More on Justice…
… this time, a little more light-hearted. It seems that not everyone is pleased with our decision to buy into a quarter of a steer this summer.
… this time, a little more light-hearted. It seems that not everyone is pleased with our decision to buy into a quarter of a steer this summer.
We bought some meat from a local farmer – grass fed beef. The steaks and roasts were outstanding. We noticed the taste difference only in the ground beef. We didn’t mind the taste when it was in things like spaghetti, tacos – where there’s a sauce. But, I was not a fan of the taste in my swedish meatballs (or hamburgers, or meatloaf).
We decided we’d like to go with all the main meats from the farmer, and occasionally I’ll supplement the ground beef with the regular stuff from the grocery store for just those few non-sauce dishes.
Daniel — I asked a cattle farmer friend of mine about raising a grass-fed steer for us (after watching Food, Inc). He raises his on grass, then sells them off, after which they’re fattened up with corn, then slaughtered. He said that corn-fed beef just tastes a lot better, and said in the end, it’s cheaper to just buy the cuts you want from a good butcher, because when you butcher a steer, you always end up with a lot of cuts that people don’t usually eat.
Have you guys done a blind taste test yet? I’d really be interested in the results.
Wyatt, it’s not really about the taste, is it? Cows aren’t meant to eat corn, they’re meant to eat grass. The only reason they eat corn is because that’s the one crop that our government subsidizes the most, so we have a tremendous surplus of corn everywhere. That’s also why we have high fructose corn syrup, because there’s just so much corn we have to start using chemicals to make up stuff to do with it.
I doubt it’s as much that “corn-fed beef tastes better” so much as “we are accustomed to the taste of corn-fed beef.”