April 25th, 2011 Grass Fed ?

[Nirvana]

I like ground beef that will cook without having to drain fat but it needs some fat to taste good. Grass fed generally takes longer to finish so it more expensive for less product. I think its amusing that they can command higher prices for a mediocre product.

[footfootfoot]

Gullible isn't in the locavore dictionary

[xoxoxoBruce]

That steak looks more like they were smoking the grass, and eating fritos.

[sandypossum]

Originally Posted by Nirvana

Grass fed beef is tough and stringy. Very lean no fat.

We raise a few steers for our own beef here in South Gippsland (Australia) and they are entirely grass fed from the time they are weaned. I can assure you that the meat is not at all tough or stringy! Most supermarket beef in Australia is grain finished, and I was once told by a local beef farmer that it is to make the fat whiter, as this is what the market wants. Our home grown beef is certainly as tasty and tender as anything I have bought from a supermarket, or even from up-market butchers and restaurants, and our dinner guests agree.

[Aliantha]

Yeah, my dad has a hereford cow that he gets AI'd each year then slaughters the calf at about 12 months, just before the new calf is born. It's all grass fed and I swear it's as tender and tasty as you'll find in any shop and he doesn't grain feed either. He does feed the cow grain when she's pregnant and still has a calf on the teat, but he loves his 'rissole' (what he named her as a weaner before he decided to breed her instead), so she gets a bit sooked up.

[Nirvana]

I have had Australian grass fed beef my opinion stands... Have you had prime American beef?

[HungLikeJesus]

Sorry, I'm married.

[Aliantha]

lol...it's not a competition. I like red meat. I'm pretty sure Australia doesn't import US beef at the moment due to the mad cow scare a while back though.

I had a Wagyu steak last week and while it was very tender, it wasn't particularly flavoursome. I find a steak that just tastes like fat to be avoiding the issue of a good steak to be honest.

What do you think the difference between Australian grass fed and US grass fed would be?

My opinion is that there isn't much difference if that's the criteria you're looking at. I think it has a lot more to do with the breed than the feed. You could feed brahaman or santa on grain their whole life and they'd never be as tender as wagyu or kobe, but I personally love the flavour of hereford beef, and I find the texture of the rib and eye fillet to be quite tender regardless of how it's 'topped off'. eta: provided of course that it's cooked well. I think that also has a lot to do with how a cut of meat will taste. Some cuts simply can't take a lot of cooking, and some can.

[Nirvana]

Every single incidence of mad cow in the US [there were 2] was traced back to DAIRY cattle that came from Canada and Mexico.

Grass fed beef is a marketing ploy in the US. Grass fed beef cannot be graded choice or prime. It does not taste good.

Angus beef is the only beef proven to have a "tenderness gene" [ I don't raise purebreds.] I raise club calves, they are the standard for the beef industry they are composite cattle [ crossbreeds] so I don't agree with your breed theory from that stand point. You are however comparing bos tarsus to bos indicus and the cattle you speak of are a need to have in certain climates because of weather conditions and insects. The cattle raised in hotter climates are not the primary source of prime beef in the US unless they are crossbred.

[Clodfobble]

Originally Posted by Nirvana

Grass fed beef is a marketing ploy in the US. Grass fed beef cannot be graded choice or prime. It does not taste good.

I don't know anyone who chooses to eat grass-fed beef because it tastes better (and I know a lot of them.) That's not the point of grass-fed beef. Personally, I've found that the steak cuts are indeed tougher, but I actually prefer the flavor. It's beefier, is the only way I can describe it. But still, that's not why we eat it.

[glatt]

So what's the deal with kobe beef? I know it's expensive and desirable to some people. Why isn't there more kobe beef raised in the US? Do they not do well here?

[footfootfoot]

I'm not sure if it is like champagne vs sparkling wine in terms of... I can't remember the word. I'm sure if it a Japanese invention it is probably loaded with terroir mystique and incredibly labor intensive. I read a Nat. Geo. article and they described the beefers as gettting massages daily and rations of beer. I've also read that it is nearly impossible to eat more than a few ounces of good Kobe beef in a sitting as it is so rich.

I doubt I'd turn it down, but I wouldn't go out of my way to try it.

[glatt]

So it's not just another breed of beef? It's about the method of raising them?

[Clodfobble]

My understanding is that it's all originally based on the fact that there's just not enough land space to realistically raise cattle in Japan. So the few cows they did have were a luxury, and the ranchers played that angle as best as they could.

[Nirvana]

I don't know any American women that would stand around all day massaging steers and spitting beer on them. [yah they really spit beer on them]