Raw Meat
It’s about the most primal, albeit not necessarily attractive, image you can conjure: dirty, disheveled, muscular cavepeople in rough animal skins and furs partaking of the uncooked prize from the latest hunting endeavor (or perhaps another predator’s leftovers). Fast forward to today. Our more “civilized,” better dressed, contemporary selves follow the maître d’ and sit down to intricately painted dinnerware and linen napkins to partake of, you guessed it, raw meat. And then pay big bucks for it, to boot. Sushi, steak tartare, carpaccio: they’re considered delicacies of sorts. And while sushi has caught on in the last twenty years or so, Saveur still calls steak tartare a “forbidden pleasure.”
For some of us, raw meat of some variety is regular fare. For others, well, it just gives us the willies. Our culture, among the biggest meat lovers, seems to have the hardest time envisioning it in its more “natural” state. We have grills the size of Texas, after all. The closest we usually get to the primal side is using a spit. But raw meat in some form or another has a hold on virtually every other culture. Raw fish dishes, in particular, are common in many Asian cultures. A number of Middle Eastern cultures enjoy recipes with raw goat meat. Inuit cultures eat raw fish and reindeer as a regular and primary part of their diet.
Proponents of raw meat claim that any kind of cooking reduces the healthfulness of meat. And then there’s the issue of cooking-associated toxins like HCAs and AGEs. Yet, let’s face it. We don’t live in primal times. Conventionally raised and mass processed meats carry a higher risk of bacterial contamination (think E. coli and salmonella among others), and that’s serious business.
But not all meats carry the same threat. Those who eat raw meat as a regular part of their diets often seek out small farms and game butchers to ensure healthier conditions and the likelihood of healthier meats to begin with. Sushi connoisseurs choose restaurants that have strict “sushi grade” standards for their fish. The FDA doesn’t regulate that label, but it does require that all raw fish other than tuna be frozen at temperatures cold enough to kill parasites. Some chefs freeze the meat to 70 degrees below zero and claim there’s no detectable difference in taste or texture.
Harriet V. Kuhnlein, Professor of Human Nutrition at the Centre for Indigenous Peoples’ Nutrition and Environment at McGill University in Montreal believes that raw meat is a healthy option, provided it’s clean: “Every time you process or cook something — anything — you are likely to be losing nutrients at every step. As long as this meat is still microbiologically safe, it is at its best raw or frozen fresh.”
There are a few groups who are strongly advised against eating raw or undercooked meats: pregnant women or those trying to conceive, young children, “the elderly” (not our word), patients receiving chemotherapy or those who are taking immunosuppressant medications, and people with weakened immune systems.
So, what to do if you’re interested in giving raw meat a try? Source matters. We suggest you shop carefully. Ideally, you should know the farmer and the processor. When going raw, cleaner is even more important. Put your meat in deep freeze if you want to have that added peace of mind about parasites. (Freezing is acceptable to most raw foodies, but they do contend that freezing kills the natural enzymes of foods.)
Consider using alcohol based dips and especially marinades (port wine, vodka, etc.) that may help kill bacteria. Citrus based marinades are thought to be somewhat helpful in this regard, but don’t count on them to do as much as a good ounce of alcohol. Better to mix the two if your taste calls for it. Finally, if the head is willing but the stomach is weak, try searing the meat and leaving the middle uncooked. Add a flavorful dip, and you’ve got yourself the best of the primal and contemporary in one tasty tidbit. We’ll call it primal fusion.
So, what do you think of raw meat? Thoughts, questions, recipes, raves?
jelleprins, Alexandre Chang, obscene pickle, ulterior epicure Flickr Photos (CC)
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Posted By: Worker Bee
It is so hard to find good steak tartare in the US anymore. Most trendy places have switched to tuna tartare or some other permutation…but it just ain’t even close.
So can the human body process all types of raw (fresh, clean) meat–pork, chicken, rabbit, etc.?
I’ve recently switched to raw eggs for breakfast. Can’t beat the prep time. Would love to eat raw meat more often, for the convenience alone.
It’s difficult to get a feel for the real risks because there is so much overblown anti-bacterial nonsense going on these days.
Maria,
Humans can handle any and all types of animal flesh. We have millions of years of practice!
