Grass-fed Beef Cooking Tips and Recipes

Tips and Recipes for Cooking Grassfed Beef

• Grassfed beef has much less fat than grain-fed beef. It will not appear as "marbled" as prime grain-feed beef.
• You will experience tender meat if you use one of two methods for cooking:
• "Wet" cooking in a crock pot or pot roast (braising). This method achieves temperatures close to boiling for hours at a time. The science behind it is that the tough collagen fibers turn into silky smooth gelatin after cooking for at least 3 hours at 190 degrees F. Boiling is 212 degrees F. So you can cut the toughest meats with a spoon after cooking with this method.
• "Dry" cooking (steaks, roasts in a pan with or without a lid but without added liquid).
  • You must reduce your cooking temperature by 50 degrees F or so to avoid heating the outside too much before the inside can warm up.
  • You should use a meat thermometer to determine when to stop cooking. The color of the meat does not tell you when it is done. The meat is done when the internal temperature in the center of the meat reaches the target temperature.
  • You must also use lower target temperatures than you may be used to: 125 F is the minimum and 140 F is the maximum. If you stop cooking at less than 125 degrees F, you will find yourself chewing rubber-band like meat. Of course, you can always cook it some more, and that works fine. If the temperature exceeds 140 degrees F in the center, you will likely wind up with tough, dry meat that is tasty but very difficult to eat. Trust us: we have done both during our learning curve!
  • For safety and to preserve the juices in the meat, sear the outside of the meat in a frying pan for 2-3 minutes. Doing this ensures that the outside of the meat is cooked to more than 160 degrees F, which is what is required to kill dangerous bacteria that might somehow be on the outside of the meat.
  • Finally, truth in advertising: We have had complaints that the rib steaks are too tough. It is well known that cooking grassfed steaks like grainfed steaks results in shoe leather because the meat toughens if the inner temperature exceeds 145 F. The USDA recommends that meat be cooked to 160 F to kill bad (pathogenic) bacteria. But steaks can have bad bacteria only on their outside surfaces since (a) the animals were healthy when processed and (b) contamination would be from the environment like the cutting instruments and tables, which touch only the outside. So for grassfed steaks, we recommend searing the outside in a frying pan (which reaches 500F when we measured it), which USDA reports kills the bad bacteria on contact. Then the steak should be cooked more gently and the internal temperature monitored with a meat thermometer.
    So, we tested our steaks in two ways in February 2023:
    • wrapping in aluminum foil and cooking on top of a wood stove for about 6 min on a side. The resulting steak was so tough that the knife bounced off until I held it firmly. The color was cooked thoughout. The meat was delicious but had to be chewed *a lot*.
    • searing and then frying in a Lodge cast iron 12" pan, 6 min on one side with the lid off, then 4 min on the other side with the lid on, then resting for 10 min on a plate covered with aluminum foil. The meat was slightly pink in the center, moist, and easily cut and chewed. Also very tasty.
    So our conclusion is that when cooked correctly albeit without a meat thermometer, the steaks are OK. When cooked too much, it may be better to simmer them for about 3-4 hours as if they were roasts. After this process, they are so tender that they fall of the fork. For what it's worth, we didn't use any spices or salt and thought the meat was delicious, but many people like to spice their meat.

Recipes We or Our Customers Have Tried Successfully

1. Osso bucco (braised beef shank soup bone and meat). This is excellent when prepared in a slow cooker overnight. You can also find a plethora of more sophisticated recipes on the Web. This recipe features the beef and adds extra beans, potatoes, and spices in the background.

   Ingredients:

   two 1.5-lb packages of oso bucco		4 medium potatoes, chopped with skins		2 small sweet potatoes
   1 15.5 oz can of Goya Black Beans		1 15.5 oz can of Goya Red Beans		1 15.5 oz can of Goya Chick Peas
   1 yellow onion, chopped		1/2 bunch of scallions, chopped
   Optional: one cup quinoa, handful of chopped mushrooms, 1 12 oz salsa with black beans and corn.
   Spice to taste with garlic powder, pepper. Add flour as desired for thickening. Add water as desired for volume.

   Method: In a 6 quart Crock-Pot, mix the ingredients. The oso bucco may be completely frozen at the start of cooking. Set the Crock-Pot for a 10-hour heat cycle. This consists of 7-8 hours of heating and 2-3 hours of sustained heat close to boiling. At the end of the 10 hours, the Crock-Pot lowers the temperature to about 140 F for an additional period of time. As with all food, use caution in eating after the heating stops to avoid food poisoning.

2. Steaks, dry Roast

   Ingredients: the meat, optionally marinated and seasoned per your preferences.

   Method: While the oven is pre-heating to 300 degrees F, add a small amount of oil to a skillet and heat until the oil is very hot. Sear the meat on all sides for 2-3 minutes per side. Remove from skillet and place in cooking vessel. Optionally, insert one or more meat thermometers in the center of the meat and optionally in various other regions of the meat. When the oven is heated, place cooking vessel with meat in oven. If the thermometers are to stay in the meat during cooking, position them so their dials can be read through the oven door.

