ANOTHER CRAP PIECE OF BEEF

It does seem churlish to moan about a bit of meat while the cities of Britain are on fire.

Still, I’m fed up to the back teeth – the front ones are pretty sore too –  with eating average-to-bad steak as well as having to listen to my food writing friends extolling the quality of Irish beef, a quality I must say I’ve rarely found.

This particular carnivore’s nightmare – almost the worst I’ve ever had – was one of four sirloin steaks, purchased for me down the country, from a craft butcher of some local repute. To compound the crime the person who bought the meat is actually related to the butcher! God help his enemies.

The meat – cooked approx 4 minutes a side and then rested – was tough as teak. It was also tasteless. What’s more a 300g steak yielded  a good 80g of  inedibles (fat, gristle, sinew and even bone).

Personally I doubt it was sirloin, except that the person who bought it assured me it was “cut fresh from a big loin”.

There is a deal of arrant nonsense perpetrated by Irish food writers concerning the quality of Irish beef. Many of them are, of course, pampered by restaurateurs and fall for the hype. This lures them into pronouncing that the finest beef in the world comes from the Irish Angus or the Dexter. That is so wrong, in my opinion. There is absolutely no reason why a Charolais, Chianina or Hereford, well fed, pastured and pampered, could produce beef at least the equal of the Angus – which, almost invariably, is only a half breed in any event. As for the Dexter, its fame rests in its compact size, not in the quality of the meat. The Dexter is an all-rounder – fair-to-decent beef and a high milk yield too. It was traditionally a cow for the smallholder who wanted to look down on his pig-owning neighbour.

There are a couple of restaurants in Dublin who make a feature of Dexter beef. Curiously enough, theirs comes from Wales.

I’ll repeat what I said on Facebook a couple of months ago – the most memorable beef I’ve had was in Navarre. Second was Tuscany. Third, probably the UK. And while I’m at it I’ll pose the questions “Does the best of Irish beef go abroad? Or (through organisations like Messrs Russell and Kettyle), direct to the restaurant trade? Is the Irish consumer effectively getting third pick when he/she goes to their local butcher?”