Photos of recipes from the new book Tender Grassfed Barbecue
Photos of recipes from the cookbook Tender Grassfed Meat
Mushroom Cream Sauce Makes Luxurious Leftovers
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat
Grassfed meat is so filling and satisfying that we often have leftovers. I have just discovered a new favorite way to enjoy leftovers. In fact, this is so delicious that you may find yourself eating less just so you can have more leftovers to reheat.
The secret to luxurious leftovers is this traditional recipe for mushroom cream sauce. Forget about the stuff that comes out of a can, this is the real deal, made from scratch in this simple, but absolutely delicious recipe. This sauce is perfect for leftover beef, lamb, and bison. It is also excellent with any kind of ham, and could be used to reheat any meat. This is the tastiest way I know to reheat previously cooked meat. Just make sure the meat is sliced very thin. This sauce is so good that we make sure that every bit of it is served and enjoyed.
Traditional Mushroom Cream Sauce for Leftovers
2 tablespoons pastured butter
1/4 pound fresh mushrooms of your choice, sliced, (I prefer crimini, but any good fresh mushroom will do)
2 more tablespoons pastured butter
2 tablespoons organic sprouted flour, either spelt or wheat, (you could substitute your favorite unbleached healthy flour)
1 cup whole organic full fat unhomogenized milk, (you could substitute your favorite full fat unhomogenized healthy cows milk)
1/3 cup full fat organic cream, (you could substitute your favorite full fat healthy cream)
1/4 teaspoon coarse unrefined sea salt, crushed
Thinly sliced leftover meat of your choice
- Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a medium-size, heavy-bottomed pan over medium heat. When the butter is hot and bubbly, turn the heat to medium high, add the mushrooms and stir until the mushrooms are nicely browned, but not scorched. Remove the mushrooms from the pan and reserve.
- Turn the heat down to medium. Add 2 more tablespoons of butter to the pan. When the butter is hot and bubbly, add the flour. Stir the flour and butter with a wire whisk, until well combined. Slowly pour in the milk, a little at a time, whisking well to incorporate the milk as you add it. When all the milk has been added, add the cream and whisk well. Continue to cook, stirring, until the mixture starts to thicken. Add the salt, and the reserved mushrooms. Stir well.
- Add the thinly sliced meat, and cover with the sauce. Turn the heat down to low, and simmer for a minute or two, until the meat has been reheated.
Serve with the sauce and enjoy.
This post is part of Real Food Wednesday Blog Carnival at Kelly the Kitchen Kop.
Also check out Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade.
Beautiful, Nutritious, Delicious Bones
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat
Grassfed Bone In Porterhouse. It tasted even better than it looks.
There is a very old saying,â€the nearer the bone, the sweeter the meat.†This saying celebrates the traditional knowledge that meat on the bone is valuable, both for taste and nutrition. The meat right next to the bone is sweeter and tastier, flavored with bone marrow and other substances that enter the meat during cooking. Grassfed meat cooked on the bone has so much flavor that spices are often unnecessary. I prefer to cook grassfed meat on the bone. Bone in meat has great nutritional benefit. Bone in meat is more tender. Bone in meat cooks more evenly. And it tastes so much better.
Why Most Meat Cuts Are Boneless
Most of the meat cuts sold today, including grassfed cuts, are boneless. There are several reasons for this. Bones are heavy, and most meat is shipped a long way. Cutting off the bones reduces transportation costs. I have talked to grassfed farmers who do not sell bone in meat because they are afraid the bones will penetrate the plastic they ship their meat in. The emphasis on lean meat promotes the use of boneless cuts, as bones contain fatty substances such as bone marrow. Carving bone in meat requires more effort than dealing with boneless cuts. Most people think of bones as waste, and do not want to pay for them. Actually, bones have tremendous nutritional and culinary value.
Bone In Meat Is More Nutritious
Bones are made up of minerals such as calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, and many others. When you put your mouth on a bone, the saliva in your mouth dissolves some of these minerals, which thus enter your body. Your body knows exactly how to digest and process these minerals and the cofactors which come with them. Need minerals? Eat the meat next to the bone, and you will get plenty, in a form that your body can easily assimilate and use. Also, you can suck discreetly on a tasty bone.
