The efficiency of the Piedmontese breed is even carried into the efficiency of cooking time required by the beef. Based on the years of data collected by the USDA MARC test on Piedmontese beef, even half-blood piedmontese cooks significantly faster:
"The strongest contrast shown in my analysis was between the Piedmontese crosses and the Hereford-Angus-crosses. They had equal cooking losses (31.1%) but different steak weights, cooking times and cooking rates. The average Piedmontese steak was almost 70g heavier than the Hereford-Angus cross steak (357.1g compared to 288.3g). Which is expected due to larger rib-eye areas. The cooking rate for Piedmontese is 9.2g per minute and for Hereford-Angus is 8.3g per minute. Applying those rates to a 12 ounce rib-eye steak from each breed, the Piedmontese steak would take approximately 5 minutes less to achieve a medium degree on doneness."
-Kay Theer - biological laboratory technician, MARC |
