Photos of recipes from the new book Tender Grassfed Barbecue
Photos of recipes from the cookbook Tender Grassfed Meat
Presenting Tender Grassfed Barbecue: Traditional, Primal, and Paleo
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat
Tender Grassfed Barbecue: Traditional, Primal and Paleo
I am happy to announce the availability of my second book, Tender Grassfed Barbecue: Traditional, Primal and Paleo. It is now available at Amazon.
Traditional
This cookbook adapts traditional methods of barbecue to modern times, making it easy, yet so delicious. The recipes are specifically designed for grassfed beef, bison, lamb, and pastured pork, using a wide variety of traditional flavorings and marinades from all over the world.
Grassfed meat is different from factory meat, and should be cooked differently. This is even more true in barbecue than other cooking methods, because charring a grassfed steak over a very hot fire will ruin it. The methods in this book are adaptations of traditional methods of barbecue that work beautifully with grassfed meat, bringing out its naturally wonderful flavor and tenderness.
Traditional peoples cooked with fire very differently than modern Americans. Tender Grassfed Barbecue adapts some of their methods to modern times. These methods are actually safer and easier to use than modern techniques. The book explains how to use these simple methods in great detail, using clear illustrations to demonstrate exactly how the coals, meat, drip pan and grill should be arranged, and providing clear and precise instructions as to how to barbecue this way. Even if you have not barbecued before, the clearly presented methods used in this book will make it easy!
The recipes in this book use traditional flavors from many cultures, ranging from Ancient Rome and China to the Native Americans, Koreans, French, Italians, Sardinians, Romanians, and many more. This includes several “lost†barbecue secrets that have been rediscovered, and were used traditionally by many peoples. These wonderful flavors give a wonderful enhancement to the great natural taste of barbecued grassfed meat, resulting in tender meat that is absolutely delicious. The book also offers different traditional ways of preparing American barbecue favorites such as brisket and spareribs.
Primal
The flavor of meat cooked with fire is one of the oldest human flavors, enjoyed over countless thousands of years, stimulating our taste buds in a way no other food ever does. The traditional cooking techniques in Tender Grassfed Barbecue create this primal flavor, using lump and hardwood charcoal to awaken the primal taste memories, imbuing the meat with the unforgettable tang of wood flavor. Many of the recipes are simply seasoned to bring out the primal flavor of wood and charcoal. Methods for using herbs and wood to provide a deeper smoky flavor are also included.
Paleo
The meat of grass-eating animals cooked with fire is one of the oldest human foods, eaten widely in the Paleolithic period and earlier. In contrast, the grain-feeding of grass-eating animals was not adopted until the 20th century and created a meat that is very different in composition and content from the meat enjoyed by humanity over most of history. Most of the meat recipes in Tender Grassfed Barbecue are very useful for those on Paleo diets, as they are designed for barbecuing grassfed meat. The ingredients used for flavoring are very basic foods, and allowed on most Paleo-style diets.
Lower-Carb
While this is not a low-carb cookbook, most of the recipes are very low in carbohydrates. A section on low-carb side dishes is also included.
Weston A. Price Style Diet
The recipes in this cookbook are faithful to the teachings of Dr. Weston A. Price. Sugar and soy are not used in the recipes. Refined food ingredients are rare, and the benefits of using animal fats in cooking are not only discussed, but shown in a number of recipes. Butter is a key ingredient in a number of recipes, and modern vegetable oils are not used.
Safer Barbecue
There have been a number of studies that raise health concerns about barbecued meats. The traditional techniques used in Tender Grassfed Barbecue avoid the risk factors identified in the studies.
Compared with Tender Grassfed Meat
If you liked Tender Grassfed Meat, you will enjoy this book if you barbecue. All the recipes are brand new, as are the techniques and cooking methods. The marinades in this book could be used to cook indoors as well, using the timing for roasts and steaks contained in Tender Grassfed Meat. One major difference is the inclusion of recipes for pastured pork, which was not included in Tender Grassfed Meat.
I am very happy to present this book. You will find cooking and barbecuing tips here that are just not available elsewhere. The recipes are easy to prepare, nourishing, and delicious. My family and I have been enjoying the recipes in this book for most of the past two years, whenever the weather allowed barbecuing. I hope that you too will enjoy the wonderful flavors and tastes in Tender Grassfed Barbecue.
Related Post
Traditional Barbecue Methods Are Worth the Effort
This post is part of Fat Tuesday and Real Food Wednesday blog carnival.
Becoming a Grassfed Farmer
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat
Grassfed sheep grazing at Broad River Pastures.
Good food starts with good farmers. The knowledge of how to raise healthy animals on grass is priceless. Good farmers know their land, their animals, their plants, and how to manage them so that everything thrives.
Factory farming relies on “one size fits all†formulas and schedules to do everything. Factory animals are given drugs, antibiotics, and supplements on a particular schedule that is usually the same for all of them. They are fed on grass for the same amount of time, given supplemental feed containing the same ingredients, shipped to the feedlot at a precise age, and kept in the feedlot for a time that does not vary from cow to cow. No wonder their meat all tastes the same—bland, greasy, and dull.
