Grass-fed Beef

Our brilliant doctor, Dr. Mike Nichols, has us eating grass-fed meats, rather than store-bought grain fed. Even if you've been aware of the grass-fed movement, there's a lot more to this than most of us realize.

For instance, even grass-fed beef is often "finished" with grain, which may help a number of factors of our diet, but the increased EFA and CLA fats dwindle when grain is used, so you have to specify 100% grass fed.

The grass-fed beef is leaner—less fat makes the meat less juicy, which will require some getting used to, maybe even tenderizing with a marinade or with a "comb" tenderizer, such as a Jaccard Meat Tenderizer. It tastes different, a little gamier due to the free movement—the muscles are worked more. Even cooking it will take a little practice as it will take less time to cook to the desired temperature.

Some of the benefits found in the grass-fed ranch meats:

Low in fat . . . similar to fish and chicken
High in Omega Fatty Acids
High in cancer fighting Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA's)
High in Vitamin E
High in Beta Carotene due to grass finishing
Low risk of E Coli since each animal is processed individually
Pesticide-free farming practices
Free of synthetic hormones
Free of antibiotics in the feed
Free of steroids
Free of preservatives and additives
No genetically modified organisms (GMOs)
No irradiation
Raised by organic farming methods
No feeds containing animal by products thus no chance of BSE (Mad Cow Disease)

More information on the benefits of grass-fed meat—what they call pasture-based farming—can be found at Eat Wild.

I ordered beef from a few different places and found one that was hugely better than the others. The jerky, for instance, was incredible... tasted like my dad's homemade recipe from my childhood, and you know how hard it is to match a childhood memory! Nitrate free, hormone free, antibiotic free, steroid free, organic farming methods—can't beat it. The price on the jerky is pretty average for handmade jerky, $28/pound, which is what we were paying that other guy who stopped making it, only this stuff is grass fed, nitrate free and tastes better.

The company that came out on top is American Grass-Fed Beef. They have quite a bit of information on why grass-fed beef is better than normal beef; scroll down to "Articles" and click on "Learn about Grass-Fed Beef."

Dave's been eating their beef for a couple of weeks, the ground beef, ribeye steaks, skirt steaks and flank steaks. It takes a bit of getting used to, both in the cooking (it's less fat than normal beef, and the fat is different, too, less saturated, so it takes less time to cook) and in the eating, since the cattle move around freely, making the muscles more gamey and flavorful.

I just got a Jaccard meat tenderizer, a gizmo with sharp tongs that break through the muscle fiber to make the meat more tender without chemicals or marinades. That made a big difference according to Dave; if interested you can pick one up at American.

Dave's cooking this with the Foreman grill, eats his meat pretty rare so it works well for him. I'm holding out for when we can fire up the bbq grill as I really can't give you a good impression until it's cooked outside in my favorite way.

Still, I think even if he wasn't enjoying the meat, we'd still be working to get used to the difference in the taste since it makes such a big difference in the healthful qualities of the food. It's my fear the more advanced we become as a society, the more distant our food gets from the original source through the addition of chemicals, the fewer minerals in the soil, the fast pace of food growing.

We need to start now to make our way back toward the quality of food our parents ate, whatever the cost, lest our rates of cancer and heart disease grow at unbelievable rates. Flavor gets better the closer we get to homegrown, too; one thing you can count on when paying a higher price to buy direct from the grower: Better taste.

When you're ready to take a trial run, visit American Grass-Fed Beef and place a sample order. Within a few days, a tightly-packed styrofoam ice chest will arrive, beef frozen solid and wrapped in handy, re-usable ice packets. Hang onto the ice packets, too: Only pro athletes with custom-made ice packs have better injury treatment than these wrap-around units.

Laree