Yes, I have been eating raw meats of all kind along with raw eggs and dairy for 5 yrs. Never any ill effects….quite the opposite! Big time energy and optimal health! I have loads of great recipes and all of the campers that come here get somewhat converted in to raw meat lovers! =) “Rawk on” Retro-Raw
I would love to try raw steak or fish, provided it was prepared in some way. I don’t know if I could just tear it off the bone raw… And I still feel squicky about raw chicken or other birds, but I understand that it’s due to socialization.
I’ve been trying to get more comfortable with dealing with meats, really tearing a chicken carcass apart to get everything or crockpotting bone-in meat instead of deboned. I used to live on ramen, and let my DH cook any meat for the most part. But awhile ago I realized that I would have to get over the squicky feelings and just deal with it. If everyone else through all of history could do it, then so can I.
Sometimes I still go “yeugh” at certain things, but when I consider how the meat I used to eat was processed for me (fast food & packaged stuff) I realize that it’s way less disgusting to handle it myself.
Sorry to tangent, the point is that mentally, yes, I do want to eat raw meat. But I think I need to first get handle on some of the more basic stuff to get to that point.
I did alot of research on eating raw steak, but i only found speculations from people who havent tried it. Literally ten minutes ago i opened a package of lean steak for pan frying i got from the market, sprinkled some tasty spices on it and ate about four medium size slices, it tasted great. we’ll see how i feel tommorow lol
Good for you Shaun! it takes courage to try raw meat for the first time. Please keep us informed.
Kind regards,
Steve H
Shaun,
:~)
I forgot to ask…are you supplementing with an omega-3 rich source (such as cod liver oil), to address the omega-6 to omega-3 imbalance? That is a good idea if you are eating non-grass fed raw meat. In fact is a good idea regardless of the origins of your meat (and fish) intake.
Kind regards,
Steve
i’ve been eating raw meats(only chicken and beef) and i’ve never gotten sick from it. but i’ve also been doing so since i was a kid, so my body is used to it, if you’re a first time eater, chances are you might get sick, or you also may be unlucky enough to get a bit of meat that’s infected(paratie, bactieria, virus, etc, people will say you will get sick, but that just shows that they too have fallen prey to the FDA’s lies
I have also been eating raw meat since I was a kid. I remember sneaking it when my mom was cooking; rabbit, lamb, beef, pork, etc. Never could stomach raw chicken.. Texture is too much like boogers for me, but like you, I have never gotten sick from it.. Quite the opposite, it enhances my mood tenfold, gives me lasting energy, and has helped maintain a good healthy weight. I would love to see the social stigma associated with eating raw meat vanish, but until that happens, I will continue NOT telling my partner what I’ve consumed for the day :p
I do have a question I have been eating raw meat on and off for 6 months, never got sick, but I do get dark circles under my eyes after i eat it??? And it will go away after a day or two? any input anyone?
FRESH (not frozen and thawed) raw tuna. Maguro. Mmmmm. Flesh that melts in your mouth. Mmmmm.
I did try sushi and sashimi when we lived in Japan, but didn’t care for the texture.
I used to like my steaks medium. Now I prefer them almost rare, so much more flavor and so tender!
Don’t think I can manage uncooked chicken!
Thanks for the article! I’m regular raw meat/eggs/salmon eater and I find it easier to recover at DOMS when I have eaten raw food after gym training instead of prepared. Anyone noticed the same?
pet cats used to be fed scraps of real food – including raw meat, since the pet food con merchants got in on the act, they discovered that early recipes caused cats to decline in health – they discovered that cooking the meat destroyed an essential protein – purine i believe – so they lived once it was added. of course they don’t consider problem of diabetes and obesity caused by the rice the put in cat (junk)food- ever seen a wild cat eat rice? – me neither
oops – correction
taurine is the amino acid that is destroyed by cooking meat
so raw meat is more complete – it may even be more easily digested
m
Yup, Markus, it’s taurine which is destroyed in cooked cat food. Taurine is abundant in heart tissue, but not skeletal muscle, so even feeding raw meat scraps night not provide enough. I prepare raw chicken (www dot catnutrition dot org for the recipe) for my two cats with a heavy duty grinder, though the heart muscle is often difficult to source in the quantities I need, so I have to add taurine capsules.
