Photos of recipes from the new book Tender Grassfed Barbecue
Photos of recipes from the cookbook Tender Grassfed Meat
A Magnificent Roast — Grassfed and Fatty
A magnificent grassfed prime rib.
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat and Tender Grassfed Barbecue
Our ancestors prized the fat in meat. Humans have raised beef cattle on grass for thousands of years, and they always tried to raise them to be fatter. Incredible breeds were developed over the centuries, cattle that fattened well on good grass and provided tender, delicious, meat; full of the nutritional benefits of grassfed fat. This beef was prized and loved.
Then two events happened that denied most of us access to this wonderful meat.
The first, starting mainly after World War II, was the widespread adoption of fattening cattle on grain, starting out with corn grown by artificial fertilizer, then leading to the use of soybeans and other substances, and resulting in a system where most cattle were taken from the pasture and sent to a feedlot to be fattened with foods that were never part of their natural diet. This resulted in a change of the very composition of the fat of the animals, and a great decline in taste.
The second was the false belief, almost universally held to be true, that eating animal fat increased cholesterol levels in the blood, causing heart disease. We now know, from extensive research, that this was never true. But this false belief led to the demonization of all animal fat. Meat was routinely trimmed of all visible fat, and leaner meats were widely claimed to be healthier.
When I started eating grassfed beef, and learned how to cook it, I was amazed at how good it tasted, and how much better I felt after eating it. Yet I immediately ran into the problem that grassfed meat providers trimmed most if not all of the fat off the meat, and most tried to make a selling point of how lean their meat was.
This began a constant struggle to try to get grassfed meat with more fat in it, and more fat on it, a struggle that continues to this day. Throughout this period, I had one solid, superb meat supplier, and I was able to get fattier grassfed meat from them, and it was wonderful. Yet I was unable to get an old style grassfed roast, with a thick cap of its own glorious fat, and ample marbling. Until recently.
This raw grassfed prime rib has a thick fat cap that will flavor and tenderize the meat.
Note the beauty of the raw prime rib roast in the photo above. That is a magnificent piece of grassfed meat. The tiny steaks of white fat in the meat are called marbling, and the flavor and tenderness they provide to a roast when they melt into the meat has to be tasted to be understood. The thick cap of natural fat covering the roast is known as the fat cap, and it melts over and into the meat as it cooks, basting it, and making it even more tender and delicious, and preventing the meat from drying out.
This is a roast that our ancestors would have appreciated, the kind that was recommended and celebrated in older cookbooks.
The photo at the top of the page shows the same roast, after it was cooked, just prior to being carved and enjoyed. The photo shows the beauty of the roast, but it cannot recreate the wonderful aroma, the tenderness of the absolutely delicious meat, the feeling of joy and satisfaction as it was tasted. It felt so right, so familiar, somehow. The roast was marinated with a combination of four traditional ingredients, all of which helped bring out its superb natural flavor, and slow roasted on a pellet barbecue using oak as the wood. Very easy, very simple, utterly tender and delicious.
I recommend cooking a roast this fatty, medium rare (to around 130 degrees), rather than rare. This allows the fat to melt into the meat, which gives it that characteristic prime rib flavor and tenderness.
The success and popularity of the Ketogenic movement, which appreciates the value of good fat, is making fatty grassfed meat more popular.
One of the secrets of great cooking is to get great ingredients. This roast was obtained from my favorite meat supplier, U.S. Wellness Meats. If you want to try it, here is the link. Be sure to ask for a “high fat prime rib” in the Note section of your order.
I will not receive any compensation if you order this roast.
I am disclosing once again that I have a long and excellent relationship with U.S. Wellness Meats, going back eleven years. They were the first provider to sell me grassfed meat that I could make tender, and I have ordered regularly from them ever since. The founder of U.S. Wellness, John Wood, encouraged me to write my first grassfed cookbook, and bought a number of copies when it first came out, and sold and helped publicize the book. I am proud to call him my friend, and I have other friendships with some great people in the organization. They still sell both of my books, which they purchase from me.
That said, our relationship would never have been close if they had not provided me with so much excellent meat, over so many years. And the photos speak for themselves.
