The "Mad Men's" Dilemma-- How to Get Consumers to Buy ANY Beef Cut From the Front Quarter.

Originally from my cook book, fist BLOG PAGE-Al's Cooking Recipes- Published Tuesday, 20 December 2011.

Definitions of a steak, Oxford Dictionary of current ENGLISH: 1.High quality beef from the HIND QUARTER of the animal, cut into THICK slices for broiling grilling, even frying. 2. A THICK slice of other meat or fish. 3. Poorer  quality beef for stewing.These definitions serve-WELL- to show how little regard people, outside of North America, have for any (fabricated, primal, sub-primal)cut taken from the (BEEF) front quarter and for thin or "fast fry" cuts. 

Webster's dictionary is not so derogatory, concerning the front quarter: Steak-THICK, slice of meat

TheOxford definitions  serve-WELL- to show how little regard people, outside of North America, have for any (fabricated, primal, sub-primal)cut taken from the (BEEF) front quarter and for thin or "fast fry" cuts.

All the definitions-Oxford and Webster's serve to point out:

The "Mad Men's" Dilemma-- How to Get Consumers to Buy ANY Beef Cut From the Front Quarter.

THE "MAD MEN" AND PRODUCERS, WERE GETTING DESPERATE, NO ONE WANTED THE FRONT QUARTER; THEY WERE ALMOST CONVINCED OF THE NEED TO DEVELOP SOME KIND OF HYBRID WITH FOUR HIND QUARTERS.

Here we have but another example of a well known principal or fact: The average consumer has absolutely no idea of what they are buying or eating or why they are doing so. How often have you heard someone say that it is worth spending the extra money to buy prime rib because the flavour is so much better, it is more nutritious, and there is less waste (see characteristics of tender and less tender cuts at the beginning of this chapter)? Consequently, on hotel, restaurant, and even cafeteria, fast-food, or sandwich shop menus, one often sees PRIME-RIB OF BEEF advertised; but think about it—how can you possibly have `Prime Rib`, if it is not cut from Prime Beef??? The correct terminology; that is if you MUST use other than standing rib; would be PRIMAL-from the primal rib cut or joint.
Norice also: the very well defined "Rib-eye"(Longissimuss Dorsi muscleand the NEW,FABRICATED, HIGHLY PROMOTED,Spinis Dorsi ("Rib-eye Cap"-very incorrect naming).

One major problem, faced by beef producing countries world wide: traditionally, the average consumer was only interested in the hind quarter and any meat which came from the front quarter was very hard to sell in a butcher shop or meat store and almost impossible to sell in a hotel or restaurant. Something had to be done.

In an attempt to promote the front quarter and increase sales;  and working with only young, grain fed, top grade, steer beef: butcher shops and meat cutters; took the firstTWO RIBS, (the two next to the club steaks--two cuts per carcass), weighing about six pounds, these two ribs constitute the tenderest and most expensive ofANY-oot just from the PRIMAL-possible rib cut--but only if aged to the prime and cut, from prime beef=THE PRIME(primal) RIBS (see beef chart). The rest was, is, and always should be considered, just ordinary, not very economical, standing rib.

The hotel and restaurant chains were of course the first to violate this law; designating up to the first seven ribs as still being "prime rib".

More recently, the supermarkets especially, Safeway but including Loblaw (West Fair) stores in western Canada, American based, hotel and restaurants and especially American based fast-food outlets, are calling any rib cut and in some cases any cut taken from anywhere near the ribs “prime rib”.

Not that I ever expect to see anything done about it; but this is a criminal act punishable by law (demonstrating the ignorance of the average consumer as to what they are actually buying), and constitutes consumer fraud

Prime and choice grades go exclusively to the large hotel /restaurant trade or for export. Traditionally considered to be of less quality than the sirloin, the ribs are the only cut from the front quarter roasted or cut into steaks and broiled in hotels or restaurants and even in these establishments, rib cuts are most commonly braised and only called "roast" beef.

A rib roast is a very uneconomical piece of meat. It is about 12% bone and contains a very large amount of fat.

In the modern Canadian Supermarket, a rib roast may be cut from so far up on the ribs that the meat cutter has to clean the nostrils, before making the cut. ©Al (Alex Alexander) D Girvan-1990 All rights reserved.