The American cowman and beef: Beef has a pretty short history in America, compared to the Middle East and other countries. However, the association between the Americans and bovine meat has been an intimate culinary experience from the beginning. Though domestication of cattle began as early as 6500 B.C., Americans woke up to the cattle revolution only around 1870. During this period, cattle cars and refrigerated cars were introduced in railroads to make distribution of beef easier and simpler. From then on, beef became popular in the country and was used for a variety of things – in soap making, candle making, industrial applications, leather business, cooking and a variety of delicacies. The beef industry grew by leaps and bounds so much so that the USDA estimates that the industry records at least 1% growth every year.

The image of the American cowman needs special mention. In a country of red meat lovers, the American cowman represented a happy and peaceful image of a man with an idyllic farmland full of money-worth cattle.

From farm to table: It can be remembered that only recently beef has met with bad rap owing to its high content of saturated fats. Earlier, it was only beef and beef all over. McDonald’s cooked its French Fries with tallow made from beef and the favorite American hamburger had beef as its primary ingredient. Beef is used as suet in bird feed, in cooking (in making puddings) and other things.

Before we proceed further, what exactly is beef? Beef is meat from full-grown cattle about 2 years old. A live good steer weighs about 1000 pounds, while a calf weighs about 700 pounds. While beef is red in color (that is why the name ‘red meat’), baby beef or calf beef is light red in color. There are at least 50 breeds of beef of which the major breeds are Angus, Hereford, Charlois and Brahman. It is mandatory that cattle raised by farmers should be inspected by the U.S. food authorities. However, grading of cattle (for beef produce) is not mandatory. The top USDA-graded beef sold at retail level are Prime, Choice and Select. Marbling (white flecks within the beef fat) determines the quality of beef. Cuts of beef also vary depending on from where it is extracted – chuck, loin, rib and round cuts are the popular ones. Suet is raw beef fat present around the loin and kidney regions of beef.

From table to tallow: Tallow is rendered form of beef suet. As mentioned earlier, suet is raw beef fat freshly cut from kidneys and loins. Suet is different from meat from other parts of the cow and hence, has special value. When rendered (by industrial or homemade process), suet is cleansed of impurities and meaty things to become tallow. Beef tallow is the result of melting suet and then, cooling it to separate it from impurities.

Tallow has a variety of uses – it is an important ingredient in soap making; it can be used in candle-making; it can be used as a harder cooking oil; it can be used as pet food and recently tallow has found a special role as feedstock for biodiesel production. Beef tallow is solid at room temperature as it has a high smoke point. Owing to its high cloud point, it is used for deep frying of food stuff. Tallow from grass fed beef has high ratio of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) which has effective anti-cancer properties. Though beef has a high degree of saturated fats, there are studies that prove that humans need at least 50% saturated fats to keep the heart hale and healthy. Considering all these and the increasing demands, it can be said that beef is dear to millions of Americans.

Beef has been gaining a lot of bad rap these days. Too much has been said to prove that beef or beef tallow is not as good as we think. True. It is not as good as we think because what we eat today is not the beef or tallow our ancestors ate. Our ancestors fed themselves with natural and organically raised cattle, not the CAFO (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) monitored cows.

Benefits of red meat: Beef has several credits to it. First, it offers the biggest boost of protein per ounce of traditional food. Next, it is an excellent source of niacin, vitamins B6, B12, K2, selenium, iron, phosphorus, potassium and riboflavin. It is a rich source of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) which is said to have anti-cancer properties. It is also high on omega-3 fatty acids. With all these and our pro-fat leanings, we cannot possibly forgo beef in our diet and tallow in our day-to-day use. But there are certain things we need to be careful about while using beef. The first thing is to find out whether your beef fat is from grass fed or grain fed cow.

Happy cow is dead: If you have an image of a happy cow grazing grass in an absolutely peaceful and serene state, you are at fault. Almost no cow is happy now. At least the American CAFO regulations and the grain feed make it so. The grass fed cow is different from its grain fed cousin in the following ways:

1. CLA quotient: Only grass fed, organically-raised cows contain conjugated linoleic acid. Industrial cows do not. The CLA quotient has anti-cancer properties and can help decrease the risk of insulin resistance.