Grassfed farming depends on the actual conditions on the farm, and knowledge of how to use those conditions to produce healthy animals with enough fat to be tender. Often the knowledge of how to do this is passed on from parents to the next generation of farmers.
But what if someone who did not grow up on a farm tries to learn how to raise grassfed meat?
Jon and Cathy Payne had successful careers in urban America. Jon had been in the security business for 35 years. Cathy had spent 38 years in elementary education. Instead of retiring to a life of comfortable idleness, Jon and Cathy decided to become farmers, producing real food on good soil, food of the highest quality.
Jon and Cathy recently bought some sheep, and plan to raise grassfed lamb. I had the pleasure of interviewing Cathy today.
Neither Jon nor Cathy came from farm families, and neither one of them knew anything about farming. They have learned a great deal by talking to local farmers, attending farm conferences, talking to people at buying clubs, and using Internet resources such as Yahoo Groups and various farming forums—and their own constantly increasing experience.
The motto of their farm, Broad River Pastures, is “promoting nutrient dense food and preserving heritage breeds.â€
Heritage breeds are animals that are particularly good for specific purposes, which have been developed by careful breeding over hundreds, if not thousands of years. They are an important part of the human heritage. Yet many of these breeds are in danger of dying out as they are replaced by new industrial breeds that serve the purposes of the large industrial agriculture companies.
Jon and Cathy are preserving heritage breeds by raising them at Broad River Pastures. One of the breeds they are preserving is known as the Gulf Coast Sheep, or the “Gulf Coast Native Sheep.†These sheep are descendents of the sheep brought to the Gulf Coast by the Spaniards hundreds of years ago. They were allowed to roam the forests, and have completely adapted to the sandy soil, local forage, and heat and humidity of the region. They are immune to the local parasites, which will kill other breeds of sheep when they are still lambs. This hardy animal produces rich milk, tasty meat, and wool. These sheep need no assistance with lambing, and are able to deliver their own lambs right in the pasture. The Gulf Coast Sheep is in danger of extinction, but Jon and Cathy are raising some of them at Broad River Pastures. These sheep, purchased in June, are thriving at the farm. They will breed, and lambs will be born, and, if all goes well, some wonderful grassfed lamb will be available next year.
Raising grassfed sheep is much harder than the industrial version. The sheep get almost all their nourishment from the grass and meadow plants on the farm. Cathy told me that you need healthy soil to have healthy meadow plants, and you need healthy meadow plants to have healthy lambs, and you need healthy lambs to have healthy, delicious grassfed meat.
This means that Jon and Cathy, like all grassfed farmers, must monitor the condition of their soil, and enrich it with the minerals and manure and other substances that make the soil healthy. This can be a huge amount of work, and very expensive in buying the materials required. Jon and Cathy have fenced their pastures, so they will be able to practice rotational grazing, which will enrich the soil, but that takes time and a sizable herd, so they have had to invest a lot of time and money into soil enrichment. This time and money will ultimately be worth it, because the rich soil will support healthy grass and meadow plants that will feed healthy lambs.
Jon and Cathy have obtained an English Shepherd, yet another endangered heritage breed, to herd and act as general farm dog. Jon and Cathy are using another heritage breed of dog, a Great Pyrenees, to protect their herds from predators.
Jon and Cathy are raising other heritage breeds of other animals, and are planning to raise all kinds of fruit and crops along with the grassfed lamb. If you would like to support them in their endeavors, you can purchase some very healthy liver treats from them for your dogs. Here is the link to their farm, Broad River Pastures, where there is a contact page.
I am grateful to Jon and Cathy for becoming sustainable farmers, for saving heritage breeds, and for raising grassfed lamb.
This post is part of Monday Mania, Real Food Wednesday and Fight Back Friday blog carnivals.
A Real Paleo Diet — Grassfed Meat, Fat, and Organ Meats
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat
photo credit: tuchodi
The idea behind the Paleo diet makes a great deal of sense. For tens of thousands of years, humans have been eating the foods available during the Paleolithic period. Our bodies have adapted to use these foods and easily digest and process them. Our bodies know how to use the nutrients in these foods, and how to dispose of the waste in these foods.
But what is the Paleo diet? What did Paleolithic peoples really eat?
The Paleo diet is generally agreed to consist of foods that were only available during the Paleolithic period, before agriculture and the keeping of domestic animal herds had been developed. All grains, dairy products, all modern processed foods and oils are excluded. Wild meat, fish, roots, shellfish, berries, fruits, eggs, some tree nuts, vegetables, and edible fungi such as mushrooms are included.
Some say that the Paleo diet should be meat-heavy. with an emphasis on lean meats. Others say it can be mostly fruits and vegetables. Some say it should be high-fat, and others say it should be low-fat. But what did the Paleolithic peoples really eat?
A true Paleolithic diet was discovered and recorded by Dr. Weston A. Price, the great food researcher. In 1933, Dr. Price visited a native people living in the far north of Canada, far from the sea. These people were eating the same diet their ancestors had, consisting only of foods that were readily available during the Paleolithic period.
