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shari
Select Nomad
Posts: 13039
Registered: 3-10-2006
Location: bahia asuncion, baja sur
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Mood: there is no reality except the one contained within us "Herman Hesse"
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gotta love that fresh meat in San Ignacio
I always stop in at the San Ignacio Pemex to fuel up, pee in a nice bathroom and do all my shopping at the great store there..it's one of the best in
these parts and has nearly everything at the cheapest prices anywhere, including fresh veggies, fruit, rancho cheese and very fresh meat...I mean
still moving fresh...last week a guy was hanging a cow right in the middle of the store and the meat was still moving!!!! I bought some ribs he sawed
up for me...my question is...does meat have to mellow for a few days, it weemed real tough when we ate it...it just looked so lovely and fresh. I
sure love how picturesque baja is...always something interesting to photograph.
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Mango
Senior Nomad
Posts: 685
Registered: 4-11-2006
Location: Alta California &/or Mexicali
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Mood: Bajatastic
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If the cow is stressed or traumatized just before our during when it is killed it can affect the tenderness of the meat greatly.
Mi novia knows someone who's husband works for SuCarne just outside Mexicali and they told her they will give the cattle a sedative just before
slaughter to ensure more tender meat.
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Natalie Ann
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 2819
Registered: 8-22-2003
Location: Berkeley
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shari - Generally meat becomes more flavorful when aged, but I do not believe it becomes more tender during that time. I'm an Illinois girl and was
raised with the understanding that tenderness in beef comes from diet and general care while living, and the least amount of stress at time of
slaughter (as Mango sez).
And Mango... I also had a friend worked at a cattle slaughterhouse. He became a vegetarian. 
Nena
Be yourself, everyone else is already taken.
.....Oscar Wilde
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msteve1014
Senior Nomad
Posts: 945
Registered: 12-2-2006
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it used to be common practice to let beef "hang" for up to a week or more before cutting and freezing. it is still common with wild game, but the big
cutting houses move them in and out as fast as they can now
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bajajudy
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6886
Registered: 10-4-2004
Location: San Jose del Cabo,BCS
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If it was local meat, it was probably a cow that had wandered the range scrounging for food.
If it was Sonora, it should have been tender.
I remember years ago(about 20 to be exact, sorta)we used to buy steaks, cook them on the grill, chew them and spit them out. The flavor was wonderful
but they were tough as shoe leather.
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Al G
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 2647
Registered: 12-19-2004
Location: Todos Santos/Full time for now...
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Mood: Wondering what is next???
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For a few years I raised my own beef...a real pain in the arse. My beef eating day are over except in very good restaurants, but if you want the most
tender of beef they must be fed alfalfa and similar high protein like clover. That is not the only thing...just the most important. If you get to that
point then aging is also important. I like 21 days, but strong flavor. I don't know if stress is real important...I assume it is, but my butcher dealt
with that as he did most all butchering in the Clements and Lockeford area ranches east of Lodi CA.
Albert G
Remember, if you haven\'t got a smile on your face and laughter in your heart, then you are just a sour old fart!....
The most precious thing we have is life, yet it has absolutely no trade-in value.
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BajaWarrior
Super Nomad
Posts: 2307
Registered: 9-27-2006
Location: Mission Bay, San Diego. Playa Hermosa, San Felipe.
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Mood: Anxious to get south
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Did you boil them first Shari?
Beef ribs are tough. I always boil mine on slow heat until the red is gone, then lather them up with some BBQ sauce, and grill em'.
Tender as ever. MMMMMmmmmMMMMM Good!
Haven't had a bad trip yet....
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vandenberg
Elite Nomad
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Location: Nopolo
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Mood: mellow
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Range cattle is almost always tough. That's the reason for feedlots. After coming of the range, the animals are fed grains and the like for 4 to 6
weeks I believe, to increase their weight and meat tenderness. Even grade A beef is treated that way. Choice is the next cut followed by prime. Prime
beef is hard to find anymore, unless you go to a specialty butchershop. Most of it goes to expensive restaurants. And ,from the horses mouth, when a
Supermarket advertises that they carry choice beef, that means that they may have one or two carcasses that are choice ,while the rest is Grade A.
Had a buddy who ran an Albertson's butchershop. 
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castaway$
Senior Nomad
Posts: 742
Registered: 7-31-2007
Location: Gold Hill, Oregon
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Mood: Fish on!
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I raise my own beef and basically what everyone is saying is correct,
stess during the kill causes an adrenaline rush and contracts the muscle tissue----result, tough meat.
Diet is key also, look for marbeling of fat in the meat, a good, quality steak will be well marbeled, if you don't have the marbeling it's probably
best for burger or taco meat.
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toneart
Ultra Nomad
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Registered: 7-23-2006
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Don't forget the motto of the Road Kill Restaurant:
"Our meat is so fresh it still has that surprised look on it's face."
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Paulina
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3810
Registered: 8-31-2002
Location: BCN
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I was invited to a bbq at a rancho south of Bahia once. The ribs were so tough you could barely pull the meat off the bone, what little meat there
was. The best part of the dinner was the company and using the spike off of a mesquite tree for a toothpick.