Real Food, Real Taste
Grassfed Bison Porterhouse Steak
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat and Tender Grassfed Barbecue
As part of a celebration, we were eating at a highly recommended steak house. Since this was a special occasion, I ordered a dry aged ribeye steak. Prime grade, which was supposed to be the very best. There had been so much hype and marketing for this steakhouse and this cut that I thought it would be worth breaking my habit of eating grassfed meat only. Just this once. Just on this special occasion.
The steak arrived. Despite the hype, it looked merely good, not great. And it did not smell like anything.
I took my first bite. It was amazing. Wonderful flavor, a hint of butter, tender enough, so delicious. I wanted more. I took the second bite and chewed. Nothing. Total bleh. Without the great taste of the first bite, the poor texture and mouth feel of the steak dominated, as did the weak, almost nonexistent flavor. Or rather, the absence of flavor. I did not even want to swallow it. But I did.
I was stunned. How could the first bite be so good, and the second bite be so, so nothing?
Was there something wrong with me? I tried a third bite. Even more bleh than the second. I tried the potato dish that came with the steak. It tasted good. On the first, second, and third bites. Then I took my fourth bite of the steak. Even more bleh, and I was starting to really dislike what taste there was.
There was nothing wrong with my taste, as the potato dish tasted good with every bite. It was the steak.
But why did the first bite taste so good?
Over the next few weeks, I frequently made grassfed beef steaks and roasts, and some grassfed bison roasts. Every bite was wonderful and satisfying, so much better than the highly touted steak I had at that steakhouse. And I felt much better after eating them.
On several occasions, I went to other highly recommended restaurants, and tried a variety of meat and seafood dishes. Time and time again, the first bite was wonderful, the second bite was bleh, and the whole disappointing experience repeated itself.
Then, we went to an old family favorite, a local restaurant which has been open since the eighties, when quality of food was very important to good restaurants. I had a grassfed T-bone steak. The first bite was absolutely wonderful, as was the second, the third, and every other bite, until the only thing left of the steak was a bare bone. I felt wonderful after eating it.
I finally understood, or at least I think I do. The first bite at the other restaurants was greatly improved by flavor enhancers, and other methods used to make the food taste much better than it actually was But my senses adjusted to the flavor enhancers, or whatever was used, and somehow ignored them, so the food tasted to me as it really tasted on the second bite, and later bites. The real food, the grassfed meats, tasted good to me on every bite because they really tasted good on their own, when skillfully prepared.
After eleven years of trying to eat only real foods, especially real meats, my body had learned to recognize them, and was no longer willing to accept the taste of flavor enhanced factory foods.
I have communicated with other people who have had similar experiences, and it is not just me.
My body is telling me what it wants, and what it does not want, and I will listen.
Curry Anything — A Great Meal from Leftovers
A delicious, easy curry.
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat and Tender Grassfed Barbecue
I cook many kinds of meat, in many ways. Often there are leftovers, which I would dutifully place in the appropriate containers and put in the refrigerator. I would look at them in the refrigerator, from time to time, and decide there was not enough left to make a meal. Then, after enough time expired, I would throw them out.
At least that used to be my pattern. Now I use them to make delicious meals. As usual, the inspiration came from our ancestors. They would often combine different kinds of meat in the same dish, often with many different vegetables. It occurred to me that this could solve my problem of not having enough left over of a particular meat to make a meal. So I started combining them into stews and curries.
If I have small amounts of leftover beef, chicken, lamb, pork, or other meat, I will combine them. Since the meat has already been cooked, there is no need for marinating or browning, and the stews and curries cook very quickly. The curries are quicker to cook than the stews, so I make them more often.