These people had no agriculture, and no herds. They were so far north that they were deprived of all fruits and vegetables for most of the year. They were far from the sea, and the rivers were so frozen that there were no fish. In fact, they ate very little other than the wild animals they hunted, often moose.
They ate not only the meat of the animals, but the organs, and the fat, especially the fat. Meat was always eaten with fat. They also ate bone marrow, chewed on the bones, and used the bones in cooking. The animals they ate were mainly herbivores, grass-eaters, so they were eating grassfed meat and fat, and the organs of grassfed animals. And just about nothing else.
Dr. Price found that these people were in excellent health, strong, happy, and vital. Though the temperature would often be seventy below zero during the long, cold winters, these people had learned how to keep warm and well-fed. The women would give birth quickly and easily, to healthy children who were free of birth defects. They had no dentists, and no cavities. Despite the extreme cold, nobody had arthritis. They did not have heart disease or cancer. They did not have diabetes or any of the chronic diseases so common in the modern world.
Dr. Price wanted to know why they did not get scurvy, a disease caused by the lack of Vitamin C that causes teeth to fall out, and eventually results in death. Dr. Price learned that they got the Vitamin C they needed by eating the adrenal glands and second stomachs of the animals they hunted. Scientific research later confirmed that the adrenal glands of grassfed animals were the richest known source of Vitamin C, containing far more than any fruit or vegetable. These native people knew what part of the animal to eat, so they could get the nutrition they needed. In fact, they got all their vitamins and minerals from the fat, organs and bones of the animals they hunted.
These people were so free from crime that nobody locked their doors, and nothing was ever stolen.
After Dr. Price left these people, he traveled south, and studied the native peoples he met on the way. Many of these people had adopted modern food like jam, sugar, syrup, and bread. The native peoples eating modern foods were riddled with disease, many suffering from crippling arthritis. Tuberculosis, cancer, and tooth decay were very common.
Dr. Price’s research described a true Paleolithic diet, and the wonderful health of the people who followed it.
While this is not the only Paleolithic diet, it shows how beneficial a true Paleolithic diet can be.
This post is part of Monday Mania and Real Food Wednesday blog carnivals.
Grassfed Fat — the Lost Delicacy
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat
Grassfed sirloin roast, with a delicious, nutritious fat cap.
I love to eat grassfed beef fat. I actually will put a large piece of crisp, hot, grassfed beef fat in my mouth, and eat it with great enjoyment and satisfaction.
Animal fat used to be the favorite food of most of humanity. But that has changed.
Fat is taboo. Especially animal fat. Animal fat is supposed to be the ultimate poison. Even looking at it could cause a heart attack, or so people seem to think. Well, I do not believe this anymore, especially where grassfed fat is concerned.
Grassfed fat has a very different composition than the fat of factory meat. Factory meat has far too much omega-6 fatty acids, and is lacking in CLA and various fat-soluble vitamins. Grassfed fat has a perfect omega-3 to omega-6 ratio, and is full of nutrients like CLA and fat-soluble vitamins. The healthy peoples studied by Dr. Weston A. Price ate plenty of animal and fish fat. But nutrition is not the only reason I eat grassfed fat.
Grassfed meat is delicious, but the grassfed fat on the meat can be even tastier.
One of the ways I research my books is to read old novels. Often they contain detailed descriptions of traditional meals, and how they were prepared. Time after time, I read of how the characters enjoy biting into a crisp piece of hot, roasted fat. One day, I decided to try it myself. It was absolutely delicious, crisp on the outside and melting on the inside, and so satisfying. Now I make sure to have some hot crisp fat whenever we have a grassfed roast, or pastured pork roast.
I learned that I am following an old tradition.
Some of the world’s greatest traditional delicacies consist of animal fat. Peking duck is made for the crisp skin, which is the high point of the meal. Several Asian cultures deep fry duck pieces, so the skin comes out hot and crisp. The crisp, hot, brown fat of a prime rib roast used to be prized in England. Sausages all over Europe and Russia used to be full of pastured animal fat. The taste of the hot, juicy fat squirting into the mouth when the sausage was bitten into was so prized that poems were written about it. The Native Americans prized all kinds of animal fat, not only adding it to their stews and pemmican, and using it to baste their roasted meats, but often covering their bodies with it. A steamed roast pork belly is still a festive dish in parts of China, and the fat is the favorite part. In parts of Italy, pork fat of the highest quality is spread on bread like butter. Middle Eastern skewered meats had chunks of fat on the skewer right next to the chunks of meat.
I like beef fat best when it is crisp and hot. There are several varieties of grassfed beef fat, and I like them all.
Prime rib fat has a unique, rich flavor, with a hint of sweetness.
Sirloin fat, including picanha fat, crisps up beautifully when grilled or roasted, and gives an explosion of flavor when bitten into. You can see this terrific fat in the photo above.
Caul fat (which is taken from an area near the kidneys) has a wonderful crispness and flavor all its own, and just might be my favorite.
I also love bison fat, when I can get it. It has a wonderful crisp texture when roasted, and a rich, sweet flavor.
