The premium beef of the brand SCOTLAND HILLS carries the label “Scotch Beef” and is produced according to high standards. On the one hand, the farms are regularly inspected by the Scottish animal welfare organisation SPCA on a voluntary basis and in unannounced spot checks. Thus, ethical breeding and rearing has been guaranteed in Scotland for many years – farms that violate the guidelines can be closed down without further ado. Secondly, the quality of all meat products is checked by Quality Meat Scotland.

These two control instruments together guarantee perfect quality with full consideration of the respective animal welfare during breeding, keeping and slaughtering over the entire life cycle of the farm animals. The animals spend about half of their lives grazing in the cool Scottish climate, as they are predominantly part of the traditional suckler cow husbandry. The Scots are already way ahead of us here.

The cattle breeds bred in Scotland are mainly Galloway, Aberdeen Angus and Beef Shorthorn cattle – traditional breeds for Scotland. This does not mean that the Scots do not like to cross their cattle with breeds from the mainland.

Especially the Charolais or Limousin cattle from France have contributed in the last decades to improve the meat quality in Scotland in a natural way. Unlike overseas, no growth-promoting hormones are used here – and you can taste that.

My favourite product of SCOTLAND HILLS so far is the Cowboy Steak from the heifer – even if it sounds like the Wild West, it has very little to do with it.

The heifer is a young cow that has not yet calved. A characteristic of heifer meat is the high degree of intramuscular fat. On the one hand you can see this by the marbling, on the other hand you can taste it, as the meat is much juicier and more tender.

I personally find pieces like fillet too boring, especially regarding the variety of flavours but also the texture of the meat – the fat is missing.

The SCOTLAND HILLS Cowboy Steak is available as rack on the bone with a fresh weight between 3,8 and 4,7 KG for example at EDEKA. From time to time there are also attractive special prices where the kilo is available for just under 30 Euros. If you are lucky enough to be at the meat counter in just such a moment – take heart and try this meat, you won’t regret it!

SCOTLAND HILLS offers heifer as well as ox meat – but as I said, I prefer the heifer because its meat is very juicy and incredibly tender. The fine marbling is for me the guarantee that the meat remains juicy when grilled.

Of course, I would not like to forget to mention that there is also excellent lamb from the brand SCOTLAND HILLS under the label “Scotch Lamb”. However, I personally have not yet had any real experience with this – unlike with Cowboy Steak from the heifer.

SCOTLAND HILLS on YouTube:   https://youtu.be/sFVGbW2_2KU

Here a small contribution and a few pictures of the preparation.