Foodie convert to Paleo seeks tasty grassfed page

[dick]

Love the MDA Site; embrace the Paleo Ethic. Gave up bread, pasta, beer; won't give up that sizzlin' steak on the grill or that great prime rib. And, so far, grassfed meat is nasty. Dense, tough, dry, yuckky smelling while cooking, ditto taste. Working on third vendor. What's answer? a) Suck it up, Pal; it's hello Paleo, goodbye Delicious? b) It's Vendor; try X Meat Purveyors? c) It's Method: marinate in X? d)??

Help, help!

[tfarny]

Mostly B and C, though grassfed isn't as tender or as marbled as hormone-injected, infected, cruel, unsustainable, rural-way-of-life-killing, corporate meat. Actually the best steaks I've ever had have been 100% range fed Argentine steers - grassfed is their default and they somehow turn out a high quality product. Aussie meat is darn good too. But I've had tough and dry steaks, too. Mostly they cook faster (more like chicken) because of their leanness and lend themselves to quick preparations and rich sauces.

[lexie]

I agree with tfarny, mostly B & C.

[tfarny]

Coming back to this - I've had huge success with formerly uncool cuts like oxtail, shank, etc., the best ground beef ever (it's just chuck and fat), but steaks have been less successful. If you buy in bulk you've got a variety of course, but the steaks are the thing that take a different approach. I will also say that my pastured 1/2 pig has got the best chops and steaks ever.

[naiadknight]

I say it's vendor and method.
I use a local company that has better prices than the grocery store on most cuts, but I've heard really good things about Wellness Meats and Slanker's. I'm not sure if they'd ship to you (they do ship, but I'm not sure how far,) but the local joint is YT Beef.
As to method, remember that grassfed doesn't take as long to cook and can't take quite as much abuse as injected- inspected- dejected- neglected meat. If you want well done, you're not going to get a good hunk of cow from grass fed. My best rib roast was garlic slivered and slathered in an olive oil, pepper, and garlic mix, then baked at 500 for 15 min, and finished off until medium rare in a 350* oven. As to steak, I salt and pepper it, coat it in garlic butter, and grill until medium, medium rare, no further.

[SophieScreams]

Marinating steaks in a little red wine vinegar seems to soften the muscle tissue up a bit. Also, I've steered(heehee) myself away from previous favorites like sirloin, london broil, flank steak. Those parts of the grassfed cow just don't come out as tender as corn-poisoned feedlot cows. Le sigh. The "price" you pay.

[sbhikes]

My grass-fed source dry ages the meat for about 2 weeks. This results in a 10% reduction in the amount of meat due to loss of water. They do this to concentrate the flavor. Regular commercial meats are not aged due to the loss of profits--10% less meat is 10% less profit. You are simply used to watery meat.

[Yvonne PHX]

I soak my grassfed rib-eyes in butter. It isn't the same, but it's good.

[tfarny]

My grass-fed source dry ages the meat for about 2 weeks. This results in a 10% reduction in the amount of meat due to loss of water. They do this to concentrate the flavor. Regular commercial meats are not aged due to the loss of profits--10% less meat is 10% less profit. You are simply used to watery meat.

High quality beef is always dry-aged no matter how it is raised. A good butcher will place the hanging meat in a visible location in fact.

[dado]

High quality beef is always dry-aged no matter how it is raised. A good butcher will place the hanging meat in a visible location in fact.

a good butcher will also have sawdust on the floor, to soak the blood up.