Beef is a nutritious and delicious meat that comes in many grades and types. You may have heard the term “heavy beef” used before when talking about beef, but what exactly does it mean? In this article, I’ll explain what heavy beef is, how it compares to other beef grades, and things to consider when buying beef
What Is The Official Definition Of Heavy Beef?
There is no official USDA definition for “heavy beef.” It’s more of an informal term used to describe beef from older cattle. Specifically, heavy beef comes from mature cattle over 30 months of age. These more mature cattle produce beef that is less tender and has less marbling than beef from younger cattle.
The USDA uses a grading system to classify beef quality based on marbling and animal age. The top grades are Prime and Choice, which come from young cattle under 24 months old. Select is moderately marbled but comes from slightly older animals. Lower grades like Standard and Commercial come from older cattle with less marbling.
So while not an official USDA grade, “heavy beef” refers to older, tougher beef from cattle in the lower classifications. The term is sometimes used as a marketing ploy to make this type of beef sound more appealing to buyers.
How Does Heavy Beef Compare To Other Grades Of Beef?
The main differences between heavy beef and higher quality grades like Prime and Choice beef come down to tenderness, juiciness, and flavor.
Due to the more advanced age of the cattle heavy beef has more connective tissue. This makes it chewier and not as tender. Lacking sufficient marbling heavy beef can also turn out drier when cooked. With less fat integrated into the muscle, it does not have as much juicy flavor.
Higher marbled Prime and Choice beef from younger cattle is more tender and moist. The abundant creamy streaks of fat melt during cooking, basting the meat from within and delivering juicy, buttery flavor. This is why the top grades are best suited for quick, hot cooking methods like grilling and broiling.
Lower graded heavy beef may need slow braising for tenderness. Look for cuts like chuck roast and brisket that have a lot of connective tissue. Slow cooking breaks this down into gelatin, making the meat succulent. Use plenty of moisture like broth and cook low and slow.
Should You Buy Heavy Beef? Things To Consider
Heavy beef can work well for certain recipes like stews, but should be approached with realistic expectations. Here are some things to consider before purchasing heavy beef:
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Tenderness – Expect that heavy beef will not be as naturally tender as higher graded beef. Look to braise, stew, or slow cook tougher cuts.
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Flavor – With less marbling, heavy beef sacrifices some richness and juiciness. Add external fat or use flavor boosting techniques like marinades.
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Price – Heavy beef may be cheaper, but higher grades like Choice provide superior eating quality per pound. Only opt for heavy beef if the discount is substantial.
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Health – Heavy beef has more saturated fat. Consume leaner cuts in moderation as part of a healthy diet.
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Environmental impact – Grass-fed heavy beef requires more resources over a longer cattle lifespan. For sustainability, consider locally raised grass-fed Prime or Choice beef.
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Alternatives – For excellent tenderness and flavor, try higher graded Prime or Choice beef instead of heavy beef. Or explore other proteins like chicken, pork, bison, and plant-based alternatives.
Tips For Selecting High Quality Beef
When shopping for any beef, not just heavy beef, use these tips for identifying quality:
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Marbling – Look for white streaks of fat integrated throughout the red meat. More numerous thinner lines are ideal. Avoid beef with thick chunks of fat.
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Color – Fresh beef should be a bright, vibrant red. Dull, brownish hues indicate older meat. The fat should look creamy white, not yellow.
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Texture – High quality beef should be firm with some natural resistance when pressed, but also have a bit of springiness. Avoid beef that feels overly soft or tough and hard.
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Cut surfaces – Look for a freshly cut surface that is slightly moist but not slick with fluid. Dried out, sticky, or slimy surfaces suggest poor handling.
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Smell – Beef should have a clean, meaty aroma. Strong odors like ammonia indicate spoiled beef.
The Bottom Line
While the term “heavy beef” sounds appealing, it refers to tougher, less marbled beef from older cattle. For best quality and flavor, look for highly marbled Prime or Choice grade beef, preferably locally and sustainably raised. Consider heavy beef only if you plan to braise tougher cuts and the price discount is substantial compared to higher grades. With the right techniques and expectations, heavy beef can still make tasty meals, but higher graded beef provides a superior eating experience.
Determination of Final Quality Grade:
Once the level of maturity and marbling is known, these two things are put together to get the Final Quality Grade. In order to use quality grades correctly, you need to know the minimum marbling degrees for each maturity group and the order of the lowest to highest marbling degrees. You also need to know how marbling affects maturity in each quality grade.
1. Check the level of ossification in the top three thoracic vertebra (buttons) and the sacral and lumbar vertebra to find out how mature the carcass’s bones are. Also evaluate the color and shape of the ribs. Check the lean maturity by looking at the color and feel of the lean in the ribeye that is showing between the 12th and 13th ribs. Skeletal Maturity + Lean Maturity = Overall Maturity.