I use the same recipe to cook leftover meats. It always turns out delicious, is ready in no more than 30 minutes, and is full of great nutrition. Here is the recipe:
Curry Anything
2 to 3 cups of leftover meat (such as beef, lamb, pork, chicken, turkey, or any or all of the above), sliced or chopped into small, thin pieces
4 tablespoons organic butter, (or organic ghee, or organic coconut oil)
1 large organic onion, peeled and sliced
3 large cloves organic garlic, peeled and sliced
A piece of organic fresh ginger, about 1 inch long and 1 inch thick, chopped into tiny pieces
3 or more tablespoons of the organic curry powder of your choice, (I use the organic curry powder sold by Mountain Rose Herbs)
2 tablespoons organic flour of your choice, (which can include non-grain flours such as almond flour)
1 1/4 cups homemade broth of your choice
2 tablespoons pure fish sauce, (I use Red Boat Fish Sauce, as I love its taste, traditional way of being made, and it makes me feel good when I eat it)
- Heat the fat in a heavy frying pan, preferably cast iron, over medium heat, until the fat bubbles. Add the onions, garlic, and ginger, and cook for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the curry powder and the flour, and mix with the vegetables in the pan.
- Add the broth and fish sauce, and stir until the mixture thickens, and starts to simmer. Add the meat and mix well. Bring the mixture back to a simmer, then reduce the heat to low, and cover the pan. Simmer covered for 25 minutes. Serve with the organic rice of your choice.
Is There a Hidden Nutrient in Barbeque?
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat and Tender Grassfed Barbecue
This magnificent prime rib, cooked in front of a hickory fire tasted even better than it looks.
We are now right in the middle of barbecue season, and I have cooked a lot of Que, and eaten a lot of Que.
And I must say, the more Que I have, the more I look forward to the next barbeque.
So far, I have enjoyed barbecued grassfed beef, including ribeyes, tri-tips, bone in strip loins, boneless strip loins, center cut shoulder roasts, beef back ribs, short ribs, flat iron steaks, sirloin tip roasts, sirloin steaks, the occasional porterhouse or prime rib or tenderloin, and more, and enjoyed them all.
I have also barbecued and enjoyed grassfed bone in lamb legs, boneless lamb legs, lamb shoulder, lamb shoulder chops, lamb ribs, rack of lamb, and some lamb loin chops, and enjoyed all of them as well.
And that does not even count the pork ribs, port roasts, pork chops, chicken in many forms and the rare but truly wonderful grassfed bison, which I have also cooked and enjoyed.
I never use gas, or factory charcoal briquets, or big flaming fires that char the meat. Like most of our ancestors, I use moderate to low fires of lump charcoal and wood, or just wood, and cook in front of the fire, not directly over it. The meat never chars or burns, but picks up the incredible flavor of oak, or hickory, or cherry, a deep smoky flavor that makes the tender meat taste so good that it is like nothing else. No other method of cooking excites me like this one. No other food aroma makes me so hungry just to smell it. And no other food makes me feel so good when I eat it
Does the wood have some kind of unknown nutrient that enters the food through the smoke? No scientific evidence I know of, but sometimes I think it must be true. Why else would it taste so good, be so satisfying, and leave me feeling content and wonderful?
Or maybe the smell and taste of meat cooked with wood smoke speaks to something very old and primordial, a vague yet powerful ancestral memory of countless meals cooked with fire and smoke, the oldest way of cooking. Something below the conscious mind, yet very real.
All I know for sure is that there is something about cooking barbeque that I truly love, including making and controlling the fire, the smell of the wood and roasting meat, even the sounds of the fire. And there is something about barbequed real meat that tastes better to me and satisfies me more than any other food.
Well, enough writing about it. Time to do it again, this time a big thick strip loin cooked in front of an oak fire. I am getting hungry just thinking about it.
The Magic of a Traditional Stew
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat and Tender Grassfed Barbecue
A rich traditional stew is good eating, loaded with nutrition.
Most traditional stews throughout the world have one thing in common. They were cooked until most of the vegetables were very soft, often disintegrating into the stew. The meat was also cooked right along with the vegetables, until it was very soft, and easy to chew. However, in more modern stews, the vegetables are usually cooked separately, so they remain in distinct pieces, and the vegetables are added to the meat only a few minutes before serving. This is considered to look better, and to preserve more of the nutrients in the vegetables. But our ancestors cooked everything together, and were fine with the vegetables disintegrating into the stew.
I made a couple of traditional stews this winter, and really enjoyed them on the cold, rainy days we have been having. They tasted wonderful, and warmed and renewed me, in a way that no modern stew ever did. I felt better while I ate them, and after I ate them.
