I used to keep Pedigree South Devons, I believe Ruby reds are North Devons, both of them will blow away Aberdeen Angus for taste, as will Red Poll. My wife once was taken to a top end Japanese Restaurant in London, the waiter recommended the Kobe beef, saying it was the best in the world, fed on beer & massaged daily, eaten by the Japanese Emperor etc etc, so she ok I'll try it. Waiter came back & said what did you think about that, she told him she was disappointed & it was not very good. He looked down his nose & said well what would you know about beef? to which she replied My husband is a beef farmer.
If you want the best beef, eat British Native breeds, they have been bred to finish on grass, they cut & eat differently to Continentals, which are drier & stringier, & you will find bits of it stuck in your teeth, also completely lacking in flavour because they are a leaner beef, & usually need to be finished on concentrates. Beef gets it flavour from the fat, British breeds are fattier & self basting, but grass fed animals tend to have a yellow fat which apparently the supermarkets & the housewives doesn't like. I never heard of tasty lean beef. The best eating is a maiden heifer, hung for 32 days, after it comes off the grass late Autumn. And get it delivered to a butcher who can hang it well, joint it down & box it up. A chest freezer takes an awful long time to freeze those boxes down, a good butcher will already freeze them for you, for a better product. Small butchers killing a few animals a day were a blessing, our animal would arrive safely before being shut up in a calf box for a couple of hours to quieten down, before being led quietly into the killing floor. It was important to reduce adrenalin in the meat. Dark purple meat is not well hung, it is a sign of too much adrenalin. I dont know of any Butchers yards now, it has become an industrial process, & a retrograde step imo, if you have one nearby count your blessings, & pay him well.