   Note the time when the meat is placed in the oven. Wait 15 minutes for steaks and an hour for thick roasts, then begin to check the meat temperature. If necessary, open the oven door and place the thermometer in the center of the meat to check the temperature, then remove the thermometer and place the meat the oven and close the door. See how fast the temperature is rising, and check the meat accordingly. When the temperature reaches 120 degrees F, check it more frequently to make sure it does not rise too high before you check again. Remove from the oven when the internal temperature is about 125-130 degrees F. Allow the meat to "rest" for about 10 minutes, during which time the internal temperature may rise a bit more. Then enjoy!

3. Thinly-sliced Steak on Mushrooms and Onions (contributed by Madeline Bradley, San Antonio, February 2021)
   Ingredients::
   1. Mushroom/Onion dish:
      • Extra Virgin Olive Oil
      • Onion - 1 large
      • Crimini mushrooms - 1 pound
      • Balsamic vinegar - a few dashes
      • Salt & Pepper to taste
   2. Ribeye Steaks:
      • Kirkland Organic No-Salt Seasoning
      • Salt & Pepper
      • Grassfed ribeye steaks, thawed, taken out of fridge at least 1/2 hour in advance.
   Method:
   • In a frying pan with extra-virgin olive oil, sauté onions until golden. Add salt while they are sautéing.Then add thin-sliced Crimini mushrooms. After about 10 min, add a splash or 2 of balsamic vinegar and cook until mushrooms are tender.
   • Put some EVOO in pyrex, add the No-Salt Seasoning, along with S & P. Lay the steaks down. Put the same spices on top side, rub in, turn steaks, do the same to the other side.
   • In an oven, broil ribeye steak on high for about 2 - 3 minutes on each side. I suggest watching it to see that it gets a seared look without burning.
   • Then, set oven temperature to 170 F and bake for 5 minutes. Remove to check temperature. The temperature in various parts of the meat will be uneven. I found the range of 128-142 to be just right.
   • When the temperatures reach 128-142 F, and the meat is pink but not raw, it is finished. It took just 5 minutes without even turning it over. If you don’t achieve those temps or find it too pink, you can put it back in increments of a few minutes and continue to check it.
   • Then slice the steaks into thin pieces and add to the mushroom/onion dish. It’s ready to eat or can be refrigerated to enjoy another day.
   • Enjoy!
4. InstantPot Short Ribs with Bone Broth (contributed by Madeline Bradley, San Antonio, February 2021)
   Ingredients::
   • Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
   • Onion - 1 medium
   • Balsamic vinegar
   • Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV)
   • Broth (could use water if you don’t have broth)
   • Salt & Pepper to taste
   • Herbs/spices of your choice(I used Kirkland No-Salt Seasoning)
   • Short Ribs, grass-fed
   Method:
   • Slice an onion, place in olive oil in the InstantPot, salt it, and use the sauté function.
   • Then add the short ribs and enough liquid to cover the meat.
     You can change the ratio to your taste. Mine was a lttle vinegary but still tasted very good I used:
     1/2 cup ACV, 1/4 cup Balsamic vinegar, 1-1/2 cups broth, 1-3/4 cups water, Herbs/spices of your choice, Salt & Pepper
   • Set the pressure cooker function on high and give it 45 minutes and then let the pressure come down naturally.
     I originally set it for 22 minutes, checked it, and it needed more time. It was tender about 22 minutes later.
   • Not only will you have tasty short ribs but you will have delicious bone broth.
   • Enjoy!!

Recipes in Books

We present these under the fair use doctrine and as an unpaid advertisement for the cited books.

1. Seasoning and preparation of beef jerky by Timothy Ferris from the 4-hour-Chef. We use this for beef brisket also. We cannot comment on how well the seasoning lasts overnight because none of our test batches lasted more than 5 min from the time they were taken from the oven. Please also note that the recipe calls for lean brisket, and grassfed brisket is very lean!

Recipes on Other Sites

1. A Simple stew With Big Taste https://www.theepochtimes.com/a-simple-stew-with-big-flavor_3708776.html accessed March 01, 2021. "Here is something for your winter dinner rotation: chunky vegetables and slow-cooked beef swimming in a stock of beef and beer. This hearty, no-nonsense beef stew is a must-have for a dreary winter night, and with St. Patrick’s Day around the corner, you can dump a bottle of Guinness into the stock and call it Irish."
2. Grilled steak kebabs with spicy cilantro sauce https://www.theepochtimes.com/grilled-steak-kebabs-with-spicy-cilantro-sauce_5339918.html accessed June 19, 2023. "For this meat lover, there may be no better summer dinner than a fat and juicy ribeye steak cooked to perfection over a bed of hot coals. But boy, is that a splurge in these days of high inflation, especially when you’re also cooking for others.
   The economical stand-in to that expensive steak doesn’t have to be burgers. Instead, buy a less premium cut of meat, cut it into chunks, let it soak for a few hours in a savory marinade and then stick the pieces on a skewer with your favorite vegetables."