Why the difference?
After some thought, I realized that the traditional stew, with its long-cooked ingredients melting into each other, is much easier to eat, and to digest. Since it is easier to eat and digest, that means that the nutrients in the stew are more easily absorbed and processed by our bodies. The long, slow cooking breaks down the components of the vegetables and meat, making them softer, often causing some of the vegetables to disintegrate into the gravy, with their precious nutrients. When the stew is eaten, the nutrients are right in the gravy, all broken down into a much more easily absorbed form.
It is true that cooking may reduce the amount of vitamin content in some vegetables, but vegetables are hard to digest and many people have trouble absorbing the nutrients. Cooking them in a traditional stew makes the remaining nutrients very easy to absorb, so you end up getting more nutrition.
This idea is supported by the tradition, in many lands, and throughout Europe, of feeding stews and broths to people who were recovering from sickness or physical injury. These kinds of foods were considered vital for recovery, because our ancestors knew, through knowledge passed down for thousands of years, that stews and broths helped people recover.
I usually add cabbage and onions to my stews, and they almost totally disintegrate into the stew by the time the cooking is over. The flavor they add is beyond wonderful. The other vegetables are very soft, partially disintegrated into the stew, and taste so good, flavored by all the ingredients.
I am sticking to traditional stews, every time.
What Does “Grassfed†Really Mean?
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat and Tender Grassfed Barbecue
Cattle eating their natural feed: green living grass.
When I began eating grassfed meat, the market was just starting to develop, and almost all the producers were small farmers, or groups of small farmers. These folks knew the art of raising tender grassfed meat, full of nutrition and flavor, on grass alone (with hay in the winter), and how to finish their cattle on rich grass.
Back then, if a farmer was selling meat labeled “grassfed,†you could be almost certain that the animals were raised on grass, and finished on green living grass, the perfect natural food for them.
Ten years later, things have changed. Grassfed meat is much more popular now, and the demand has greatly increased, largely due to the paleo and primal movements. And more and more people are aware of the health and nutritional benefits of grassfed meats, raised on the foods of nature, eating what they were meant to eat.
However, the increased demand has brought other entities into the supply chain, and the very meaning of the word “grassfed†has changed.
What Grassfed Means Today
Most people, when they think of grassfed meat, think of meat from animals who have been fed only grass, with hay and silage during seasons where grass is not available, and finished on green living grass.
That is what I think of.
But a number of suppliers and retailors do not necessarily agree. They have adopted the idea that feeding, covers only the time before an animal is fattened for processing, and fattening an animal for processing is called finishing.
I have run into a number of retailors, butchers, and suppliers, who state that all their meat is grassfed. And it is true that nearly all beef cattle in the U.S. are fed grass before they go to the feedlot.
But most of these cattle are finished on grains, soy, and many other things which are not the natural food of cattle. But since this occurs in the finishing period, it is considered to be different.
In other words, these suppliers feel that they are being perfectly honest in saying that their meat is grassfed, even if it is finished the conventional way in a feedlot, with grains, soy, etc.
So it is not enough to just ask if meat is grassfed. The second question must be if it is also grass-finished. Most of the time, the answer I get is, “No, they are finished on feed that includes corn, but it is all vegetarian feed.â€
What Does Grass-Finished Mean?
Grass-finished used to always mean that the cattle were finished on green living grass, the best possible food for them. Many producers would only harvest their beef at a particular time of year, when their cattle had been grazing for months on the greenest, richest, most nutritious grass of the year. This magnificent feed, created by nature, is what gives grassfed cattle its many nutritional benefits and wonderful taste and tenderness. Fat put on by cattle during this period is very flavorful and incredibly nutritious.
However, companies have entered the market that are not made up of farmers, though they often include the word “farm†or “farms†in their name. These companies do not raise any cattle, but buy cattle from farmers and ranchers. Since they are all about profit, they have developed new technologies to finish grassfed meat. One such technology is the grass pellet. Grass pellets include hay, and other ingredients. According to articles published by the industry, the hay is combined with materials described as “concentrate,†which can include corn, barley, oats, sorghum, and other such grains. “Concentrate†can be as much as 40% of the grass pellet. Vitamins and minerals are often added to the mixture which is industrially processed and turned into a dried pellet.
