ANGUS beef, derived from the Aberdeen Angus breed of cattle, is one of the culinary world’s prized products. However, according to Steven Sands, creator of the Braveheart brand under the Performance Food Group, says that not everything labeled “Angus” is actually Angus. According to him, in the US, Angus is used as a brand, not a breed.
At dinner at the One World Deli branch in San Juan on April 23, Mr. Sands talked to us about good-quality beef.
He said that Angus beef would have better fat marbling and shorter meat fibers; both contributing to tenderness. To prove that their beef is indeed Angus and would display those qualities, Braveheart came up with a plan to use cow DNA for better traceability.
“If you have a tough steak four months from now, you can cut off a little piece, send it to the lab, (and) marry it up to a sample.” That sample is a bit of flesh from the original cow which is DNA-linked to its ear tag and recorded. The beef on your plate, if it is ever sampled, would show the cow’s food and health records. “We can prove it; we’ve got the DNA records,” said Mr. Sands.
We sampled their beef through a five-course dinner prepared by One World Deli’s chef Miguel Gianan. Braveheart Black Angus beef was present in Carne Asada Tacos and sliders, followed up by a Green Goddess salad. The Pepper Crusted Corned Beef made with Braveheart’s Brisket, with an excellent peppery sauce, may just have been the star of the show, but the Bistecca alla Fiorentina was a close second. Dinner ended with Apple Crumble topped with Vanilla Bean Gelato.
We’d like to think we weren’t the only ones who had a good time: we hope the cow did too, with its slaughter being the one bad day in its life. Braveheart contracts family farms to raise its cows in more humane and sustainable conditions. The farmers are prohibited from using several drugs (usually used in the industry to plump up beef), and Braveheart physically audits their partner-farms, and regularly tests the soil and water for the presence of these drugs. The cows are also slaughtered at a lower weight (around 850 lbs.) as opposed to the industry standard of 1,150 lbs.
“All the little things add up to a product that’s much, much different when you put it on a plate,” said Mr. Sands.
“We do share our knowledge. Ultimately, we’re hoping to elevate all of agriculture, not just our company. We’re trying to show that you can make money and do things in a better way.”
Braveheart beef is exclusively distributed by One World Deli in the Philippines. — Joseph L. Garcia