Bones also contain bone marrow, a fatty substance that is extremely nutrient dense, and is invaluable in making your own bones strong and healthy. Bone marrow is released into the meat during the cooking process, making the meat more nutritious and sweeter. There have been few, if any, scientific studies on the nutritional value of bones and bone marrow. However, there are some very old “studies,†conducted by our ancestors, the traditional peoples studied by Dr. Weston A. Price, and even wild animals.
Traditional People Knew the Value of Bones
The earliest habitats of primitive humans were found in caves. Many of those caves had one thing in common—a large pile of smashed and split animal bones. It is universally agreed that those bones were smashed and split to get at the bone marrow.
Traditional cuisine is full of references to bone marrow, which was eaten in many forms, and highly prized. The most prized meat in early Europe was the chine portion, a cut of meat reserved for the elite members of society, the heroes. Ancient Irish warriors fought to the death for the right to eat the chine portion, also known as the Hero’s Portion. Even the mightiest warrior in the Iliad, Achilles, cooked a chine portion for himself and the other great heroes of the Greeks. The chine portion was the same cut as a modern rack of lamb, or prime rib, or pork rib roast, except that the chine bone was always left on.
The Native Americans would actually use heavy rocks to pound bison bones into powder, which was made into a nourishing broth.
For most of history, meat was always roasted on the bone. Even stews had bones added to the pot, and the pieces of meat often contained bones. Many traditional peoples would chop chicken and other soft boned meats into pieces, so the marrow and other nutrients would be released into the pot during cooking. These traditions are still carried on today, in traditional cuisines all over the globe.
Several of the peoples studied by Dr. Weston A. Price, particularly the Inuit, split the bones so they could eat the marrow. All of the peoples studied by Dr. Price ate foods made with bones, often in the form of bone broths. These people had excellent teeth, strong bones, powerful immune systems, and were robustly healthy.
Finally, predators such as lions, wolves, and coyotes value the bones of their prey. After eating the liver of their kill, these animals will crack the bones for the marrow and chew on them, often leaving the lean meat for the scavengers. If you have ever given your dog a bone, you can see that dogs also have this traditional wisdom. Chewing on the bones is one of the best ways that these animals can get necessary minerals.
Meat on the Bone Tastes Much Better
Prime rib of beef, Porterhouse steak, T-bone steak, and lamb chops are bone in cuts that are popular even today. These cuts are very expensive and highly prized. Our ancestors ate a much wider variety of bone in cuts. Sirloin steaks, strip loin steaks, lamb roasts, beef roasts, pot roasts, pork roasts, and stews were all cooked with the bones. Almost all poultry was cooked with the bones, as were most fish. The reason for this was that the bones add so much flavor, as well as nutrition. When you cook meat on the bone, the marrow and other substances from the bones actually flavor the meat, adding succulence and a depth of taste that just does not exist with a boneless cut. The bones also help keep the meat moist, and help conduct heat throughout the meat so it cooks more evenly. If you are cooking the meat in liquid, the bone marrow, gelatin, minerals, and other substances from the bone enter the liquid, imbuing it with wonderful flavors, and causing it to thicken into a wonderful, flavorful sauce. There are a number of traditional recipes that call for adding extra bones to stews, pot roasts, and even the roasting pan to add these flavors to the dish. Meat is always tastier when cooked on the bone.
How to Add the Benefits of Bones to Your Diet
The simplest way to enjoy the benefits of bones is to cook bone in cuts. These are cuts of meat that still have the bone attached. When you eat the meat, do not be afraid to chew all the meat off the bones. Do not hesitate to discreetly suck on the bones, especially if you can get some of the marrow. You may find this to be immensely satisfying, as I do. Of course, don’t swallow any bones.
Another great way to enjoy the benefits of bones is to make real bone broth from the bones of pastured animals, simmered for many hours so the nutrients of the bones are released into the broth. My cookbook, Tender Grassfed Meat, has a number of such broth recipes, as does Sally Fallon’s magnificent work, Nourishing Traditions. Tender Grassfed Meat also includes a number of recipes for cooking bone in meat.
This post is part of Fight Back Friday Blog Carnival at Food Renegade.
Podcast Interview about Grassfed Meat
Low-carb expert and advocate, Jimmy Moore, interviews me on the Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show. We talk about all things grassfed—cooking, health, and nutrition. I really enjoyed the interview and think you will too. Here’s a link to the podcast:
Stanley Fishman Cooks Grassfed Meats the RIGHT Way!
