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Beef - it’s what’s for breakfast.
It was on a recent Friday morning,
anyway. That’s how much I couldn’t wait to resolve the burning
question: Can grass-fed beef taste as good as grain-fed?
I had spent the previous afternoon at
the bucolic M and J Ranch outside Lawrence, Kan., (www.mandjranch.com
). Owners Mel and Joyce Williams raise Angus beef using organic
methods (although they are not certified organic) on 520 acres. Calves
are born on the ranch and spend their whole lives there, grazing on
brome, clover and alfalfa.
Joyce invited me to tour the property
on a ‘‘mule.’’ I agreed, trying to block out memories of
harrowing horseback rides on my uncle’s ranch in Wilmore, Kan. as a
kid. Dragging visiting city kids under low-hanging tree branches was a
favorite diversion for the hard working horses of the Bar X ranch. So
it was a huge relief when the mule turned out to be a gasoline-powered
Kawasaki vehicle.
We motored up gentle hills that dropped
off into rolling valleys offering spectacular vistas of pastures
framed by stands of tall trees. A large group of cows (the mothers
that will give birth to the next batch of calves) was taking shelter
from the afternoon sun in a grove of walnut trees. The huge black
animals walked up to Joyce when she cooed to them.
It was a beautiful scene. In theory,
this is how I want my beef to be produced. But how would it taste?
Driving back to Kansas City with eight frozen ribeyes Joyce sold me
for $14.99 per pound, I wondered if they would taste like the
grass-fed beef my husband and I ate when we lived in Germany. German
beef was just OK, not nearly as rich and tender as the grain-fed
American beef I was used to.
I wanted to fire up the grill and test
the steaks as soon as I got home, but they were still rock hard and I
didn’t want to risk compromising their quality by defrosting them in
the microwave. Hence the ribeye breakfast. I got up half an hour
earlier than normal to pan fry one of the 2-inch-thick steaks.
A pan-seared steak never tastes as good
as one grilled over a charcoal fire, in my experience, but I didn’t
want to mess around with the grill before my morning coffee. So I put
a heavy-bottomed stainless skillet on the range on high and seared the
steak 4 minutes on each side, then took it off the heat and tented it
in foil for 5 minutes.
It tasted delicious. It was not as
buttery rich as grain-fed beef, but the beef flavor seemed more
pronounced, and it wasn’t the least bit dry or tough.
This is definitely a choice I am
willing to make: paying a premium but fair price for beef raised
nearby in a way that is easy on the land and easy on the animals.
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