Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US) Hudson River sturgeon.

1779		in B.J. Whiting Early American Proverbs (1977) 6: This fish is a favourite with the Dutch, at Albany, and is on that account called by some Albany beef.
1791		J. Long Voyages 118: This fish [i.e. sturgeon] is very common in Albany, and is sold at 1d. per lb. [...] The flesh is called Albany beef .
1826		(con. 1800) J. Maude Visit to the Falls of Niagara in 1800 25: No fish, save sturgeon, vulgarly called Albany beef, and that soon bought up; it is sold by the junk and skinned on the spot.
1836		Eve. Post (NY) 2 Aug. 2/4: A large sturgeon sprang from the water in front of them and threw his huge length into the bottom of the boat [...] It was then cut up and given to the workmen of a foundry [...] who made an excellent supper on the this Albany beef.
1841		Sat. Mag. (US) 6 Mar. 93/1: He states that at Albany, the sturgeon is so common, that it is sold at a penny per pound, and is called Albany beef.
1859		J. Munsell Annals of Albany 191: There was the quiet ancient burger, elbowed aside by his Old and New England, Scotch and Irish brethren, more clamorous and eager for Albany beef than himself.
1873		J. Mair Hbk of Phrases 94: Albany beef, the sturgeon.
1880		New Bloomfield Times (PA) 29 June 8/1: Of ‘Albany beef,’ strugeon, you can get enough for twelve and a half cents to feed a family.
1883		G.A. Sala in Daily Tel. 30th June n.p.: The New York Herald concludes by observing that ‘ioukkh’, which it calls ‘really the national soup of Russia’, to ‘one of simple tastes, must resemble Hudson River sturgeon, otherwise known as Albany beef, struck by Jersey lightning.’.
1887		B. Price 724: The words ‘Albany Beef’ are recognized in the trade as a proper designation for sturgeon.
1889–90		Barrère & Leland Dict. of Sl., Jargon and Cant.
1894		Eagle (Silver City, NM) 31 Oct. 14/2: ‘Albany beef’ is the euphemism on the shores of the Delaware for sturgeon meat.
1897		N. Platte Semi-wkly Trib. (NE) 14 May 3/3: ‘Albany beef,’ meaning sturgeon.
1901		St. Tammany Farmer (Covington, LA) 24 Aug. 7/2: An old-time name of smoked sturgeon was Albany beef.
1919		Free-Trader Jrnl (Ottowa, IL) 8 Dec. 7/3: Gastronomic Animals [...] The only American samples that can be offered are the Albany beef and the Cape Cod turkey (codfish).
1989		H. Rawson Dict. of Invective (1991) 289: Cape Cod turkey, a tongue-in-cheek euphemism for dried salt codfish, and one of a large subset of place names that have been used to flavor different foods, e.g. [...] albany beef, sturgeon.
2004		(con. mid-19C) G. LeBreton et al. Sturgeons and Paddlefish of North America 323: [In 1857] Hudson River fishermen nicknamed the cheap sturgeon meat ‘Albany Beef’.