Grain fed beef in the UK?

[&roid]

I'm having a bit of a steak phase at the moment, got a weber BBQ this summer and have finally got to grips with getting the temp right, got some upgraded cast iron grills and have been making some really good steaks (and wings, and pork and lamb... but thats another thread).

But.... (there's always a but isn't there!) as good as the beef I get from my usual butcher is, it's not a patch on what I've had in the US/Canada - the flavour and texture of grain fed is, for me, so far ahead of what we tend to get here. Does anyone have any links to suppliers of really good grain fed beef in the UK? I live in Cheshire/Manchester so don't mind a bit of a drive round this area, failing that internet/mail order would be ok too.

[Harters]

Certainly one of those issues that tends to divide opinion - and I'd take exactly the opposite preference to you, finding American beef generally bland in flavour and texture in comparision with our own grass fed beef.

As for local suppliers of grain fed beef,I'm afraid I don't know of any. There are three decent beef suppliers at Ashton under Lyne farmers market and , as far as I'm aware, all raise their cattle on grass. Similarly, the two main "premium" internet suppliers from the general locality - Mansergh and Rhug Halls - are also grass raised.

Perhaps contacting a good butcher might be a way forward. Someone like Axon in Didsbury or Frost in Chorlton may be able to source the meat. However, seeing as grass fed is the more prized, and by far the most common, meat, you may be looking at bottom end imports, rather than locally raised.

Edited September 14, 2010 by Harters (log)

[&roid]

thanks for the reply harters, always find it weird how much this debate polarises people. My main reason for having the preference is that I have NEVER eaten steak in this country that comes close to the USDA Prime stuff I've had in N America. Not in a restaurant, not from a butcher, not anywhere.

The butchers I tend to use for beef at the moment are Pimlotts in cheadle hulme, their meat is very very good - certainly the best beef I've managed to source so far, even slightly better than what I used to get from Axons when we lived in Didsbury - but it has nothing like the marbling that Prime rated cuts have in the US, I mean not even close.

I'll keep searching, might give the Chorlton butchers a try as I've not been to them before.

[Harters]

I get most of my meat from Mansergh Hall, over t'internet. I seem to think that one of the deli type places in Chorlton stocks it if you fancied a try.

The sister in law swears by Pimlotts and, whilst we often use Waitrose, we've never popped across the road. Have you not asked them about grain-fed?

John

[nickloman]

Jack O'Shea at Selfridges - http://www.jackoshea.com/ - might well be able to mail order you some of his USDA imported stuff or his Irish beef which I think is grass-fed but tastes amazing. Give them a call.

Edited September 14, 2010 by nickloman (log)

[Pam Brunning]

Oh dear Nick I am not sure you want to know this. The reason USAD beef has more intramuscular fat is because they are still allowed to feed hormones that are banned in the EU.

[nickloman]

Yeah Pam, I think to enjoy USDA beef properly you have to try not to think about the various processes involved in making it