Healthy beef for BBQ

Smokin' Lady · June 2008

After seeing some recent postings on how people are trying to eat healthier, I'm wondering if anyone else is using Texas Longhorn Beef? I don't think it's available widely in stores, but I found a local farmer who raises them, and I love knowing it's local beef, and pasture fed without steroids to boot. It is a leaner beef than other breeds so you're told to cook it at lower than usual temps., but I find it be tasty and tender, and the ground beef is the best I've found anywhere. According to the TLH folks, the meat is lower in saturated fats, and has less cholesterol and calories than chicken. I have some more stats. and their web site if anyone is interested, and I would like to hear if anyone else uses it.

stike · June 2008

probably grass-fed, too, which is a reason it's leaner. cows that are continuously grain-fed will be marbled heavily. much (most?) prime beef is grain-fed almost entirely. it's more expensive. sometimes you can find beef that's been grass-fed but finished on grain for a month or more before slaughter.

i like grass-fed beef. tenderloin has a nice flavor, and is decidedly not fatty.

but you don't need to cook it at a lower temperature. cook it maybe TO a lower (internal) temperature, because overcooking a lean piece of meat leaves little room for error.

in fact, hot and fast is the preferred way for lean steaks. warm up the steak before searing it quickly. or do a two-step cook (Trex or Xert) to break the cook into a sear part and a 'roast', with a rest in between if you want.

local organic beef (and pork, chickens, etc.) will hopefully make for healthier stock as well as healthier consumers.

Smokin' Lady · June 2008

Thanks for the info. My supplier told me repeatedly not to sear the steaks but to cook them slowly, then again, he doesn't have a BGE. I will try my next one hot and fast and see if there is a difference.

stike · June 2008

well.... it's less about the temp you cook at than the internal temp when it's done.

if you like medium well, then it might behoove you to back down to medium, because there's not a lot of fat in it to save you if you overcook it.

this is elk. pan-seared at about 500. this stuff is leaner than anything. 30 to 60 seconds a side, and i take it off and test the internal temp. shut the vents down to about 400, and finish it by roasting off to the side, not truly indirect, but not directly over the flames (and not in the pan).

>>>Editted

stike · June 2008

hmmm typed a longish response explaining why you can certainly sear lean meat fast and hot. with a warm steak (hot tubbed even) it might even be the preferred way to do a very lean steak. or to Trex or Xert it.

cooking lo-and-slo may be fine, but most of us like sear on our steaks. and done correctly, it is not possible to overcook the meat. if you like medium, try medium rare. if you like well, try medium. a lean steak has less moisture, and you don't want any "well" in there at all. your supplier is afraid that cooking hot will also mean cooking LONG and hot. not necessarily.

here's the pic i added. for some reason the thing didn't go thru (i tried twice). Elk, served medium rare/rare, pan seared intitally then finish roadtes at 400 off to the side (on the grid).

Essex County · June 2008

I get Devon beef from my father-in-law. It is, as stike describes, grass-fed and grain-finished. It is much leaner than the stuff in the supermarket. The steaks I get are about 2 inches thick and weigh a couple of pounds. I find a hot tub followed by the Trex method works great. There is little room for error though, as lean meat goes from rare to shoe leather pretty quickly. The TLH meat sounds interesting but I don't think we will ever see it in New England!

Paul

stike · June 2008

...and that devon beef was as good or better than the dry-aged rib-eye we brought!

BEEEEEF.

was really good stuff

Willie Lump Lump · June 2008

This is a link about grass feed http://www.eatwild.com/index.html

I like others here am a fan. I love a grass fed flank, skirt or hanger.
If your going to get into this you may want to check out the Jaccard tenderiser.
ENJOY!

Healthy beef for BBQ

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