A is for... Angus - KREUTZERSLexikon
Angus beef is a familiar name to many steak connoisseurs, but where does this breed of cattle originally come from?
The hornless, black-coated Angus cattle, also known as Aberdeen cattle (after the Scottish county of Aberdeen), originated in Scotland, where they were first bred in the late 1800s. This small-framed beef breed is particularly distinguished by the rapid growth of its calves due to the high milk production of their mothers. A consequence of this extremely rapid growth is that the meat of these cattle is very fatty, but also incredibly tender. This high fat content, which made the meat so popular, especially in the USA, is less desirable today in times of widespread health concerns, and so, from around 1950, the Aberdeen cattle were crossbred in Germany with other breeds such as the Simmental. This resulted in the modern German Angus breed.