A60 + A40 = A50 (Simple Average)
B60 + A80 = B30 (>40; 10% to bone)
C60 + B10 = C00 (B/C line)
D60 + B20 = C60 (<=100% from bone)
2. Evaluate the marbling in the ribeye and determine the marbling score. Overall Maturity + Marbling Score = USDA Quality Grade.
A70 + Sm40 = Ch–
B60 + Md40 = Cho
3. Determine lean firmness to ensure that the minimum degree of firmness specified for each maturity group is met.
Table illustrating the minimum marbling score requirements for USDA quality grades within each final maturity group
AB stands for “abundant,” MAB for “moderately abundant,” SLAB for “slightly abundant,” MD for “moderate,” MT for “modest,” SM for “small,” SL for “slight,” TR for “traces,” and PD for “practically devoid.” As the maturity level rises, carcasses with final maturity scores of B, C, D, or E need more marbling to stay in the same quality grade. Carcasses having B final maturity scores with Small and Slight marbling must grade U. S. Standard. There is no U. S. Select grade for B maturity carcasses.
Beef Yield Grades
When it comes to beef, yield grades tell you how many boneless, well-trimmed retail cuts you can get from the round, loin, rib, and chuck. However, they also show differences in the total yield of retail cuts. We think that a YG 1 carcass will have the most boneless, closely trimmed retail cuts, which means it will be easier to cut. On the other hand, a YG 5 carcass will have the fewest boneless, closely trimmed retail cuts, which means it will be harder to cut. The USDA Yield Grades are rated numerically and are 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Yield Grade 1 denotes the highest yielding carcass and Yield Grade 5, the lowest.
| Base | Correction factor | Multiplied against |
| % BCTRC = 51.34 | Minus 5.78 | Fat opposite the ribeye, inch |
| Minus 0.46 | Percentage KPH fat | |
| Minus 0.0093 | Carcass weight, pounds | |
| Plus 0.74 | Ribeye area, inch2 |
| Yield Grade | % BCTRC |
| 1 | > 52.3 |
| 2 | 52.3 – 50.0 |
| 3 | 50.0 – 47.7 |
| 4 | 47.7 – 45.4 |
| 5 | < 45.4 |
Meat graders assign a yield grade to a carcass by evaluating:
- the amount of external fat;
- the hot carcass weight;
- the amount of kidney, pelvic, and heart fat; and
- the area of the ribeye muscle.
Graders figure out how much fat is on the outside of the 12th rib by measuring how thick the fat is three-quarters of the way along the ribeye from the chine. They adjust this measurement to reflect unusual amounts of fat in other areas of the carcass. Only graders who are very good at figuring out how easy a beef carcass is to cut make these changes based on whether the thickness of the fat measured is a good representation of the fat covering the rest of the carcass.
Carcass weight is the “hot” or unchilled weight in pounds (taken on the slaughter-dressing floor shortly after slaughter). The grader usually writes this weight on a tag or stamps it on the carcass. The amount of KPH fat is judged by the person looking at the animal and is shown as a percentage of the carcass weight. Usually, this is between 2% and 4% of the carcass weight. Using a dot-grid to measure the size (in inches) of the ribeye muscle at the 12th rib gives you the ribeye’s area.
The following descriptions will help you understand the differences between carcasses from the five yield grades:
Teaching, Research, Extension and Service
Updated March 8, 2013
A quality grade is a composite evaluation of factors that affect palatability of meat (tenderness, juiciness, and flavor). Some of these factors are the age of the carcass, the firmness, texture, and color of the lean, as well as the amount and distribution of marbling in the lean. Beef carcass quality grading is based on (1) degree of marbling and (2) degree of maturity.
Marbling (intramuscular fat) is the intermingling or dispersion of fat within the lean. The amount and spread of marbling in the ribeye muscle at the cut surface is what graders look at after the carcass has been ribbed between the 12th and 13th ribs. Degree of marbling is the primary determination of quality grade.
Each degree of marbling is divided into 100 subunits. In general, however, marbling scores are discussed in tenths within each degree of marbling (e. g. ,Slight 90, Small 00, Small 10).
| Grade | Marbling Score |
| Prime + | Abundant 00-100 |
| Prime ° | Moderately Abundant 00-100 |
| Prime – | Slightly Abundant 00-100 |
| Choice + | Moderate 00-100 |
| Choice ° | Modest 00-100 |
| Choice – | Small 00-100 |
| Select + | Slight 50-100 |
| Select – | Slight 00-49 |
| Standard + | Traces 34-100 |
| Standard ° | Practically Devoid 67-100 to Traces 00-33 |
| Standard – | Practically Devoid 00-66 |
In addition to marbling, there are other ways to evaluate muscle for quality. Firmness of muscle is desirable, as is proper color and texture. Wanted ribeyes will have the right amount of finely dispersed marbling in a firm, fine-textured, bright cherry-red lean. As an animal grows older, its muscles change. The color of the muscles gets darker, and the texture gets rougher.