Grassfed lamb fat is another favorite. It should be only eaten when it is very hot, as it can get greasy when lukewarm, but it has incredible flavor and a very delicate crispness when served hot.
Pastured pork fat has a nice, delicate, crisp texture on the outside, but it is the rich, creamy inside that has incredible flavor and literally melts in your mouth.
Grassfed fat and pastured pork fat can make vegetables delicious beyond belief. I will place plenty of sliced grassfed animal fat in a pan, and put it in a hot oven until enough of the fat has melted to coat the pan. I then add all kinds of vegetables, including carrots, celery, onion wedges, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and zucchini, in almost any combination. I will roast them together until the vegetables have caramelized beautifully in the melted fat, and are rich with concentrated flavor that is just wonderful to eat.
If you do not mind the carbohydrates, you can do the same with potatoes, or apples, or both. Not only will they be over-the-top delicious, but the melted fat that penetrates them and intensifies their flavor will provide some protection against the glycemic effects.
If you have never had vegetables roasted this way, you will not believe how good they taste. Just be sure to eat them hot. And, best of all, you will have a number of crisp, flavorful pieces of fat in the pan that are also a joy to eat.
Grassfed animal fat is full of nutrition and is absolutely delicious!
This post is part of Monday Mania, Real Food Wednesday and Fight Back Friday blog carnivals.
Give Me Grassfed Meat, Not Water Pumped Meat!
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat
photo credit: TheGiantVermin
Many people have noticed that factory meat is full of water. It is hard to brown except at the highest heat, and water can come gushing out in the middle of cooking. The meat of factory-fed animals is watery and mushy. If that were not enough, much factory meat (though not all) is injected with “solution,” which is usually a mix of tap water and industrial salt. The amount of “solution” injected into meat can be as high as 40% in some chicken breasts, according to an example given by the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service.
Unbelievably, meat injected with solution is called “enhanced meat.” How can it possibly “enhance” meat to inject it with a large amount of saltwater? Most of that saltwater will cook out, leaving a piece of meat that is much smaller in weight and volume than it was when purchased. The injected water is just as expensive as the meat, so profits are enhanced, at the expense of the consumer. Industrial salt and tap water are literally dirt cheap, so this is serious profit. It might be more accurate to describe it as “enhanced profit meat.”
Sometimes “enhanced meat” is described as having a particular marinade added. Since the marinades are mostly liquid, you are paying the meat price for the liquid in the marinade if you buy such a product.
One of the excuses given for the use of “solution” is the claim that it is needed to make up for the flavor lost by having leaner meat. Well, if the natural flavor of the meat is so bad or so blah that it needs a saltwater solution to be palatable, why buy it in the first place?
Another problem with “solution” is that it contains a large amount of industrial salt, which has been stripped of its minerals. This is not the natural salt that humankind has eaten for most of history. Many people, including myself, want to avoid eating such salt. But if it is not clearly labeled, or served in a restaurant, we could be eating a lot of industrial salt without knowing it.
While meat injected with solution is supposed to be labeled, even the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service has concluded that the current labeling requirements do not work, finding that some labels do not clearly identify the fact that solution has been added to raw meat. This has led the Food Safety and Inspection Service to propose stricter labeling standards, which are not expected to go into effect until 2014. I commend the government for imposing stricter labeling standards that may actually inform consumers that a significant portion of the “meat” they are purchasing is actually saltwater.
Factory meat is often soaked in a water bath to chill. While sitting in the water bath, the meat can absorb a significant amount of water, which may also have to be disclosed under the new standards.
While stricter labeling is good, I have a better “solution.”
Eat grassfed and grass-finished meat only, which is what I do.
I have never had a piece of grassfed meat that was watery or mushy. I have never had a piece of grassfed meat that gushed water into the pan. I have never had a piece of grassfed meat that was hard to brown. In fact, grassfed meat will brown beautifully at medium heat.
Grassfed meat has a wonderful natural flavor, which varies from breed to breed, and from producer to producer. This flavor does not need to be enhanced with saltwater. In fact, injecting saltwater into grassfed meat would ruin its taste, tenderness, and texture.
Grassfed meat shrinks much less in cooking.
When we buy meat, we should get meat, not a mixture of meat and saltwater.
Grassfed meat can be easily ruined if you try to cook it like you would cook factory meat. But grassfed meat will come out tender and delicious if cooked properly, which is actually very easy to do. Tender Grassfed Meat describes how to do this.
This post is part of Monday Mania, Real Food Wednesday and Fight Back Friday blog carnivals.
Diabetes Study Proves Nothing about Grassfed Meat
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat
photo credit: Alan Vernon. Bison grazing in Yellowstone National Park.
Once again, we are hit with yet another study claiming that red meat increases our chances of getting a horrible disease—Type 2 diabetes. It joins a host of other studies claiming that eating red meat increases the chances of just about every chronic disease you can think of. In fact, since humanity ate mainly red meat and saturated animal fat for most of its existence, we must be extinct, since all those diseases would have wiped us out long ago, when we got almost all our calories from meat and fat. All of these studies still have one thing in common. They totally fail to distinguish between the factory meat that did not exist until the twentieth century; and grassfed and wild meat, which has been the basic food of humanity for most of its existence. Since all the studies claiming that meat is unhealthy are based on people eating factory meat, these studies are totally meaningless when it comes to grassfed meat.
