Beef muscle meat can be cut into steaks, pot roasts or short ribs, or it can be ground/minced. The blood is used in some varieties of blood sausage. Other parts which are eaten include the meaty tail, tongue, tripe from the stomach, various glands—particularly the pancreas and thymus—referred to as sweetbreads, the heart, the brain (although forbidden where there is a danger of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, BSE), the liver, the kidneys, the tender testicles of the bull (known in the US as "calf fries", "prairie oysters", or "Rocky Mountain oysters"), intestines, and the udder. Beef bones are used for making soup stock.

The better cuts are usually obtained from the steer; the heifer tends to be kept for breeding. Older animals are used for beef when they are past their reproductive prime. The meat from older cows and bulls is usually tougher, so it is frequently used for mince (UK)/ground beef (US). Cattle raised for beef may be allowed to roam free on grasslands, or may be confined at some stage in pens as part of a large feeding operation called a feedlot, where they are usually fed grain.

The United States, Brazil, Japan and the People's Republic of China are the world's four largest consumers of beef. The world's largest exporters of beef are Australia, Brazil, Argentina and Canada. Beef production is also important to the economies of Uruguay, Nicaragua, Russia and Mexico.

History

The flesh of bovines has been eaten by hunters from prehistoric times, some of the earliest known cave paintings such as those of Lascaux show aurochs in hunting scenes. Domestication of cattle occurred around 8000 BC,providing ready access to beef, milk and leather. Most cattle originated in the Old World with the exception of balls hybrids. Examples include the Wagyu from Japan, Ankole-Watusi from Egypt, and longhorn Zebu from the Indian subcontinent. Cattle were widely used for meat across the Old World. Some breeds were specifically bred to increase meat yield or improve texture like the Murray Grey, Angus or Wagyu, etc.

Etymology

After the Norman Conquest, the nobles who ruled England naturally used French words to refer to the meats they were served, so the animal called cu (cow) by the Anglo-Saxon peasants—who, it seems, rarely got to eat one—was called boeuf (ox) by the French nobles—who did not often deal with the live animal—when it was served to them for dinner. This is one example of the common English dichotomy between the words for animals (with largely Germanic origins) and their meat (with Romanic origins) that is also found in such English word-pairs swine/pork and sheep/mutton.

Cuts of beef

Beef is first divided into primal cuts. These are basic sections from which steaks and other subdivisions are cut. Since the animal's legs and neck muscles do the most work, they are the toughest; the meat becomes more tender as distance from "hoof and horn" increases. Different countries have different cuts and names.