Cooking Instructions for Grass Fed Beef
The Seven Rules for Producing Great Beef: one two three 4 5 vivii
Grass Fed Beef Cooking Tips
Image Credit: Ginny , Flickr, CC By-SA two.0
Cooking grass fed beef is slightly different than cooking grain fed beef. It's bacteria, and then it requires lower cooking temperatures and shorter cooking times.
Throughout the Seven Rules of Producing Great Beef commodity series, I focused on all the footling details that the farmer must pay attention to while raising beef cattle to ensure that the beef is tender and flavorful. Only the chef has just equally much influence on beefiness tenderness and flavor every bit the farmer does, peradventure even more than and then.
While a great chef tin can only ameliorate a tough steak then much, a chef who does not sympathize the meat they are working with can completely ruin fifty-fifty the most tender flavorful beef through merely a moment's inattention and completely undo all the hard piece of work that the farmer put into producing tender flavorful beefiness.
The procedure of raising flavorful and tender beef doesn't end when the cattle go out the pasture. Cooking strategy matters. A lot.
That's why it'southward important to be aware of the slight differences between grass fed and grain fed beef then that the cooking techniques used in the kitchen to set the beef preserves the flavors and tenderness that the farmer worked so difficult to create.
Grass fed beef requires lower cooking temperatures and shorter cooking times because information technology is leaner. Plow down the heat and bank check the meat sooner than you unremarkably would!
Grass Fed Beef Is Leaner
Want to learn more than about the differences between grass fed and grain fed beef?
Check out this article about grass fed vs grain fed beefiness!
Grass-fed beef is leaner than the grain-fed beefiness you may exist accustomed to buying from your local grocery store.
Consequently, while grass-fed beef cooks (and tastes) very similar to grain-fed beef (I personally recall grass fed meat has even better flavor!), there are a few fundamental differences that you need to be aware of when it comes to thawing and cooking grass fed beef to ensure that you preserve its tenderness and flavors.
If you follow these tips for cooking steaks and roasts, your grass fed meat will have all the tenderness and flavor (or more!) that yous have come to await from your favorite beefiness recipes.
Tips For Thawing Beef
Never microwave beefiness to thaw information technology. Microwaving beef to thaw information technology makes the beef tough because the microwave turns some of the moisture to steam, which allows this valuable moisture to escape from the beef. Preserving moisture is key to keeping your beef tender.
While this dominion applies equally to grass fed beef and grain fed beef, grass-fed beef is even more vulnerable to moisture losses during microwave-thawing because information technology has less external fat to trap steam from escaping.
Another of import tip for thawing beef is to always remove beef from the original wrapping paper, cellophane, or butcher newspaper prior to thawing to prevent the tastes and smells of the packaging from leaching into the meat where they will compete with the flavors you are trying to create during the cooking procedure.
It is likewise a good idea to rinse your frozen beef immediately later removing it from the packaging to remove any ice that may have absorbed the flavors and smells of the packaging.
Quick-Thawing Tip
The best style to thaw beef quickly if y'all are in a hurry and don't have time to let it thaw on the fridge or counter (and without thawing information technology in a microwave) is to accept the frozen beef out of the butcher wrapping, give it a quick rinse, then put it inside a watertight Ziploc handbag.
Submerse the entire package in cool water inside a bowl or in the sink.Brand certain that there are no large air pockets in the bag - you lot want to ensure good contact between the water and the meat, otherwise it will not thaw any faster than but leaving the meat out on the counter. Shut the pocketbook with the majority of the purse held underwater to aid forcefulness equally much air out equally possible.
It's okay to let the meat package float in the water bathroom, just if you are in a hurry y'all can agree the meat under water by placing a heavy item on meridian of the package to hold it underwater. This ensures maximum contact between the wrapped meat and the water.
A two-lb package of ground beefiness or steaks usually thaws sufficiently within 15 - 30 minutes to be able to begin cooking. Even if the meat does non completely thaw before you lot pull information technology out of the water, the frozen center has typically softened enough that you can cutting it with a knife or break autonomously the remainder of the ground beef in the frying pan with a spoon or spatula.
Pre-Cooking Meat Preparation Tips
If the temperature of your beef changes too rapidly during the cooking process, it tin cause the meat fibers to contract, which volition make your meat tough.
A rapid temperature change will likewise crusade moisture to be escape from the beefiness through condensation. Moisture is a cardinal component of beef tenderness.
When cooking steaks, it is a good habit to remove your steaks from the refrigerator several hours before cooking so your steaks can warm up to room temperature earlier they are thrown on the grill. This reduces the temperature range that the meat has to adapt to when it begins cooking.
While this tip is valid for whatever meat that you desire to grill, information technology is even more of import to pre-warm grass-fed steaks to room temperature before cooking considering grass fed beefiness has less external fatty than grain fed beef.
Fat acts as an insulator to slow down how chop-chop your beef changes temperature during cooking. Leaner beef has less fat to insulate against rapid temperature changes when it is put on the grill. So, past pre-warming your grass-fed steaks to room temperature before cooking, you avoid the rapid wide-range temperature changes that could cause meat fibers to contract or moisture to be lost to condensation.
