Top 10 Raw Unprocessed Beef Products(Namibia)

Best Beef Cuts And Processed Goods Popular Among Beef Lovers

Composed By: Francois Boois (opens new window)@Facebook

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I wrote this article with much anticipation it is no secret that Namibians do love their meat we will be running through our list of processed and preprocessed meat cuts and products due to a lack of statistical proof we had to gather information from crowd sources and social media and this is what we came out with. We will start from top to bottom this might come as a surprise to most but our first place goes to the all but popular breakfast and braai(barbeque) main ingredient.

1.Boere/Braai Wors/Brätwurst

What breakfast will be complete in Windhoek without the popular Braai Wors for the once who are not familiar to this beef product it's a homemade sausage that started back in Germany called Bratwurst and Namibia being a former German Colony assimilated it right into thier daily gastronomical customs and the arrival of major South African retail chains spread it throughout southern Africa. It has taking many forms as time past today it is available in a wide range of flavours and twist the locals are also experimenting with it in fish not that I have tried it yet,the latter of course.

The 2nd place is occupied by a product Namibians and South Africans are very fond of even though it has been around the world since the dawn of mankind southern Africans Branded it and called it Biltong.

2.Biltong(Beef Jerky)

Biltong is Southern Africa's version of Beef Jerky although mankind have been drying meat to preserve it for as long as time the practice has all but extinct in the last century since the arrival of the much celebrated refrigerator but some farmers and hunters stuck to the practice adding traditional recipes and some rather unorthodox techniques turning dried meat into a brandable beef product loved by all who get a taste of this snack food,and Namibia being the second most displaced countries in the world having it as a road trip snack or (pad kos)as the locals call it is a must,it's possibly the major reason it made it so popular.

The 3rd place goes to a more widely controversial beef cut the beef fore shank, reason being some cultural practices consider it to be more set out to male guardians of a household.

3.Beef Fore Shanks

The Fore shank is cut from the front legs of the carcass, with the humerus bone exposed by a straight cut. The meat is wonderfully beefy, but there are a few things you need to consider before you run out and buy a dozen kilos of the stuff. There are strong tendons running through the muscle tissue, which oddly enough only add to the muscle's inherent toughness due to its usage. The main reason the foreshank is considered a male guardian meat cut is that the meat on it is extremely tough as previously mentioned and require a lot of cooking hours often after all that cooking it often requires a lot of chew time luckily Namibians do a lot of camp fire cooking with equipment ready to match any meat processing plant i introduce you to the three legged cast iron camping pot known to locals as the potjie that has magical powers of making almost any meat as soft as a sponge.

The 4th place goes out to the beef cut that made Namibia's street food a must taste even to those who are highly sceptical towards street food, here we have the Beef Brisket.

4.Beef Brisket.

For the regulars at the Windhoek informal outskirts you almost always run into road side street hawkers and vendors offering you a taste of the meat they grill as a friendly appetiser the meat they mostly often take that first cut from is the Brisket leaving you drooling for more what you've just discovered is a local secret called Kapana, The Brisket is a cut from the underside of a cow, which is tough and filled with fat and collagen. It's a forgiving, wonderful cut of beef with amazing flavour, whether you go for juicy, carveable slices or shreds of beautiful pulled quality meat, As collagen cooks, it breaks down, turns into gelatin, and dissolves into the meat. This is one of the things that makes smoked/braai`d brisket such an incredibly delicious beef cut much to the delight of Namibian meat lovers.

Our 5th spot goes to the leanest meat of the bunch, ground beef or as the locals call it mincemeat is mostly a quick dinner main ingredient to locals.

5.Ground Beef/Minced meat

We are fairly certained that ground beef only makes this list due to it's fast cooking capabilities Namibians are not very outgoing people despite enjoying a lot of fast food and quick dinners, although being infamous for being late for halve the events they attend throughout the year, ground beef is usually fixed with a locally produced pasta,Ground beef, minced beef or beef mince is beef that has been finely chopped with a knife or a meat grinder or mincing machine. The versatility of Ground Beef has made it one of Namibia's all-time favorite goto cuts. From hamburgers to lasagna and growing with popularity as locals experimenting with a local version of dumpling which is simply fried down dough called fat cakes which is becoming a very popular treat since two local milling companies had a dispute for it's name earlier in the year.

