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Posts Tagged ‘grass-fed cow’

Beef, It’s What’s For Dinner

Posted by terrepruitt on January 20, 2016

I have mentioned that we have purchased a portion of a cow.  It is grass-fed beef from a ranch in Petaluma, CA (for those of you that don’t know and are curious, that is north of where I am, past San Francisco).  It is very good meat.  My favorite is the ground beef, hamburger meat.  The family that allows us to go in on the cow with them generously alloted us a large portion of it.  But we don’t get JUST hamburger meat, we get other cuts, too.  And again, the family generously worked with me and my loathing of bones and they gave us a lot of cuts without bones.  But some cuts are going to have bones.  But I really don’t work well with bones.  I really don’t work well with a lot of these cuts because I just don’t know what they are and I don’t know what to do with them.  The last two portions of meat I cooked were bad.  Bad as in, I didn’t cook them properly so I couldn’t eat them.  They were to tough or stringy or whatever, they were just not good.  My husband gnawed his way through them, and he won’t say anything bad about beef for fear of not getting any.  So he said they were ok, but, for me, they were not.  Often I just don’t bother because I don’t know what to do with it (the cut of meat).  But that means we have a few pieces left over from the last cow and now we have a new one, so I need to just cook it.  The other day I took some steaks out and texted my friend with this picture and a “How can I cook these, Chef?”  And she said, “Like you would ribeye steaks.  Grill high 2-3 min per side :)”  Made me laugh because I don’t know how to cook ribeye.  I don’t “grill”, so I decided to use my grill pan.

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, PiYo, Nia Technique, SJ City Fit, SJCityFitI must say they came out really, really good.  So good that hamburger might not be my favorite any longer.  So good that I decided to cook them again . . . the next night.  Ok, not really, I mean, really, but not.  I decided to cook them again the next night because we have nothing but beef in our freezer.  I thought we had something else, but we do not.  So I was going to cook them two nights in a row, but they didn’t defrost in time.  So . . . I am cooking them tonight.  And they were so good I decided to post about them.

The first time I cooked them, I didn’t marinade them long, but what I used was:

Red wine
soy sauce
Worchestire sauce
Teriyaki sauce
Garlic teriyaki sauce

I just poured into the dish, but guessing I would say about a cup of red wine, three tablespoons of soy sauce, two tablespoons of Worchestire sauce, and just a little of both of the teriyaki (because I didn’t have that much).

I used the same “recipe” for tonight’s meat, but I was able to let it soak longer.

Then for MY steak, which I like cooked a little more  than my husband, I turned the stove on right below medium and buttered it the pan.  I put the steak in the pan . . . . you will see that all the fat and bone are cut off my piece.  I cooked it for a few minutes, with butter on top and some rosemary rub.  Then I flipped it and cooked it a few more minutes.  Then I turned up the heat a little bit – to medium, then I flipped it again and cooked it a few more minutes.  Then I turned up the heat so that the pan would get really hot.  I put my husband’s pieces in.  I didn’t leave mine on that long on the high heat, only as long as it took me to put hubby’s steak in and butter on it.  I cooked them both for a few minutes each side.

They came out perfect.  But remember, grass-fed meat does not look the same as commercial grain-fed beef, so it looks raw, but it is not.

I served it with potatoes and salad!

What did you have for dinner?

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Can’t Judge A Cow By It’s Color

Posted by terrepruitt on December 16, 2014

Did you know that beef from a grass-fed cow has to be cooked differently than meat from a cow that is not grass-fed? It is an interesting challenge. Last year we went in on the purchase of a grass-fed cow. When cooking it, you have to really watch it and learn the timing of how to cook it because it doesn’t LOOK the way beef from corn-fed cows look. It always looks raw . . . .at least the ground beef. Pictured here is an absolutely fully cooked burger. See how red it is? Why does it look like that?

The meat cooks faster, plus it never LOOKS cooked. So, as I said, it has to be watched and it is cooked by time not looks.

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Zumba, PiYo, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex City of San Jose, San Jose Group Ex classes, YMCAThe flavor is so much nicer than the corn-fed meat. I am not really a beef lover. That is why we buy meat then marinade it right away when we get home. I like the meat to have soaked for a long time. I think the time it takes to freeze can be considered marinating time. Then as it is defrosting it is marinating. But with this meat I don’t feel the need to marinade it, or at least not marinate it for so long.

Same goes with hamburgers.  When we make hamburgers from corn-fed beef, I like to put chopped onions in them. I like to sauce them up. They need the flavor of sauces – at least worcestershire . Well, not these babies. A little garlic salt and garlic powder and it was good to go. It was soooo good.

Since we enjoy the flavor of the meat so much and we think a grass-fed cow is healthier and therefore healthier for us to eat, we went in on the purchase of another cow.

And, my tired ole refrain. I was not planning on posting about it, so I only have this picture – but after dinner I couldn’t come up with anything to post and I am wondering about the way this beef cooks so I thought I would put it out there.

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Zumba, PiYo, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex City of San Jose, San Jose Group Ex classes, YMCAThis one picture I took to send to the person who researched and organizes the whole cow purchasing thing. I sent it to her asking the same question. Why does the perfectly cooked meat look raw?

