Grass Fed Beef...It's Whats For Dinner...

I was never much of a beef eater, unless it came on a rib from the Elegant Bull , or a Mcdonald’s cheeseburger plain (super classy, I know.) That was until I was fortunate enough to gain a freezer full of beef. Not just any kind of beef, but the grass fed, hormone & pesticde free , “free range” beef….. (Thanks to my daddy, who killed me a cow…) Just kidding, he actually humanely owns some cattle and breeds them, and occasionally a few get chosen to well, y’know provide sustenance. Um…but back to the meat in my freezer….so at first I had no idea what to do with the meat packaged and labeled so prettily in the Frigidaire. I mean, I was coming to the realization that I was in fact a meat racist. I never actually cooked red meat, maybe the occasional sausage, but basically I was being so narrow minded. Red meat, outside of prime rib and hamburger could actually be delicious, and there were so many ways to cook it…

Armed with my freezer of meat, I started trying out cooking techniques on many different cuts of meats, some I had never heard of Coulette? Bifanes? What? Maybe it was the not feeling guilty about the actual dollars$ the meat was costing me..(Thanks Dad..) but I really let loose and had a number of “winning dishes “ So many in fact that it got me thinking. Was it my fabulous cooking….(obviously!) or was it simply the result of a quality product? My answer: a quality product. The thing is, grass fed beef is just plain better. Everyone knows that ground beef they buy for their burgers in the store; with sometimes highly questionable smells and color, the worst wrapped in rolls looking like they are something to be popped at New Years. That was the ground beef I was familiar with. But natural, grass fed ground beef is just different; for one, no smell (good sign!), good color , and very lean. For the first time in my life I made an excellent Bolognese sauce. No gritty, chewy, fatty beef tendrils here! In short, it tastes so much better!! Knowing where it comes from also helps, not sitting in a packaging plant and then being shipped across the United States, just leads to better flavor & quality. The worst thing I have noticed? You need to use more seasoning because grass fed beef naturally has a lower fat content, so more flavor is needed. And last but not least you need to make sure to know your product beforehand, meaning where it is from and who produces it. (Note: when buying grass fed beef it is often frozen, to instill freshness for local producers.) You can find local sources of Grass fed beef by going to www.gowild.com . Another suggestion is to actually just ask around at your locals farmers market. Many small cattle ranchers can’t afford to market & advertise their meat, so it is all really done on a first come, word of mouth basis. You can almost always visit these farms/ranches to ensure quality also (just don’t go naming the cows…) Cattle “season” generally lands in August/September but check around. That is also my dad’s season, so contact me if you are interested in getting a hold of some of that yummy red meat…

Recipe from the woman who swore she would never make pot roast or meatloaf: Bacon & Beef Meatloaf. This recipe was greatly inspired by a recipe in the January 2009 Bon Appetit but has very much been changed.
1 # grass fed beef
10 slices bacon
1 small yellow onion
3 cloves garlic
2/3 cup ketchup
2 eggs
2 slices whole wheat bread
¼ cup chopped Italian parsley
2 tablespoons grated parmesan
Kosher salt & pepper
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
Preheat onion to 400 degrees. Grate onion and garlic into large bowl. Add beef, 1/3 cup ketchup , 2 eggs , parmesan , thyme , salt and pepper. In food processor chop up bread and 7 slices bacon until well minced. Add to bowl. Add chopped parsley. Mix well. (Let’s be honest, spoons don’t work. Get in with your hands and work it!) When mixed, put in loaf pan. Slice remaining 3 bacon slices in half. Wrap slices around loaf leaving ½ inch spaces. Fill in spaces with remaining ketchup. Cook for 1 hr, 10 minutes. (You want the meat to caramelize along the edges!) Let rest 10 minutes (This is important, don’t skip this step!) and serve with some potatoes!