# "Cow tenders" or "beef tenders"



## petemccracken (Sep 18, 2008)

I've heard the terms, can anyone explain what they actually are?


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## unichef (Aug 14, 2000)

Cow tenders are tenderloins from female cattle. Usually cows only produce milk for a few years then they are slaughtered. I have used cow tenders in the past. They are generally quite a bit larger, but still very tender. They are cheaper as you might expect. 

You also asked about "beef tenders". The term "tenders" refers to tenderloin. I have also used "bull tenders", which I assume come from older cattle, but I cannot attest to that.


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## boar_d_laze (Feb 13, 2008)

Pete,

Tenders are tenderloins. But you knew that. 

The best way to explain the difference to the extent there is any is to use the USDA inspection partly as analogy (because it's optional, not mandatory), and partly as example because your question is probably motivated by the difference in price between USDA Commercial cow tenders and steer tenders from the same or a higher grade. 

The grades within the USDA system run: Canner, Cutter, Utility, Commercial (aka Standard), Select, Choice and Prime. 

Canners and Cutters are used exclusively for ground meat. Depending on the qulaity of a Utility graded animal, primals are sometimes taken; tenders and strips almost always; the rib, loin and round only with better animals. 

Moving up to Commercial we get to what's probably the heart of your question. All of these lower grades, including Commercial can be either cow, bull or steer meat. But cow, no matter how much marbling or how good it is otherwise, cannot be graded above Commercial. 

The speculation that cow tenders -- at least Commercial cow tenders -- are taken from dairy animals is almost certainly wrong. Similarly, speculation regarding the animal's age as being either very old or very young is also almost certainly wrong. Those animals, as well as diseased (not relating to the health of the meat -- eye diseases, for instance) tend to make up Canner, Cutter and Utility.

To really get a grasp on the subject you have to understand how and why cows and young bulls respectively, in good enough condition to be graded Commercial, are culled from beef herds and end up in the meat chain. But that would make this post ridiculously long. So, let's skip it for now and just say ranchers have their reasons and that Commercial cows are usually in excellent condition and in the prime of life. 

The meat, especially the tenderloin, can be fairly well marbled and tender. However, it's not particularly flavorful. It's frequently used in the restaurant trade because it's comparatively cheap. It's safe to say that if you see a $15.99 8 oz filet mignon dinner -- the meat is almost certainly taken from a Commercial cow tender. 

I've eaten my share of Commercial -- most of us have. Though personally, I wouldn't buy it. From what I've read about you and your Cafe I doubt you'll want to either. 

BDL


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## petemccracken (Sep 18, 2008)

Thank you for the kind words, my inquiry was more along the lines of "knowledge" rather than any consideration for Le Bistro.


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## ed buchanan (May 29, 2006)

When I order cow tenders, they are bigger , cheaper, and a tad tougher. Most of the time they are frozen and from. ew Zealand or Ausralia(at least box says this) 9o% of the time they are packed by Cargil Corp. They are better suited for sliced chateau briand or sliced filet mignon then as an individual filet. But they are acceptable.


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## jim berman (Oct 28, 1999)

As a point of clarity, I believe USDA _inspection _is required, but _grading _is optional.


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## kuan (Jun 11, 2001)

So then what's the difference between a no roll PSMO and a cow tender?


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## boar_d_laze (Feb 13, 2008)

Yes. I actually had that in the original post, decided it was TMI, and edited it down -- leaving in the wrong word. Or, we can just leave it at the short version: Oops.

My bad, 
BDL


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## ed buchanan (May 29, 2006)

Your right the ones I get are inspected(not that it means anything) but no grading marks at all. Not a product of USA.


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## kuan (Jun 11, 2001)

No grading doesn't mean not grown in USA though. It can be inspected but not graded, ie., no roll, which is how the person grading the carcass marks it, with a rolling gadget.


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## ed buchanan (May 29, 2006)

The cases are marked product of New Zealand or wherever.They are not graded. And when they grade, your right a roller is used and the ink made of Grape juice as it is edible and almost indelable.


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## kuan (Jun 11, 2001)

I wonder how they grade beef in other countries. I've had really good Australian beef and really good Argentinian beef. It never occured to me to look for "choice" imported beef.


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## boar_d_laze (Feb 13, 2008)

Apples and oranges. 

"PSMO" means refers to the degree of trimming. 

"No roll" refers to the fact that the USDA inspector hasn't rolled her stamper over the meat. That is, it isn't USDA graded. And as we've already established (but I garbled), all meat slaughtered in the US is (supposedly) inspected by the USDA. However, grading is voluntary. 

BDL


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## kuan (Jun 11, 2001)

So cow tenders and no roll PSMOs are the same?


