And how steaks influenced the formation of a new meat culture

The love for steaks is a fairly young habit that emerged among Russian gourmets relatively recently. Nevertheless, this dish is already strongly associated with success and prosperity and is represented by a huge variety of options. Izvestia looked into how the culture of consuming beef delicacies is developing in RUSSIA and what new trends await us in the near future.

How a new culture of beef consumption developed in Russia

The MEAT culture associated with the consumption of steaks began to rapidly take shape in Russia about 12 years ago. Today it is developing mainly in Moscow and St. Petersburg and is gradually appearing in regional capitals. The historical roots of these processes can be found during the Russian Empire: then haute meat cuisine was accessible to a very narrow circle of people. With the establishment of Soviet power , it completely disappeared, as the task of feeding the country came to the fore. For decades, beef was used mainly for boiling, stewing and processing into minced meat.cutlets .

This continued until large domestic producers appeared, released very high quality beef to the market and invested enormous amounts of money in advertising and popularizing steaks.

“Before the advent of domestic industrial beef, chefs mainly worked on meat from Australia and New Zealand, and it was designed for a small segment of consumers in restaurants,” recalls the chef butcher, author of the book “Beef. Guide to anatomical cutting" Anton Loschilov. — With the advent of domestic producers, there are more steak lovers. At the same time, the level of quality of products from domestic manufacturers was immediately very high and set a certain standard to which the guests were accustomed.

Consumers learned to navigate steak meat based on their own experience. As a result, the general idea has emerged that steaks should be sweet, juicy and tender, although in general this is not entirely true, he points out.

In Russia today there are two types of beef - these are cows (dairy or dairy-meat), whose “life of service” has come to an end, and grain-fed castrate bulls up to two years old, which produce marbled meat . What we see on market shelves and in stores is cow meat in 98% of cases, the expert says. In restaurants, the vast majority use bulls. This is largely due to economic reasons: modern technologies make it possible to obtain from different farms with animals with different genetics a standardized, uniform product that is understandable and familiar to consumers. “Not only marbled meat

is suitable for steak ,” explained Anton Loschilov. “But marbling gives juiciness and softness, because the fat layers push the muscle fibers apart and at the moment of the bite it seems softer. And of course, the very appearance of the product causes a wow effect. Now representatives of the meat industry have actually found themselves hostage to the good taste that Russian producers initially instilled in consumers, Pavel Potseluev, brand chef of the Thirst for Blood restaurant, told Izvestia: “It’s difficult to switch to other meat, because our industrial meat has already become the gold standard.” So 90% of the restaurant market’s demand is marbled meat of domestic origin. Acquaintance with steaks in Russia began with understandable premium steaks, such as ribeye, striploin, New York, porterhouse, tomahawk and T-bone. Over time, manufacturers began to develop a line of alternative cuts, the range of which includes more than 20 items. These include butcher's steak, scart, flank or machete and others.







— As soon as alternative steaks gained popularity, manufacturers raised their prices. So all the alternatives were tried in a circle, and the chefs switched to offal. Tails appeared on the menu. Borscht, stew and burgers were prepared with them, but prices for them also increased over time . Then they remembered the veal cheeks, which they had not eaten at all some time ago. Now cheeks are more expensive than meat,” explained chief butcher Loschilov.

Meat culture in Russia is developing mainly along the American path, says Pavel Potseluev. So, in the usa, the back of animals is still mainly used for steaks - this is ribeye, New York, thin edge, and all the alternatives are used for sausage.

And in France and Italy, any suitable part can be turned into a steak. In Spain, steaks are called chilitons - these are large pieces of meat weighing 1 kg, which are practically not trimmed, but are cooked with veins and bones. In San Sebastian you will get a New York steak with all the bones and fat. In the USA, they can leave a bone on the side, but without fat. In Russia, a steak with fat and bones will in most cases cause confusion among the guest. And yet, we are still at the stage when meat culture can be developed in different directions, taking into account the approaches and techniques of different schools.

For example, many butchers consider bone-in steaks to be more flavorful due to the added bone to the meat. Not so long ago, they were unusual for Russian consumers, since the import of such meat from abroad is prohibited. But after the emergence of domestic industrial manufacturers, they quickly gained popularity.

How the technology for working with beef has changed

In parallel with the growing popularity of beef in restaurants, the technology for aging meat has also changed. If 20 years ago fresh meat from the market was considered the best, then by current standards it is no longer suitable. The muscles of such beef will be too tough, and it must be matured before it gets into the kitchen.

— At the very beginning, the technology of wet maturation was mainly used. Sous vide was also used to soften the meat,” said Alexander Ermakov, chef at De Torino bistro. — Nowadays, the technology for preparing dry-ripened beef has gained enormous momentum: in this case, the meat of young grain-fed bulls is kept in special chambers with a certain humidity and temperature conditions.

Dry aging technology can now be found in many high-end Russian restaurants, and it has indeed made a certain contribution to the development of the taste perception of steaks. But initially this method was intended for the meat of adult animals, precisely in order to soften it.

— Young bulls are like new wine. Why is it drunk young? Because it is not able to continue to live, it has no potential for improvement,” Chief Ermakov explained with an example. - And also a young bull. It has the potential to last up to 28 days, maybe a little less or more. But the process no longer brings anything further. The meat dries out and becomes more expensive.

Meat from aged cattle with developed powerful muscles has much more promising potential for aging. Moreover, in a vacuum, such meat simply cannot ripen so as to become soft enough.

In recent years, many chefs have increasingly paid attention to the European tradition of working with the meat of adult animals, called “vaca vieja”, which translates from Spanish as “old cow”. Five years ago, this idea began to be actively promoted by many media personalities, for example, the chef of the cult steakhouse AG (Argentum) in Stockholm, Johan Jureskog.

“The meat of old cows is tastier than industrial veal,” says chief butcher Loschilov, who ages this product at the Staraya Korova meat cooperative, located in the Pangea creative space. “It has a more diverse palette of aromas, it can give off cheese notes and is denser in texture. But many domestic farmers perceive the story of cows quite negatively because of the yellow fat, which actually indicates that the animal ate a varied diet.

According to the founder of the Staraya Korova cooperative, Viktor Vovchik, large Russian producers already have a line of mature beef, in which they offer meat from their cows. Moreover, it costs several times less than basic steak meat. The cooperative gets its cows from an organic farm in the Kaluga region.

“Not every old cow has the potential to mature,” adds brand chef Potseluev, who also works with such meat in the restaurant. — Large producers sell meat from cows that give birth to bulls and are no longer needed in production. They are supplemented with corn, grain and slaughtered. They have had a good diet throughout their lives and this shows in the quality of their meat.

Nothing good will come of a cow kept in poor conditions in any case, the expert points out.

“We can put her meat in a dry aging chamber, but a miracle will not happen to it.” If the meat is initially empty, nothing can improve it.