet aged really does not matter

so if the price is right

enjoy

what wine are you having with it

steve

[mtigges]

My Tacoma is filled from gas from wherever, but it's only been driven 20K since I bought it in 2001. It's a tool. My main mode of transportation is bicycle.

With regard to food, as I said above I am a hypocrit ... I don't buy BC avacado's - obviously, and that's the point behind the Bordeaux comment. But there IS an alternative to French wine. I'm not a wine afficianado, I much prefer beer. I do not purchase much imported beer. Instead I tend to purchase from local breweries (lately howe sounds excellent bitter). The vast percentage of my beer consumption is home made (it's much more difficult to make good home made wine though, so I won't advocate doing so for wine). I grow much of my own food, my wife makes our soap.

The point is that if you look at your life you can make intelligent decisions. And IMO buying beef from the southern hemisphere and wine from France seems ludicrous. And is it not possible to live without Foie Gras?? I love it too, but like my truck, it gets extremely low use in my life.

If your beef (sorry, couldn't resist) is with the efficiency of the transport of Albertan product (and it's a legitimate beef) then lobby for more train use. That's how my malt gets here from Canadian Malting.

Really the issue is deeper anyways. If Uruguayan farmers could get the same price in Uruguay we wouldn't have it here. If we refuse to buy it, they suffer. It's a complex world, and there many problems, but rationalizing away your impact will only compound them.

Personally I buy virtually all my beef from Blue Goose CC in North Van (conviently located along my cycling route).

Sorry to the mod for continuing further astray from the main topic.

[stovetop]

This is definitely not the venue for food politics

Why is so hard to discuss objectively about what we eat

Food sourcing is my life---- so many years buying food.

So many years buying beef; let’s see back in 79

I think I have enough experience to discuss objectively about beef in this country.

I do know that things have changed ---not the same product

steve

[2roost]

Uruguayan Rib Eyes are on sale at Stong's this week - $6.98 a pound.

Had them last night and they were excellent.