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## boar_d_laze (Feb 13, 2008)

No. A cow tender can be trimmed or untrimmed. It's alwasy from a cow, which means, whether ti's graded or not, it can't be be better than Commercial by definition.

A "no roll PSMO," is a packer's designation. It could be bull, cow, or steer, and it's quality if it were graded (which it isn't) could be anywhere from Canner to Prime. PSMO means "peeled, side meat on," and fwiw it's a common way to sell tenders at warehouse marekts like Costco, and is prounounced "pismo"

So the cow meat tender and the no roll PSMO could be the same or different. That's why I said the designations were apples and oranges. If you want to know more about your no roll PSMO, you have to ask the packer or wholesaler.

I buy untrimmed, no roll, angus, steer brisket primals for competition (actually, "bought" for comp since I haven't for several years) and home use through a Korean butcher who gets them from a (mostly angus) packer who describes them as "better than Choice." In my opinion, which isn't worth all that much, they range from Choice, yield 3 or 4 up to barely maybe sort of Prime. At any rate, they range from somewhat to very much better than the cheaper rolled Choice brisket primals I get from Smart and Final which I estimate as yield 1 Choice with the occasional, lucky yield 2 or unlucky should have been Select. 

BDL


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## greg (Dec 8, 1999)

PSMO means partially defatted, side meat on. Peeled refers to removal of the silver and is a different trim spec.


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## even stephen (Oct 10, 2005)

Psmo also might be a chopped up version of "psoas minor" the side muscle
that is left on.....or maybe not.....


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## boar_d_laze (Feb 13, 2008)

What matters most is that we all know what we're getting in the bag when we shell out the big bucks for a tender. Still, it's fun to nail the terms down.

These are the first definitions of the acronym PSMO I found in a google search ("PSMO + definition"). Note that the list is unedited and no definitions were excluded, and that the examples include all definitions from the first four pages of the search relating to meat. All of them expand it as "Peeled Side Muscle On," except for Answers.Com which is close enough for government work.

Anyway, here you go:

PSMO - Definition by AcronymFinder
PSMO
PSMO > Filete de lomo completo, con músculo lateral sin pellejo
PSMO - What does PSMO stand for? Acronyms and abbreviations by the Free Online Dictionary.
 beef Wellington: Definition from Answers.com If you search the term PSMO or just look about half way down the page you'll find the statement, "Whole tenderloins are often sold as PSMOs (pismos), which is short for peeled, silver skin, and side muscle left on." It's helpful to see "silver skin... left on" included as this, although contradictory, directly relates to Pete's comment about the membrane, .
But:
http://www.beeffoodservice.com/Cuts/Info.aspx?code=49 Here's one with "defatted," but not "partially" or "partly." I found this by pursuing a link in the "english to spanish/lomo" site.
As I understand it a PSMO, at least as much as possible, is fully defatted. "Peeled," (again as I understand it) refers not to the silver skin but to the outer layer of fat. As someone interested in language, I'd like to see a source for the term(s) partially or partly defatted if one may be provided.

Greg buys the shots (Bulleit), I buy the beer (his choice). I can think of few people with whom I'd rather have a drink.

Fair enough?
BDL

PS. In re evenstephen's remark, if you're interested in the the bovine anatomy as it relates to butchering, check in at Bovine Myology It's worth bookmarking.


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## even stephen (Oct 10, 2005)

Thanks BDL.....had not seen that site....very informative...enjoy your posts..etc.


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## greg (Dec 8, 1999)

BDL, I'm going by the IMPS/NAMP book and recent experience with purveyors, not google. What you're referring to is the 189A, the 189B is what I refer to as a PSMO. Peeling is the action of removing the silver in any kitchen I've worked in. 
Feel free to download the beef section of the meat buyer's guide here: RapidShare: Easy Filehosting


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## petemccracken (Sep 18, 2008)

Interesting, on page 17 of the download, the following is specified:

Quote:

Peeled/Denuded - The term "peeled" implies surface fat and muscle separation through
natural seams so that the resulting cut's seamed surface ("silver" or "blue" tissue) is
exposed with remaining "flake" fat not to exceed 1.0 inch (25 mm) in the longest
dimension and/or 1/8 inch (3 mm) in depth at any point. The term "denuded" implies all
surface fat is removed so that the resulting cut's seamed surface ("silver" or "blue
tissue") is exposed with remaining "flake" fat not to exceed 1.0 inch (25 mm) in any
dimension and/or 1/8 inch (3 mm) in depth at any point.
Peeled/Denuded, Surface Membrane Removed - When the surface membrane ("silver"
or "blue" tissue) is required to be removed (skinned), the resulting cut surface shall
expose at least 90% lean with remaining "flake" fat not to exceed 1/8 inch (3 mm) in
depth.