These pellets are simply not the same as green living grass.
So now a third question is necessary, which is to ask if the cattle have been finished on green living grass in the pasture.
My Definition of Grassfed Meat
My definition of grassfed meat is based on the traditional way that humans have raised and finished meat animals for most of our history. The animals must be raised on grass, in pasture, except for the winter when grazing is not possible, when they were traditionally fed hay, which is dried grass. The animals should be finished on green living grass eaten right in the pasture.
This is the old way, the traditional way, and is what I think of when I use the words grassfed meat.
Disclaimer: Information found on the Tender Grassfed Meat site, including this article, is meant for educational and informational purposes only. Any statements or claims about the possible health benefits conferred by any foods or anything else have not been evaluated by the Food & Drug Administration and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. None of the content on the Tender Grassfed Meat site should be relied upon for any purpose, and nothing here is a substitute for a medical diagnosis or medical treatment.
My Two Top Rules for Buying Grassfed Beef
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat and Tender Grassfed Barbecue
This grassfed beef strip loin steak is well-marbled, as you can see by the small flecks of white fat.
The market for grassfed meat has changed greatly since I wrote my book, Tender Grassfed Meat, in 2009. Back then, just about all the grassfed beef on the market was good, though there was less grassfed beef available.
Now, grassfed meat is much easier to find, even appearing in mainstream supermarket chains. But much of the meat now sold is of questionable quality, and many cuts are sold for the wrong purpose. There is a perception that leaner is better, which I disagree with.
So here are the guidelines I follow in buying grassfed meat:
1.     Buy the Fattest Grassfed Meat You Can Find
Grassfed meat is leaner than factory meat. But the fat in grassfed meat is particularly nutritious, containing many vital nutrients such as CLA and the proper ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids.
The fat is also crucial for flavor and tenderness.
There is now some grassfed beef available that is just too lean to be tender or tasty, and I never buy it. Some of the healthy peoples studied by Dr. Weston A. Price used to throw the lean meat to their dogs, while eating the fattier parts themselves.
I examine the meat for small flecks of fat called marbling. If the meat does not have some marbling, I do not buy it. You can see an example of a well-marbled grassfed beef steak in the photo above.
This cannot be done if you purchase online, and you cannot always trust the photos shown on websites. Ultimately, the only way to know if an online seller has meat that has enough fat is to talk with them, talk to people who have ordered their products, and/or buy a sample. Currently, the only grassfed beef I buy online is from U.S. Wellness Meats, whose meat is always properly raised, has enough marbling, and is sold at a good price.
2.     Use the Right Cuts for Your Cooking Method
This is vital, because many stores sell small pieces of tough cuts as “steaks.†In my opinion, lean cuts like rump, round, flank, skirt, chuck, and sirloin tip are just not tender enough to be made as steaks, even with my methods. Our ancestors did not use them for these purposes. These tough cuts were almost always cooked by braising and stewing.
For steaks, I use traditional cuts like rib, strip loin, sirloin, and tenderloin. I have also used well-marbled cuts of, hangar steak, flat iron steak, and center cut shoulder as steaks, as they can be very tender with my methods.
For oven roasts, the same rules apply. Tender cuts like tenderloin, ribeye, prime rib, strip loin, and sirloin, along with some less tender cuts like center cut shoulder, and sirloin tip can be successfully roasted.
Chuck, rump, cuts from the round, flank, skirt, brisket, etc. should usually be braised or stewed slowly.
However, some of the thinner cuts like skirt and flank can be sliced thinly against the grain, marinated, and successfully stir-fried or made into fajita type dishes.
But trying to use an inherently tough cut for a steak or dry roast will almost always result in tough meat, even if good tenderizing methods are used.
In summary, my two top rules for buying grassfed beef are to buy the fattest I can find, and buy the right cut for my cooking method.
This post is part of Fat Tuesday blog carnival.
Why Traditional Food?
