Cooking Grass-fed Beef

Tips For Cooking Grass Fed Meats

Posted by Al Rosas on Growers & Grocers.

I’ve been telling people grass is good for years. As The Organic Chef and an organic grass fed beef farmer, it’s only natural that I’ve heard just about everything a person could tell me about grass fed beef.Here I’ve chosen three “myths” about grass fed beef to debunk:

1) All beef is grass-fed

2) Grass-fed beef is tough

3) Beef is beef and grass-fed beef is no different nutritionally

1) This is the same as saying that all cows are milk fed. Is it true? Yes. But we all know that this is only until they are weaned. Most commercial cows eat grass for a few short months until they are old enough to be sold to the feed lots. Any goodness from the grass that they did eat from that little time spent on pasture is completely erased the moment they hit the market. From that point on, they go from the quiet comforts of their mother and herd to the deafening noise of the market and the all too often jolt from the free flowing cattle prod. Over crowded conditions, lack of food and water and, in most cases, not even enough room to lie down, and that is just at the livestock market. Once they reach the feed lot, matters only get worse. This is a place where the duty of the veterinarian is not to care for the well being of the livestock, but to merely keep it alive long enough to get to slaughter. I challenge anyone to find a picture of a feedlot that contains a single blade of grass in ANY of its feed pens. Call me crazy, but this isn’t my idea of grass-fed. A good tip to learn if your beef is really grass fed: The fat in truly grass fed beef runs clear, and there is very little of it!

2) Grass-fed beef can be tough if you don’t prepare it properly. It requires a little skill and if it is done incorrectly, the result is tough beef. Commerical beef producers have found ways to tenderize meats through chemicals, gases, puncturing, feeds and many other little tricks to make you a better cook. When you are cooking grass-fed beef, remember to sear and brown the outside. Browning equals flavor - no brown, no flavor. Not burned, just caramelized. This can be done on a grill or in a pan even under a broiler. From that point, the heat needs to be turned down low. I like to finish my beef in the oven at 275 degrees until I’ve reach the desired internal temperature of 145°. To have it your way, just follow the temperature guideline below:

130°-140°= Rare

140°- 145°= Medium Rare

145°-150°= Medium

150°-155°= Medium well

155°-160°= Well done

A resting period for beef is crucial and especially so for grass-fed beef. Five to ten minutes will suffice. There is no need to let the meat get cold, so cover it as it rests, aluminum foil is just fine.

3) All beef is not created equal. Grass is Good - Really Good. A widely cited 2001 report by The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) estimates that the quantities of antimicrobials administered to livestock and poultry for non-therapeutic purposes (growth promotion and disease prevention) far outweigh the amount of antibiotics used on humans. According to UCS estimates, humans use approximately 4.5 million pounds of antibiotics annually. This figure includes all antimicrobials applied in courses of medical treatment (50 million cases or 3 million pounds), as well as in topical creams, soaps, and disinfectants (1.5 million pounds). In comparison, antimicrobial use in the three major sectors of livestock - beef, pork, and poultry - is estimated at 24.6 million pounds annually, eight times the amount used in human medicine. By those numbers, non-therapeutic use of antimicrobials in livestock agriculture accounts for 70% of total antibiotic use. The study in the Feb. 18th issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that all levels of antibiotic use were associated with increased risk of breast cancer and death from breast cancer. What does this all have to do with grass fed meats.

Organic meat would seem safe, considering no hormones or antibiotics are administered to these animals, but is that really enough? With recent E-Coli scares from even organic meat producers popping up, how are we to know? Understanding why and how E-Coli has become so harmful to humans is key. When an animal is grain fed, either organic or commercial, the stomach acids in the cattle strengthen. Michael Pollen, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma makes it clear: “The recent strain of E. Coli 0157:H7 is believed to have evolved in the gut of feedlot cattle. These are animals that stand around in their manure all day long, eating a diet of grain that happens to turn a cow’s rumen into an ideal habitat for E. coli 0157:H7. (The bug can’t survive long in cattle living on grass.) Industrial animal agriculture produces more than a billion tons of manure every year, manure that, besides being full of nasty microbes like E. coli 0157:H7 (not to mention high concentrations of the pharmaceuticals animals must receive so they can tolerate the feedlot lifestyle), often ends up in places it shouldn’t be, rather than in pastures, where it would not only be harmless, but also actually do some good. To think of animal manure as pollution rather than fertility is a relatively new (and industrial) idea.”

