Bovril, formerly a beef extract, now is the trademarked name of a thick, salty yeast extract, sold in a distinctive, bulbous jar.
A spoonful of the semi-liquid paste in hot water makes a savoury drink. It can also be used as a flavouring for soups, stews or porridge, or spread on bread, especially toast.
The name, like many late 19th and early 20th centurytradenames, comes (partially) from Latin, bos meaning "ox." The vril component of the name comes from Bulwer-Lytton's once-popular 19th century "lost race" novel, The Coming Race, in which a subterranean humanoid race have mental control over, and devastating powers from, an energy fluid named "Vril."
In November 2004 the manufacturers, Unilever, announced that the composition of Bovril was being changed from beef to a yeast extract, both in the hope of allaying fears of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), and to make the product suitable for vegetarians. According to Unilever, "in blind taste tests 10% did not notice any difference and 50% preferred the new product." However, it implies that as many as 50% of consumers may not agree with their words.
Beef is the meat of steer, ox, or cow, and is the most nutritious and largely consumed of all animal foods.
Beef should not be eaten as soon as killed, but allowed to hang and ripen,—from two to three weeks in winter, and two weeks in summer.
Beef to be well roasted should be started in hot oven and heat decreased, so that when carved the slices will be red throughout, with a crisp layer of golden brown fat on the top.
It's the tenderest meat available on the beef carcass, and it's all the more tender if the bull never has any urge to make any pelvic thrusts throughout the course of its life; the less a muscle is used, the more tender it will be.
When you're looking for beef, you're looking for beef that is obviously well matured, that is to say has been hung for a sufficiently long period of time as to have reached the peak of its flavour potential.
Kobe beef is not exported from Japan, so the best that anyone living outside of the country is going to get without a plane ticket is Kobe-style beef; and even that costs a small fortune.
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