This is very interesting Makara, butchery is fascinating to me. I'm an omnivore, I eat everything , I love veggie food too. But butchery I find draws me in. It's that curiosity of how to do things that drives me. I used to watch a butcher on YT who went through the whole gamut of animal carcasses, I watched him enthralled by it... it's the thirst for knowledge, I just want to know HOW.
when i talk about Yellow/orange fat i am of course referring to the breed of cattle that is Aberdeen angus (in America they call it Black Angus because they want a all black herd) 1 in every 4 calves born is born with red skin (some say genetic defect i prefer quirk) and people call it the highland cow it's still Aberdeen angus and every bit as good as the black skinned Aberdeen Angus for some reason farmers in America cull the red skin calves .
to make a cut of beef you follow the seam the knack is finding the seam when i first started one of the jobs i was taught was breaking down the beast (Cow) from the hind to the end of the rib eye as the shoulder was delivered separately i was only 18 at the time and i hade to balance a side of beef minus the shoulder on my shoulder and walk 200 yards to my work area to split it up .... i had to walk through a garage to get to my section one time the abattoir delivered a monster around 240 kilos on one side needless to say i got 3/4 quarters up the garage when my legs buckled and the beast landed on top of me one of the garage workers saw it happen and ran to our butcher shop to get help the owner and two butchers came out and lifted it from me and hung it up to be split up and also brought in the 2nd side ... needless to say my boss said it least the beef got a soft landing and wasn't damaged and he told me to take a half an hour rest as he could see i wasn't with it because i was seeing stars
... i see the funny side to it 32/33 years later
anyhoo back to beef i think the fat in female dairy cows are nearer the colour of male beef cows as the latest trend is to sell 10 year old dairy cows for butchering due to their high marbling of fat normally in the UK we do not like meat with a lot of fat on it hence male beef cattle in the UK is culled at a much younger age than say north America and Asia where beef/Pork fat marbling are seen as prime cuts where as the UK lean meat is seen as prime cuts and meat with fat marbling is seen as cheap cuts
beef cuts and what they are called elsewhere
America England Scotland
Chuck Steak Shoulder Steak Shoulder Steak
Brisket Brisket Brisket
Striploin/New York Strip Sirloin Steak Sirloin Steak
Porterhouse Steak Porterhouse Steak T-Bone Steak
T-Bone Steak T-Bone Steak T-Bone Steak
Top Sirloin Rump Steak Popeseye Steak
Top Rump Rump Steak
Silverside Silverside Silverside
Brisket is the same cut in the 3 countries how it's prepared traditionally differs in all 3 countries , for Example America it's used as the centre piece of a southern Barbecue, traditionally in England they do not bone out the Brisket instead they boil it, in Scotland it's boned, trimmed and rolled and roasted in a oven at a low temperature as part of our sunday dinner
in Scotland any Sirloin with a piece of Fillet steak separated by bone is a T-Bone and Popeseye steak is a throw back to when Scotland was uber Presbyterian the bone (pelvic) has a big hole that looks like a crooked eye when you remove it from the flesh and it just so happened one of the popes at the time had a crooked eye hence "Popeseye" it's not politically correct and Supermarkets call it Rump Steak in Scotland hence it causes some confusion in supermarkets it's like the Turnip/Swede what we call turnip in Scotland is called Swede in England and what we call Swede the English call it turnip because most of the super markets are based in England they call foods by there English name which causes a lot of confusion even our pancakes and crumpets are different
sorry for the long winded post