Grain fed animals, it appears, develop newer and stronger bacteria in response to the overly acidic environment produced by massive grain feeding. The human body cannot kill these strains as they naturally would in similar but weaker strains the human body carries naturally on its own. These “Super Bugs” in the cattle manure that comes from feed lot cows is then often used as fertilizer on vegetables. When the meat is processed for human consumption, the super bugs find their way into our diet and our bodies, causing illness and sometimes death.

Grass feeding cattle does not promote an acidic environment within the stomach. Humans can easily combat and kill and E.Coli that is present in the gut of a grass fed animal. The digestive system in grass fed animals runs at 7 pH versus 4 pH in grain fed animals. E. Coli 157 will not survive in the stomach of a grass-fed animal due to the high pH. Furthermore, since cattle raised in feedlots are not fresh from the shower, we should be even more concerned. Feedlot animals are forced to stand all day in confined areas in their own manure and cannot help but be covered in it. Grass raised cattle are not confined and less likely to be covered in their own manure. At the end of the day, pragmatically, the only way to cut down your risk of becoming ill from a virulent strain of E. Coli is to eat grass-fed meats.

In the Grass Farmer’s April 2006 issue, Dr. Tilek Dhiman of Utah State University spoke at the American Grass Fed Association’s seminar and reported:

Some of grass fed’s benefits in comparison with the grain fed products are:- 500% More CLA

- 400% More Vitamin A

- 300% More Vitamin E

- 75% More Omega-3

- 78% More Beta-Carotene

In grass fed meats studies:

- 11 out of 11 found CLA decreases cancer

- Four out of five have found a decrease in body fat

- Two out of two have found a decrease in heart disease

- Three out of three found a decrease in adult diabetes

- Six out of six have found increased immunity to disease

- Two out of two found an increase in bone density

Here at Rosas Farms, we’ve been working with physicians and scientists and are working on proving a link between higher estrogen levels in men and what they eat. The bottom line is grass fed beef is good, it’s more difficult to prepare at first, but the health benefits outweigh any amount of work in the kitchen. I’m sure you’ll learn to love it as much as I have.

Escalating Cost of Food in 2008

April 15, 2008

To all our Loyal Customers -

Thank you for continuing to purchase our organic pastured eggs throughout the price increases! We know that you food dollars are stretched these days.

We held off for as long as we could before raising our prices, but the price of all grains are totally out of control, and organic grains are in even more of a crisis.

All food costs are rising drastically. You can expect a 4-8% rise in most of your food items this year alone, some items may be even higher.

GLOBAL FOOD CRISIS

While this is not good news for our customers; please take the time to inform yourself about the extent of this food crisis. Poor people in most countries pay many time more of their income as a percentage than we do in the U.S. This ranges from 10% to over 20% for those who even earn an income, to totally unaffordable for those in the most impoverished countries.

WE PARTNER WITH THE SUN & MOTHER NATURE

We promise to continue making our organic pastured eggs, the best that you can buy from our organic hens living in the open air and sunshine. Our organic pastured eggs are nutrient dense, the reasons for this is that we partner with the Sun and Mother Nature.

OUR EGGS ARE IN EFFECT -DIRECTLY CONDENSED SUNSHINE

Let me explain. We spray our pastures with compost tea four times a year, this allows the grass roots to go down much deeper and bring up priceless micro-nutrients, minerals that provide essential nutrition for your family, the grasses are the source of the highly prized Omega-3 fatty acids, this is a gift of the Sun – grasses are stored sunshine.

THE PERFECT GIFTS OF MOTHER NATURE

Adding to the nutritional value of our organic pastured eggs is the diet that our hens get from being out in our organic pastures. In addition to the grasses, our hens eat a rich diet of insects, worms, micro-orthopods and grubs. These foods are a gift of Mother Nature.

