BEEFY

Here’s a shortcut list to the various types of beef quality for your reading enjoyment.

 

Definitions regarding how cows are raised:

Grass Fed- The animal must be raised completely on “forage” for the duration of its life and must have continuous access to pasture.  No grains allowed.  Meat from grass fed cows are noticeably leaner, and dry cooking methods can make some cuts tough.   Marinating and cooking with fat, and using wet cooking methods (like stewing) can help combat this.  Health benefits: less e-coli, more omega-3 fats, more Conjugated Linolenic Acid (CLA).  Check out what MDA has to say about grass fed benefits.

Organic – no antibiotics or growth hormones ever given.  No limitations of grain/corn fed except that the feed must also meet organic growing standards (ie free of “most” pesticides).

Natural – Means nothing.  No standards, not regulated.

Grain finished – No specific standards that I have been able to find, but generally means most of the cow’s life is on pasture, happy and eating lovely grass.  Then for the last few months they are fed some grain to fatten them up and make the meat more tender.  Grains fatten animals up? That’s weird….

Regular old grain fed/ CAFO cows – ahhh the Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation.  They can’t move, they’re standing in their own (and their neighbors!) feces.  Because of the high risk of infection, they’re pumped with continuous antibiotics (bonus! This is the main contributor to our problem with antibiotic resistant superbugs like MRSA!).  They’re given growth hormones to make them slaughter ready much faster, and grain fed to make em extra fatty.  Yum.

Bottom line: Grass fed is best.  Organic is second best.  Grain finished isn’t ideal but ok on occasion. CAFO is gonna kill you.  The more you eat of it, the more important it is to have the higher quality.  Be cool like me and join a meat club.

 

Quality grades:

Goes from Prime à Choice à Select à Standard à Commercial à Canner.  References both amount of marbling (fat woven into the muscle meat, mainly in grain fed cows because they’re fatter, makes the meat more tender), and the maturity of the animal.  So Prime will have the most marbling and the younger animals, Commercial and Canner will have the least marbling and be from the older, tougher animals.  Doesn’t that sound delicious?  See here for a breakdown.

Also, different retail beef cuts and how to cook ‘em.

 

Questions?  Next post is going to be on poultry and eggs, so let me know if you have any burning questions in the comment section.

 

Go beef!