Food is big business. And by that, I don’t just mean the simple act of providing nourishment for the body; I mean bells and whistles, food as art, big business. The sheer devotion of Food24 and Food Network followers is testament to this, not to mention the avid fans of MasterChef – a contest that requires participants to know their hump from their brisket if they’re to succeed in creating a masterpiece.

The accompanying image from the South African Meat Company (SAMIC) shows the various cuts of beef from top to toe and in this blog we will deal with a few of these cuts and the dishes they are ideally suited to.
    
BOLO
From the top of the forequarter; a small area that overlaps the segments of the shin, chuck and flat rib; the bolo cut of meat is best cooked slowly. It can be used whole for slow-cooked pot-roasts as created for Food24; sliced as minute steaks or cubed for goulash.

CHUCK
This is from a part of the neck and shoulder blade, the texture varies from coarse to fine and so too does the degree of tenderness. Better suited to slow-cooked dishes such as Nigella Lawson’s two-hour spiced beef in red wine dish; it is also excellent for making ground beef.

BRISKET
This is a flavoursome cut with a coarse texture. It contains the breastbone and a few ribs; it can be divided into the point brisket, middle cut and plate. It’s a very popular dish, particularly at Passover with Martha Stewart preparing a lemon brisket with pomegranate dressing. Barbecue brisket also holds the enviable title of ‘National Dish’ in Texas.

PRIME RIB
Elise Bauer, a highly regarded food blogger, refers to this cut as the king of beef cuts. Prime rib, also known as standing rib roast, is a cut from the primal rib – a standing rib roast may contain from two to seven ribs.

FILLET
This is a steak cut of beef taken from the smaller end of the tenderloin – it is the tenderest of all the cuts of meat with melt-in-your-mouth qualities. It is well suited to grilling, braaing or cooking whole as Prue Leith does with her coriander and almond crusted beef fillet.

RUMP
This is a medium-tender, medium-fine grained and boneless cut of beef with obvious variations in tenderness throughout the rump. It is the cut Donna Hay – billed as Australia’s Martha Stewart – uses for her honey mustard beef stir-fry.

And there you have it, beef cuts from top to tail. If you’re interested in the best lamb cuts, be sure to keep an eye out for our next blog. In the interim if you want to find out more about this or any of the other high-quality products in the N1 range, be sure to call or email without delay.