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Cooking Grass Fed Beef
     I like to cook; and with 7 children and frequent company, I often cook for large numbers of people.  I like good food with a minimum of fuss.  Since we live about 30 minutes from a grocery store, I also like recipes that use common ingredients I keep on hand.  I’ll be adding new recipes almost every month.  Check back often!  If you're looking for recipes for a specific cut of beef click here.
     First, a short cooking lesson.  There are two basic ways to cook beef: dry heat and moist heat: 
  • Dry heat methods include dry roasting (with no liquid), broiling, grilling and stir-frying.  Success with dry heat methods depend on the cut (naturally tender cuts are the most suitable), cooking temperature (relatively high temperatures), and time (removing the meat before it overcooks).  More on this below.
  • Moist heat methods include roasting with liquid (technically braising or pot roast), simmering in a liquid or sauce, and grilling or broiling a sauce-covered cut.  Successful moist heat cooking depends on the right combination of heat, time and can go either way on temperature and duration.  High heat, moderate duration (like 350 for about 3 hours depending on the size of the cut) or low heat, long duration (225 for up to 8 hours) both accomplish the same goal: breakdown of sinew, fat and collagen to yield a tender, moist cut of beef.  Moist heat can turn an inexpensive cut of our grass fed beef into marvelously fork-tender delicious beef, full of deep rich flavor with none of the mouth-coating fat typical of these cuts. All of your favorite recipes using slow moist cooking are appropriate for our grass fed beef.
     Dry heat cooking of lean grass fed beef requires a few changes in how you cook, but none are complicated or difficult.  The key thing to remember is inter-muscular fat in meat acts as an insulator during the cooking process helping to keep natural meat juices from cooking away. Lean beef lacks this fat, and needs a little more attention when cooking in order to maintain its tenderness and juiciness.  One thing we have made a regular practice of in larger cuts that we dry roast is to always sear the beef before roasting.  This locks in juices and flavor and make a big difference in the final product.  (You'll find many excellent chefs who say searing makes no differences and the "locking in juices" is a myth.  We think with typical grain fed beef, which is much fattier, searing may not make much difference in the final product.  We have definately seen a difference, however, with our lean beef.  We think the searing "myth" is actually based in fact that harkons back to an earlier day when beef was more like our grass fed beef.).
     Our grass fed beef is very tender, due to our growing methods and our 20 day dry-age, but because it is very lean, our grass fed beef will cook faster than grain fed beef.  It is also easily overcooked.  The difference between a succulent steak cooked to medium rare, or an overdone piece of shoeleather, is often only the matter of a minute.  Beef with lots of fat is more forgiving of sloppy cooking.
     Armed with attention and a meat thermometer, however, you will find that you can easily prepare our grass fed steaks to rival the very best restaurant quality grain fed steaks.  Any of your favorite recipes will work, as long as you pay attention to internal temperatures.
 
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A few Don’ts to remember about Alderspring Grass Fed Beef:
  • Don’t overcook.  Grass fed beef requires about 30% less cooking time than grain fed beef and will continue to cook when removed from heat. Monitor temperature to serve as a measure for doneness--see steak link below for more on this.
  • Don't serve immediately; let sit loosely covered at least 5 minutes before serving (longer on a large roast).  This allows moisture to be redistrubuted in the beef and minimizes moisture loss through steam in very hot beef.
  • Don't use a fork to turn meat; use a tongs
  • Don’t  microwave. This process can change the texture and flavor of beef, and reduce tenderness.
  • Don’t cook frozen or partially frozen beef - it causes the meat to be dry and tough and to cook unevenly.. 
  • Don’t defrost roasts or steaks in a microwave oven - it causes tough spots and reduces moisture.  Thaw in your refrigerator for 12-24hrs to allow ice crystals to thaw gradually and be absorbed into the meat before cooking.  If you are in a hurry, place the meat in a large bowl of cool water.
  • Don’t cook steaks to medium-well or well-done.   If you usually like your meat-well done, try a steak done to medium.  Grass fed steaks have a different texture and taste at medium.  If you are a die-hard well-done fan, add a little marinade, and cook as carefully as possible.


HINTS AND RECIPES FOR SPECIFIC CUTS

Ground Beef

Stew Meat (This section also contains recipes that call for cutting larger pieces of meat such as roasts, london broils, and steaks into smaller pieces and cooking with moist slow heat.)

Roasts

Steaks

Brisket

Disclaimer about my recipes:  I know these recipes work with our beef.  I can't guarantee them for grass fed beef from other suppliers.  I recently had a phone call from someone who cooked another supplier's sirloin roast on low in the crock pot in an acidic-based sauce for 7 hours.  Her recipe should have resulted in fork-tender beef, but instead she said it was a tough-as-nails disaster.  If your grass fed beef is not good, tell your supplier!  If he/she can't guarantee better, try another supplier.  Grass fed beef should be the best beef you ever had!