Grass-fed Cooking Suggestions

The Two Rules For Grass-Fed Beef:

1. Don't overcook.

2. Don't let the juices out.

The Details:

Grass-fed meat has less fat, so it's helpful to think of it as a different kind of
meat from grain-fed; one that needs to be cooked a little differently.

All the fat in grain-fed meat keeps it from getting dry almost no matter how you
cook it. But it's the juices, not fat, that make grass-fed meat moist, so it's
important not to lose them.

Meat without fat also cooks more quickly even at a lower temperatur,e than
fatty meat. Many people don't realize that, and overcook it. The result is dry,
less tender meat.

Here are some specific for grilling, roasting, broiling or pan frying:.

- Sear it first to create a 'crust' that keeps the juices in. Just lightly oil the meat
to keep it from sticking, put on a very hot grill or skillet and sear each side just
until browned.

- After it's seared, cook at a much lower temperature: move to a cooler area on
the grill, lower the broiler rack, or turn down the oven or stove.

- Don't puncture the meat or you'll lose the juices. Use a thermometer - one
that you can leave in the meat while it's cooking - to tell when it's done. For the
same reason, use tongs to turn it rather than spearing it with a fork, and don't
press down on it while cooking.

- Don't overcook - More than anything else, this is the reason for dry, less
tender grass-fed meat. Remember it cooks faster even though the temperature
is lower (in general, cook at least 50 degrees cooler than grain fed). So keep
your on the thermometer.

- Cook steaks and roasts until the internal temperature is between 120 (rare) to
135 (medium).

- Grass-fed is best cooked no more than medium. If you usually like your meat
cooked more, you might try it medium. Without all the fat, some people like
grass-fed less well done than grain fed. If you do want it cooked more than
medium, you can help keep it moist if you cook even more slowly and marinate
or baste while it's cooking.

- After it's done, loosely tent in foil before cutting and let it sit : 5 to 10 minutes
for steaks, 15 to 20 minutes for roasts. This lets the juices redistribute. During
this time it also cooks a little more.

- Internal temperature for hamburgers should be 160 degrees. If you want them
more moist, you can mix in shredded cheese, roasted red peppers, caramelized
onions or other moist food before cooking.

- If you grill, broil or pan fry a less tender steak (chuck, flank, round, cube)
tenderize it first or the meat will be pretty chewy. Slicing it across the grain, in
thin slices, will also make it more tender.

Tenderizing, Storing, and Cooking Meat

This is pretty basic information about meat. We've gotten these questions
from people who haven't cooked a lot of meat, or different cuts of meat, so
we're including it in case it's helpful.

Tenderizing beef
If you want to grill or roast a less tender steak, like a round, skirt, flank or
chuck steak, it's a good idea to tenderize it or you'll get a pretty chewy
steak. Here are a few ways to do this:

Meat mallet
Pounding a piece of meat (wrapped in plastic to avoid spattering) with a meat
mallet or a similar flat surface at least 1 ½ inches wide will help break up the
connective tissue that makes meat tough. Be gentle unless you want to
squash it into a pancake.

Marinades
Herb and spice marinades are often used to add flavor to an already tender
cut of meat. But a marinade will also tenderize steaks if it includes an acid
like lemon juice, wine or vinegar; oil to lock in the flavor; and natural
enzymes from foods like garlic, fresh pineapple or papaya juice. Some of
these enzymes are sold dried as meat tenderizers; be sure the ingredients
are only natural enzymes, not not MSG or chemicals.

A marinade doesn't have to be fancy. a high quality oil, vinegar and garlic
would work. Put the thawed meat and marinade in a zip lock bag with the air
pushed out, mix it until the meat is covered. Refrigerate it for an hour or two
if you just want to add flavor; to tenderize it should be refrigerated several
hours or overnight. Mix it around in the bag occasionally to keep the whole
steak is covered. Marinades don't penetrate very far into the meat so they
will tenderize steaks, but don't do much for roasts.

Jaccard tenderizer
This is a handheld tool many people love. Its thin, tiny knives go an inch down
into the meat, piercing connective fibers to tenderize. Searing will seal the
tiny cuts to keep the juices in. But be careful about how you use it - too
much piercing can turn a tender steak into the consistency of a hamburger.
Jaccard tenderizers work especially well with roasts and thicker pieces of
meat, which don't tenderize as well with mallets and marinades.

If you want to use a marinade to flavor a roast, using a Jaccard tenderizer
first allows the flavor to penetrate much further into the roast. It also will
shorten the cooking time for slow-cooking, since the moisture will penetrate
more quickly.

Storing and Thawing Frozen Meat

Our beef is vacuum packed and frozen as soon, then kept frozen at 0 degrees
or lower to preserve maximum freshness.

How long can you store it?
Frozen beef should retain its full flavor for at least a year if it's kept at this
temperature. Some people feel that ground beef starts losing flavor after 6
months, others don't notice a difference. The most important factor is a
constant freezer temperature of no more than 10 degrees, ideally 0 or lower.
If it's in a refrigerator/freezer that sometimes gets warm enough that ice
cream will start to soften, it will lose flavor more quickly.

Is older meat safe to eat?
Meat can stay in a freezer for years. As long as it's kept frozen, it's safe. But
at some point it starts to lose flavor and dry out. Meat with freezer burn is
also safe to eat. But the 'burned' area doesn't taste very good so most
people cut it off.

Wrap it to protect it
To protect meat it's a good idea to wrap it in another bag. It helps protect it
from temperature fluctuation and from puncturing the wrapping. If the meat
is directly exposed to freezer air, it dries out and gets freezer burn.

For long term storage
If you have a large amount of meat that you expect to be using over a long
period of time, double protection is especially important to keep it fresh. You
can put 15 or 20 pounds in a heavy-duty bag, or plastic storage box, closed
tightly to protect it from air. If you have room, you could even put the bags
into a cardboard box for an extra layer of protection between the freezer
surface and the meat.

Thawing meat
If you cook meat that's still frozen in the middle, or defrost it in a microwave,
it's not going to taste its best. The ideal way to thaw meat is in the
refrigerator 12 to 24 hours. If you don't have that much time, put it in a sink
or pot of cool water (wrapped well so the water doesn't get into the meat).

Dry and Moist Cooking

Almost any way you cook meat is either a dry or moist cooking method.

Grilling, roasting, broiling or pan frying are dry cooking - no liquid is used to
cook the meat. The most tender cuts of meat - the higher priced steaks and
roasts - are the easiest to dry cook.

Braising, pot roasting, steaming, pressure cooking, soups, and stews are
methods of moist cooking. Most people use moist cooking for the less tender
cuts of meat, from the muscles that do a lot of work. The connective tissue
- collagen - is stronger in working muscles, and has to be broken down to
make the meat tender. That's what the moisture does.

Some people don't use these less tender cuts because moist cooking sounds
a lot harder than putting a steak on the grill. But cooking a pot roast in a slow
cooker is almost foolproof - easier for many people than grilling a 'perfect'
steak. There are other good reasons to try moist cooking: less tender cuts of
meat are also less expensive. And they tend to have a more intense beef
flavor than the tender cuts. They're both good; the difference is roughly
comparable to a light and dark roast of coffee.