"Why is everyone so fixated on tenderness? Do they all have problems chewing?"

Spoken like a true Brit.

I grew up in Kansas City, where the beef is both delicious <i>and</i> tender (even the USDA Commercial). A fact little known outside the beef-packing centers (Chicago, Des Moines, Omaha, KC <i>e.g.</i>) is that the <u>really</u> good meat never leaves town. That &quot;New York Strip&quot; appellation is a source of great mirth in the midwest.

Robespierre, I grew up in OMaha ~ and I was told by no less than the president of the stockyards that the best was available both at home and in New York's top steakhouses. The difference was often the price. And. of course, the best teak restaurants do their own carving and aging, as well, which definitely makes a difference.

When I was a kid, the prize winning steers from the state fair would always be sold in a flurry of auction activity at the end of the fair - usually the winning bid was from one of the Omaha steak houses, and the &quot;winning&quot; steer would be on display in a pen out front for several days before meeting his fate ... those, of course, were &quot;groomed&quot; cattle, raised by hand and not the machinery of a feedlot.

How long after their disappearance from the pen did they reappear on the table?

The pen is on the table. Oh, wait...

Around my in-laws' part of Kansas and Oklahoma, the prize animal is slaughtered within a few days of the judging, but the beef is aged in 33&deg; coolers for 3-5 weeks - until autolysis has done its job.

How does Argentinean steak compare? One of the best steaks I've had was at an Argentinean steak house in the U.S.

Also, do most comercially sold American steaks have hormones (like most commercially sold chicken)??