Jump to content
  • Welcome to the eG Forums, a service of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. The Society is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the culinary arts. These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create a free account.

Grass fed beef vs grain fed


Recommended Posts

Michael Pollan wrote a piece on this subject that was published in the New York Times Magazine, March 31 2002, titled "Power Steer."

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html...DAA0894DA404482

It'll cost you a couple bucks to read it, but I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who is even remotely interested in the subject.

There is a link to a free copy of this article in my post further up the board.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There are two different flavours I look for in Prime cattle.

If I purchase from the USA I look for an animal that is 'finished' on corn. You get a superior amount of fine marbling in the last 16 weeks of life and a great tinge of yellow to the fat cap.

In Canadian Prime beef (not being loyal, but my preference) the cattle are taken from 800 pounds to 1600 pounds in they’re last 16 weeks of life on barley. The fine marbling is incredible yet a very subtle flavour and white.

As I understand it, growing up on the Canadian prairies, it doesn't really matter what the animal was raised on. It’s the final fatting that adds the flavour. A lot of USDA prime is from Alberta 'free-range' cattle as is a lot of Canada Prime from the Montana herds. It’s all about economics up to the last 16 weeks of life for the cattle.

Chef/Owner/Teacher

Website: Chef Fowke dot com

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My friends with the slaughterhouse/meat shop also raise some cattle - mostly Angus. They mix their own grain - oats, barley, and corn. No additives. Good meat.

My Wife's family used to live by the Angus ranch just outside of Newport Beach in California. I spent many days watching the cows graze on the grass and being feed a mixture of oats, barley and corn. My father-in-law (who is no cook, really...he burns water) would grill up Delmonico/porterhouse/club steaks from this herd and they were the best things I have ever tasted (the Montreal Spice he put on it was really salty and good)!

Chef/Owner/Teacher

Website: Chef Fowke dot com

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just bought some grass-fed ground beef today at the local Farmer's market. I'll let you know if I find it "different" after I have one of the burgers for dinner on Sunday.

Katie M. Loeb
Booze Muse, Spiritual Advisor

Author: Shake, Stir, Pour:Fresh Homegrown Cocktails

Cheers!
Bartendrix,Intoxicologist, Beverage Consultant, Philadelphia, PA
Captain Liberty of the Good Varietals, Aphrodite of Alcohol

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i hadn't seen this thread before, but i did a piece on grass-fed about 6 weeks ago. imho, there's no comparison in the flavor between grass-fed and grain-fed. i mean that literally. it's like comparing lamb and beef. two different things. to me, grass-fed has a wild, gamy side that is very nice. on the other hand, grain-fed is pure luxury, mouth-filling and fatty. i can't really see making a daily diet of grass-fed, but it is a very nice new flavor to have. why do we have to choose one as "best"?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Russ, are you talking about the Moovers and Shakers piece?

(By the way, I will only continue speaking to you if you promise me that an editor, and not you, came up with that title. Thanks for your cooperation.)

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

whoa. not pretty. the "pleasures" of going on the wire. they took a 2,000-word piece plus sidebar, whacked it to an abridged version of the sidebar, slapped a silly hed on it and left my name on it!

i couldn't find an active link to the story, so in the interest of maintaining my good name, here is the mainbar. nobody tell our lawyers:

By Russ Parsons, Times Staff Writer

MEMORIAL Day arrives: Break out the barbecue grill and give it a good cleaning. Run to the grocery for a couple of steaks. Light the fire and start the meat. Smell the smoke. But then comes the downfall -- the steaks are dry and flavorless. An anguished cry erupts all across the nation, "Whatever happened to beef?"

But fear not: The world of meat is changing. Just as grocery-store tomatoes have expanded from a few dull, standard types to a bright rainbow of choices, so too is the selection of beef beginning to blossom today.

Call it the boutique-ing of beef.

You can find meat that is branded by a single company, such as Coalinga's Harris Ranch. There is beef like that from niche meat pioneer Coleman in Colorado, which is billed as "natural" -- a phrase that is popular but legally means only that it has been "minimally processed" with no artificial coloring added.