Grassfed Meat Is Different
There are many differences between the composition of grassfed meat, and factory meat.
Grassfed Meat Has:
- A perfect balance of omega-3 fatty acids to omega-6 fatty acids;
- Considerably more CLA (conjugated linoleic acid);
- The benefits of having the animals eat the food they were evolved to eat, which is natural for them;
- A natural balance of nutrients, which our bodies have evolved to use over hundreds of thousands of years, if not more.
Factory Meat Has:
- A gross imbalance of omega-6 fatty acids to omega-3 fatty acids, which does not occur in nature;
- Far less CLA;
- The detriments of having the animals eat a totally unnatural diet in the feedlot, including GMO soy, GMO corn, animal by-products, restaurant waste, and many other things that were never the natural food of grass-eating animals;
- An unnatural balance of substances in the meat, often including growth hormones, antibiotics, chemical residues, and others.
The very composition of the two kinds of meat is so different that consumption of factory meat is very different than eating grassfed meat.
The Study Fails to Prove that Eating Red Meat Increases the Risk of Diabetes
As I once wrote before, it is crucial to study the study before you blindly believe the conclusions drawn from the data. I have carefully looked at the latest study, and my own opinion is that it has no proof that any kind of unprocessed meat increases the risk of diabetes.
Why did I reach this conclusion?
The study concluded that eating red meat was associated with an increase in Type 2 diabetes, and seemed to recommend that people stop eating red meat on a regular basis.
But the data was inconclusive, with even the scientists who conducted the study admitting that it was hard to pinpoint the actual dietary factors that caused an increase in Type 2 diabetes risk.
The study was limited to roughly 60,000 doctors and nurses, and consisted mainly of reviewing food questionnaires sent in by the participants over a multi-year period.
The study did find a correlation in increased Type 2 diabetes risk by those who ate the most red meat. The increase for those who ate unprocessed meat was approximately one-third the risk increase of those who ate processed meat. But the data also showed the following:
- Those who ate more meat also consumed more sugary soft drinks;
- Those who ate more meat also ate considerably more calories, which almost certainly included a lot of refined high-carbohydrate foods;
- Those who ate more meat drank more alcohol.
Many studies and other research have shown that increased consumption of sugar (from the soft drinks), alcohol, and refined high-carb foods is directly related to causing Type 2 diabetes.
The people who ate more sugar, more alcohol, and more refined carbohydrates had a higher incidence of diabetes, which is exactly what you would expect, regardless of their meat consumption. Since we know that sugar, refined carbohydrates, and alcohol can cause Type 2 diabetes, the amount of meat eaten proves nothing.
But what about the result that eating processed meat had a much higher risk factor than eating unprocessed meat?
The answer is simple. Almost all factory-processed meats contain substantial amounts of added sugar, whether in the form of sucrose, fructose, dextrose, or just sugar. In addition, almost all factory-processed meats contain substantial amounts of industrial salt, which often has sugar added to it. In other words, the people who consume more of these processed meats are consuming more sugar. In other words, the sugar added to the processed meat would increase the risk of Type 2 diabetes, all by itself.
It is totally unknown whether the consumption of meat has any relevance at all to the risk of Type 2 diabetes, because you cannot separate it from the consumption of sugar and refined carbohydrates in this study. It is impossible to know whether the increase was caused just by the higher intake of sugar, alcohol, and refined carbohydrates; or by the combination of this with more red meat; or by red meat alone.
Although I believe the researchers to be sincere, their conclusion that red meat causes an increase in the risk of Type 2 diabetes is not supported by the data in their study, in my opinion. It is also clear from reviewing the remarks of the researchers in various articles that they already believed that eating red meat is unhealthy.
I will point out that this study, like all the others, failed to distinguish between eating grassfed meat and factory meat.
But there is an earlier study that addressed the affect of eating wild and grassfed meat on chronic disease. Dr. Weston A. Price spent ten years traveling around the world to study the diets of traditional peoples. Most of the peoples he studied ate plenty of wild game, and/or grassfed meat and fat. As long as these people ate their traditional diet, they had none of the chronic diseases common to the modern world. They had no cancer. They had no heart disease. And they had no Type 2 diabetes.
It is reasonable to conclude that if eating red meat caused Type 2 diabetes, the peoples studied by Dr. Price would have a diabetes epidemic, because they ate so much wild and grassfed red meat. But since they had no diabetes at all, it is equally reasonable to conclude that eating wild or grassfed red meat did not increase the risk of Type 2 diabetes. I will also point out that these people did not eat sugar or refined carbohydrates, and their diet was considerably lower in carbohydrates than modern diets. Of course many other factors were involved, but you cannot deny the fact that they ate large amounts of wild and grassfed red meat, and they did not get diabetes.