I also took the freezer picture because we were not certain the meat would fit in our freeze, but we took, everything out that we could live with out in the freezer. Then my hubby packed it all back.  We were able to put back everything that NEEDS to be frozen.  I was relieved and happy at my hubby’s tetris job.  I took that shot to show the same person because the first cow was our cooler full, this one was the cooler and a box.  As we were driving home my husband said, “Looking at that amount of meat . . . I don’t think it would fit in our freezer even if there was nothing in it.”  Ha.  We under estimated the capacity of our freezer.  I am so glad we bought the big frigerator so many years ago.  Whew.

So, do you buy grass-fed beef?  Does it cook up like corn-fed beef (the color)?  If not, do you know why?  Does it taste so much more yummy to you?

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Brisket In A CrockPot

Posted by terrepruitt on October 29, 2013

I have a friend who buys a grass-fed cow for beef by offering portions to her friends.  So my husband and I purchased a portion.  The meat is really amazing.  If you have read any of my meat posts you know that I prefer to douse my meat in marinades and seasonings.  Well, with this beef I don’t do that normally because the grass-fed flavor of the meat is good.  When I picked up my meat my friend gave me a few choices about some of the cuts.  I know nothing about cuts of meat.  I based my selection on this cut being one or two servings and that cut being three to four.  Of course I chose the value.  Plus a couple of the selections were new-to-me cuts.  So I was excited at the prospect of learning how to cook different cuts of meat.  Well, as I said, I was excited at the prospect.  I haven’t had as much time since I picked up the meat.  I have not spent time learning how to cook both the different cuts AND the way this meat cooks. So I have been cooking the ground beef — A LOT.  I make burgers often.  Used to be I couldn’t get my hubby to want to eat a burger that I handmade, now he LOVES them.  The beef is spectacular!  Anyway . . . I finally have to get to cooking the meat in my freezer so my first attempt — BRISKET.

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Zumba, PiYo, Gentle YogaOn Facebook I asked my friend what to do and she said, “Brisket: crockpot, red wine, bay leaves, onions. Can add bell pepper, tomato sauce too. Cook. FYI: I say crockpot because I’m guessing you have one. I don’t use them, so I couldn’t fathom how much time. Brisket is one of my faves. Remember what I said: look up how to cook grass fed. Because this cow was so lean, look up veal. Not the same product, but the cooking is the same.”

I am really not a fan of brisket, unless my friend cooks it.  I had one she made once and I was so amazed.  But as she said, she doesn’t use a crock pot, but I did.

I don’t like cooked bell pepper that much so I nixed that idea and I am also not a fan of tomato sauce so I decided against that.  What I did was I looked up crockpot brisket and found a bunch of recipes.  I looked at the ingredients I liked from each one and decided I would put them together and see what I get.

Here is what I used.  I actually thought to write it down BEFORE I prepared it.

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Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Zumba, PiYo, Gentle YogaCrockpot Brisket

About 3 pounds of brisket
-4 or 5 cloves of garlic, minced
-1/2 cup brown sugar
-1 tsp salt
-1/8 tsp pepper   (1/4 tsp)
-1/2 tsp dry (powdered) mustard   (3/4 tsp)
-1/2 tsp cumin    (3/4 tsp)
-1/2 tsp thyme
-1 tbsp of Worcestershire sauce  (1 1/2 tbsp)

-3/4 of an onion, chopped
-1 tbsp of sherry
-1 bottle of beer
-1 cup water
-1 tsp Better than Bouillon

Mix all the dry ingredients including the Worcestershire sauce together in a bowl, then rub it on the meat.  Cover all of the meat.  Put some of the onions on the bottom of the pot.  Place the meat in the pot on top of the onions.  Put the rest of the onions on top of the meat.  Then pour in the sherry, beer, and broth (I had mixed the water with the Better than Bouillon).

Sprinkle more cumin on top.

Set it on low and cook it for 5 hours.  (I will cook it for less next time.)

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Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Zumba, PiYo, Gentle YogaWhen I looked up brisket I saw times from 6 to 9 hours.  So I had been planning on cooking it for 5 hours.  But then I looked up veal and it said 7 to 9 hours.  So I set one timer for 7 hours and another for 5.  At 5 hours I checked on it and it seemed done so I turned off the crockpot.  I will cook if for less next time because, as you know, it keeps cooking even after you turn off the heat.  I will also remove the crock pot from the heat next time.

The meat actually came out moist and fine.  But I would like it a little less cooked.

My husband loves meat, especially beef, so he loved it.  He kept making yummy noises.  And I actually observed him eat the meat except for one piece. Then he eat everything else then the last piece of his meat.  He saved it for last.  He wanted to savor the last bits.  As I have said before, I am blessed because he likes pretty much anything, but he loved this.

The amounts in parenthesis are the amounts that I am going to use next time.  I want a little more flavor.  But I am happy with my first cooking of brisket.  And now you know what?  Yup, my favorite . . . . leftovers!

Are you a brisket fan?  Do you have a brisket recipe?  How do you cook brisket?

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