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat and Tender Grassfed Barbecue
Traditional pot roast with grassfed meat. Delicious!
We live in an age of technology. In many ways, technology has made life easier and better. So why not use all the technological advances in food and cooking?
The answer lies in the fact that not all technology is beneficial. The human body is far more complex than any tech we can develop, and while much is known about how it works, many of the workings of our bodies are unknown. Knowing part of the answer is often deceptive. Something that seems beneficial or harmless, based on the little we know about nutrition, could be something else entirely, due to the part we do not know. And, when it comes to nutrition and how it effects our bodies, there is so much we just do not know.
So how can we possibly decide what is good to eat, and what is not?
Scientific studies are one avenue, but the knowledge is incomplete, and most of the research is financed or controlled by business interests that have a direct financial interest in the outcome.
But there is another way of gathering knowledge, the way our ancestors used. Experience. The experience of countless human beings, gathered over thousands of years, passed down from father to son, from mother to daughter, from teacher to student, from friend to friend. Nothing was as important to our ancestors as much as food, on which their very survival depended. So they carefully preserved what they learned about food. What to eat, what not to eat, which spice to use, which foods to eat in combination, and how to cook them. Vital knowledge.
Much of this vital knowledge is fading away. Most people do not even know how to cook, let alone cook traditionally. And so many people have abandoned traditional eating based on the marketing of the food industry, which often claims that traditional foods are bad and factory foods are better.
My own reintroduction to traditional eating came as a result of a serious illness. When science and the medical profession failed me, I realized I needed to look elsewhere if I was going to get better. I tried many different things, but the practice that brought my health back was traditional eating and traditional cooking. For our ancestors ate for health, as well as fuel, and many of their traditions reflect that knowledge.
Finally, traditional foods just taste much better. Every meal can literally be a time of joy. And I never feel stuffed or uncomfortable after eating quality traditional food, cooked properly. I feel happy and satiated.
A Delicious Traditional Meal
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat and Tender Grassfed Barbecue
A delicious traditional grassfed prime rib roast.
A meal can be one of the most satisfying experiences. A special meal, made of the finest foods available and affordable, made from traditional dishes, was a special treat in most cultures. One of the most treasured experiences in human history was to share a great meal of wonderful real food with family and friends.
Recently, my family shared the joy of such a meal, which I had the pleasure of cooking.
The centerpiece was a prime rib roast, a favorite traditional dish in both Britain and America, which has almost been forgotten.
Grassfed, well-marbled, with a beautiful cap of glorious yellow-white fat, this roast was a throwback to a time when good meat was honored and prized.
I marinated this gorgeous roast with traditional ingredients, including olive oil and traditional English mustard, with just a touch of garlic and several favorite herbs. I let the roast come to room temperature as it marinated, as this greatly enhances tenderness and taste.
Roast potatoes provided a very traditional side dish. They were peeled, sliced, and parboiled, then placed around the roast so they could be flavored with the wonderful melting fat from the roast. The oven was preheated, and the roast set to cook in a roasting pan, with its own bones being the only rack required.
Organic carrots were peeled and sliced, and set to simmer in heavily buttered water, with plenty of organic garlic.
A beautiful bunch of organic Swiss chard, with beautiful deep green leaves, was destemmed, the leaves torn into small pieces, and set to await the final frying, a quick cook with garlic and extra virgin olive oil.
Some fresh crimini mushrooms were sliced, to be fried quickly in butter and olive oil when the time was right.
The meat proceeded to roast, giving off a wonderful smell that made me more and more hungry as time went on. At the halfway point, it was basted with the drippings, the potatoes were turned, and the roasting resumed.
At the end, the mushrooms were quickly fried to a beautiful brown color in plenty of butter and olive oil, smelling wonderful.
The Swiss chard was fried quickly with garlic and olive oil, shrinking into a small mass of deep green goodness.
The roast was sliced and served, tender and so flavorful, having the unique taste that only a prime rib roasted with its fat, on the bone, will ever have.
The crusty potatoes, deliciously enriched with the beef fat they roasted in, were a perfect complement to the tender meat.
The carrots, mushrooms, and Swiss chard all added their own joys to the meal, providing a variety of tastes and a powerhouse of nutrition.
