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BEST BEFORE There can't be many people who can boast that they have their own beefsteak maturers, but happily I am one of them. Actually everyone in the country has their own beefsteak maturers but very few of them are aware of it. Let me explain.      In my home town, as is the case in many other towns up and down the country, we have a Co-op Late Shop. Why it is called a Late Shop is a matter for conjecture. The majority of people, but by no means an overwhelming majority, maintain that it is called a Late Shop because it stays open later than most retail outlets, in fact until 10 pm each day. Others however, Atkins Down The Road and myself amongst them, hold that it is because the check-out queues move so slowly that whenever you have occasion to shop there it makes you late for whatever you intend to do next. Atkins further maintains that the 'Late' part of the name is probably a synonym for dead, as the checkout queues are so long and static there is every chance that you will die whilst waiting in one. (On one occasion when I was in a Late Shop queue I thought that Atkins' prognosis had come true when the woman in front of me collapsed to the ground, but it turned out she was a diabetic who had been in the queue for so long that she had missed her insulin injection.)     However the Co-op Late Shops, for all their faults, and death by check-out queue is but one of them, have the saving grace of being superbly efficient steak maturers. They are not aware of this of course, otherwise they would immediately put a stop to it and make theselves inefficient in this regard too, so as to bring it in line with everything else they do. In the meantime though, for anyone who wishes to avail themself of their unbeatable steak maturation service, here's how to go about it:-      Never buy any of their cuts of steak at the full price but wait until they have reached their 'best before' or 'sell-by date' and now have a 'reduced to clear' sticker attached to them. By this time the steak will have lost the bright red colour it had when it was first put on the shelves about ten days previously and will by now be a very dark red, almost black colour, fully matured and ready to eat. These steaks are not only very easy to come by but have the added advantage of having been being approximately halved in price - typically a steak that started life at £3.99 will now be priced at £1.99.      You would think that given the choice of unmatured bright red steak and matured dark red steak at half price that people would jump at the mature steak. However the truth is that the majority of people wouldn't buy the dark red mature steak at any price, as they equate its colour with the steak having gone off. In fact the reverse is the case as the dark red colour of the steak is the signal that it is now ready to eat.      Indeed the 'best before' date is a misnomer and should if anything read 'worst before'. This is not my opinion but a fact. Many years ago I asked the owner of an excellent restaurant why it was that his sirloin steaks were always so tender whereas the steaks at many other restaurants, and the steaks I cooked at home for that matter, were nowhere near as succulent. I suspected that he had access to some secret outlet of superior steak but this turned out not to be the case, the steak he bought being of good quality but no better than could be readily obtained by anyone. He took me into his kitchen and through to a cool, dark pantry. Hanging on hooks from the ceiling were thiry or so complete sirloins and other cuts of steak. They ranged in colour from bright red through to almost black. "These are fresh in," the restarauteur said, pointing to the bright red sirloins. Then he indicated the ones that were almost black. "In about two weeks they'll be that colour. And when they get that colour, and not a moment before, they'll be fit for the table."      I've never forgotten that lesson, and over the years it must have saved me hundreds of pounds. But not only that, it has meant that the steak I cook at home is always wonderfully tender and juicy. So the next time you pass through the butchery department of a supermarket and see steaks with a reduced to clear sticker on them don't turn your nose up at them, snap them up. But don't take them all, save some for me.