2. Omega-6 and Omega-3 ratios: In grass fed cows, the ratio of Omega-6 is to Omega-3 fatty acids is 1:1, whereas in the industrial ones, the ratio is 6:1.  The latter is an alarming and skewed up ratio that can lead to inflammation or can be a possible precursor of chronic conditions.

3. E.Coli presence: Grass fed and finished beef is less likely to be infected with acid-resistant E.Coli bacteria that can set a series of digestive problems in humans. However, you need to check if the cow is fully grass fed. Sometimes, farmers switch over to CAFO rules and industrial, grain diet after few months of grass feeding. This makes the cow lose all its initial omega-3 resources and other nutritional benefits.

4. Antibiotics, pesticides: Because of the CAFO conditions and poor grain diets, most of the cows are prone to sickness. To avoid this, they are administered with preventative doses of antibiotics. This causes antibiotic resistance in us, resulting in ineffective medical treatment. Some administer toxic pesticides in growing feed for livestock. Often these carry hormone-disruptive and cancer-causing substances into the human body.

5. Hormone implants in cattle: Industrially-reared cows are often subjected to growth hormone implants in order to provide continual hormonal supplements for animals. This may have a huge impact on humans taking heavily-hormoned cows. The American livestock is especially full of such hormone implants.

With all these in practice, the grain fed American cow is indeed overloaded with impurities and fat. This is why the humanely-raised, grass fed organic cattle offers all the health benefits of the traditional beef taken by our ancestors.

Animal fat is no garbage: At least that is what the recent studies say. If one analyzes the use of fats in the food items in America, one can identify that most of the current food items are rich only in unsaturated fat or vegetable oils. The whole fast food industry now runs on vegetable oil and not on animal fat. With too much of processing, the United States food industry has eliminated saturated fats from the palates of people. Then, why do people of this century are prone to increased number of heart problems than their ancestors (who were nothing but meat eaters)? If meat like tallow or lard was the cause for coronary heart disease, then why do people who don’t take meat fall victims to it?

There are several rebuttals against the myths that claim saturated fats to be the primary reasons for heart attacks. As a saturated fat, beef tallow is especially very beneficial to human body. Here are a few reasons why it is good to health:

1. Saturated fats are heart-killers: Studies prove that saturated fats have nothing do with heart problems. The Framingham Heart study states that the more saturated fat and the more cholesterol one ate, the lower the person’s serum or blood cholesterol. It also asserts that the people who ate most saturated fat were the least in weight and were physically very active. Another Harvard based study (in 2001) says, “The amount of saturated fat in the diet may have little if any bearing on the risk of heart disease.” A study by Weston A. Price Foundation on the Masai tribes in Africa too proves the same. The Masai men, born meat-eaters, are one of the leanest and most active people among the African tribes. They had the lowest cholesterol levels inspite of taking 60 percent saturated fats daily. However, it was noted that when the Masai men moved to cities and ate modern processed food, they became obese and developed higher rates of cholesterol.

2. Heart fat and beef fat don’t go together: The Framingham study as mentioned in the book Nourishing Traditions states that the fat in the heart muscles is exactly similar to the one present in beef. Unlike the general assumption that too much of this fat will lead to the clogging of arteries, it has been proved that the human heart needs such fat like tallow to keep itself hale and healthy.

3. Saturated fats spoil us: No. In fact, saturated fats are no more in our food. If one looks at the top fats eaten in the 19th century, one can find butter, coconut oil, lard, tallow and olive oil. If one looks at the top fats eaten today, one can find only corn oil, soybean oil, canola oil, safflower oil and olive oil and none of the saturated fats. This shows that inspite of eliminating saturated fats like tallow from food, people have become victims of CHD. This brings us to the conclusion that heart diseases are in no way linked to saturated fats like beef tallow.

4. Tallow is unhealthy: Not at all. As a saturated fat, tallow is an energy-giving food with many antimicrobial properties. With about 50% monosaturated fat, it has a positive impact on cancer and reduces carcinogenic cell growth. Grass-fed beef fat has high levels of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) which is good for cholesterol levels.