The Cooking Advantages of Grassfed Meat
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat
Grassfed meat has many cooking advantages over other meat. Grassfed meat is tender and tastes much better than other meat. Grassfed meat is often easier to cook that other meat. Surprised? All of these statements are absolutely true, if you know how to cook grassfed meat.
Grassfed Meat Is Different
Grassfed meat, coming from animals that have been fed the diet they were designed to eat, is quite different from other meat. It is denser, with considerably less water in it, and leaner. It has much more flavor, right in the meat. These differences mean that grassfed meat can be cooked at lower temperatures, shrinks much less in cooking, does not release water into the pan, cooks much faster, needs little or no seasoning, and is much more satisfying, so you are satisfied with a smaller amount.
No More Smoke in the Kitchen
Conventional steaks are almost always cooked over very high heat, creating much smoke in the process. The high heat is necessary to deal with the large amount of water in the meat. Grassfed meat browns beautifully over medium heat, whether on the grill or in the pan or under the broiler.
No More Water in the Pan
Conventional meat will often release a fair amount of water into the pan when it is heated. This water can really interfere with the cooking process, and can ruin the taste and texture of the meat, while diluting the flavor of any sauce or gravy. The only way to prevent this is to use really high heat. Grassfed meat does not have this excess water, and will almost never have this problem.
Shrinks Much Less in Cooking
Grassfed meat retains most of its volume when properly cooked with a dry heat method. A conventional roast will shrink in size dramatically when roasted. Grassfed meat will shrink much less, because it is denser, with much less water.
Grassfed Meat Cooks Much Faster
Grassfed meat cooks much faster than conventional meat. You can cook a delicious roast with a roasting time of 30 minutes. Steaks, stews, and pot roasts also cook much faster. This gives you considerable saving, in time and energy costs, and is much more convenient.
Grassfed Meat Needs Less Seasoning
Grassfed meat, properly cooked, has great natural flavor right in the meat and fat. This flavor is so good that it does not need much in the way of seasoning to be outstanding. The recipes in Tender Grassfed Meat are designed to bring out the great natural flavor of the meat by using just a few traditional ingredients and flavor combinations. This tastes so good that I am getting very hungry as I type this, and I just had a big breakfast! Conventional meat has a bland, uniform taste that needs all kinds of seasoning and sauce to provide flavor.
Grassfed Meat Is Much More Satisfying
Grassfed meat and fat are full of nutrients, and have much less water in the meat. This makes grassfed meat very satisfying. When your body gets the nutrients it needs, hunger stops and you lose the desire to keep eating. Now that I eat grassfed meat, I eat half the amount of meat I used to. I did not make a decision to eat less meat, it just happened because grassfed meat is so satisfying. When I am satisfied, my desire to eat ends, and I stop eating.
Grassfed Meat Is Tender and Easy to Cook
I ruined the first grassfed meat I cooked, because I tried to cook it like conventional meat. After much research, I learned how to adapt the knowledge of our ancestors and developed several methods of making grassfed meat tender and delicious. I have found that cooking grassfed meat with these methods is easy. These methods are described in Tender Grassfed Meat, and they have worked for many people who knew nothing about cooking grassfed meat.
This post is part of Fight Back Friday, March 19th at Food Renegade.
Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with a Holiday Feast!
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat
Fresh green parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme
People in the United States think of corned beef and cabbage as being the traditional fare for St. Patrick’s Day. In Ireland itself, however, people are far more likely to eat the best grassfed beef they can get, green cabbage, and the well beloved potatoes. The recipes in the following link were developed as a Christmas menu, but are just as appropriate for St. Patrick’s Day. They include fine grassfed beef in the form of a magnificent prime rib roast, crispy roast potatoes, and a particularly fine cabbage dish. There is much green in this menu from the fresh parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme—to the cabbage. Enjoy this wonderful meal, and here’s the link to the recipes, at Kimberly Hartke’s fine blog:
Cooking for the Holidays with Stanley Fishman
A Sample of Tender Grassfed Meat
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat
Herb Crusted Strip Loin Roast
Tender Grassfed Meat is a different kind of cookbook. I designed the book to provide a lot of information about grassfed meat, why it is healthier, why it is best when cooked differently, and how to cook it. I also filled the book with delicious recipes. The following blog post is a sample of the book, containing information about grassfed meat, why it should be cooked differently, and a delicious recipe that demonstrates how to cook it.
Here is a link to the post, at Hartke is Online, one of my favorite blogs:
At Last, The Secret to Tender Grassfed Meat, Revealed!