A couple months ago Lotte Mart started to sell US beef again, and attracted some protests (who could forget the guy throwing dung at the Lotte Mart butcher in Gwangju?). One of the other protest was how Lotte was “cheating” consumers by selling “improperly labeled meat”. This whole controversy was noted here by another blogger. At the time I pointed out the cuts are different between the US and Korea, however I had no pictures to show it. Thankfully, today’s Chosun Ilbo has a Korean diagram:
Now compare that to a US/Western diagram:
At issue originally was the “Chuck-eye” which is a piece of meat in the upper right part of the Chuck section, by the Ribs, and in fact can be cut so as to include ribs. The rest of the chuck is the blade (upper left, as in shoulder), the arm (lower left, actually foreleg), and, for lack of better words, “incidentals” (the extreme upper left and lower right).
In rectifying the structure of the US chuck as a whole with the rough diagram in the Chosun, it seems that a Korean butcher makes a distinction between the blade and the arm, however the “chuck-eye” is divided into the ribs section and part of the blade section of the chuck. Moreover, the fact that the chuck-eye could be served with ribs, and the lower left of the chuck is sometimes referred to as short-ribs, makes me wonder if the Korean butcher would consider US “chuck-eye” as rib meat entirely since it really is just an extension of the muscles that make the rib-eye. Given the lower part of the rib seems to be to be considered (bottom) sirloin in Korea, this would account for the “controversy”.
The economics here are very notable. The whole rib-eye (chuck-eye included) is considered some of the best meat to a Korean consumer. Meanwhile in the US the chuck-eye, while nice, is pretty low on the preference scale. Accordingly, the US cattleman can sell what would normally be an inexpensive cut in the US for a high price in Korea. This is why the US is keen to open the beef market here.
(Tangent: The most expensive US cuts are in the “short loin”. This is where you get your T-bones, Porterhouse, and filet mignon. Yet the Korean chart basically ignores what would be a key classification in the US. It’s just lumped in with the “fore-sirloin” as the Chosun piece refers to it. That same article indicates that distinction may change however. On the other hand, if the above chart is the final Korean version it just seems like they are singling out the tenderloin.)
21 Comments
Can you point to the “Angus” part of the animal?
Wow, I’m hungry now. Guess a trip to the Osan Commissary for some ribeyes is in order. Let the rains come… My grill can handle it.
Brendon> Do not know if you jest, but Angus is a breed not a cut.
Dave> You know it! I was drooling the whole time writing this. And without a commissary for us poor civilians I am SOL. What I would not give for a nice prime rib (which would be the short and sirloins).
This was a reference to a recent Jack in the Box commercial, which your diagrams made me recall:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIKizLGVtvA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Svt1bVEpDoY
I am a fan of advertising, and I think Jack in the Box does some good advertising. Their agency has a great sense of humor. For good measure, here are the Meaty Cheesy Boys:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifUJ5–4tjI
Oh, I’m a civilian too; just a military retiree. I can get the white horseradish, too!
I apologize for bringing up the fact that some of us miguk ex-pats have access to certain things that many in this audience do not. Best get back to my Sam Adams Summer Ale.
I think the Angus is the part that goes over the fence last.
Brendan> Cute, very cute.
Not only don’t they know when, but also don’t they know how to cut the bull.
Ten miles from my home is a farmer who sells grass-fed, grass-finished beef, pastured pork, chicken, lamb, and goat meat. Besides the various cuts of meat and soup bones, she also makes several varieties of pork and lamb sausages and even goat and veal sausages. We’re not in Korea anymore, Toto! Prices are higher than supermarket factory farm junk but still lower than Korean factory farm junk. I don’t think pastured meat is available in Korea, and Koreans wouldn’t like it anyway since it’s less fatty than grain-fed.
One of the toughest decisions I’ll have to make today is whether to cook up that farm-made rosemary and garlic lamb sausage with Swiss chard or Savoy cabbage.
#8,
Well, I’ve had lamb and mutton in Korea several times. I’m also partial to bison, which is also leaner than beef. Cosco used to sell some here in Korea until the Korean government got screwy with anything that looks like an American cow.
At least you can still get venison at some restaurants here.
All the lamb and mutton I’ve ever had in Korea was imported from Oz; and the local farmed venison is a poor substitute for the stuff that still has a slug from my gun in it.
This story also reminded me of how much Koreans pay for “oxtails” for soupmaking. Last time I checked, which was some years ago, they were going for about 90,000 a pop compared with about a sawbuck back in the World. Another one of the “advantages of” the “Land and People are One” mentality.
Here’s the angus:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,276052,00.html
LOS ANGELES — CKE Restaurants Inc. (CKR), the parent company of the Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s fast food chains, want a federal court to order rival Jack In The Box Inc. to stop suggesting that CKE uses cow anus to make its Angus beef hamburgers.
CKE sued Jack In The Box in U.S. District Court Friday over two TV ads, including one in which executives laugh hysterically at the word “Angus” and another where the chain’s mascot, Jack — a man with the round clown head and pointy nose — is asked to point to a diagram of a cow and show where Angus meat comes from.
“I’d rather not,” Jack replies.
The employee asking the question traces a circle in the air with his pen while pronouncing the word Angus.
No, the US is keen to sell beef here as any possible cut will get a high price in Korea. The profit margin on oxtails and bones is certainly extreme compared to the US, but any cut will make money. The only drawback to the US beef for consumers here is the lack of Clenbuterol aftertaste and its attendant arrhythmia.
“the local farmed venison is a poor substitute for the stuff that still has a slug from my gun in it.”
Sure, but it’s still better than the usual chicken, beef, or pork.
Had never heard of clenbuterol.
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OA/ba.....enbute.htm
Yikes. Is it really standard practice to administer it in the Korean beef industry?
If you think eating meat from animals treated with clenbuterol is bad, consider that it’s also a popular steroid in the weightlifting world, as are some concoctions originally intended for horses. Probably among the reasons Arnold has such awful bitch tits nowadays.
Can you post a diagram of the Korean various dog cuts? It’d be interesting to learn how they might differ from Chinese dog cuts.
–Remort
Fascinating, Dram_man. Thanks for that. You learn something new every day.
@#15:
Does that mean taking clenbuterol would give me bitch tits, too?
Must explain these, belonging to Ms. Kwak Hyun Hwa. (SFW)
*If the link turns up dodgy it’s this, http://badnom.com/447 *
wait.. how is that link not work safe? I never thought watching bad dancing was grounds for getting fired…
Two weeks in Korea and no hang-gogi in site (Mutton). What a blow. The beef is horrendously expensive. I live in Pyeontaek, and the E-mart here simply said that they do NOT keep mutton!
Amazing. We need some Indians here, fast! An Indian restaurant that does not serve lamb curry is unthinkable>