Plus, cats need calcium from the raw bones to balance the phosphorus in the skeletal meat. That’s why I cut and grind up the chicken, bones and all. Cooked bones are too brittle and shouldn’t be fed to animals. An additional benefit to this “species appropriate” cat food is that the feces don’t smell at all in the litter box, and dry up quickly, like coyote skat. Cat’s GI tracts are so acidic and short that there isn’t much residue left of the meat, organs, and bones.
Heather, if you have a dog or cat and started to feed raw food regularly, you would quickly adjust to handling raw meat and poultry. My squeamish factor greatly reduced when I realized how much healthier my cats were on real food.
I’m intrigued by raw meats and probably could use the meat I get from direct farm sources (though I don’t know their butchers). I’ve had carpaccio in restaurants but not at home. I will eat sushi without a problem, but I don’t love it the way some people do. Maybe I’m too focused on remembering the names or the restaurant bill to enjoy it
.
But mostly I am trying to find ways to cook organ meat (offal) in ways my family likes. If I can get somewhere with that, then I may branch into the raw meat route (I have pork and bison heart, liver, and kidney in the freezer now, waiting for inspiring recipes). But my son finds a certain Mr. Bean and Steak Tartare dvd skit so funny I might have a hard time serving it to him.
I started feeding my cat a raw food – grain free diet a few months ago, and he has never looked better! Shiny fur, muscular, and bouncing around like a kitten (he is 13)… I got him late in life so he hasn’t always had this type of diet.
When I was a kid I loved the taste of raw hamburger….. I was lucky I didn’t get really sick eating it! Now, truthfully I can’t stomach the taste of any raw meat except for Tuna Sashimi, Ahi Tuna and rare beef. So I probably would cross this off my Primal eating list as a “not gonna happen”.
I have always eaten my steak basically just warmed up. Then, since finding sites like this and learning more about nutrition in a year than I thought possible and finding a source of true grass pasture raised cow meat, I now occasionally eat straight up raw meat.
Not as an actual dish yet, though I don’t quanitfy dishes anymore, but while trimming grass fed sirloin off the bone for marinade once I tasted a piece and didn’t quite stop. Now whenever I prepare some true grass fed I seem to always eat at least a little or more raw, and it is so delicious!
I do the raw egg bit for breakfast too at times. I actually like to crack three into a half cup of grapefruit juice, stir lightly and swoosh!
Awesome site by the way!!! Thank you so much for sharing so much knowledge!
Some Ethiopian restaurants in St. Louis have raw options on some of their dishes. I generally enjoy them but wish they would cut the pieces a little smaller as they can be quite tough.
I’ve been eating quality raw beef for 2 months now with no problems. It takes no time to cook, and depending on the cut is very tasty. I’ve been eating grass fed hormone-free ribeye, london broil, t-bone, and few other cuts from Texas Longhorn and red/black angus. I get the longhorn from a local rancher and the cow from Whole Foods. Please visit my blog for documentation of my experiences. Thanks for posting this entry!
I was in Peru a month ago, enjoying their local delicacy “ceviche”, or raw fish, in a good restaurant. Now I’m 11 days into an 18 day treatment for intestinal parasites. Maybe it wasn’t the ceviche. Whatever. I’m not going to die, but I have missed 4 weeks of the cross-country ski season. For me, eating raw meat is not worth the risk unless you, probably like Grok, saw the meat killed with your own eyes. Modern raw meat travels from somewhere, somehow, killed by someone, killed some unknown time ago, to your table.
What program are you doing? Every other program I run into says I should pretty much fast on water and prepare for lunacy? Any advice? =)
Graham, good point. Sorry to hear about your experience. That’s certainly a possibility when traveling abroad – or even in the USA for that matter. I wish you a speedy recovery.
I’ve noshed on raw meat a time or two (mainly for the lulz), but until recently I hadn’t had it as part of a meal.
The other day, though, my little brother and I went backpacking. We brought a picnic lunch, which for reasons of convenience I decided to make (and keep) cold. Well, as one may imagine, this provided a bit of a problem – the Primal diet does not enable one to eat things like lunch-meat sandwiches, and well-cooked meat is positively disgusting when cold.
It was the perfect time for some Grok-style raw meat.
I heated a skillet, added a bit of oil, and tossed in a chunk that I’d sliced off a beef roast. Added some salt, browned it, and took it out. (I wouldn’t have browned it first, but the dairy where the meat came from is notorious for its germ-ridden facilities.) Stuck in the freezer to chill, then stuffed it in the backpack with my salad and LB’s sandwich and spaghetti squash.