There is organic beef, which not only has been certified to have had no hormone or antibiotic treatments but also has been fed only on grasses and grains that have been raised organically.

There is American beef from imported breeds, such as French Limousin, Italian Piedmontese and Japanese Wagyu. And there is good old American Certified Angus.

Boutique giant Niman Ranch has made its reputation by harvesting beef that is more mature. At the same time, other places are trying for better beef by going back to their roots -- selling prime grades that have been dry-aged.

And then there's the new carnivorous cutting edge, the most extreme beef -- grass-fed, which has a flavor that is so different it might even be shocking to traditional meat lovers.

A steak test

The taste of the meat -- and the best approach to grilling it -- varies with the philosophy behind it. At Niman Ranch, the cattle are slaughtered as much as a full year later than is customary. This results in meat that makes no compromises. A Niman flank steak purchased at Trader Joe's had a deep, beefy flavor and a texture that was dense and chewy, which is not to say tough.

On the other hand, a dry-aged prime New York strip from Bristol Farms could not have been more different. The strip was a paragon of old-fashioned steak values: so tender it cut like butter with a flavor that was subtle but complex. When grilled over moderate direct heat to medium-rare, it developed a crust so lovely and evenly browned that it almost looked as if it had been fried.

Wagyu, the variety of cattle used for Japan's famed Kobe beef, is so richly marbled that every cow must be the bovine equivalent of a sumo wrestler. A Wagyu chuck steak purchased at Torrance's bustling Mitsuwa Marketplace had a mouth-filling flavor that seemed to last forever. Even cut three-quarters of an inch thick and cooked over a fairly hot fire to medium-rare, it was somewhat chewy.

That is to be expected: Chuck is not the best cut for grilling. At Mitsuwa, it is usually sold sliced either medium-thin for quickly grilled yakitori or extremely thin so it will cook with only a quick swish in the hot broth of shabu-shabu. Wagyu also developed a better crust during cooking than anything but the dry-aged prime.

Mitsuwa also carries Certified Angus. A Spencer steak had the cut's characteristically loose and somewhat chewy texture and was clearly not as well marbled as either the Wagyu or the prime. Consequently, the flavor, although deep and beefy, didn't linger on the palate the way the other steaks did.

Far and away the most distinctive steak of all was a New Zealand grass-fed rib-eye from Whole Foods Market. It tasted almost as if it came from another animal -- the intense gamy character of lamb married to the deep bottom notes of beef. It was very lean, with almost no marbling, so it required careful cooking.

At Whole Foods, the rib-eyes were cut what seemed to be ludicrously thick -- between 1 1/2 and 2 inches. But this turned out to be perfect. Cooked over indirect heat (most of the coals pulled to the opposite side of the grill), this grass-fed steak took about 20 minutes longer to get done, but it stayed moist despite its lack of marbling. However, it still didn't have the long finish of the other steaks.

As you might suspect, none of these boutique steaks is inexpensive. Expect to pay around $12.99 to $13.99 a pound for most and as much as $25.99 for the dry-aged prime.

Rise of the small rancher

In addition to the search for flavor, there's another reason for the explosion of interest in boutique beef -- economics. It turns out that the only people more dissatisfied with the state of the modern beef industry than meat lovers are meat ranchers.

After decades of consolidation, four companies sell more than 80% of the beef in America. This has created an economic trickle-down effect that has resulted in tighter prices and less profit all the way down the line.

According to a study by Roger Ingram, a UC Cooperative Extension agent in Placer County who specializes in livestock, ranchers in his area receive 32% less in inflation-adjusted dollars for their products than they did in 1969. It is only by raising something different and going outside the normal commodity chain that they can hope to make more money.

Mac Magruder is one rancher who is seeking an alternative. He raises 600 head of cattle in eastern Mendocino County's Potter Valley.

A conventional rancher for most of his career, Magruder sold 25 grass-fed cattle last year and is increasing that to 40 this year.

"The money is just so much better," he says. "I'll gross $1,000 an animal on grass-fed. The same animal, if I sent it to the conventional feedlot situation, it'd be more like $650."