P<*)))><
\"Well behaved women rarely make history.\" Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
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DENNIS
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 29510
Registered: 9-2-2006
Location: Punta Banda
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| Quote: | Originally posted by toneart
Don't forget the motto of the Road Kill Restaurant:
"Our meat is so fresh it still has that surprised look on it's face."
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Heard a rendition of that when I lived in Wyoming. "You could still see the reflection of the headlights in its eyes."
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Minnow
Banned
Posts: 1110
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: Lost Wages
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Mood: Embarrased Harry Reid is a Nevadan
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I have a whole series of pictures from a Sonora bbq. From the time the cow was pulled out of the field by a cowboy on a horse, to the 22 to the
center of the skull, to the skinning, and finally onto the grill that consisted of a six foot pile of mesquite that was made to coals. Then a grate
on a stand was put on top. You then just walked up an picked out the piece you wanted and threw it on the grill.
All in my honor I might add.
If it wasn't such a pain to resize pictures here I would post them.
Proud husband of a legal immigrant.
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Al G
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 2647
Registered: 12-19-2004
Location: Todos Santos/Full time for now...
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Mood: Wondering what is next???
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| Quote: | Originally posted by castaway$
I raise my own beef and basically what everyone is saying is correct,
stess during the kill causes an adrenaline rush and contracts the muscle tissue----result, tough meat.
Diet is key also, look for marbeling of fat in the meat, a good, quality steak will be well marbeled, if you don't have the marbeling it's probably
best for burger or taco meat. |
Custom beef like I raised had little marbling...this is for a wild range fed steer only...feed lots claim it is to tenderize, but it is to sale fat at
the price of beef...steers from well managed range needs no more marble then custom. Custom is still better...because of high protein, but good range
fed is way better then feed lot fat.
Albert G
Remember, if you haven\'t got a smile on your face and laughter in your heart, then you are just a sour old fart!....
The most precious thing we have is life, yet it has absolutely no trade-in value.
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bajalera
Super Nomad
Posts: 1875
Registered: 10-15-2003
Location: Santa Maria CA
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I enjoyed some fresh beef at San Ignacio in 1964--a cattle truck had gone off Jaraguay Grade--so all the ranches along the road had strips of meat
hung up to dry on wire fences and ocotillos and wherever, and my husband bought some.
There were kitchen facilities at Leree's Inn, but when I went to cut up the meat, it had [gasp!] signs of life. Cute little maggots were squirming
around on it. The three grad students in our little expedition were sure to take a dim view of a maggotty meal, and my kids--then 5, 7, and 9 wouldn't
be too crazy about that either. But this was the first fresh meat I'd seen in more than a month.
So I picked the jumpy little things out, put them in a paper bag and later squished them. And when none of them floated up in the stew, was glad I'd
got them all. Mesa's store, always well equiped to serve travelers, had potatoes and carrots and onions, and the stew was quite delicious.
And besides that, it pleased me to feed the students something I knew would make them barf. (As most Nomads know, dispositions can get cranky on long
camping trips when you're stuck with people you don't like.)
\"Very few things happen at the right time, and the rest never happen at all. The conscientious historian will correct these defects.\" -
Mark Twain
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Paulina
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3810
Registered: 8-31-2002
Location: BCN
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lera,
Great story. Natural meat tenderizers...hmmm. Did the students ever find out?
P<*)))><
\"Well behaved women rarely make history.\" Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
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fishbuck
Banned
Posts: 5318
Registered: 8-31-2006
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I always heard that the stressed animals will taste bitter from the adrenilin. If they are tensed up when slaughtered that can't last long. Aging it a
little could help plus bacteria will start to break down the meat.
The idea of not stressing the animal is from hunting. Best to drop a deer with a kill shot than wound it and let it run around in a panic until it
bleeds to death. That's not going to taste good.
I think that is why most beef in baja is carne asada. It's cut up in small enough pieces to swallow after a few chews. Most of those scrawny looking
cattle I see running around out in the desert look pretty chewy.
"A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for." J. A. Shedd.
A clever person solves a problem. A wise person avoids it. – Albert Einstein
"Life's a Beach... and then you Fly!" Fishbuck
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shari
Select Nomad
Posts: 13039
Registered: 3-10-2006
Location: bahia asuncion, baja sur
Member Is Offline
Mood: there is no reality except the one contained within us "Herman Hesse"
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muchas gracias for all your answers...very interesting...didn't have any marbling but was such a lovely color...it was OK in the stew.
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Bob H
Elite Nomad
Posts: 5867
Registered: 8-19-2003
Location: San Diego
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| Quote: | Originally posted by BajaWarrior
Did you boil them first Shari?
Beef ribs are tough. I always boil mine on slow heat until the red is gone, then lather them up with some BBQ sauce, and grill em'.
Tender as ever. MMMMMmmmmMMMMM Good! |
I boil mine in a coca-cola/water mix - then put'm on the grill. Wonderful tenderness!
Bob h
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bajalera
Super Nomad
Posts: 1875
Registered: 10-15-2003
Location: Santa Maria CA
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No, Paulina, and neither did my husband. Confessed to the kids after they got old enough not to take it personally.
\"Very few things happen at the right time, and the rest never happen at all. The conscientious historian will correct these defects.\" -
Mark Twain
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