Guía de Clasificación de Calidad de Carne

Entendiendo la Calidad de la Carne

La calidad de la carne se determina evaluando características visuales clave como marmoleado, color, textura y calidad de la grasa. El USDA ha establecido estándares de clasificación que organizan la carne en niveles de calidad según estos factores.

Entender estos indicadores de calidad ayuda a carniceros, chefs y consumidores a seleccionar los cortes adecuados para sus necesidades.

Anatomy

Primal, sub-primal, retail cut

A beef carcass is divided into nine large primals. Each primal does a different job for the animal, which is why a flank steak eats nothing like a ribeye even though they both come off the same cow. Primals get broken down into sub-primals at the wholesale stage, and sub-primals are portioned into the retail cuts you see in the case.

Where a cut sits on the carcass tells you almost everything about how it eats. Muscles that did less work, like the rib and short loin, marble heavily and stay tender. Muscles that did more work, like the chuck and round, build connective tissue and reward slow cooking with deep, beefy flavor.

Names change by region. A ribeye is a scotch fillet in Australia, a cube roll in trade, an entrecôte in France, and ojo de bife in Argentina. Same anatomy, different label.