Guinness McFadden, an experienced organics entrepreneur, agrees. McFadden, who is one of the largest grape growers in Mendocino County, also grows herbs that are dried and packaged at his ranch for sale at Williams-Sonoma stores.

He says he had always run cattle on the hillsides that were too steep to cultivate, but he didn't begin to take the beef business seriously until a couple of years ago when Chez Panisse's Alice Waters began buying meat from him. Now he runs 25 head of Black Baldie cattle and sells the organically raised meat only at a natural foods co-op in nearby Ukiah.

"The closer the farmer gets to the consumer, the better off he is," says McFadden, who holds an MBA from Stanford University. "Selling your product yourself takes time and effort and you have to be involved. But you will be repaid if you do a good job."

Still, Magruder says, most conventional growers in his beef-heavy area are reluctant to even think about making any kind of change.

"People get very defensive about it," he says. "They'll laugh at you for trying something different, then tell you how bad the cattle market is. They don't see the connection."

That is changing. Placer County's Ingram sponsored a two-day workshop this spring that attracted 100 ranchers interested in marketing niche meat.

Ingram himself is part of a group looking at forming a six-county cooperative that would sell California "natural" beef along the lines of Colorado's Coleman.

As part of its feasibility study, his group is conducting a series of consumer interviews focused on selling specialty beef. Although the survey is not yet completed, he says one aspect has become clear.

"What we're finding is the really big thing is the quality of the meat -- flavor, consistency and tenderness," he says. "Things like it being produced locally, being healthful, and the food safety issues are not unimportant, but they don't score nearly as high as flavor.

"The message is that if you're going to grab people with your beef, it's got to be the quality. Then, if they like it, you can really get them by telling them, 'Hey, this is really healthy,' or 'Hey, you're helping some small farmer.' Those are added benefits only after you've established you have a great product."

*

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Are people here, refering to corn fed beef & grain fed beef interchangeably? My understanding is that Canadian beef is primarily grain fed beef, while US beef is primarily corn fed beef. Is their significant difference between corn fed & grain fed beef? Would like to hear more input from people in South America, who have eaten the best grain-fed Argentine beef available. I've eaten once Argentine beef at a Montreal restaurant, & found it tasted awful!! As Steven Shaw has stated more than once, the Argentine beef that comes to America, might not be of the best quality.

-----------

Steve

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I use the terms interchangeably. Corn is a type of grain. As I understand it, most cattle being fattened for sale as Choice and Prime are being fed a mixture that can include corn, barley, and wheat, in a ratio depending in part on the desirable qualities of each and in part on market prices.

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I use the terms interchangeably. Corn is a type of grain. As I understand it, most cattle being fattened for sale as Choice and Prime are being fed a mixture that can include corn, barley, and wheat, in a ratio depending in part on the desirable qualities of each and in part on market prices.

The taste is quite different and should be left up to the individual palate. I get cravings for both. I love to eat at Morton's and locally I have never had a better steak then Hy's Encore.

When you look at the two meats you will see a huge difference. The corn feed beef has a fat cap that is tinted yellow and a lot more 'granular'. The grain fed beef tends to be whiter and a finer, smoother texture with less flavour but more fat content.

Chef/Owner/Teacher

Website: Chef Fowke dot com

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I learn something new every day.

I stock Canadian and American prime beef as well as Australian Angus beef. We need to do a full on tasting next time you are in town. Maybe a 48oz Delmonico of each to see which flavour we prefer...

I would FedEx you a sample of Canadian grain-fed beef but we would both end up in jail!!!

Chef/Owner/Teacher

Website: Chef Fowke dot com

Link to comment
Share on other sites

why do we have to choose one as "best"?

Because the train has already left the station on that issue. The context of the debate in the media, the way it has been framed by advocates, etc . . . all these things demand comparison and a winner. The person who only eats a top-caliber steak once a year doesn't want to hear, "Each is wonderful in its own way, like Lafite and Romanee-Conti." That person wants to hear, and should be told, "Yes, grass-fed beef can be nice and is an interesting change-of-pace for those who eat premium beef all the time, but if you're only going to have one steak you're crazy if you don't choose American Western corn/grain/whatever-fed."

