Does "Beef Belly" Make Sense?

[gxnn]

Hello, I have a new question of English usage. Thanks for your help.

In our home town, there is a type of food we often eat as breakfast, and it is rice noodle cooked in soup with some beef in it. As we know, beef is the meat of an animal that we call in Chinese Niu or 牛 but there are so many variants for this in English, like ox, cattle, cow, bull, buffalo, etc that I am often confused. And that part of the meat we use in the noodle is from the belly of this animal, so can we say "beef belly" or "ox belly" for this purpose? Or there are other expressions that native speakers use?

 

[pplwatching]

As we know, beef is the meat of an animal that we call in Chinese Niu or 牛 but there are so many variants for this in English, like ox, cattle, cow, bull, buffalo, etc that I am often confused. And that part of the meat we use in the noodle is from the belly of this animal, so can we say "beef belly" or "ox belly" for this purpose? Or there are other expressions that native speakers use?

You are asking a couple of different questions here. For the first, I'll refer you this page on the differences between the ox, cattle, etc.. Buffalo is a different kind of animal.

"Belly" is a somewhat generic term. Many Americans (in my experience, at least) are not familiar with the term "beef belly", but it is correct. The reason is that butchers tend to separate the brisket from the navel and sell it separately. These pieces of the cow are generally not the most desirable, but wasting parts of an animal is a somewhat recent trend in our culture. Butchers will never waste anything, but consumers can often afford more desirable parts of the animal and will not purchase the lesser parts.

The part of the belly called the brisket is popular, though - but there is some debate over whether or not the brisket is technically part of the belly. In any event, most of us associate brisket with barbeque and the navel with "beef bacon" - although most people will associate "bacon" with a pig's belly. These parts of the cow are often cooked "low and slow" (low heat for a long time) because this method breaks down the connective tissue and makes the meat very tender. Of course this can be done in a soup, but it is most often consumed after it has been cooked slowly in a wood fired oven called a "BBQ pit".

In a soup, we most often see "beef brisket". It's unusual to see "beef belly" and you'll never see it called "beef navel" (at least I haven't). So, most Americans are probably unfamiliar with it only because it's not part of our diets. However, people who will not consume pork for religious reasons do enjoy "beef bacon" and in many Asian restaurants we will see the term "beef belly".

My grandmother was raised on a farm, as was my dad. They would both know what "beef belly" is. I enjoy cooking - especially BBQ - and understand a bit about the terms associated with the various parts of the animal, but not to the extent that they do because I was raised in a city. It is usually this distinction in our background that determine whether or not we know what "beef belly" might be used for (soups, BBQ, beef bacon) and whether we'd even consider eating it.

Hope that helps.

 

[NightL]

https://www.jessicagavin.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/cuts-of-beef-on-a-cow-600x454.jpg

 

[CuttingEdge]

It is called Tripe...

 

[Bramblethorn]

It is called Tripe...

Tripe is the stomach lining. I think what OP's talking about is the cow equivalent of "pork belly" - outer belly, not stomach.

 

[pplwatching]

It is called Tripe...

Tripe is one of the stomachs. It's also used in soups a lot, but is not the belly.

 

[gxnn]

You are asking a couple of different questions here. For the first, I'll refer you this page on the differences between the ox, cattle, etc.. Buffalo is a different kind of animal.

"Belly" is a somewhat generic term. Many Americans (in my experience, at least) are not familiar with the term "beef belly", but it is correct. The reason is that butchers tend to separate the brisket from the navel and sell it separately. These pieces of the cow are generally not the most desirable, but wasting parts of an animal is a somewhat recent trend in our culture. Butchers will never waste anything, but consumers can often afford more desirable parts of the animal and will not purchase the lesser parts.

The part of the belly called the brisket is popular, though - but there is some debate over whether or not the brisket is technically part of the belly. In any event, most of us associate brisket with barbeque and the navel with "beef bacon" - although most people will associate "bacon" with a pig's belly. These parts of the cow are often cooked "low and slow" (low heat for a long time) because this method breaks down the connective tissue and makes the meat very tender. Of course this can be done in a soup, but it is most often consumed after it has been cooked slowly in a wood fired oven called a "BBQ pit".

In a soup, we most often see "beef brisket". It's unusual to see "beef belly" and you'll never see it called "beef navel" (at least I haven't). So, most Americans are probably unfamiliar with it only because it's not part of our diets. However, people who will not consume pork for religious reasons do enjoy "beef bacon" and in many Asian restaurants we will see the term "beef belly".

My grandmother was raised on a farm, as was my dad. They would both know what "beef belly" is. I enjoy cooking - especially BBQ - and understand a bit about the terms associated with the various parts of the animal, but not to the extent that they do because I was raised in a city. It is usually this distinction in our background that determine whether or not we know what "beef belly" might be used for (soups, BBQ, beef bacon) and whether we'd even consider eating it.

Hope that helps.

Thanks, it really helps greatly.

But here still I am not clear about "cows". Does it mean a type of cattle or simply the gender of cattle because it is raised for dairy purpose? If it is a type, then there must be a male cow and a female cow, but obviously a male cannot produce any milk.

Also is it true that the one named "cow" has black spots on its white skin? But in China there are cattle with pure yellow skin and in India with pure white skin.

 

[pplwatching]

The word cow means female, and I think it may technically mean one that has calved. The word is used when describing many different species. That said, the average person will think of a female bovine when they hear the word with no other information because we most often see/hear it used in that context. Dairy production is everywhere. Beef production is common where I live. If a child sees a group of these animals standing around, the kid will say "cows" and no adult will correct them with "cattle". We might even say "look at the cows" to our kids - and might even be correct if it's a dairy herd.

So, common usage is not always correct in this case but does get the point across.