Maturity refers to the physiological age of the animal rather than the chronological age. Since the exact age is almost never known, physiological maturity is used instead. Signs of physiological maturity include bone characteristics, cartilage ossification, and the color and texture of the ribeye muscle. Cartilage becomes bone, lean color darkens and texture becomes coarser with increasing age. More attention is paid to cartilage and bone maturity because other factors after death can change the color and texture of lean meat.
The cartilage around the backbone vertebrae, excluding the cervical (neck) vertebrae, is used to judge the physiological maturity of a beef carcass. In this case, the cartilage between and on the dorsal edges of the sacral and lumbar vertebrae, as well as the cartilage on the dorsal surface of the spinous processes of the thoracic vertebrae (buttons), are all important. Cartilage in all these areas are considered in arriving at the maturity group. The buttons are the most prominent, softest and least ossified in the younger carcasses. As maturity proceeds from A to E, progressively more and more ossification becomes evident. When the meat is A maturity, the ribs are round and red, but when the meat is E maturity, the ribs are wide and flat. During C maturity, the ribs gradually lose their redness as the age goes up. They usually turn white because they stop making red blood cells and stay white after that. Color and feel of the longissimus muscle are used to tell when a carcass is fully grown when these traits are different enough from normal.
There is a posterior-anterior progression in maturity. So, ossification starts in the sacral area, moves to the lumbar area as the animal ages, and then starts even later in the thoracic area (buttons) of the body. This backwards and forwards movement of ossification means that even young A maturity carcasses will have some ossification in the sacral cartilage.
In terms of chronological age, the buttons begin to ossify at 30 months of age. Determine age using thoracic buttons. The stage of maturity is B, C, D, and E, in that order, when the percentage of ossification of the cartilage reaches 10, 35, 70, and 90%,
| Carcass maturity | Approximate live age |
| A | 9 – 30 mos. |
| B | 30 – 42 mos. |
| C | 42 – 72 mos. |
| D | 72 – 96 mos. |
| E | > 96 mos. |
- Sacral vertebrae (first to ossify)
- Lumbar vertebrae
- Thoracic vertebrae (buttons – last to ossify)
- Size and shape of the rib bones
- Condition of bones
| Maturity Group | |||||
| Vertebrae | A | B | C | D | E |
| Sacral | Distinct separation | Completely fused | Completely fused | Completely fused | Completely fused |
| Lumbar | No ossification | Nearly completely ossified | Completely ossified | Completely ossified | Completely ossified |
| Thoracic | No ossification | Some ossification | Partially ossified | Considerable ossification (outlines of buttons are still visible) | Extensive ossification (outlines of buttons are barely visible) |
| Thoracic buttons | 0-10% | 10-35% | 35-70% | 70-90% | >90% |
- A- Red, porous and soft
- B- Slightly red and slightly soft
- C- Tinged with red, slightly hard
- D- Rather white, moderately hard
- E- White, nonporous, extremely hard
- A- Narrow and oval
- B- Slightly wide and slightly flat
- C- Slightly wide and moderately flat
- D- Moderately wide and flat
- E- Wide and flat
Color and Texture – As maturity increases, lean becomes darker in color and coarser in texture
| Maturity | Lean Color | Lean Texture |
| A0 | Light cherry-red | Very fine |
| B0 | Light cherry-red to slightly dark red | Fine |
| C0 | Moderately light red to moderately dark red | Moderately fine |
| D0 | Moderately dark red to dark red | Slightly coarse |
| E0 | Dark red to very dark red | Coarse |
- When bone and lean age are about 40 units apart, use the simple average.
- When there is a difference of more than four units between the maturity of the lean meat and the bone meat, average the two maturity levels and move the average toward the bone unless:
- If the mean of the bone and lean maturities doesn’t cross the B/C line from the bone maturity side (e.g. g. “Bone = B and Lean = C, with B being the average and C being the average for lean,” or “Bone = C and Lean = B, with B being the average for lean;” average the two stages of maturity and move the average to the stage closest to the bone.
- If there aren’t big differences between the bone and lean maturities—one is in B maturity and the other is in C maturity—and the average of the two moves across the B/C line from the bone maturity side, the overall maturity will be on the bone maturity side. It will be either B-100 or C-00.
- Overall maturity can’t be more than one full maturity group different from bone maturity. A80 lean + D20 skeletal = C20 overall.
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FAQ
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