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

not an agronomist or ag major, but.....

my dad was a 'hog buyer'....a middleman between farmers and a large, well-known meat packer (think of the cute ditty with little kids and b-o-l-o-g-n-a and you'll have it). each christmas, many of the farmers would give him stuff as a gift, and a couple would usually give him a half a beef loin, off the bone, grass-fed, that they'd killed and butchered recently. as a 'practitioner' (eater), i found the major differences between the grass-fed and the lot-fed (grain) beef we'd get in either stores or restaurants to be:

1. texture. since the grass-fed cattle are 'free-range', they use their muscles more than those in a feed lot (which is where the 'fattening' process takes place). feed lot cattle just basically spend the day standing around looking at each other, thinking whatever cattle think, and of course eating grain; their muscles aren't as dense and structured as those who spend their day wandering about a pasture, climbing up and down to the creek to get a drink, and chasing after each other in those charming little games cattle play (no jokes about cow-tipping, please! that's a game for people, not cattle..... :biggrin: ). it's kinda like muscle density and mass between those of us who exercise and those who do not.....those who do typically have greater muscle density - whether or not they have more muscle mass - than those who don't. when we'd eat grass-fed beef, the texture would be 'denser'. we typically cut 1"-thick steaks. when we got much thicker than that, the texture was just too 'chewy' - there was almost no marbling at all in this beef.

2. mouth feel and taste. marbling=fat. fat=more round, unctuous mouth-feel and 'different' taste. this may be the 'bass' notes that have been talked about. 'course, more fat=more calories from fat (and, in this case, saturated fat), with all the accompanying health stuff. and, the more 'melt in your mouth' the beef is. i'd also agree that the taste was/is more gamey in the grass-fed than in lot-fed beef.

i don't consider one 'better' than the other, just different. i'd also say that when one defines winners and losers, one also should put parameters around the 'game' itself. that would include taste preferences and health issues, too. i get the strong feeling that for most of us, an aged, grain-fed, 2", grilled medium-rare porterhouse would 'win' over similarly-cut, similarly-cooked grass-fed meat, but for some, it may be t'other way round.

matt

edited for spelling.....oops.

Edited by hotle (log)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have been a proponent of grass-fed beef since reading Fast Food nation, my concern was with the general health of the animals prior to thier "processing" .

During the past yearsI have met with various farmers in the PA area all of which provide beef that was grass -fed corn finished and it was pretty tasty, we have been serving burgers from grass-fed beef which are great (not to mention lose very little "weight " during cooking and fact I attribute to the lack of hormones & antibiotics in the meat which results in less water retention in teh animal thus less water in the meat etc)

HOWEVER through a complete snafu (our supplier neglected to inform us that he was out of strip steak and just didn't show up GOT TO LOVE THAT)ended up trying T-bones from Piedmontese cows. Now these cows are grain-fed (which differs from corn fed I believe it is the cows that are fed only corn that have such terrible gastro-intestinal afflictions) they lead happy lives are humanely processed get out in the sunshine are hormone free & antibiotic free take at least 18 mons to reach thier ideal slaughter weight of 1500lbs and well

the taste of the meat is INCREDIBLE it's mouth watering It has produced raves ( better than Mortons, better than Ruth's Chris Best steak I've had in ages! this may have something to do with the spice rub we put on of aleppo pepper, szechuan pepper corns, raw sugar, coffee & pretzel salt but I don't think so though it is really good the meat is splendid this merely gilds the lily as it were)

its tender it's juicy it's meaty

and amazingly it does not have very much fat in fact according to our fact sheet 3.5 oz contain 111 calories, 1 g. of fat & 64 mg of cholesterol in comparision skinless turkey contains 110 calories, 2 g of fat & 73mg cholesterol. it costs $8.25 a lb!!!!

Now as much as I believe in the cooking adage that fat is flavor I cannot complain when eating something so satisfying and delicious that is without very much fat and what a selling point we sold out by 9pm Saturday .

So while I do thing that grass-fed beef is good and grass-fed grain finshed is better, free range cows who are able to nibble on grass when they want and are fed grain (such as these are) maybe the best alternative.