As a personal observation, I know many people, including myself, who eat red grassfed meat on a regular basis. I eat it almost every day, sometimes several times a day. I love it. It makes me feel good and gives me strength. None of those people, including me, have any symptoms of Type 2 diabetes. Not a scientific study, just real life observation.
Finally, I do not eat factory meat. It tastes like blah, and makes me feel stuffed rather than great. I love grassfed meat!
This post is part of Monday Mania, Real Food Wednesday and Fight Back Friday blog carnivals.
Rich Pasture Means Delicious, Fragrant, Grassfed Meat
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat
Rich grass on John Wood's farm.
Recently the issue arose on Facebook as to why some grassfed meat might have a strong, almost fishy smell. The opinion was expressed that the steer might have eaten wild onion or wild garlic, which are known to give a bad taste and smell to milk. Should a good grassfed farmer remove wild onion and wild garlic from their pastures?
As I do not raise grassfed meat, (though I certainly cook it and eat it), I posed the question to two of the best grassfed ranchers I know: John Wood of U.S. Wellness Meats, and Chris Kerston of Chaffin Family Orchards.
John qualifies because his meat is always delicious, and smells great while it is cooking and even better when it is done.
Chris qualifies because his meat is also always delicious, and also smells great at all stages of cooking and eating.
John has never had an issue with wild garlic or wild onions, and has not noticed them on his land. John is of the opinion that a good stand of grass usually chokes out wild garlic and wild onion. John’s pastures have some of the richest, greenest, most beautiful grass I have ever seen. John has substantially increased the density and richness of his grass by rotational grazing techniques, and by enriching the soil with ancient vegetable matter. Meat from his farm, raised on that wonderful grass, is in a class of its own, in my opinion. I have eaten a lot of John’s beef over the last six years.
Chris said that what the animal eats has a huge effect on flavor. Eating a lot of wild garlic and wild onion will have a big effect on the taste and smell of the meat However, Chris is opposed to removing wild garlic and wild onion from grazing land. As Chris pointed out, removing any natural plant from a pasture will affect the natural balance, and something else will take its place. Chris stated that cattle will not eat pungent plants like wild garlic and wild onion in normal conditions. They prefer sweet grasses. Cattle will eat pungent plants for medicinal purposes, and Chris has observed his cattle treating themselves by eating certain pungent plants and grasses when they have a need. However, this is only done on a short-term basis. Also, the amount of pungent plants they eat for this purpose is in small quantities, not enough to interfere with the flavor or smell of the meat. The other situation where cattle will eat wild garlic and wild onion is when they do not have enough other suitable feed (like grass) to eat, and will eat anything out of hunger. This could certainly affect the taste and smell of the meat. I have visited Chris’s farm, and seen the beautiful rich, green grass the cattle graze on. Grazing is rotated to enrich the soil and the grass. The soil on Chris’s farm is particularly rich, and has never been sprayed with chemicals. It provides dense, sweet, green grass that the cattle love. The grass gives the cattle a deep, beefy flavor that I love.
It is clear that having plenty of good sweet grass, and providing adequate pasture prevents the problem.
You can buy John’s meat at U.S. Wellness Meats.
Chaffin Family Orchards does not sell its meat over the Internet, but you can buy it directly from the ranch or at the farmer’s markets where Chaffin sells meat, or some buying clubs. Chaffin does sell its magnificent olive oil over the Internet. This olive oil is my absolute favorite, and my first choice for marinating meat.
While John’s Missouri grassfed beef tastes different from the California grassfed beef raised by Chris, both tastes are wonderful, and I love to eat both of them.
This post is part of Monday Mania and Real Food Wednesday blog carnivals.
Finally! Modern Study Proves the Benefits of Grassfed Meat
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat
Eating this delicious grassfed steak will increase the omega-3s in your bloodstream. Much tastier than fish oil!
I have been convinced for a long time that eating grassfed meat is much healthier than eating feedlot factory meat. Our ancestors ate grassfed meat, and thrived on it. The healthy peoples studied by Dr. Weston A. Price ate grassfed and wild meat, and thrived on it. Many studies have shown that grassfed and grass-finished meats have much higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids, a perfect balance of omega-3 fatty acids to omega-6 fatty acids, and a much higher level of CLA.
But the factory meat industry has been able to produce other studies claiming that the difference in omega-3 fatty acid content between grass-finished and feedlot meat is minimal. It has also been claimed that any difference is meaningless, since the omega-3 fatty acids are supposedly destroyed when cooked.
Yet there has been no study on the issue of whether people actually get more omega-3 fatty acids when eating grassfed and grass-finished meat instead of feedlot meat. Until now.
An Irish study, reported in the British Journal of Nutrition has shown that people who eat grassfed meat have significantly higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids in their blood when compared to people eating feedlot meat.
The study was of healthy people. All the meat eaten by one group was grassfed and grass-finished. All the meat eaten by the other group was feedlot meat. I assume the meat was cooked, as the abstract of the study would have mentioned if the meat was raw. After four weeks, the blood of the two groups was tested.