The 6th place goes to a cut popular with major franchises the sirloin/rib eye or a Braai favourite to locals it's what you get in town when you ask for a perfect steak.

6.Sirloin Steak/Rip Eye

When you say Braai in Namibia as in South Africa you mean business no weekend event in Namibia is complete without a local beer and a Braai, as is customary in all cattle countries the Sirloin steak is one of the most common cuts of beef and often the steak lover?�s first choice. It has a fine but firm texture, a richness in flavour and it?�s perfectly suited to roasting or braai(barbeque) so with a little braai sous(barbeque sauce) and some herbs and spices the Sirloin can be in a complete class of it own but even if it's adored by many the rise in meat prices has made it difficult for locals to enjoy this great party maker it's price has rocketed making it a popular and rare delicacy to locals who had to preorder it from local butchers so if you are in town and want to enjoy a perfect steak try the roads least travelled to find this elusive Delicacy.

The 7th place takes us to the infamous outer slumps of the city through Katutura and the countries rural areas influenced by its rural roots where a fondness for cow guts/tripe have grown in popularity a meat source locals call Matangara.

7.Tripe/Cow Guts/Matangara

Like it's Neighbour's the Namibian Tripe has grown popular tracing it's roots back to the precolonial era it was really something the apartheid regime has forced locals to assimilate like most forced habits even though recent versions have found tripe to contain a lot of health benefits Like most organ meats, tripe is extremely nutritious and provides benefits to your health. In addition to being a good source of protein, tripe is rich in B vitamins and minerals, including calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, zinc, manganese and selenium.Local packaging companies started processing and packaging tripe much to the amaze of its growing popularity in the impoverished rural areas even though it's distribution is more aid driven than market related.

The 8th place goes to crock pot lovers a proper home cooked meal is usually the foundation of every home in Windhoek it has been the force behind the growth of the meat industry in Namibia with one Beef cut at its source introducing the Beef Short loin.

8.The Beef Short Loin

The area below the backbone is home to some of the most tender and popular cuts of beef, its where the short loin cut can be found its popular around cattlemen as a barbeque cut but Namibians have turned it into a slow cooked crock pot meat mostly reserved for late night dinners most Namibian Dinners are usually straight forward with a minimum supply of ingredients making the short loin a prime suspect for its original tastiness with its soft flavoured meat.Although some might disagree with me here blindly trying to give a local ground maize the prefaired side dish for local crock pot dinners it has been rice the entire time as it is throughout the majority of the world,the ground maize or pap as the locals call it has lost its charm and throne to the ever reliable rice supply.

Coming in 9th is the Beef chuck its usually used to cover or patch the lack beef in different cooking situations because of its adaptable qualities.

9.Beef Chuck

Beef chuck is a huge primal cut that comes mainly from the shoulder section of the beef carcass, as well as parts of the neck, ribs, and the upper arm,a very versatile meat cut to Namibians it is used in almost any cooking scenario making it one of the most useful of the bunch in the past, about half of the beef chuck would be made into roast, and the rest ended up either in the grinder or sold as stew off cuts(Af vals). And that's still done today. There will always be a market for these obsolete beef chuck roasts. And beef chuck also happens to be the best meat for making burgers, because it has just the right fat content. Nevertheless, these days local butchers have a lot more options for how to order and fabricate beef chucks.

And the last spot on this years top 10 beef cuts and Products goes to the corn Beef or as the locals call it just Beef even though it's very popular and risen in demand skyrocketing it's price.

10.Corned Beef(Beef)

The fresh cuts of corned beef you find at the grocery store are usually the brisket cuts. The brisket is from the front part of the cow. The beef is called ?�corned,?? which refers to the curing method of the meat. Corned beef used to be dry-cured using ?�corns?? of salt. Today, this meat is brined with salt water. The method of preserving meat using salt has been around for ages,usually a lunch time beef meal for most Namibians corned beef has been around for ages in Namibia even though locals aren't much interested in it regarding any experimental dishes that is, usually prefer as a quick breakfast or lunch,not really anything great you can say about corned beef because it's more of an imported product than it is a locally sourced beef product.

That's it for this weeks top 10 click The link below to E-mail the editor if there's something you'd like to share or want to clarify something pertaining to this particular article thanks for reading and kind regards:-).

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A little Honourable mention for The Oxtail that didn't make the list, this time around but still loved by many in this part of the world.

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