Cooking Tips

Thank you so much for supporting local, family farms by participating in our CSA. We really appreciate your business and work hard to provide the highest quality meats through sustainable and humane farming practices. Most of our customers have told us that the steaks, chops and burgers are the best they have ever tasted. However, as with any fine fresh product, grass fed beef, lamb and pastured pork need to be prepared with care. Here are some tips for exquisite dining;

Do

• Remember that our grass fed meats are much leaner than traditional meats. Thus, they are meant for Rare to Medium cooking.

•Watch the cooking time carefully. A steak, chop or burger can go from perfectly cooked to over-cooked in less than a minute.

•Watch the temperature carefully. A steak, burger or chop will do well on a med to med hi grill (think 7 out of 10) DO NOT use the broiler or turn the heat all the way up.

•Defrost your meat in the fridge and bring to room temperature before cooking OR for quick thawing, place your vacuum sealed package in warm water in a bowl for a few minutes

•Use your favorite marinade or rub for 24 hours up to four days before cooking, especially for lean cuts or like chuck, top round or London broil. Pound your steak if you do not have time to marinate. The pounding of a rub will infuse your meats with the marinade flavors while simultaneously tenderizing.

•Since grass-fed meats are extremely low in fat, coat with virgin olive oil or truffle oil for a light flavor enhancement and easy browning. The oil will also prevent sticking.

•When pan frying, sear the meat quickly over a high heat on each side to seal in natural juices and then reduce the heat to continue cooking

•When cooking burgers use caramelized onions, olives, mushrooms, an egg or roasted peppers to add low fat moisture to the meat. Our ground beef is from cows that run around!! And tends to be over 95% lean, so some moisture is needed to compensate for the lack of fat.

•Try stove-top cooking for any steak – you have more control over the temperature and you can add a pat of garlic butter at the end as the chefs do!

Don't

•Overcook! The main reason for tough meat is overcooking. We age our beef and carefully process our lamb and pork so they are fresh and safe to eat. Rare to Medium cooking is always best.

•Forget that grassfed meats require 30 to 40 percent less cooking time than traditionally raised meats . This is also true for our poultry – we do not inject saline solution into our birds so the heat just cooks meat – it does not have to melt fat nor evaporate added salt water.

•Leave your burgers, steaks, chops or sausage unattended

•Place meat on a grill or pan without some added moisture, butter or oil

•EVER use a microwave to thaw your grass-fed meats – it will leave tough spots

•Forget that meat continues to cook after it has been removed from the heat, therefore you want to stop cooking the meat just before it reaches desired done-ness. It will finish cooking on its own in residual heat.

Download Thanksgiving Turkey Instructions here: Turkey Cooking Directions