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Grass Fed Beef: Give me some recipes!


astrid
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We've belonged to a grass-fed beef CSA for nearly 2 years now. We get 10 lbs per month, which is the lowest amount allowable. We NEVER use it all up. We just don't. I think that's because other than hamburger, I really don't know how to cook grass-fed beef. Everything seems drier and more gamey than grocery-store beef. I know that's the nature of the beast, and to a certain degree we need to live with it, but I think I just need to know how to cook it differently than the beef we all had growing up. I mean, pot roast-- tough to screw up, right? But mine with the grass-fed beef seems to never get moist enough. Is it me?

 

PLEASE tell me some ways to learn to love cooking grass-fed beef! Slow cuts and steaks especially. I have such guilt over the waste!

 

Anyone?

 

astrid

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With meat that is strong and tends to be dry (I find venison to be like that) I find that cubing it and then cooking it in a coating sauce (something like a red wine sauce made from a base of fat and flour) stops it drying out. If I cook it in just liquid (like broth or wine) then it can taste fibrous.

 

Laura

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We had this happen with the first farm we tried, but when we switched we found the beef was much better-- simply seared on the grill! Very tender and lots of flavor. So, if you have options you might want to shop around.

 

In the meantime, you could marinate it for stir fry, or make chili, Scottish meat pies, that kind of thing. HTH :)

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Is that from Laurel Ridge? We just purchased a half pig from them :)

 

Check out "Pure Beef" from your local library. It's recipes for every cut of grass fed beef.

 

 

YES! Laurel Ridge! LOVE THEM! We're original CSA members there, and I do love it, just feel guilty that I don't do those gorgeous animals justice, you know?

 

Enjoy the pig-- we often get ham steaks and bacon in place of some of our beef allotment.

 

I"ll definitely check out "Pure Beef." Sounds like EXACTLY what I need! Thanks for the recommendation.

 

astrid

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When I was hunting around a few years ago for a grassfed farm that was taking order (since most of them were already sold out for a t least a year in advance), one of the farmers I talked to recommended I try a sampler pack first because I might not like the taste of grassfed and that meat from different farms would have different tastes. At the time I thought that was quite strange because obviously the stuff at the store comes from different animals/farms over and it all tastes the same. But I have learned over time that that farmers was indeed correct. One place we tried, the meat definitely had a gamey taste and the farmer actually recommended adding a bit of oil to their meat because it was so lean. The next place we tried had no gamey taste, nor did I need to add fat to (but I didn't need to drain any off either). So now we get the bulk of our beef from the second farm.

 

As far as cooking it, slow cook with extra broth, if roasts are still too dry, I'd cook them into soup. At least then you have plenty of moisture with them. I use all my rump cuts this way as that cut is just too dry for our liking. For steaks, were sear quickly on high heat (in a cast iron pan) and then bake at 550. Once I take them out to rest, I deglaze the pan with butter and garlic powder and fresh garlic if I have it. Pour if over the steaks and have a great tasting steak, the butter helps even if the meat was a bit dry.

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Hmmm. I'd try braising and stews for sure.

But if you don't like the taste or the way it cooks, find another farmer!

 

We get ours from two local farms here and find all the cuts we've tried and the ground beef to cook well and taste great.

Generally they just cook in less time because they are leaner.

 

 

We got Grassfed Gourmet from the library and got some good recipes from that. Eatwild.com has some other cookbooks for grassfed and pastured meats in their store.

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