Food: How Do You Say Beef?

"Where's the beef?" was America's favorite question a few years ago, but "What's the beef?" seems more appropriate now. The troubled meat industry, which has watched its market shrink as consumers turn toward lighter meals of fish and chicken, is experimenting with new breeds of beef-producing cattle that are considerably lower in fat and calories than the conventional product. These leaner beefs are beginning to find their way to market with names barely recognizable to most consumers. Nonetheless, Brae, zebu, beefalo and Chianina Lite will soon be tempting steak- and hamburger-loving Americans who want to get back to their old favorites. These meats have anywhere from 25% to 85% less fat and 32% to 79% fewer calories than standard beef, but the most important question to beef lovers is, How do they taste?

Three of the new beefs are from crossbred animals. Brae comes from a conventional breed (Black Angus), but the herds are fed differently than most cattle. Developed by Fred Grant, a former banker, and named for his farm Windabrae (Scottish for windy slope), these cattle graze on grass for the first two years of life and are then fed a diet of high-quality silage and beer. Grant uses no growth hormones or other chemicals, and the meat contains 84% less fat and 43% fewer calories than regular beef. Cuts ordered by TIME from the Brae Beef Shop in Stamford, Conn., proved to be by far the best of the four varieties; the various bright ruby red cuts were extraordinarily juicy and flavorful. That juiciness was unique among the low-fat beefs, and the technique for achieving it is a secret that Grant guards closely.

Brae was slightly firmer in texture than corn-fed beef but exuded a quintessential beefy flavor that was a more than adequate reward for a little extra chewing. The porterhouse and sirloin steaks pan-grilled in an iron skillet would have done credit to any first-class steak house. A rib roast was succulent and tender, but ground sirloin and chuck were too lean to make properly moist hamburgers. Pot roast and stew cuts, though acceptable, cooked so quickly that they did not absorb the flavors of seasonings, one of the advantages of the usually fatty, long-cooking cuts. As with all lean beefs, cooking is accomplished more rapidly because there is less fat to be cooked along with the meat; lower temperatures and one-half to two-thirds of standard cooking times are the rule.

It is easy to understand why Grant has had so much success with this beef, which is available in his shop and by mail, but if the quality is breathtaking, so is the price. Shell steak retails for $18.50 per lb., prime rib is $15.45, and ground sirloin is $5.95.