The blood of the group that ate grassfed meat showed significant increases in omega-3 fatty acid levels. It fact, the increase was so dramatic that it was comparable to the omega-3 levels of people taking fish oil capsules. The omega-3 levels in the blood of the group eating feedlot meat were much lower than the grassfed group.
This is very important, because the Standard American Diet (SAD) is totally unbalanced in favor of omega-6 fatty acids. Most Americans have a large imbalance of omega-6 fatty acids.
An excess of omega-6 fatty acids has been associated with a substantially increased risk of cancer, heart disease, obesity, rapid aging, and many other problems. Many doctors advise their patients to take fish oil capsules to help with the imbalance, as a proper balance can help reduce the risk of all these illnesses.
I would much rather enjoy the wonderful taste and tenderness of grassfed meat, as a delicious way to increase the omega-3s in my blood.
In other words, I will continue to eat grassfed meat as a way to support the natural functioning of my heart and body. I will also continue to eat grassfed meat because it tastes so much better.
Now we finally have a well-conducted scientific study that confirms the lessons of history, tradition, and common sense—grassfed and grass-finished meat is much better than feedlot meat.
This post is part of Real Food Wednesday, Fight Back Friday and Monday Mania blog carnivals.
When It Comes to Meat — Study the Studies First
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat
Grass—the ideal food for cattle
It was the first hour of the first class on my first day in law school. The teacher, a man who actually practiced law during the day, and taught it at night, wrote a statement on the blackboard. I can still see the words in my mind. “There is no truth.â€
Being a believer in the truth of science in that time, I had to challenge that. I asked, “But what about scientific truth, established by properly conducted studies?â€
The teacher, an attorney of vast experience, answered—“No matter what position you take in a lawsuit, you can always find an expert to support it, and the expert can always find studies to support his position. You will find an expert who will testify that 2 plus 2 equals 3, and the other side will find an expert who will testify that 2 plus 2 equals 5. And each of them will find studies to support their completely contradictory positions. That is why there is no truth, at least not when you are practicing law.â€
After more than a quarter century as an attorney, I found his words to be absolutely true. Whenever there was an issue of science, psychology, medicine, or just about anything else, each side in the lawsuit was able to find an expert, often a superbly qualified scientist, to support their position. And every expert was able to find studies to support his or her support of that position.
This is not to say that every scientist is corrupt. But it does show that scientists who study the same issue often come up with results that contradict each other. The differences arise from the details of the study, the assumptions made that will be accepted as fact but not tested, and the bias, both subconscious and actual, of a scientist whose future income depends on pleasing the customer who is paying for the study. It is crucial to understand these factors before you accept the conclusions of a study as true.
Let us look at the studies on meat, for example. We have been bombarded for the last fifty years with study after study that claims that meat is unhealthy. According to various studies, meat causes heart disease, cancer, strokes, aging, and many other illnesses. In fact, if you believe all of these studies, it seems impossible for humanity to exist—given the fact that most generations of humans ate mainly meat and fat, you would have expected our ancestors to have died out from all these diseases long ago, rather than thriving and multiplying.
I have read study after study about meat. And one crucial fact emerges—nearly all of these studies treat all meat, whether raised with or without artificial hormones, raised with or without subtherapeutic antibiotics, fed their natural diet or an artificial one, fresh, or heavily processed meats loaded with preservatives and artificial chemicals, as being the same for the purposes of the study.
I have always found the assumption that all meat is the same to be flawed. This assumption makes it impossible to tell if the results are caused by the meat or by the chemicals, hormones, antibiotics, and preservatives added to some of the meat.
Two Swedish studies have shown how vital this detail is. The first study, done on Swedish women, treated all meat as being the same, and found that eating “meat†increased the risk of stroke. This study was heavily publicized by the Reuters news agency.
The second study, done on Swedish men, differentiated between fresh meat and processed meats. This study found that fresh meat made no difference in the risk of stroke. This study also found that eating meats processed with chemicals and preservatives did increase the risk of stroke, as shown in this article.
The conclusion I draw from these studies is that it is the chemicals and preservatives added to processed meats that are to blame for the increased stroke risk, not the meat itself.
I am aware of only one study that reviews the effect of grassfed meats on human health, but that study is the most extensive ever done. Dr. Weston A. Price studied traditional peoples eating the diets of their ancestors. Dr. Price actually visited every people he studied. The study lasted ten years, and is described in detail in Dr. Price’s magnificent book, Nutrition and Physical Degeneration. Dr. Price did not let bias interfere with his analysis—a very spiritual man, he had hoped and expected that these healthy peoples would be vegetarian, but faithfully reported the fact that they thrived on animal foods.
Most of the peoples studied by Dr. Price ate plenty of meat and fat as part of their traditional diet. The meat was grassfed or wild. No chemicals. None of these people had cancer, or heart disease, or stroke, or any of the chronic diseases that plague modern society.
Part of the findings of Dr. Price’s study is that grassfed meat and fat do not cause disease, but support the natural functions of the body, enabling these people to thrive. This is a conclusion I completely agree with.
This post is part of Real Food Wednesday and Fight Back Friday blog carnivals.