I can now say with certainty that there is nothing like sitting on the ground out in the wilderness munching on a piece of cold, raw meat. Even in the blah, brown, dry desert, it was absolutely fantastic. (LB even picked up some wild mustard to eat on his sandwich – very caveman of him.)
One thing I would definitely have to say is that raw meat is best cold. Once you stop thinking about it as “eew, raw meat!” it takes little effort to eat through the entire piece, and it’s tender and quite tasty.
Unfortunately, I have yet to convince our mother of this fact… she only likes her meat when it’s well-done. (Hates it cold, though. I wonder if I should mention the connection.)
Gotta try Alton Brown’s method for easy beef jerky. No cooking required just marinade and dry. Doesn’t matter if its hot, cold, or raining, delicious beef is ready for consumption
I remember as a baby back in Siberia I was delighted to have small cubes of raw horse liver. So much so in fact I would call it chocolate (as acquiring actual chocolate was luxury even the well off could scarcely enjoy)
Another dish we enjoyed in the old country was Stragonina, the absolute freshest fish one can imagine. Caught in pristine rivers in the dead of winter through holes in the ice, frozen moments later in the cold conditions, then brought home and enjoyed, still frozen, by shaving off slivers of flesh and letting it melt in your mouth.
I haven’t been able to bring myself to trust meat in North America enough to eat it any less than medium rare, but one day I hope to once again eat something like the “chocolate” of my childhood.
Raw horse liver questions. Was it refrigerated, or frozen, or quickly seared? Did it have any kind of seasoning, or sauce? Is raw beef liver comparable at all?
Practically everyone seems so against eating horsemeat in the U.S.A. nowadays.
My family owned horses and cattle and even though I love horses I don’t understand why they are so against eating horsemeat here now.
I admit I wouldn’t particularly want to eat my favorite riding horse but I don’t see anything wrong with eating horsemeat. I would eat it if it wasn’t an individual horse that I was emotionally attached to. I raised a calf that I wouldn’t have wanted to eat either, his name was Buddy and he would come when I called him, yet I eat beef almost every day.
Is eating horsemeat common in Siberia? I think a lot of horsemeat is eaten in France.
Is beef, or lamb eaten raw in Siberia?
I have only eaten beef raw in small amounts with a little salt and pepper sprinkled on it. Gina
Is eating horsemeat common in Siberia? I think a lot of horsemeat is eaten in France.
They eat horsemeat throughout the Pyrenean belt, because this region was one of those in which, during the last descent of the ice-sheets onto the Continent, the horse was domesticated by the men with white skin. Such is the Magdalenian Culture. Real “Paleo” men.
We would not even exist if it weren’t for our ancestors eating horsemeat, for only the horse — as we see in certain Siberian tribes who subsist this way today on the reindeer, and are themselves the ancestors of the Eskimos — could break through snow pack to obtain lichen for sustenance. Or our people ate them.
Horse is a fetish in America because no one here had to rely on it for meat. The Injuns took their cue from the Spaniards who re-introduced the horse and hunted the buffalo from horseback. The horse is nothing more than a giant showpiece for Americans, probably reflecting the same mentality among the English. But go to southern France, Asturias, Kazakhstan or best of all Kyrgyzstan, probably Siberia as well, and people eat it because it’s common livestock or traditional.
I’ve been eating raw meat, raw fish, raw eggs for some years now, and love the stuff. So practical too…grab and eat.
I don’t have ready access to grass fed meats, so it has to be regular meat bought from the local butcher. I balance the omega-6 bias in such meats with omega-3 from cod liver oil and regular oily fish consumption. Grass fed is definitely better, without a doubt.
Kind regards,
Steve H
What a great site this is and what great contributions as well.
I don’t eat a lot of red meat but I am thinking of going raw when I do. This site has helped me heaps. Thank you.
Hah! Whenever I hear someone talk about eating raw meat, it’s in the same sentence as “crazy”. I personally love the taste of raw beef. I used to sneak into the kitchen and steal some off my mom’s cutting board when she wasn’t looking (in hindsight, a dangerous stint since it wasn’t properly decontaminated). Never got sick from it, though. But I’ve never admitted this craving to anyone for fear of sounding… well, crazy. One way I can pig out on raw stuff is having sushi (about once a month, I don’t like the fact that it’s wrapped in white rice, but it tastes so damn good).
