National Beef Steak Month: When’s The Beef?

Eating Over The Sink: When’s The Beef?

By the time you are reading this, they will have already cleared out their closets in Japan. The first day in June is koromogae, clothes-changing day. No, they have not been wearing the same clothes since this day last year! Koromogae is the official putting-down of winter clothes in favor the lighter fabrics for hot weather, and it is said that everyone makes the fashion statement at the same time. This is the day that civil servants (and students) switch to lightweight summer uniforms, and being civil servants, they require a specific holiday to commemorate the occasion.

June is just packed full of special days for doing things. And, for month-long awarenesses of stuff that usually goes more or less mundanely ignored. That’s why June is National Accordion Awareness Month. In Austin, Texas they hold a Sweet Peach Festival around the middle of the month so that people take special notice of peaches, in order to distinguish the sweet ones from the sour ones, I guess.

Out near where highway 421 meets highway 13 in North Carolina, there’s a place called Spiveys Corner. They hold a great yearly affair every June for the National Hollering contest (spelled Hollerin’ in those parts). And, history buffs will want to remember that June 25th is the 54th anniversary of the Allies parachuting some two million pounds of potatoes and chocolate into Berlin, Germany to meet a critical food shortage.

National Beef Steak Month from National Cattlemen’s Beef Association

All these things are very important, I’m sure you’ll agree. But, June is closest to my heart because it is National Beef Steak Month!

The cow may be sacred in India, but it suits us low carbers to a ‘T.’ ‘T’ as in T-bone steak, thank you very much. People who keep track of these things say that some 350 million steak dinners are served in restaurants every year in the US. Doesn’t that seem like too small a number to you? I could eat a million of ’em myself!

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, which periodically holds focus groups to find out what consumers think, say women feel assertive and empowered when they order beef, and that men feel powerful and macho.

Now, I tend to take exception to that. Powerful, maybe. But, macho? Not unless a big dish of salsa cruda is served alongside. Glorious Spouse says the last time we ordered some big rib eyes, she doesn’t remember feeling particularly empowered or assertive. Just hungry first, and happy later.

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association exists to share the wonders of beef with consumers, and they do this with the agreement and cooperation of no less an august body than the Congress of these United States. In the Beef Promotion and Research Act of 1985, Congress went on record to state that beef and beef products are basic foods that are a valuable part of human diet. This despite any notion of the so-called Food Pyramid. Congress went on to specifically declare that beef plays a significant role in the Nation’s economy, and that beef should be readily available and marketed efficiently to ensure that the people of the United States receive adequate nourishment. Take that, you Vegans!

As I was saying, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association exists to share the wonders of beef with consumers. They tell us such things as “the amount of edible cooked beef a pound of raw beef will yield varies with the cut” and that “other factors may affect the amount you need, including the type of occasion and individual appetites.” We probably wouldn’t have figured this out without their help. But, to be fair, they also tell us about things we might not know, such as that three ounces of cooked beef is about the size of a deck of playing cards.

The Association wants us to know the difference between beef inspection and beef grading. They say “for meat inspection – think wholesomeness; for grading – think quality.” Then they go on to explain that everyone pays for meat inspection through taxes, so the cost of inspection is not included in the price of the meat you buy. One point for us. The cost of grading beef, on the other hand is reflected in the cost of meat. I realize you all think I know everything, on all subjects, but here is something I didn’t know before I availed myself of the Association’s information: beef grading is actually optional. It is paid for by meat processors, who aren’t obligated to do it. They then charge us for doing it. Subtract the one point previously given.

Beef grades, it seems, are based on the amount of fat marbling and on the age of the animal. These quality grades indicate tenderness, juiciness, and flavor. The Beef Association explains that “while there are eight quality grades for beef, the top three, Prime, Choice and Select, are the ones available to most customers.” Prime has the most fat marbling. It is usually sold to fine restaurants and specialty meat markets. Choice is the second grade, and Select has less marbling than the other two. This makes Select meat leaner, but not as “tender, juicy and flavorful.”

But all that notwithstanding, there are two giant questions that raise their beefy heads in my mind. What happens to the other five grades of beef, and who are the ‘other customers’ that aren’t part of the “most customers” who get the Prime, Choice, or Select?

The answers to these questions are not forthcoming. So I will simply follow another recommendation from the Association, and choose my beef with “a bright cherry-red color, without any grayish or brown blotches,” and dig in. This will delight Glorious Spouse and me, and it will satisfy the US Congress, at the same time. In this period of national need for Unity, can I do more?

ZACK GRADY writes from SoCal where he has several steak house reservation numbers programmed into the Speed Dial of his cell phone.