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Especially to IMGREAT -- but anyone is welcome!
What's the real deal with Angus Beef? Is it really such a big deal, better than "regular" or anonymous breed beef? Worth paying more for it? How about in something like "Angus Beef Hot Dogs?" Or is that last one like getting a mixed drink with top-shelf liquor in something like Coke or with OJ?
Any packaging touting Angus or Black Angus, certified or not, is a marketing scheme. You can line up certified black angus against certified hereford (we had certified hereford at one time) and you cannot tell the difference.
We have had customers change stores for this marketing scam. It is all in your head. Nearly all market cattle are angus or part angus. I visit with many cattle farmers during the Iowa State Fair every year.
That goes not just for butcher shops but it is also overused in food and beverage establishments.
The biggest difference in beef is the quality of feed they are getting. The midwest just happens to be the best quality for this. "Neon white" fat or marbling is grain fed. Yellow tint or off white fat is grass fed or lesser quality feed. My store is the only local chain that carries only midwest beef and pork.
Yeah IMGreat nailed it on the head.
I have a freezer with a 1/4 of beef in it.....it's not angus. It's holstein. Dairy farmers all over around me have no use for their bull calves, so they sell them or raise them for meat. That's what I raise just because they're cheap to buy...they're almost valueless as calves.
It tastes the same, looks the same, etc, etc. It's just a marketing scheme. The biggest determining factor in quality of beef is their diet.