Do speckle park cattle hold the secret to a tender and flavoursome steak?

ABC NEWS (Australia)

ABC’s Landline has a special report on speckle park cattle which is shaking up the nation’s beef industry. Scientific analysis shows that speckle park cow’s meat has some unique qualities that make it highly desirable.

Transcript

00:00It's nearing lunchtime at this 150-year-old pub, recently transformed into an elegant,

00:16fine dining restaurant in inner Melbourne.

00:19A venue that specialises in steak of only the highest quality.

00:24With 18, sometimes 22 different types of steak on the menu.

00:29But in more than two decades, head chef Jake First has never served meat so good as this.

00:36It's definitely at the top.

00:37So as a grass-fed product, the tenderloin is probably the best I've had and experienced

00:41in a long time.

00:43So just to have the tenderness but married up with the flavour as well, which rarely

00:47you get both of those together with the tenderloin.

00:51So what are these most prime of all cuts?

00:53A tenderloin from a two-year-old grass-fed Speckle Park heifer, dry-aged for 38 days.

01:00And a ribeye from 150-day grain-fed Speckle Angus cross.

01:07Each mouth-watering steak will set you back $360, which diners are happy to pay.

01:15Paul Guy was responsible for making it all happen.

01:19Paul spent 25 years as a bloodstock agent who bought and sold expensive racehorses for

01:24mostly rich clients around the globe.

01:27He came back to Australia to live a few years ago and took up raising cattle.

01:32But with a new perspective, fanatical about pedigrees, before every horse sale he used

01:38to collate pages of breeding records on every horse.

01:41When he applied the same fastidious approach to cattle, he discovered some very enticing

01:46qualities about Speckle Park.

01:49Above all, it's tasty steak.

01:52If you're going to put your hand in your pocket for a really expensive menu item, well it

01:59better be really good, it better deliver and Speckle Park just do.

02:03They taste delicious.

02:04Talk to anyone who's eaten it and you will get rave reviews.

02:07Not saying it's better than everything, it's different.

02:11In my long career as an agricultural reporter, I've seen dozens of the newer breeds proclaimed

02:16as the next big thing in Australia's beef industry.

02:19Of those, most have fallen by the wayside.

02:22So will that fate affect Speckle Park?

02:24Well no, say the supporters of this breed, because they now have some serious science

02:28to back up their claims.

02:31Omega-3, a long-chain fatty acid, is found in avocados and olive oil.

02:36It lowers blood pressure and has a range of other health benefits for the brain and heart.

02:41Australia's cattle have unusually high levels of long-chain fatty acids.

02:47In recent years, cattle producers have selectively bred cattle with high intramuscular fat, or

02:52IMF.

02:53Commonly called marbling, there's a belief that the greater the interspersed fat, the

02:58more flavoursome the meat.

03:00But Professor Aduli's research suggests it's only part of what makes a juicy, tender, flavoursome

03:06steak.

03:07I want to say that there's more to meat eating quality than marbling, because there are other

03:12important traits that affect texture, flavour, juiciness and health benefits as well.

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