I finally took the step into eating raw meat. I got some venison backstrap and instead of cooking it, the thought to just eat it raw overwhelmed me. OMG, it was SO GOOD!
I have grass-fed beef in the freezer. I’m really looking forward to eating it raw. I also have pastured(wild) boar, but I’m not 100% sure it’s safe.
Raw beef doesn’t actually taste like much of anything… it’s bland but has got a coppery smell (I suppose that’s the blood) which is actually pretty enjoyable, it’s only the stringy, slimy fatty parts that are hard to eat raw. Chicken breast raw is almost the same as cooked, just a slightly different texture. Raw fish (depending on the species) often tastes much better than it does cooked.
Just a quick anecdote from a lurker cum practitioner:
4 or 5 years ago I bought some pancetta and some other meats in the ‘fancy italian’ section of my local store. Had just landed a decent job and wanted to treat myself.
Well, over the weekend I ate a pound of pancetta raw, thinking it was cooked and meant to be eaten that way. Literally when I was chewing on the last slice I read the back of the package that said how you must cook before eating!
So, 2 days, 1 pound of raw pork, no problems. Granted, not sure of what processing or preservatives but hey, it’s an anecdote!
Cheers,
noah
I have always had an urge to eat meat raw when I was cooking food. Didn’t matter what it was, with the exception of chicken since i dislike the texture either way. But it simply tastes better, richer and if you want to get fancy with it, do a nice tar tarre topped with a raw egg yolk. Points worth considering.
1)Bacteria is found on the surface of the meat, the inside is sterile. If you worry about bacteria, cut off the outer layer, it only has to be a carpaccio thin slice.
Always..ALWAYS mince your own beef, always. When it is minced, now you have a million surfaces for potentially harmful bacteria to thrive on. So if you eat it minced, you cut it yourself and eat it right after preperation.
2)In Italy they make delicious hams that are left to dry as they are, in a tree for more than a year. Then you just scrabe of the mold and get down to business because…see point 1
3)In Greenland you can get delicious whale meat prepared in a similar manner. These folks only got scurvy when the good christian folks from Denmark told them to start cooking because they were disgusted by thei habbits.
4)not all parasites are unwanted as long as it is a mutual deal. The new buzz for allergy treatment is…intestine worms. who’d have think? We have just become to sterile for our own good.
someone here talked about eating raw bear meat. This is a very bad idea as bear meat is notorious for tough parasites that offer up shitty host/parasite arrangements. Even indiginous people native to the bear cook it for hours on end. Game is not a good idea I reckon, the likeliness of parasites is greater.
Knowing your cow, or atleast a buthcer who knew it should go without saying.
Happy munching omnivores
I wanted to add; If you cannot look your dinner in the eyes you should not eat it.
it works on several levels, really.
you said that cooking ‘kills’ the enzymes.
I would just like to say that enzymes aren’t alive, so they can’t die.
Anyway, eating raw meat seems really stupid. For thousands of years humans have been eating meat cooked, we just aren’t adapted to eating it raw anymore.
It breaks down enzymes, they become defunct, useless, a problem, feel free to take ap ick if dead does not work for you.
We have been adapted to a raw everything diet for millions of years before we took on a new fancy, which in the real time scale, is but a couple of hours ago. Our biology has not changed radically since we came out of the tree/out of the water/god created us.
Cooking not only separated us from animals but helped develop the human brain. Cooking is not a hap hazard option. Raw is not always a good thing, if ever.
Cooking developed the human brain? I think your brain’s been cooked!!
I eat supermarket steaks blue rare, all you need is a good high-heat fryer and you get full flavor that is (almost) as good as raw. If I have the time and energy, I drive out to the only meat processer that I personally trust with my raw cuts, and treat myself to a beautifully raw steak. I’m a huge lover of raw salmon as well.
I haven’t made it to poultry yet, mostly because my “guy” doesn’t do any poultry, and I’ve never plucked a chicken, so I just don’t know enough about it to find a reliable source. Mass production has done us an incredible disservice when it comes to bacteria.
Cooking is what seperates us from animals? Our brain developed because of cooked food? are these things you would like to prove, because I know each of these claims to be -at their best- misleading.
I’d love to hear more about your experience! How long have you been eating raw meat for? Do you have a website/ journal?