Hereford Beef, Herefordshire
As we become more concerned with quality rather than quantity in the beef we buy – partly no doubt because eating less for health reasons we want to really savour what we do consume – beef breeds like the Hereford will continue to enjoy a resurgence. Waitrose has promoted Hereford beef for a good few years now, and the number of Hereford herds is said to be growing rapidly.
The white-faced red-coated beasts are famously docile, making farm management easier, they forage well, and are said to calve easily and prolifically too. But it is taste rather than those traits that wins the hearts of consumers. Hereford beef above all is famed for its marbling, this fat spread through the meat lubricating steaks to keep them juicy, and helping equally with roasts. A rib-eye steak from a Hereford is worth seeking out.
Hereford topside is the preferred meat for making beef olives, the marbling keeping the dish from dryness.
Hereford beef then is a delicacy rather than a commodity. Online retailers are following the Waitrose lead in promoting Hereford meat at premium prices, a premium merited by the quality of the end product – juicy, flavoursome, and tender.
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