Whenever I have guests visit from abroad, which is quite often, and I take them around Davao, or outside the City, one reaction is almost always certain. When they see a cow, they are surprised. “I thought they didn’t have cows in the Philippines, where did that come from?” I can assure you, there are cows in the Philippines, though.
Most of the cattle from the Philippines comes in from Australia. Generally, the cattle comes here when it is still relatively young, and it is then raised in the Philippines until it reaches maturity, when it is slaughtered and eaten. When you see signs in meat stores, or on restaurant menus that say “100% Australian Beef” that is not exactly what you might think.
As far as I know, there is not any beef imported from Australia to the Philippines, only live cattle. Most of the cattle originates from Australia, so it has Aussie roots, but the final act of raising the cattle, butchering it, etc. is done here in the Philippines.
Of course, it is always a contention that the meat available here in the Philippines is tough. I can attest that it is. From time to time you can find tender meat, but it is an exception, no doubt. So, if the cattle is quailty animals imported from abroad, why is it tough? Usually that comes down to butchering method, and a lack of ageing. These are the things that make Philippine beef tough and also sometimes less flavorful.
I do know of a few places in the Philippines where you can almost always get tender and flavorful beet. One of the places I’d recommend is the Clubhouse at Del Monte in Manolo Fortich Bukidnon.
Happy eating, everybody!
********
Sidenote: Regular LiP reader and contributor, David Katague is having a little contest on his site. He is offering a prize of a 2 night stay at his beach house in Marinduque. Go over and check it out, perhaps you can win the prize! Good luck to you, and to David too.
Another thing that makes the beef tough is the fact that the bulls are not castrated and turned into steers. Their diet has a large affect on the meat as well as cattle here are just field grazed while most western cattle is corn fed. It's a shame really because Australian beef is some of the best in the world, but here expats will associate it with tough meat. How any times have you heard an expat say "I hate that Australian Beef!"
Hi BrSpiritus- Good points there, Louis. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Bob – I looked at that picture of a scrawny Brahman bull and wonder, "Where's the Beef?" 😆
Hi Paul- 😆
Hi Bob,
Just to expand on what you wrote … nearly all cattle exported to the Philippines from Australia are from the (tropical/sub tropical) north of Australia and are predominantly breeds reared for live export with greater than 50% of Bos indicus genes which are suited to the climate there and have higher survival rates in that climate. However as the % of Bos indicus genes increases the tenderness and palatability of the meat decreases. This is further reduced by poorer nutrition, environmental harshness, management and slaughter practices adopted in the Philippines.
The top quality Australian beef are Bos taurus breeds from the southern temperate states of Australia. The meat from these is tender and world renowned.
There is little domestic demand in Australia for meat from the northern breeds.
cheers,
Michael
Hi Michael- that is interesting, and something that I did not know, so I appreciate the info. That's the great thing about LiP, always plenty of knowledgeable people sharing information!
The steak served at the Barbarosa Restaurant in Gasan, MDQ is always tender. The owner a german expat informed me it is imported from Australia. I agree with Bob that the aging process is important to the quality of beef marketed.
Speaking of meat products, has any one tasted ostrich steak.? It taste like a cross between a chicken and beef. Very delicious but super expensive. It is served only in a few restaurants in Makati. I understand there are already ostrich farms in Cagayan supplying ostrich steak to Manila. Anyone knows more about ostrich steaks?
Hi David B Katague- Ostrich meat is readily available at dozens of restaurants in Davao. There are also places where you can buy raw ostrich meat to cook at home. I love it. Ostrich meat is very lean, and thus has very low caloric content. Also, because of the very low amount of fat, it really needs to be cooked right, or it will be quite dry. For me, I don't feel that it has a chicken taste at all, more or less just very similar to beef, but all of our taste buds can be different. Good stuff! There are a number of Ostrich farms in the Davao area.
Maayong Buntag Bob
A good steak is one thing I will miss when I move to the RP. There is nothing like a good corn feed Black Angus steak. I guess nothing is perfect. The fresh seafood I hope makes up for the lack of good steaks.
Hi Larry- I hear you, my friend! If you could only get a good steak more readily here, the surf and turf would be super! 😯
I have to talk with my friend's wife. Her grandparents are the ones with the ranch in Bukidnon. Last I heard they were going to try raising angus beef up there but I don't know if they ever followed through on the plan.
Hi Bob – Wondering if you could sight some specific examples of meat stores and/or supermarkets to buy Ostrich meat here in Davao as well as perhaps a Restaurant or two whom in your opnion prepares it properly. Thanks
As I was reading, I thought of a reason but Luis beat me to the punch.
I am so glad on of the items I brought with me was a pressure cooker. We now cook all beef and most pork in it. It is not rare but tender. Even pork rib meat falls off the bone.
