Farmer's Weekly (South Africa)
A useful app on meat cuts and how to cook them
Nose to Tail is a detailed, allin-one app that offers more than 80 beef cuts, with recipes, preparation and cooking methods. It is available free for Android and iPhones, and for just R45,99 you can download 40 additional cuts of mutton, chicken and pork.
EASY TO USE
The app is comprehensive, yet simple to operate. Choose the animal you wish to explore and a diagram will appear with all the basic meat cuts featured. Then select, say, ‘brisket’ to reveal all of the possible bricket cuts, such as brisket first cut, front cut, rolled brisket and stewing brisket, each with a detailed explanation.
For example, the section under rolled brisket begins, “[It] is filled with flavour and preferred by many due to its low price. The cut has a significant amount of fat, which adds to its richness and tenderness.”
It then goes on to describe the best ways of cooking it, and the recommended dishes to prepare. It also provides, in broad terms, the price category, fat content, and even the origin of the word ‘brisket’. In some cases, historical facts about the cut of meat are supplied.
There is also interesting additional information, such as the fact that the brisket muscle supports about 60% of the animal’s body weight, which explains why it has a significant amount of connective tissue.
COOKING STYLES
Another intriguing detail is the X-ray photograph shown on the top right of the app. This reveals the internal organs of the animal and describes them in detail.
The app has 12 cooking style menus to choose from: breading, budget, burger, carpaccio, casserole, corning, lean diet, dinner steak, dry-rub, glazing, marinating and pot roast.
RECIPES MENU
Each cut selected has a recipes menu that redirects you to a website. Click on the ‘red wine braised beef brisket’, for example, and you will be taken to a recipe in the Martha Stewart food and cooking website (see bit.ly/martha). This comes with a video and detailed instructions, which can be saved, printed or shared.
• Greg Miles is a livestock farmer and Internet marketer. Email him at farmersweekly@caxton.co.za. Subject line: Online farmer.
breeding values using only genetic information are not enough to determine whether an animal can qualify as a stud animal. Observation is therefore critical in selection.
PERFORMANCE AND TRAITS
The Bonsmara inspection system combines an animal’s performance in its contemporary group with traits that represent functionality and efficiency. The contemporary group consists of animals born within 100 days of each other, kept in exactly the same environment, and subjected to the same management.
finds a trait that will have a negative influence on its functional efficiency, the animal receives a rejection code indicating that it must be culled.
An animal failing the inspection is removed from the breeder’s stud list.
• Pre-sale screenings
Before any sale, the animals listed in the stud catalogue are subjected to another inspection to determine whether they have developed any functional efficiency faults over time. The procedure is conducted by two senior inspectors, and minimises the chances of buyers, whether commercial or stud, experiencing problems with the animals.
The Bonsmara inspection system has ensured that, since the breeders’ society was formed more than half a century ago, only animals deemed functional and of good conformation have been sold.
With more than 7 000 Bonsmara bulls tested annually and only about 3 200 bulls sold by breeders, it is evident to any buyer in the beef industry that Bonsmara breeders and Bonsmara SA make sure that only the best animals are available for sale, and those of lesser quality simply never appear on auction.
This is why the bulls that come through the Bonsmara system are still the number one choice of commercial farmers in South Africa today.
• For more information about inspections, visit bonsmara. co.za. Phone the Bonsmara
Cattle Breeders’ Society of South Africa on 051 448 6084.