We ended the meal happy, satiated, and well-nourished.
That was a special traditional meal.
This post is part of Fat Tuesday blog carnival.
The Best Internet Source for Grassfed Beef
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat and Tender Grassfed Barbecue
Delicious meatloaf made with U.S. Wellness Meats grassfed liverwurst.
I am often asked for recommendations as to a good place to buy grassfed meat. At this point, I have one answer, when it comes to the Internet.
Back when I wrote my first book, Tender Grassfed Meat, I decided that I would recommend a number of good sources of grassfed meat. I would not favor any particular operation. That was almost nine years ago, and I have changed my mind.
The very first good grassfed beef I received was from one supplier, and that supplier has been so superior to everyone else that I have decided to give them the recognition they have earned over the last nine years.
That supplier is U.S. Wellness Meats.
The reasons are many, and here are the most important ones.
Quality
The meat is grassfed, has enough internal fat to be tender and delicious, and is raised with skill and knowledge. Quality has become a huge problem in grassfed beef nowadays, as the increasing demand has led some farmers who do not know how to finish grassfed beef into the market. These farmers often produce meat that is so lean and poorly finished that it will never be tender or delicious. It takes a great deal of skill to properly raise and finish grassfed beef, and the farmers who raise beef for U.S. Wellness Meats have that skill.
Price
While the price of other grassfed meat has skyrocketed during the last few years, the prices at U.S. Wellness Meats have risen much more slowly. Not only are the regular prices lower than almost everyone else, there are sales every two weeks that give you fifteen percent off everything. In addition, shipping is always seven dollars and fifty cents. And additional discounts are available when you buy in bulk.
Reliability
I have ordered meat from U.S. Wellness Meats literally hundreds of times over the last nine years. Most orders are perfect, and in the very rare event that something goes wrong, they have always made it right. They are more reliable than anyone else I have used. Every one of the thousands of pieces of meat I have bought from them has been tender and delicious after I cooked it.
Tassie Beef
Much of the grassfed beef sold by U.S. Wellness Meats is imported from Tasmania. It is important not to confuse this magnificent meat with other beef imported from Australia. While some of the grassfed beef imported from Australia is of mediocre quality, beef from Tasmania is different. Tasmania has incredibly rich soil and grasslands, and the grassfed meat it produces is superb. In fact, it is just as good as the best American grassfed beef, in my opinion.
Service to the Grassfed Community
If you are committed to only eating grassfed beef, you cannot help but notice how much more expensive it has become over the last few years. But U.S. Wellness Meats has deliberately held their prices down, making superb grassfed beef available to many people who could not otherwise afford it. True, this does give them business advantages, such as customer loyalty, and taking customers from the more expensive sources. But it does serve our community by making grassfed beef much more affordable. At this point, they are the best price choice available to me, and I deeply appreciate their commitment to the grassfed movement, taking the long view rather than trying to grab as much short-term profit as possible. In my view, they deserve our support, and I will happily continue to buy their meat.
Great People
I usually order by telephone, and I have had the pleasure of much interaction with the people at U.S. Wellness Meats. Without exception, they are well informed, pleasant, helpful, efficient, good to talk to, and they get the job done right. This is the best group of elite workers I have ever worked with, in my entire life. It is always a pleasure to deal with them.
Scope of Inventory
While I have focused this article on grassfed beef, U.S. Wellness Meats has a vast array of other fine products, including grassfed lamb, grassfed bison, pastured pork, pastured chickens, pastured ducks, even excellent frozen shrimp and other seafood. They also make excellent grassfed beef sausages with only good ingredients, including the best organ meat sausages I have ever come across. While they produce several fine organ meat sausages, I consider their liverwurst, made from grassfed liver, grassfed kidney, and grassfed heart, to be one of the most nutritious products I have ever purchased. These organ meat sausages make it easy to enjoy the benefits of organ meats. They also make some very fine bacon, with only good ingredients, and many other fine products, including grassfed beef tallow and other healthy fats.
For these reasons, I recommend U.S. Wellness Meats as the best choice I know for purchasing grassfed meat through the Internet.
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