1. How to determine tallow quality? Depending on the accepted quality grades, tallow can be classified into four categories – edible, inedible, prime and stock feed. Based on their quality, tallow is variously used in soaps, candles, salves and in animal feeding. The color and the amount of free fatty acids present in tallow determine its quality. Edible and prime tallow can be used in cooking and consumed by humans. Inedible tallow is used in soaps and candles. Stock feed tallow is used as feed to pig and chicken.

2. Edible Tallow: This is the purest form of tallow and is used as a deep frying oil. Edible tallow is completely removed of impurities and should not contain more than 1% of solid matter (such as bones or muscles) and no more than 2% water as it can become rancid quickly. The bovines slaughtered for edible beef tallow should be free of diseases or any ill-health conditions. Prime tallow also is edible. Wet rendering of fat to a temperature of 130 to 140 Fahrenheit frees regular tallow of impurities, resulting in prime, edible tallow. Higher temperatures for production cause undesirable colors.

3. Inedible and stock feed tallow: Inedible tallow is just ordinary tallow used in the making of soaps and candles. To make soaps, tallow is mixed with lye and heated to a particular temperature. Tallow soaps are harder, give rich lather and cleanse well. The purity of tallow affects the colorization of soaps. Tallow candles are prepared by dipping a wick into melted tallow repeatedly. The finer and more perfect the tallow, the greater and brighter the candle will glow. Sometimes beeswax is added if the tallow is soft or too unstable for candle making.

4. Dry rendering of tallow: Tallow that is used for human consumption or soap or candle preparation is often bleached to remove all impurities. Sometimes dry rendering is also used to prevent rancidity. In dry rendering, fat is heated directly to a temperature of 212 degrees Fahrenheit. But this type of treatment leads to permanent discoloration of tallow fat.

Historical Timeline of Beef: The history of beef is quite long, starting from the times of Columbus in the year of 1493. From that era, the cow has come to grow into a huge business. From cowboy marketing, American farmers moved to expansive realms that made beef tallow and used it for soaps, candles, cooking, leather and other industries. Then, came the McDonald’s, the hamburgers and all the obesity-causing, multi-million dollar fast food chains. Most of these chains, including the McDonald’s, used beef tallow as oil, the ancient harder cooking oil for deep frying.

Below is a brief history of beef in America that outlines just the important milestones:

Columbus brings cattle: Christopher Columbus was the first one to introduce cattle to the Western Hemisphere in 1493. However, Hernando Cortez was the first one to bring cattle to North America in 1519. With the cattle introduced, farmers took up to cattle farming. However, at first it was only done for milk production.

Uncle Sam and Beef: In a way, the American Government came to be known as ‘Uncle Sam’ only due its association with beef. During the 1817 war,  a New York meat packer called Sam Wilson supplied meat to the army in barrels. Since the barrels were government property, they were branded with the  U.S. label. Soldiers joked about this saying that U.S. actually meant Uncle Sam. The term and association stuck over course of time and from then on, the U.S. government came to be known as Uncle Sam.

The American Hamburger: The first ever burger was a greasy, just-out-of-the-oven slices of bread garnished with ground mustard mixed with mayonnaise, onion and cucumber pickles. It was sold by Fletcher Davis (an American from Texas) in 1904 at the St. Louis World Fair at Athens. With the people of Athens pleased with the new item, it was selling like hot cakes at the fair and soon came to be called the much-revered hamburger.

French Fries and beef: The story goes that while returning from the Fair at Athens, Fletcher Davis was interviewed by a reporter who was curious to know about the fried potatoes he sold at the Fair. Commenting on them, Davis said that he learned the art of frying potatoes that way from his friend in Paris, Texas. Mistakenly, the reporter associated Paris to France and the name of French Fried potatoes stuck from then on. The first French fries were fried with beef tallow.

Lean steak: In 2005, the United States announced that 29 cuts of beef met government guidelines for lean steak.  This is because 29 cuts had less than 10 grams of total fat, 4.5 grams of less saturated fat and less than 95 milligrams of cholesterol per 3-ounce of serving. These 29-cuts are present in Western Griller steak, Ranch steak, flank steak, tenderloin, lean ground beef, T-bone steak etc.