The Taste of Grass Fed Beef page 3

[Rueben]

This thread made me chuckle, I grew up in new zealand where everything that should eat grass, does. Our beef and lamb is fantastic.
When I taste grain fed beef it tastes like dirt, I cant handle it at all. Which kind of says that we all like what we are used to.

Give me a grass fed steak every time! Lol

[L8F]

I have found, as others say, that each farm's meat tastes quite different. We have our favorite. I also have found that while I generally like all meat, that lately I tolerate ground beef much easier than a whole stake or pork chop. I don't think I had this problem in the past. Wither way, ground grass fed is a good way to start I think...

[CarlaC]

Yeah, I hate it, too. It's a hell of a lot leaner, though, which is part of the problem. I have been looking for a half cow and finally today found a great guy at a farmer's market. He said the grass fed I have been buying at the supermarket is from Australia and does not conform to US standards for grass fed. I bought about $50 worth from him- we shall see! His half cow price is $3.50 per pound hanging weight.

Update: I ate some ground beef last night and it was fantastic! Even my 14 year old was raving. Definitely buying a half cow. If anyone lives in WNY- Plato Dale Farm

[Bekki]

I think that's just the issue... what we are used to.

I grew up eating lots and lots of veggies. I have always loved spinach, mushrooms, brussel sprouts, etc. My husband, on the other hand, rarely had any veggies as a kid. And if he did, it was from a can. He can't stand most real vegetables as an adult because they taste too weird to him.

[primalswan]

We have a side of grass fed/finished beef from a local farm and it definitely tastes different, but delicious. We started with the rib eyes which were perfectly marbled and ground beef or stew meat in richer sauces while we became used to the slightly different flavor. My kids never were fans of steak before but they LOVE it now, so hopefully we are training taste buds for the good stuff early.

[Tercio]

I don't mind the taste, but around here grass fed beef is too lean. All fat is trimmed off steaks and roasts for the anti-fat crowd, ground beef is 93%, Blech!

Tercio

[Jena]

Luckily I can't afford it right now anyway... so getting used to it is not even an option

[JBailey]

I think I will just have to buy some individual cuts from some local farms and try them out. The only grass fed beef I have ever tried was from Australia. The ground beef today was from out of state.

I wouldn't say that it's a bad taste. Just... different. Not gamey, like venison, but it sort of reminded me of that.

I think the taste is from an animal eating its natural food and moving around more naturally. A bit more on the continuum with deer & such, esp compared to feedlot cows.
I can taste the diff from grass fed to feedlot and it's a good difference. Feedlot meat is greasy and soggy and bland. Real meat has flavor & texture.

[Pamsc]

I do find it hard to keep it tender, which is a big issue for my husband. I actually use a lot of low fat ground beef cooked with onions and seasonings then mushrooms or other vegetables then when it is done stir in some sour cream. The low fat makes noticeably more because less of it cooks away. I'm almost tempted to get a home sous vide setup like this Amazon.com: DorkFood DSV Temperature Controller for Sous-vide: Kitchen & Dining for my crockpot, hoping that will allow me to cook tenderer meat.