Related Post
Grassfed Meat and Fat are Ideal for Paleo Diets
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat
Barbecued Grassfed Prime Rib with a Garlic Marinade from my upcoming book.
The Paleo diet has been adopted by many people, and the numbers are growing. The idea that we should eat like our ancestors makes complete sense, as our bodies have evolved to eat and process the foods they used over tens of thousands of years. While there are different variations of Paleo diets, one thing is true for all of them—grassfed meat is ideal, especially when barbecued.
What is Paleo?
I did not know about the Paleo diet when I wrote my first cookbook, Tender Grassfed Meat. As I followed news of my book on the Internet, I came across a number of comments on Paleo websites that praised my book and talked about how it was great for people following a Paleo diet. These comments inspired me to learn about Paleo.
The Paleo concept is both simple and profound. The idea is that we should eat the same foods that our distant ancestors ate, before agriculture was developed. The argument is a powerful one—agriculture is only a few thousand years old, but humanity has existed for tens of thousands of years, or much longer.
The foods eaten by humanity over these tens of thousands of years included the meat and fat of ruminant animals, the meat and fat of other animals such as wild boar, the meat and fat of a huge variety of birds, wild fish, and seafood. Nuts, berries, wild roots, and plants were also eaten. Meat was eaten on the bone whenever possible, and bones were cracked open for their marrow, and formed the basis of early broths. Because humans have been eating these foods since the beginning, they are ideal for our bodies, since we have evolved to eat and digest them.
The food of agriculture, such as grains and dairy, as well as all of the modern processed foods, are new to our bodies and can cause problems with digestion and absorption, as well as allergies and other problems.
Therefore, a true Paleo diet would avoid all modern foods, and many traditional foods, including all grains and dairy.
I personally eat lots of dairy, but only in its traditional forms. Humans have been eating traditional dairy for about ten thousand years, and my body does fine with it. I avoid most grains, and find that I can easily do without them. I avoid all modern processed foods. But the food I enjoy and crave the most is Paleo—grassfed meat and fat, cooked in front of burning coals.
But it is not enough just to eat meat and fat. Modern industrial meat has a totally different nutritional content from the meat eaten by our ancestors. Grassfed meat and fat is as close as we can get to the meat that nourished our ancestors (with the exception of wild game).
The Price–Paleo Connection—Modern Examples of a Real Paleo Diet
Dr. Weston A. Price, spent ten years studying the diets of the traditional peoples who were free from the chronic diseases that plagued the modern world, such as tooth decay, heart disease, asthma, cancer, allergies, birth defects, and just about every chronic modern illness. He did not read reports or studies, but actually travelled to where these people lived and met them, taking detailed notes on what they ate and how they lived.
Three of the healthy peoples studied by Dr. Price were eating a Paleo diet, in that they had no agriculture and no dairy. They lived completely from hunting and gathering. Their traditional diets had not changed for many thousands of years. These peoples included Alaskan Eskimos (Inuit), Australian Aborigines, and Canadian Native Americans.
When these peoples ate their traditional Paleo diet, they were healthy. When they ate modern foods, they were riddled with all kinds of chronic disease, and died in large numbers from diseases such as tuberculosis.
These peoples all ate the meat, organs, and fat of grass-eating animals, as well as other animals. Those who lived by the sea also ate huge amounts of wild seafood and fish. While all of these peoples gathered and ate a variety of nuts, berries, and plants, their diets focused heavily on meat, organs, and fat, both from land and sea animals. All of the animals they ate were eating a species-appropriate diet such as grass and meadow plants for herbivores.
Grassfed and Paleo—a Perfect Match
Most of the foods eaten by early humans are not readily available to us. But we can find and eat foods that have a similar nutritional profile. The major food of these people was the meat and fat of animals, especially ruminant animals. We can get an almost identical set of nutrients by eating plenty of grassfed meat and fat, as well as the organs of grassfed animals.
Grassfed bison meat, from bison grazing their natural habitat, is just about identical with the bison that was eaten by early humans.
Grassfed beef is very similar, even though the breed and characteristics of the animals have changed from the wild varieties available before agriculture.
Grassfed lamb and goat also have a similar nutritional profile.
Pastured pork, from pigs who have been allowed to root in the forest like their wild ancestors, is another meat that is close to the meat eaten by early humans.
Grassfed Barbecue and Paleo—an Even Better Match
While the peoples studied by Dr. Price ate some of their meat raw or fermented, much of their meat was cooked, and it was almost always cooked in front of a fire.
I do not know if any nutrients are enhanced by the barbecue process, but the taste certainly is. The mouthwatering smell and taste of charcoaled meat appeals to most people on a primal level. The smell of meat roasting in front of a fire, the flavor added by the burning coals, is one of the oldest human pleasures, one that has been enjoyed for ages.
By barbecuing grassfed meat in a traditional manner, we can enjoy this primal taste, as did our ancestors.
This article was taken from my upcoming book on grassfed barbecue.
This post is part of Real Food Wednesday, Fight Back Friday and Monday Mania blog carnivals.
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