Emeril says eat Grass Fed Beef – here’s why

KY Land & Cattle Co. dry ages all of its fresh USDA Prime meat to perfection by holding it in coolers at a temperature of 34-38 degrees F.  We age beef for two to six weeks.

Aging produces beef that is naturally tender and flavorful. Nothing the cook does to add flavor in the kitchen is a substitute for starting with properly aged meat.

There are two types of aging: Dry aging and wet aging. Dry aging is the choice of the discriminating chef. The wet aging process involves sealing meat in airtight Cryovac bags. Wet aging does less to enhance flavor and tenderness than dry aging.
Dry-aged meat is increasingly difficult to find because the process is expensive and time-intensive. During dry aging, the meat´s natural enzymes act as a tenderizer, breaking down the connective tissue that holds the muscles. At the same time, the evaporation of moisture improves texture. Dry aging continues until a thin coating develops on the meat surface. The coating seals in flavor and juices during aging, and is then trimmed off. Loss of weight results from the evaporation of moisture and from trimming, and both of these processes add to the cost of dry aging meat.

The concensus from the four households that are sharing our beef—YUM! I cannot believe the taste, texture and overall quality of this meat! We are already talking about the next order, and plan to include more families….Really a fantastic deal-for our health, enjoyment, and wallets! Thank you!

Cathy Gallagher

Come for a farm visit and be greeted by our grass-fed, steroid free, hormone free Black Angus Beef Cattle – and maybe one of our two Texas Longhorn mascots.  :-)  They are all gentle – not a care in the world.  Call for a farm tour appointment.

dark as a cranberry.  check these steaks out.

Thanks Brad!  We grilled a whole ribeye couple of nights ago……YUM. The thing I love about this meat is that the flavor is already there.  I just put on a little salt and cracked pepper….instant culinary orgasm.
 
Pete 

“Buying local grass fed meats is not only better for you but is also environmentally sound.

Last night I grilled 2 NY strip steaks. Salt, pepper, and rubbed with rosemary. It was unbelievably tender and juicy. I feel good knowing my toddler will never eat beef that is pumped up on steroids. You’ve got to try Brad’s beef.”
 
Dr. Dennis Short, DC 

http://www.BluegrassChiro.com

“Just wanted to let you know that we grilled the tenderloin last night and I must say it was as good as any beef I have had – maybe ever…..that comes from a real beef lover.  

Keep up the good work.”
 
Pete 

Thank you Pete – and Pete should know, he is a champion and real foodie.  

http://www.localharvest.org/farmers-markets/M222

By Laurena Mayne Davis

Want to try eating locally? It’s easy to take baby-carrot steps toward a menu of fresh, seasonal and home-preserved foods.

You don’t have to banish exotic coffee, bananas, and pistachios forevermore. Eating locally can be a full-time devotion, or it can be a one-day-a-week endeavor. You can choose   to eat locally during the growing season. Or for one special holiday meal. There are no right-and-wrong “rules,” just a range of delicious, crunchy, and wholesome possibilities.

Robin McDermott is the co-founder and director of the Mad River Valley Localvores in Waitsfield, Vt. She also hosts The Dinner Hour show on WMRW-LP radio, 95.1 FM, during which she invites guests to discuss food, with a focus on fresh, local, and healthy options.

The Connecticut transplant says she grows a summer garden for winter consumption: sugar snap peas to freeze, cabbage to ferment for sauerkraut, cucumbers to pickle, and carrots, potatoes, garlic, and beets to store.

During the growing season McDermott eats from the farmers’ market, saving her own larder for later.

A Thanksgiving meal was a fun experiment in eating locally. McDermott bought a turkey from her local Gaylord Farm. She made cranberry relish from cranberries she brought back from Cape Cod. There was local butternut squash, “potatoes from our garden, and we had stuffing that had bread in it that was made locally, but it was not 100 percent local wheat.”

That’s where it gets challenging: not only finding products to buy locally, but also making sure they were made from local ingredients.

“I always tell people that if you look in our refrigerator or cabinet or freezer, it would look a lot different” than those found in most homes, McDermott says.

She offers five ways to eat more local food:
Join a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture).
Pledge to eat something that you love only when it’s in season where you live. You’ll appreciate it even more.
In season, buy all of your produce at a farmers’ market.
Grow some of your own food. If you grow your own tomatoes and your own lettuce, then you don’t have to purchase them and you have money to buy things that are more difficult to grow.
Think about the meat you eat. Look for grass-fed beef and local meat.

Michael Flanagan, co-owner of Michael’s Good to Go takeout restaurant in Waitsfield, Vt., worked alongside acclaimed San Francisco chef Gary Danko, then chef at the Tucker Hill Inn in Vermont, which taught him an appreciation for using farm-fresh produce.

“I was made aware of the importance of locally resourced foods, locally raised meats, and foraged foods,” Flanagan says. “And that was before it was really a known thing. It didn’t have the street cred it has now. It’s the glam thing to do these days.”

To eat locally when eating out, ask the server or chef if the restaurant uses locally produced foods. Some states have organizations that promote such efforts. For instance, the Vermont Fresh Network’s mission is to foster farmer/chef partnerships. The Vermont Fresh Network logo is prominently displayed on participating restaurants’ menus.

Sometimes learning to love local foods means letting go of some preconceived notions of what “good” food looks like.

The best-tasting produce is fresh from the field, and often heirloom, says Dave Hartshorn, owner of Santa Davida Farm in the Mad River Valley of Vermont.

The tastiest fruits and vegetables are not the perfectly shaped and brightly colored ones bred and hybridized to stand up to the rigors of long-distance shipping and to visually appeal to harried grocery-store shoppers.

“You see, tomatoes were initially brown,” Hartshorn says. “They were not attractive. They were an ugly-looking fruit.” Then red tomatoes were developed. And the red sold. “And people said, ‘oh, if it’s not red, it’s not a good tomato.’”

Shop farmers’ markets, he suggests, where heirloom vegetables usually are sold — and where the best tomatoes probably aren’t red.

READY TO BE A LOCAVORE?

To find out more about the locavore movement, or to find CSAs, farmers’ markets, or local growers, visit these websites:

Locavores.com — Site of the founders of the locavore movement.

EatWellGuide.org — Learn about eating locally and search for local growers.

VermontLocalvore.org — Home of the Mad River Valley’s website.

LocalHarvest.org — Type in your town and this site will show which CSAs, farmers’ markets, and growers are in your area.

Wilson.edu — After logging onto this site, do a search on “Robyn Van En.” You’ll find all kinds of resources on CSAs, a search to find CSAs near you, and the opportunity to list your own farm as a CSA.

Or check out these books:

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver, Steven Hopps and Camille Kingsolver

Plenty: One Man, One Woman, and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally by Alisa Smith and J.B. Mackinnon

Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan

by Carol Davis

Editor

Out Here magazine

http://www.tractorsupply.com/