How the quest for the perfect steak led this Alberta restaurant and ranch to buy an $80,000 bull

Arestaurantin the heart of Canada's cattle country is going the extra mile in itspursuit of the perfect steak.

Stephen Deere, owner of Modern Steak in Calgary, teamed up witha southern Alberta ranchto buyanaward-winning bull, all part of a plan tobreed better beef.

"The fat is what gives you that rich flavour, thattenderness, so we wanted to buy the bull that is giving you those qualities,"Deere said.

Theprize black Angus is being cared for and bred at Benchmark Angusranch operated by Michael Munton.

"Benchmark Modern Steak" (a mash-up of the restaurant name and the ranch name) orModern for short cost the pair more than $80,000 in 2016, the year he won the title of best "marbled" Angus in Canada.

Marbling refers to the fissures of fat that add flavour to a steak.

Two years later, theinvestment is starting to pay dividends ascattle sired by Modern are now heading to market.

From gate to plate

The hope is that breeding Modern with specially selected cows will produce"a higher quality grade of beef more consistently" that can be turned into the ideal,marbled steak,Muntonsays.

The bullis surrounded by about two dozen heifers and cows that werechosen with this idea in mind.Muntonsays all the cattle at his ranch are tested with ultrasound equipment at one year of age to seewhichanimal has the most marbling and the largest potential steaks.

This collaboration between ranch and restaurant takes the concept of following an animal from"gate to plate" even further, allowing the animalsto be tracked from "conception to consumption,"Muntonsays.

At his steak house, Deereexpertly carves ribeye steaks off a side of beef that has travelled around 300 kilometres north from the Benchmark Angusranch.

As he works, Deere points out the marbling in the steaks he has spent two years waiting for: "All of this fat, intramuscular this is why this is prime-grade beef," he said.

Buying a share ina bull wasa big investment of bothtime and money, but Deere says it is agamble aimed at producing perfectly marbled meat for his restaurant for years to come.

He says he can already taste the difference in the quality of the meat he is serving. The fat is "so soft and buttery"it makes the mouth water, he says.

Michael Allemeier, a culinaryeducator at the Southern AlbertaInstitute of Technology in Calgary, says heis impressed with the lengths Deere and Munton havegone to attain a better cut of meat.

"I am amazed how science has become somuch a part of the craft of raising animals, and in particular, the beef," saidAllemeier, who holds a "master chef" certification from theCanadianCulinary Institute.

"To kind of hinge everything on the genetics of one specific prize bullthat is really taking things to the next level, I think."