With food here, one observation I always love to comment is the Swiss Deli products sold in the markets "Veal Sausage" made with chicken and pork.
Most of us remember the old commercial "Where's the beef" for me it is now "Where's the Veal"
I think another reason is our cattle are grassfed, Corn fed cattle is supposed to be less tough.
I have to agree our beef is tough thank heavens for pressure cooker, LOL LOL! Even tenderloin is pretty tough, hahaha!
If you want nice US beef go to that shop beside Chimes. I forgot the name, LOL! i am tehre often but just tell the driver let's go to Chimes, LOL!
I am not crazy about ostrich, I bought some at Lim Kiat Kai supermarket a few years ago while I was in Cagayan (YES Bob and Feyma I do travel by land even if it's far so long as it involves Canines)
All I can say is ostrich blood tastes like human blood. Don't ask.
Veal Sausage is from Pork and Chicken? ROTFL
I would think it would be easy to buy and slaughter a baby cow in this country?
I don't know if this actually works, let me know if it does. Ok am off to SM need to buy meat for the 4 legged kids.
http://steamykitchen.com/blog/2007/08/28/how-to-t…
How to Turn Cheap “Choice” Steaks into Gucci “Prime” Steaks
Massively salt your steaks 15 min – 1 hour before grilling.
Notice that I didn’t say, “sprinkle liberally” or even “season generously.” I’m talking about literally coating your meat until you can’t see red. It should resemble a salt lick.
Let that meat be totally overwhelmed with the salt for 1 hour or less. Rinse, pat dry dry dry and then you’re ready to grill. Before y’all throw a hissy fit, just hear me out. I first learned of this technique from Judy Rodgers’ Zuni Café Cookbook. Judy massively salts her chicken before roasting, and I’ve adapted the practice to steaks. Thanks to a couple of other books (McGee’s On Food and Cooking and Alton Brown’s I’m Just Here For the Food), and a few fellow bloggers, I have an explanation of how it works.
Hi BrSpiritus- If it's available, let me know! I'll buy some and at least give it a try.
Hi richard- I know that there is a place in Agdao where they sell Ostrich, but I don't know the name. Feyma takes care of that. For restaurants, you can get ostrich steaks at Claude's, De Bonte Ko, Sen Ton Won, Whistle Top and a lot of others that I can't recall right now.
Hi Bruce- We also have a pressure cooker and use it from time to time. Certainly not all the time, though.
Are you sure that the veal sausages at Swiss Deli are not veal? They have some excellent food there, and it would surprise me if they were passing it off as something that it wasn't.
Hi Cheryll Ann- You're right, I've actually had tough tenderloin. Ha ha…
Hi Cheryll Ann- I like ostrich meat. Maybe it's because I haven't ever tasted human blood before! 😆
Hi Cheryll Ann- I have heard of fish cooked in salt like that, but never heard of it used as a tenderizing agent. Maybe I'll try it some time. Thanks for the tip!
I just came home from Claude's I had some tasty tenderloin medium rare, Claude, himself was there I forgot to ask him where he gets his tenderloin from, LOL LOL!
Hi Cheryll Ann- I know where Claude gets his beef…. I don't think I should post it here, though. 😀
Could you email the info to me?
I am so sick and tired of tough meat, even Lisa's meat is not too great.
My steaks and some other stuff I buy at that store outside Chimes, but other meat at SM or Lisa's meats. (Never in the palengke, OMG even their tenderloin is like sooo tough)
Oppsies I just got an email from you after posting, LOL!
Hi Bob,
Yes, I am inclined to agree. Any beef steaks I have had in the Philippines have been, at best, average. I tried to buy fillet steaks in March of this year at several of the butcher counters in the larger supermarkets, but the butchers didn't even appear to know what a fillet was, even when asked by Vangie. This suggests to me that since such things are clearly a relatively expensive thing there, there is little demand, and consequently, the butchers don't know how to deal with this. What I have noticed, is that Filipino's tend not to enjoy meat or fish for it's own flavour, as I do, but to chop it up into small pieces and add lots of other juices to create a new flavour. The use of soy sauce is almost endemic (can you tell I don't like soy sauce?), and is the reason why I often shy away from Filipino foods. A few years ago, in the UK, before Vangie and I were married, we went to a butchers shop to buy meats for a Birthday party buffet, and amongst other things purchased were a few absolutely delicious looking pieces of Liver, which I love. Later, at the birthday party and looking forward to some of this liver, I asked where it was, only to be shown that it had been chopped up into several thousand bits about 2mm square and mixed with a dozen other meats and sauces. Boy, was I gutted!
