Expert: Keith Patton - 1/27/2008

Question
A couple of times I have bought a cut of beef which tastes and smells like liver. This has been in a tenderloin and in an onglet. In both cases the meat was cooked 2-3 days after I bought it. Can you explain why this is?

Answer
I found several different reasons some sound more plausable than others for livery tasting beef.  

1) Grass Fed Beef tends to have an unusual sort of liver flavor.
2) Wet Aged Beef over 30 days tends to be a little livery, but tender. (not too sure about his one somce most beef is kept moist while aging since coolers dry out meat)
(the longer its been wet aged the stronger the flavor)
3)Old beef can have a livery flavor. (when a chef cuts a steak the surface is exposed to oxygen and begins the oxidation process. Not true, red meat is oxidixed, gray meat has reduced iron- Keith)
4) Hanger steak may get a kidney or livery flavor from kidneys.  Most carcasses have the kidneys attached. and this may impart a flavor to the surrounding meat.  Real Dry Aged Beef has a strong, sometimes described as a livery flavor.

I tend to think it might be that the meat was grass fed. I don't think the flavor of the tenderloin could be the same cause as a hanger steak.  I personally have never encountered this phenomena.  Since something begin livery is a subjective assessment, it could be that you are smelling the coppery aroma of blood.  In any event, you might try changing your provider of beef if you find it objectionable.  The meat you got may not have been stored correctly.  Plastic is not impermiable to aromas and the like, if things are stored too closely to others they may acquire off flavors.  You see this in your own freezer when meat is kept too long it gets this strong generic smell and flavor.
Keith