No tricks here, our chickens get to be all that a chicken is meant to be and the quality of our eggs is the proof of this.

Once again, THANKS TO EACH OF YOU. Your comments, via Email are welcome and solicited.

Sincerely,

Jeremiah

Mother Earth News Article

Meet Real Free-Range Eggs

The new results are in: Eggs from hens allowed to peck on pasture are a heck of a lot better than those from chickens raised in cages!.

This article clearly shows how superior eggs are when they are from hens who live outdoors in a pasture.

It costs us more to produce them, and you more to buy them, but you are getting much more nutritional value for your food dollar.

Thank you for buying our eggs.

Jeremiah - Marie - Rob - Amy - Finn & Barton

Notes for November

First - Thanks to my friend, Phil Bentley or Austin for the very cool graphic of one of our eggs cracking open to begin our webpage! Let me know if you like it too.

HIGHER FOOD PRICES ARE ON THE WAY

http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2007/10/king-corn-takes.html

King Corn, watch the trailers: http://www.kingcorn.net/


Get ready for higher food prices this year, and in the coming years. Grain prices are at historic highs right now, with no end in sight.

Much of this has to do with the U.S. governments farm policies. Subsidies paid to grow corn is at the heart of our mismanaged and very
damaging farm policies. This is not a "political" position on my part, this is a very moral one. Hight Fructose Corn Syrup is making us a
very unhealthy nation, it is sneaking into every concievable product, and has grown in use over 1,000% in just one lifetime. Please inform
yourself about U.S. Farm Policy, and get involved as much as you can.

We just put up a new 100 ton bin for corn so that when we find corn at a decent price we can stockpile as much as we can afford. We
are facing huge increases in our production costs, as are all egg producers - and yet we are trying our best to hold down wholesale and
retail prices.

A WAY TO GET INVOLVED

The Farm and Food Project is a convenient way to get involved with U.S. Farm Policy.
http://www.farmandfoodproject.org/

The Ethicurean: http://www.ethicurean.com/
A great website to help educate you and help you to become involved in our nations food fight.

Mother Earth News

I would also like to call your attention to an article in the October, Mother Earth News, www.motherearthnews.com it is about Pastured Eggs. Thank you for caring
enough about your families nutrition to purchase our eggs. This article will validate your decision to spend just a bit more money for a
dozen eggs, for you are buying much more nutrition for your dollar than when you purchase eggs that are "Cage Free" or even "Free Range"
for these hens are raised in a barn and are raised on a 100% grain diet, and never get to forage for grasses, bugs and grubs like the pastured
hens here at Coyote Creek Farm do.

1,000 New Pullets - See The Photos

We just put 1,000 day old pullets in our Brooder Barn. Almost all baby animals are cute in some way, but few are more cuddly and fun than baby chicks.

You can see them on our Photo Page.

These babies will start to produce our nutrient dense eggs around November 22nd.

We added them because of the growing demand for our eggs. Here let me say "Thank You" to each of you who purchases our eggs at your local Whole Foods Market in Texas and Louisiana.

About every week we get Email and even phone calls from people who contact us to tell us how good our eggs are, how different from the Free Range eggs that they had been buying. Some remember the eggs from grandparents or great-grandparents flocks, and the tell us that they haven't had such good eggs like that until now.

We are proud to be a part of the new wave of farms that produce Organic eggs on our nutrient dense organic pastures - this is step one in the Humane treatment of chickens; allowing them to live outside in the fresh air and sunshine where up to 30% of their diet comes from grasses, clovers, bugs, grasshoppers, grubs, worms and such. Chickens are not vegetarians, and so when you see a carton labeled "Hens fed a Vegetarian Diet" you know right away that those eggs are much higher in cholesterol than those from hens that live out of doors and eat animal protein.

These new babies will have our great tasting, nutrient dense eggs coming your way around Thanksgiving time.

Thanks for stopping in to read our news.