Mind you bob, I believe you did write recently about a place you visited when you were on your "trip" with John and Migs where you enjoyed large succulent steaks, and during our next visit, I may well pay a visit to that place myself…perhaps you'd like to join me, my treat? 🙂
Is the meat in the West also not softer because of all the growth hormones and other crap that is injected. In 1/2 time those cows look like Arnold Swarzenegger in his prime time 🙂
Hi Jim Hannah- Yes, you are certainly correct about the use of "flavor enhancers" to cover the real taste of the meat. Sawsawan, with soy sauce, calamansi, vinegar and such are so common, and basically mask the flavor of the meat. I like to savor the flavor of the meat itself, like you.
Hi Jim Hannah- I might take you up on that one! 😉
Hi fusion- I could be wrong, but I don't think that is the case. All the hormones and other stuff injected into the cattle has only been going on in recent years, and US beef was tender decades ago, I think.
Longer than you think. At least since the early 80's. That is already more than 25 years.
"With little regard for the cows or the humans that eventually eat them, the beef industry pumps growth hormones into upwards of 80 percent of beef cattle raised in the U.S. each year."
"The European Union has criticized the use of hormones in meat production since the 1980s due to strong concerns about their safety. The EU prohibited the use of hormones for non-therapeutic purposes in 1985"
http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/rbgh_hormo.cfm
Hi Bob- I have found on my travels there is not two steaks the same where ever you are in the world. Michaels insight into Australian Cattle rearing was enlightening.
I think that is why we use papaya leaves as well as the papaya itself along with pineapple to marinate the meat in order to tenderise it prior to cooking.
Whilst I would agree the Del Monte Club House steaks are good by Phuluppine standards they are still not a patch on the beef we have in Britain, home of the Aberdeen Angus.
However I won't die, if I don't get a good steak now and then.
Regards.
Jim.
Just a tip.If you marinate raw pork in pineapple juice for about 24 hours,the acid from the juice will cook the pork.It taste fantastic.
regards John.j.
Hi fusion- Interesting, thanks for sharing that.
Hi Jim Cunningham- I have heard that papaya is an excellent tenderizer, but have yet to try it myself.
Hi john.j.- Yes, I agree. I've used pineapple juice to marinate meat, and it does wonders.
Corn fed beef – there's a very interesting documentary called King Corn (http://www.kingcorn.net/) which asserts that the American diet is essentially corn.
Hi Gary- I haven't seen that movie, but I would tend to think that it is correct. In addition to the US diet being corn, I would argue that corn pretty much drives the US economy in many ways too. Especially since corn is heavily used to produce ethanol.
Hi Bob, one more tip – marinate the steak overnight with beer. Yup, I don't know why but it makes it taste so good too. My husband gets upset though – why waste a good can of beer, he says (jokingly, of course). Hahaha.
Hi Ellen- Now, that is something we have already done, and you are right, it is very good! I have heard that Outback restaurant marinates their steaks in beer too, that is why we tried it! 😆
Hi Bob!
Marie and I are now up to seven cows and two calves for our small herd. When we return we plan to work towards a small fattening operation. We bought three of our cows from a ranch with a good reputation and while I was there got into a discussion with Doctora the owner of the ranch. She indicated that she was interested in crossbreeding her cows with another breed to improve the characteristics. I have a background as a ranch manager when I was younger so I told her that I would research to see what is the best combination. I was shocked to find that it is the Simmental breed. I used to raise this breed on two of the ranches I managed. What shocked me was to see these crossed with African cows as the Simmental breed comes from Switzerland and Germany. I never expected them to thrive in a tropical locale. I discovered that you can only have a maximum of 50% or you lose the heat resistance. Even in the US the Brahma type cattle are considered less desireable for the high end meat market and bring lower prices. Here in the southern US there was a fad of crossing Angus with Brahma because Angus can't stand the heat and have lousy disease resistance. They ended up witjh a pretty mean cow as a result. Many rodeo bulls are Brangus if that tells you anything. I think that the key to raising good beef is a combination of diet , genetics, and reduction of enviornmental stress (heat). Pampered beef makes tender steaks!
Can you email me where I could buy Australain beef in Davao direct from the butcher. I am looking for about 400kg of steaks each month for Boracay. I am also interested in lamb if you know a source
Hi Stephen Roxon – I'd probably check with Lisa's Meats if I were you.
Hi,
I wish to know where I can buy Brangus cattle for breeding and fattening- in Davao especially, or other locations?
Thanks
Hello,
I don't know if this will help but recently I read a article on Internet about a place in Mindanao raising Kobe beef from Wagyu cattle. I'm unsure if they are keeping the cows drunk and massaging them and all or not but was pretty interesting article as the beef was not that expensive.
Justin
Anyone have calfs for sale in the Davao area? Looking to build up a herd in 2017. Brahma preferred but open to other types. s for the issue of tough beef… there are ways to tenderize meat and perhaps they should be explored… even here in Canada its sometimes necessary to marinate a cut of round in Papaya juice to make it edible.