ENDQUOTE

Now, maybe I'm "old and slow", but I read that to mean that "peeled" refers to fat and "surface membrane" refers to silver/blue skin, am I incorrect?

Inquiring minds want to know!


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## kuan (Jun 11, 2001)

I didn't know there were different 189 designations. I always ordered 189's or PSMO's. I thought they were one and the same.


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## boar_d_laze (Feb 13, 2008)

I'm reading it the same way Pete/Pierre is; not the way Greg is. Not to say that Greg is wrong -- it's entirely a matter of knowing what you're buying and how to deal with it when you get it. Greg is certainly right that I'm referring to IMPS 189A, but if I were buying a whole tender it's not what I'd buy if I could help it, I'd get a 189 and trim it my own bad self. IMO that's great fat for rendering.

That said, AFAIK, IMPS 189A is the industry standard designation for a pismo. Check out Beef - Cuts I don't order from them. If I were ordering, I'd almost certainly go through my angus guy or a couple of other guys I know. In a pinch, I'd settle for a Costco 189A.

BDL


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## greg (Dec 8, 1999)

I've processed many a tenderloin that came out of a box labeled "PSMO" that had the wing fat a 189B does.

Also, I said that peeled as I define it comes from the kitchens I've worked in. If a chef asked me to peel a case of tenders and I left the silver on, I'd be in for a chewing.

Regardless of how peeled is defined, look at the text next to 189A: "*S*ide *M*uscle *O*n - *D*efatted". DSMO?

Compare with 189B: *S*ide *M*uscle *O*n - *P*artially Defatted" PSMO.


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## boar_d_laze (Feb 13, 2008)

From the "Beef Checkoff" (Beef Council + Government) site:
I'm kicking myself for getting this far into it, and promise not to say anyrhing further on the subject. 

Greg, if we can't agree than let's at least agree to disagree. 

BDL


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## rsteve (May 3, 2007)

From Wikipedia:


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## rsteve (May 3, 2007)

Grading designations have changed in the last couple of years: From top to bottom:
Prime
Choice
Select
Standard
Commercial
Utility, Cutter, and Canner grades have been put into a single designation.

*Standard and Commercial are not the same.*

Standard has little or no marbling and often lacks the juiciness and flavor of higher grades of beef. It may be retailed as ungraded or "store brand" meat.

Commercial may have some marbling, but comes from an older animal and may lack tenderness. It also may be retailed as ungraded or "store brand" meat.

Ultimately, when you're buying case pack beef tenderloin, it's very difficult to ascertain the sex of the animal and if the beef was appropriately graded. Tenderloin is lazy muscle tissue that does very little work, so it is the most tender part of the animal. Consequently, I've often opted for _select_ for large scale catering jobs when I know the tenderloin will be heavily seasoned and sauced for service. It has to be, of course, by agreement with the client. Some states are very clear on what grades of beef may be served in restaurants, but vague or indifferent with catering. Recently, I've noticed more and more retailers selling ungraded beef of numerous cuts at very low prices. Angelo Caputo, Angelo Caputo's Fresh Markets in Chicago is notorious for blowing out whole tenderloins at $3.99 a pound, retail. Currently, Caputo's is blowing out rib eye at $3.99 a pound. Current pdf. ad. I'd guess that this ungraded beef is standard or commercial. When I see these prices on ungraded beef @retail, I often wonder how many small restauranteurs sneak in for a few loins.:lol:


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## rsteve (May 3, 2007)

Did I write that????









"Very difficult"........it's impossible unless you can test for trace hormones in the meat. Yeah, sure...our kitchens are set up for testing for trace bovine estrogen.


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## kuan (Jun 11, 2001)

Dude Caputo's deli section is unreal for a supermarket.


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## deltadoc (Aug 15, 2004)

Being from Iowa, and having family of beef, milk and pork growers, and knowing that many of the posters in this thread speak from extensive and usually almost indisputable knowledge, I am surprised about cow meat being sold as tenderloins (tenders) or anything else but pizza meat.

We never ate bull meat, because it was considered not very tasty. I was told because the bull was "intact" if you get my drift, as compared to the highly preferred "steer". No one that I ever knew would eat cow meat. All cows I ever came in contact with were dairy cows and/or breeders. When 
"beyond useful return" they were shipped off to the "pizza factory". 

I once had a taste of a cow meat tenderloin, and I couldn't eat it. The taste was abhorent to me.

I only once ever saw bull meat on sale, and it was from a bull that won 1st place at the Minnesota State Fair. I don't recall whether I bought some of it or not. It was only available as hamburger.

Anyway, thats been my experience with cows, bulls and steers.

doc


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