Cooking Time and Cooking Temperature
Cooking meat serves two purposes:
-
Heating meat to a certain minimum temperature kills bacteria - this is a elementary precautionary food safety strategy.
-
Cooking changes the protein structure of the meat, which gives cooked meat a dissimilar texture and flavour and makes it more than digestible.
Changing the proteins during cooking to attain a desired flavor and texture depends not but on the temperature of the cooking process, but also on the rate of temperature change experienced by the meat during the cooking process.
A tedious temperature change during cooking allows the protein fibers to remain relaxed. A very rapid temperature change is a shock that volition crusade protein fibers to contract. Ho-hum-cooking steaks and roasts ensures that the proteins don't contract and go tough during the cooking process.
Slow-cooking meat at lower temperatures also ways less moisture in the meat will turn to steam and escape.
Compare the tenderness of steak vs. beef jerky or of an apple tree vs. dried apple tree slices and you'll know what I mean about how important moisture is to tenderness. Moisture and beef tenderness go mitt in hand.
Your cooking process needs to foreclose excessive moisture loss from your meat. Searing beef at high temperatures to create an outer chaff is a great technique to lock in moisture, just cooking steaks and roasts at high temperatures during the remaining cooking time will cause the meat to lose too much moisture and dry out during the cooking process, which will make your meat tough.
So, lets have a await at what this piddling scrap of theory really means in practice when yous're cooking grass-fed beef in your oven, on your stove tiptop, or on your grill:
Cooking time
Since fat acts every bit an insulator, information technology should come as no surprise that lean beef cooks faster than fatty beef considering the heat from the grill, oven, or frying pan is able to penetrate through the entire beef cut more quickly.
Since grass-fed beef is bacteria than grain-fed beef, expect to shorten your cooking times by 10-25% when using grass fed meat in your recipes. Just start checking your grass fed beefiness roasts and steaks a footling sooner than you normally would check your store-bought grain fed beef to brand sure y'all don't overcook them.
Cooking temperature
Since estrus is able to penetrate through lean beef easier than through fattier beef, you lot should accommodate your recipes to use slightly lower cooking temperatures when switching from grain fed to grass fed beef.
Reduce cooking temperatures past 10-15% when cooking grass fed beefiness. So, if a recipe ordinarily calls for 350° cooking temperatures, turn down the heat to around 300-315°.
For best results when grilling, begin by searing the outside of your steaks to create a crust to lock in wet. Then turn the grill to low to finish the cooking process on low (slow) heat to forestall excessive wet losses and protein fiber contraction.
If you're using a meat thermometer to gauge when your beefiness is sufficiently cooked, the USDA recommends cooking steaks and roasts to a minimum internal temperature of 145°F every bit a nutrient rubber precaution.
The USDA'due south temperature recommendation for beef is based on cooking grain-fed beefiness since this is the most common beef source available on store shelves today. In grain-fed beef, 145°F equates to beef cooked to medium rare to medium. Grass-fed beef usually reaches the medium rare to medium stage when the internal temperature reaches 120°F to 140°F.
Ground beef, whether it is grass-fed or grain-fed, should always be cooked to a mimumum internal temperature of 160°F.
The take-dwelling house message here is that grass fed beef cooks faster and at lower temperatures than grain-fed beefiness because it has less external fat to insulate the beefiness during the cooking procedure. So when cooking grass fed beef, turn your heat downward and check your oven sooner than yous are accustomed to in order to achieve the same degree of 'doneness'.
Cooking Temperature vs. Cooking Gradiation (for Grain-Fed Beef):
| Term | Internal Temperature* |
| Blue Rare | 115-120°F |
| Rare | 125-130°F |
| Medium Rare | 130-140°F |
| Medium | 140-150°F |
| Medium Well | 150-155°F |
| Well Done | 160-212°F |
*Subtract 10-20°F to reach the same cooking graduation with grass fed beef
The temperatures in the tabular array above are based on measuring temperature with a meat thermometer immediately upon removing beefiness from the grill or oven.
Expect the internal temperature of the meat to rising another 5°F in the next 3 minutes after it has been removed from the heat source. Meat continues to cook even afterwards it has been removed from the grill or oven until the internal temperature cools sufficiently to stop changing the protein structure of the meat.
Adjusting your cooking techniques and recipes to switch from grain fed beef to grass fed beef is extremely piece of cake. Refuse the heat (which as well reduces your energy beak) and reduce cooking times (which saves you time and more energy).
Cooking grass fed beef is simply about:
- reducing the temperature range experienced by the meat during the cooking process,
- controlling the speed of temperature changes during cooking,
- and preserving moisture within your meat during thawing and cooking.
What are your favorite grass fed beef cooking strategies?
Do yous have any favorite cooking techniques for when y'all cook grass fed beef? What are your favorite recipes for when y'all eat grass fed beef with your family?
Share them in the comments box below! And don't forget to share this article with your friends through social media so they can also enjoy the next time they serve grass fed beefiness for dinner!
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