Raising the Steaks: Slate does the comparisons

[Gifted Gourmet]

Slate article

a well-marbled steak, one that is abundantly flecked with little specks and streaks of white fat, costs a lot more than a steak that's all red muscle.  But is marbling all there is to a good steak? Doesn't, say, a cow's diet have something to do with the way a steak tastes? My mission: to taste steaks from cattle raised in very different ways and see how they stack up.

We sampled rib-eye steaks from the best suppliers I could find. The meat was judged on flavor, juiciness, and tenderness and then assigned an overall preference....

While I could tell you who the winners were, I know you'll want to see the results and compare them with what you enjoy most in a steak ...

[adegiulio]

Geez, I hate to sound simplistic, but yeah, marbling is the number one thing that I think affects whether or not I will like the steak. Marbling affects flavor, tenderness, and juiciness. From what I have read (and tasted) it is really difficult to get marbling from grass fed cattle. While aging will help with flavor and tenderness, it still wont surpass what you can get with grain fed beef.

I'm sure someone will refute this, and say that they have had grass fed beef with great marbling.

By the way, second to marbling is dry-aging. That funkiness makes a steak great. I still enjoy that ultra beefy, metallic twang of grass fed, but just not more than grain fed.

[Reefpimp]

Meh. Just go elk hunting. I've had Anderson's steaks and I've had elk, and I preferred the elk.

Mind you, if you buy the grass-fed beef, you never have to worry about spending the night in the woods in grizzly bear territory.

[Peter Green]

It's not just the marbling.

Over here, we get a variety of beef (if we're lucky), and there are definite differences in the flavour, in part from grain vs grass, also in part from location and the variety of the beef. Over the years, we've settled down to tenderloin and rib eye as our primary cuts. You're generally safe with these. I'll leave out ribs, and after some sad experiments with the cheaper cuts, we just don't bother now (I exempt offal, of course).

Mad cow disease took the Irish off the shelves here ages ago, which is a pity, as they produced good quality beef, with no unpleasant overtones and good marbling.

The American product is generally good quality, but very expensive for what it is. If I can get someone else to pay for my dinners at the Houston and New York steakhouses I'm a happy camper.

The Canadians, unfortunately, got hit with the same mad cow hammer as the Irish. I've had some very good beef in Canada; prime rib in Jasper, porterhouse cuts at Gotham in Vancouver.

Forget the local stuff.

The Brazilians pretty much rule the roost (sorry to introduce a chicken tone...) here in the Mid East, with cheap meat that, while it can look pretty in the butcher's display, has a certain tone to it that I find, well, offensive. We don't use it.

And that leaves the Aussies. Generally, the Australian beef is shipped chilled, not frozen, and the general flavour is good. Not great, but good. We can't always find Australian beef in the shops (it costs a bit more than the Brazilian), but when we do we try to work it into our menus.

Now, that's region specific, and someone I suspect can break these into grain vs grass differences.

But let's look at Oz. If we take different cows, do we get different flavours? To this, I'd shout "yes". I've recently had a few meals around Vic's Meats Tajima wagyu. These are really, really good cuts, with the fat beautifully distributed in the meat. And that distribution of fat isn't just in the feeding, but in the breed.

So we come to the conclusion. "It depends".

I love a firm answer.

[Mallet]

I think the results of the article taste-test are pretty much in line with my own impressions to date (although I haven't some of the cuts sampled in the article, like the Niman Ranch and Wagyu). I have even come to find that well-marbled grain-fed beef can verge on tasting greasy. Having said that, I wouldn't mind if I could find grass-fed beef which was a bit older before slaughter because I think what I get now could use a little more fat.

[adegiulio]

Meh.  Just go elk hunting.  I've had Anderson's steaks and I've had elk, and I preferred the elk. 

Mind you, if you buy the grass-fed beef, you never have to worry about spending the night in the woods in grizzly bear territory.

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I'm with you 100%. My favorite meat in the world is elk. I just don't hunt (not to mention we dont have many elk over here)

[bigbear]

Meh. Just go Weimaraner hunting. I've had Anderson's steaks and I've had Weimaraner, and I preferred the Weimaraner.

Mind you, if you buy the grass-fed beef, you never have to worry about spending the night in dog walking territory.

[russ parsons]

there are so many variables that go into beef flavor. breed has a lot to do with it--for a while someone was raising chianina beef (the kind from the piedmont) and it had a distinctive flavor. wagyu is a label--there is great stuff and there is not so-good. the rate at which the animals are fed has a lot to do with it--marbling rather than fat veins between the muscles. finishing diet does, too. And that's just the start. There are differences in kill technique and differences in treatment during and just after rigor that can all make a big difference in flavor.

personally, i was surprised by the reaction to the grass-fed beef. i've had some very good stuff, but it's atypical--there is an almost gamy taste to it that i would expect would put some people off. also, it definitely tends to dry out quickly due to the lack of marbling.

whenever i read one of these stories (or, well, write one), i'm always curious as to whether the same test done a month from now would have the same result.

Edited November 2, 2006 by russ parsons (log)

[adegiulio]

Meh. Just go Weimaraner hunting. I've had Anderson's steaks and I've had Weimaraner, and I preferred the Weimaraner.

Mind you, if you buy the grass-fed beef, you never have to worry about spending the night in dog walking territory.

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I'm sure there's some kind of joke or point here, I'm just not getting it..

[Gifted Gourmet]

I'm sure there's some kind of joke or point here, I'm just not getting it..

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Looked up Weimaraner Meats .. all I got was a large dog with whom we are all familiar ...

[Peter Green]

I'm sure there's some kind of joke or point here, I'm just not getting it..

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Looked up Weimaraner Meats .. all I got was a large dog with whom we are all familiar ...

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Maybe that's the Korean outlet?

[maher]

my experience with grass fed beef has ranged pretty widely from some of the best steaks ive had to a quite tough and stringy texture. i suppose it shouldnt be a surprise that the 'factory' fed beef is more uniform in taste and texture.

for my two cents, i think the key factors in the taste of steaks are, in order: Dry Aging, Feed, marbling, breed... in that order.

you can get a tremendous steak most of the time from grass fed steers that have had the meat dry aged for 4-6 weeks, even when the marbling is not stellar. In order to get the perfect steak i really believe you need great marbling too.

I felt the biggest problem with the Slate article is that it didnt account for the tremendous flavor differences from steer to steer in the free range/grass fed beef. you can have widely divergent experiences, but i really do think thats part of the fun.

[Reefpimp]

Meh. Just go Weimaraner hunting. I've had Anderson's steaks and I've had Weimaraner, and I preferred the Weimaraner.

Mind you, if you buy the grass-fed beef, you never have to worry about spending the night in dog walking territory.

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I'm sure there's some kind of joke or point here, I'm just not getting it..

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I was being trolled.

O Schnap!! TIME TO UNPIMP ZEE INTERNETS!!