Beef Flavor

A long time ago, I talked to an ag professor at the University of Idaho who specialized in beef cattle. At one point in the interview he made the assertion that we eat beef because we enjoy the flavor so much. He said, there are all kinds of steakhouses in every city in the country but where do you see a chicken house or a pork house? Point taken...Beef is known for its flavor - yet the industry may need to spend more time focusing on it. The most recent National Beef Quality Audit points out flavor's growing importance with consumers - says Oklahoma State's Deb VanOverbeke. " We all know that palatability is important and when we say palatability, it means tenderness, juiciness, and flavor. But the one interesting piece that I think came from the audit is if you ask those closest to the consumer, retailers and food service, and restauranteurs, they tell you that flavor is more important than tenderness. If you ask everybody else in the industry, they will tell you that tenderness is more important than flavor. That gave us insight into what factors we need to focus on." She says previous research has shown that USDA quality grades do a good job of predicting all three of those palatability traits