Thread: just wanted to share tonight's dinner with you guys..

Originally Posted by OCDshaver

I'll take corn fed. The grass fed I've had has been lean and flavorless.

Dad raised cattle on grass, but would start 'graining' them to add marble to the meat before butchering time. I remember him using oats but since he's long gone I can't add more about the 'finishing' of the beef.

I do have an old book called 'The Farm Efficiency Manual' and it says that if you use corn to grain cattle you need to run pigs in with them as they will consume what the cattle didn't. Thus making it more 'efficient'.

Makes good sense to me!

Originally Posted by cudarunner

Dad raised cattle on grass, but would start 'graining' them to add marble to the meat before butchering time. I remember him using oats but since he's long gone I can't add more about the 'finishing' of the beef.

I do have an old book called 'The Farm Efficiency Manual' and it says that if you use corn to grain cattle you need to run pigs in with them as they will consume what the cattle didn't. Thus making it more 'efficient'.

Makes good sense to me!

Again, I'll have to defer to you on the methods. And frankly, I'd be content with grass fed if the marbling was as good. But good beef is partly about fat. And every grass fed steak T my local is very lean.....and cut very thin for some reason. Thin and lean is a bad combo.

Originally Posted by OCDshaver

I'd be content with grass fed if the marbling was as good. But good beef is partly about fat.

I may not being clear here; There is a Huge Difference between cattle raised 'Exclusively' on 'grass' and then butchered and cattle raised on grass and then for several weeks are fed oats or other grains to 'fatten them' thus the marbling which adds flavor and also tenderness.

Oh and for the life of my I can't imagine anyone cutting 'thin' steaks as you've said, that's a recipe for disaster.

Originally Posted by cudarunner

I may not being clear here; There is a Huge Difference between cattle raised 'Exclusively' on 'grass' and then butchered and cattle raised on grass and then for several weeks are fed oats or other grains to 'fatten them' thus the marbling which adds flavor and also tenderness.

Oh and for the life of my I can't imagine anyone cutting 'thin' steaks as you've said, that's a recipe for disaster.

Well im not sure what the differences are. All I know is that at my store they have specifically labeled steaks that are labeled grass fed. These are always anemic looking steaks of an unappetizing, liver-like color with no marbling and cut detrimentally thin. They have the appearance of being from a very lean animal, almost like game. The size and shape of the cuts are not typical. I tried them once and that was enough. Maybe you would be able to identify them better. They are all I know about grass fed.

My dad was in the Canadian beef business, not a farmer, but the industrial side of beef. He's gone now but always bought Alberta grass fed beef aged for like 42 days I believe, at the holidays. Said the cows eat grass naturally, their bellies don't digest corn well, so since they are what they eat, he always told me get grass fed, even though it's more $. Said the whole free range thing was bollux as if the cows ate grass, it was in a pasture, so they ranged free to get it. Big business, closed pen farming involved force corn feedings for cost efficiency, not the quality of finished product. Cow would never eat corn over grass if given a choice, as per pa.
I personally don't know about the oats for fattening, but it makes perfect sense as the fat is the marbling.
Google kobi beef for some extreme cow care tips.
I would think that OCD's store choices are not ideal if the only choices for grass fed are livery looking thin cuts. Find a local farmer, or farmer's market, buy some real grass fed beef and you will not be disappointed. I guarantee it!

Makes me want to grill a steak now.

Have to agree with Mike, all our beef here in NZ is grass fed, is what they eat naturally. The only reason for feeding them corn and grain is to maximise profit from less land from what I have read.

I bought some colorful peppers from a friend at the market and stuffed them (pretty simple and virtually foolproof). The filling is ground meat (in this case local grass-fed beef), rice, diced onion and carrot, and simple spices (salt, pepper, cumin, savory). I use pieces of tomato as plugs so I cut up the leftover inside of the tomato and put it in the filling too.
I didn't take pictures in the plates (just what you see in the pan and plain yogurt for sauce, but here is

before:



and after baking:



Yummy

An international favorite to be sure. Looks appetizing. Enjoy

Originally Posted by OCDshaver

Ladies and gentlemen, we have smoke.

Yup, it might be time for me to attend another Chicago meet-up, ideally somewhere very (very) close to your house!

Here is the benefit of duck confit. Its a quick and delicious lunch with very little prep. I took a break from my work, cleared the computer off of my TV table, and made a pretty nice lunch for a weekday. Technically I'm not supposed to be drinking during my work day but that one glass doesn't count.