Jeremiah

The Difference Between "Pastured" & "Free Range"

The following is a short article that I wrote to a newspaper on the difference between Pastured hens and Free Range hens, commenting on the lack of tranparency in labeling practices in the egg industry.

I am a farmer, I produce organic eggs. My hens are "Pastured" i.e. they live in moveable coops in my organic pastures. I read your article entitled "Ethical Eggs Ruling the Roost." Eggs marked from "Free Range" hens are one of the most misleading labels in the egg industry, although you got it right by stating that they are free to "roam in a barn", the label, for most customers conjures up visions of hens roaming free in grassy meadows, which of course is untrue. There are currently no regulations or enforcement that the hens actually ever go outside, or that there is very much space to "roam" once they get there, which most of them seldom do. Another problem area is the touting of "vegetarian diet" chickens are not vegetarian. Your article speaks about the "rich yellow yolks" and "higher omega-3" the color is obtained by Barn Raised hens by adding coloring capable ingredients in the feed.

The public needs to be aware of these misleading labels, and need to be made aware of what "Pastured" or "Pasture Raised means. It means that the hens live in pastures and all day long eat as much as 30% of their diets from the pasture, e.g., they eat; grass, bugs, grasshoppers, worms, grubs and so forth. In this way they get their natural source of Omega-3 from the fresh green grasses, and their need for "animal" protein from the insects, worms and such.

Pastured eggs are naturally nutrient dense, the rich golden-yellow yolks are a result of their diet and lifestyle. Lifestyle which includes being able to take dust baths, a natural habit of chickens, one which "Free Range" or "Barn Raised" hens do not have the opportunity to do.

"Free Range" is a definite improvement over cage raised, or battery raised hens; however, Pastured or Pasture Raised hens produce an even healthier, humane and more nutrient dense eggs than any other farming method. These are the eggs like the ones that our forbears raised by cooperating with nature and allowing chickens to truly express their full nature as chickens by living in the out of doors, under the sun where they are much healthier and suffer far less disease than Free Range hens who live in crowded barns and breathe air that will burn the nose of any creature with its high ammonia content.

I would appreciate an article that tells the public about Pastured eggs. To do so you may contact me, for I produce just this kind of egg.

Jerry Cunningham

Press coverage of our eggs

The following article appeared in this weeks Austin Chronicle:

Bocaditos

BY KATE THORNBERRY

Photo By John Anderson

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Jeremiah Cunningham's World's Best Eggs

A hundred years ago, if you wanted your chickens to stay alive and lay eggs for you, you had to provide them with clean water, fresh air, wholesome food, sunshine, and room to walk around. Hens that are provided with these luxuries nowadays are very lucky hens indeed, and because they are typically penned out of doors in pastures of fresh green grass, their eggs are termed "pastured" eggs.

Because pastured hens are allowed to live a healthy, natural chicken life, their eggs are shockingly (and measurably) superior in flavor and nutritional value. Pastured eggs typically contain 10% less fat, 34% less cholesterol, 40% more vitamin A, 220% more vitamin E, and 300-400% higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids. In addition to being better for you, pastured eggs taste much better and give superior results when used in baking and other cookery. Some pastry chefs claim that using pastured eggs causes cakes and soufflés to rise as much as 30% higher and that the higher vitamin E content causes baked goods to stay fresh longer.

Jeremiah Cunningham's World's Best Eggs, produced on Coyote Creek Farm in Elgin (www.coyotecreekfarm.org), are an outstanding example of just how much better pastured eggs can be. For starters, the yolks are a deep, bright orange-gold hue that clearly illustrates their greater beta-carotene content. When you break one into the frying pan, the white holds a tight oval shape; it doesn't run like water or cover a large area. The egg flavor is robust yet delicate, and the texture is velvety and firm.

Cunningham treats his pastureland four times a year with compost tea to stimulate the soil and increase availability of micronutrients and also grows organic grains to supplement his hens' natural diet. And so we have come full circle: These eggs are probably as good as the eggs your great-great-grandmother enjoyed. And at $4.49 a dozen, they are so, so worth it. Available exclusively at Whole Foods.