It may be this breed of cow, from the accompaning literature it seems to be so.

If you are interested in trying it the guys name is Doug Kogel his number is 215 723 0398..his farm is in Mongomery County, PA but here is also a farm in Virginia that he sometimes gets meat from when in a crunch.

"sometimes I comb my hair with a fork" Eloise

Link to comment
Share on other sites

why do we have to choose one as "best"?

Because the train has already left the station on that issue. The context of the debate in the media, the way it has been framed by advocates, etc . . . all these things demand comparison and a winner. The person who only eats a top-caliber steak once a year doesn't want to hear, "Each is wonderful in its own way, like Lafite and Romanee-Conti." That person wants to hear, and should be told, "Yes, grass-fed beef can be nice and is an interesting change-of-pace for those who eat premium beef all the time, but if you're only going to have one steak you're crazy if you don't choose American Western corn/grain/whatever-fed."

i'm not sure i buy that. first of all, as a member of the media who has contributed his share of words to the issue (and read far more before writing them), i think most of the debate over grass-fed beef has been framed in ecological and "conscious eating" terms, for better or worse. in fact, proponents have been largely reticent to make taste claims because they recognize that the beef is so different from what most americans are used to. furthermore, grass-fed beef is still so hard to find that it's not really a burning consumer issue, certainly not rising to the level of "do i buy hdtv". most of the grass-fed growers i talked to only sell quarters. i couldn't find a restaurant in southern california that regularly uses it and even in the bay area there are only a couple. this is still very much a case of "hey, here's something new," and, of course, newer is not always better. sometimes its just different (and sometimes it's just "new").

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I learn something new every day.

I stock Canadian and American prime beef as well as Australian Angus beef. We need to do a full on tasting next time you are in town. Maybe a 48oz Delmonico of each to see which flavour we prefer...

I would FedEx you a sample of Canadian grain-fed beef but we would both end up in jail!!!

Chef Fowke, since you carry both Canadian & American prime beef, you can answer this. What is the difference in price between Canada Prime & USDA Prime? I'm guessing USDA is much more expensive. How readily available is Canada Prime grade beef in Canada?

On another issue altogether(for any eGullet member to answer), that's slightly off-topic. I noticed in William Grimes recent NY Times review of Morrell's(Wed July 2/2003), he mentions that Lobel's supplies the Kobe-style beef to the restaurant. Is this the first time ever, that it's made public, that Lobel's butcher shop supplies beef to any restaurant? I think Steven Shaw has mentioned in the past, that Lobel's acts as a steak broker to many restaurants(mostly steakhouses).

------------

Steve

Edited by SteveW (log)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I learn something new every day.

I stock Canadian and American prime beef as well as Australian Angus beef. We need to do a full on tasting next time you are in town. Maybe a 48oz Delmonico of each to see which flavour we prefer...

I would FedEx you a sample of Canadian grain-fed beef but we would both end up in jail!!!

Chef Fowke, since you carry both Canadian & American prime beef, you can answer this. What is the difference in price between Canada Prime & USDA Prime? I'm guessing USDA is much more expensive. How readily available is Canada Prime grade beef in Canada?

------------

Steve

I will start by saying that I am Canadian and was raised on the prairies in Alberta...

I was bottle-fed on Alberta prime beef. It is the best in the world hands down for well-rounded flavour, excellent marbling and texture.

To compare the meats is like comparing a boutique hotel to the Four Seasons Hotel. Both are the best. More people stay at the Four Seasons and that is what the general public expects a great hotel to be...

But if you are 'lucky' enough to stay at a great boutique hotel you realize there is something better!

Canadian Prime is the best but there is so little of it that it is hard to get on a consistent basis. When I first moved to BC I insisted on only using BC Prime beef. Five years ago I had a personal connection with the only abattoir in the Vancouver area and they were only grading six animals a week at Prime.

I used all the meat up in one day that was available. Alberta Prime is just as rare with a huge demand for every ounce of it.

All I can say to describe the difference is one is mass produced using corn as a fattening agent and the fat cap and marbling tend to be courser and gamier. The Canadian beef is fattened on Barley that produces a smooth texture with pure white fat and huge marbling. The depth of flavour of the corn-fattened beef can be over powered by the fat cap and marbling.

Again, if anyone is coming to BC please email me and I will locate some Canadian Prime. I do not get a lot of it right now. It is very scarce. The biggest demand in my restaurant is still for Australian Angus. Canadian customers are scared to eat the USA beef because they are reading in the newspapers that the contaminated cow came from the USA and the American customers are scared of the Canadian beef because they heard is was born in Canada. Australian is safe. It is too bad. I cannot wait for the local growers to get back into full swing

Chef/Owner/Teacher

Website: Chef Fowke dot com

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The pampas grass fed free range cattle in Argentina do have a different flavor. Also in many a parrilas you'd find a whole carcass hanging over a charcoal pit, from which prime cuts can be had for about USD6 :smile: (based on my '01/03 exchange rates)

On my last trip, the locals; called portenos; took me to some real great restaurants (all argentine restaurants serve excellent steaks)

anil

Link to comment
Share on other sites

if anyone is coming to BC please email me and I will locate some Canadian Prime

Yet another reason to go to BC. I'll take you up on that offer sometime, eventually.

I've never once, anywhere in Canada, seen Canada Prime on a menu. Nor have I seen it in any store. It's always AAA, and sometimes there's USDA Prime. So, I really do want to taste this Canada Prime stuff.

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In Montreal, unfortunately the majority of people prefer their beef lean. So most of the beef here is either A or AA. AA is equivalent to US Select, while A is even leaner than US Select!! This preference for leaness, even extends to smoked meat. At Schwartz's, more than half the customers(about 55-60%), order their smoked meat lean(or even extra lean!!).

--------------

Steve

Edited by SteveW (log)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 years later...

*BUMP*

I wanted to bump this thread up again and see if I can't get more discussion going on it.

This last weekend at our local farmer's market, I encountered a guy who raises cattle on grass. At the risk of sounding like a foodie, blindly riding the grass-fed trend, I really wanted to love the T-bone steaks I bought from him. God knows I parted with plenty of cash for them.

I not only didn't love them, I didn't like them very much at all.

The flavor is different, but is something I could certainly get used to. The steaks were dry and not tender at all. The dryness is probably due, at least in part, to being somewhat overcooked, which can be corrected easily enough.

Here's my question: are there cooking or preparation methods that could be used that would make a grass-fed steak more tender? Do marinades do any good? There was a mention, up thread, about grilling with indirect heat, which is what we do for chicken, so we're familiar with the method for doing that. These steaks were prepped by coating with a little olive oil, and salt and pepper.

Comments and advice, anybody? I really would like to support this rancher by purchasing more of his product, but if I can't find a way to improve the texture of the beef, that won't be happening. I'm aware that some individual animals just taste better than others, and I'm willing to allow for that. But I think I need more than just the luck of the draw to put more grass-fed beef in my future.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We've been buying 1/2 of a grass-fed steer for each of the last couple of years and splitting with another family. We got into it with the goal of supporting a local rancher (or grass farmer as he calls himself) and the apparent health benefits of grass-fed beef.

I agree with the posters above: it is like 2 different animals, and both are great in their own right. I would characterize grass-fed as more gamey and just having a more concentrated 'beef' flavor. This may have something to do with our rancher dry-aging the beef for 21+ days before packing. The corn-fed beef is also great, esp with mouth feel from the better marbling.

I find I have to be a lot more careful cooking grass-fed beef steaks on the bbq, and I gave up guessing based on touch/feel/6th senses. I started using my handy thermopen and pull them off the heat when they get to a rare temp. The carryover usually puts in squarely in the med-rare zone which is what we've shooting for.

My father-in-law still talks up a steak I cooked him a couple of years ago: a grass-fed rib-eye done to med-rare on mesquite in my backyard. He claims it was the best steak he's ever had, and this is a man who made it a point to check out top-end steak houses.

Other cuts, esp chuck etc for braising, seem to cook no different than corn-fed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...