Special Steaks for Father’s Day

Special Steaks for Father’s Day

By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat

My family used to take me out to a nice restaurant on Father’s Day. I would order a very expensive grain fed steak, which was supposed to be wonderful. The steak was invariably mediocre, unsatisfying, and left me feeling stuffed and bloated. I did very much appreciate the thought, if not the actual steak.

We do things differently now. Instead of going to a disappointing, overpriced restaurant, we get some fine, bone in grassfed steaks and grill them at home. That way, I really appreciate the steak, and the thought. And I feel satisfied, renewed, and energized after eating this great meat.

Meat always tastes better when cooked on the bone, as the bones release marrow and other substances as they cook, giving great flavor to the meat and enhancing the nutritional value, while conducting heat gently into the cooking meat.

I recently had the pleasure of trying some great grassfed bone in steaks from the La Cense Beef Ranch, right out of Montana. Now I should disclose that La Cense contacted me, because of my expertiseand offered me some steaks if I would consider reviewing them. La Cense told me that they only wanted a sincere and genuine review.

I followed my own advice and checked out their website, to make sure the meat was really grassfed. Well, their website made it clear that their meat fit my standards for real grassfed meat in every possible way. The cattle are fed grass. That’s it. No grain, no hormones, no supplements, no antibiotics, no rendered garbage. Just grass. They had some great photos of the grass, tall, deep green grass and flowers. Grass so tall that the cattle typically eat only the top half of it. I was delighted to learn that much of this grass is bluebunch wheatgrass, some of the most nutrient-dense grass known. The deep, vivid color of this tall grass, this living nutrient-filled grass, was something to see. What about winter? The cattle are fed hay from the ranch in winter, made from the same great grass. All of the cattle are processed in the fall, and the steaks are hand-cut, vacuum sealed and frozen, after they have been eating the rich green grass for several months, and are extremely well nourished. This does wonderful things for the nutritional value, tenderness, and taste of the meat.

This was an offer I could not refuse. It seemed like La Cense was taking quite a risk, since they sent me a number of steaks, including bone in NY strip steaks, bone in tenderloins, bone in rib steaks (cowboy steaks), and a couple of Porterhouses. Actually, La Cense was not taking any risk at all; they knew how good their steaks were.

So far, we have had the bone in NY strip steaks, the bone in tenderloins, and the cowboy steaks. Each time, I marinated the meat very simply, to bring out the natural flavor, and grilled it. Each one of these steaks was outstanding, tender and rich with a nice beefy flavor.

Bone in NY Strip Steak

The bone in NY strip steak was tender, with a particularly nice texture, firm and juicy, each bite full of the rich flavor of the meat enhanced by the bone.

Bone in Tenderloin Steak

The bone in tenderloin was even more tender, but not at all mushy. Tenderloin often lacks much taste, but this one had taste to spare. The bones really enhanced the flavor of the meat, which had plenty of its own flavor from the rich grass diet. This is truly a luxury cut, worthy of a father on Father’s Day.

Bone in Cowboy Steak

The cowboy (bone in ribeye) steaks also had great flavor from the attached bone, and the grass diet. They were tender, with their own nice texture. The unique flavor of prime rib was right in the meat, again deepened by the rich grass diet. Another superb steak.

I also want to add that all of the steaks had some nice marbling, tiny flecks of healthy grassfed fat, which really enhanced the flavor and tenderness. Marbling like this is hard to find on true grassfed meat.

One of the true joys of eating grassfed meat is the difference in flavor between various farms and ranches, because the grass is different. The taste variations that the different grasses give grassfed meat are comparable to fine wines grown in different regions. I can never get tired of grassfed beef because of this wonderful variety of tastes. The La Cense steaks have their own unique flavor from the grasses on the ranch, subtle, not overpowering or gamey in any way, but deep, delicious, and satisfying. I was also happy to notice that each cut had its own distinctive flavor and texture.

I would have liked to see a little more fat on the sides of the steaks, except for the tenderloin. The small amount of external fat was very flavorful, and I would have enjoyed more of it.

La Cense is currently having a sale for Father’s Day. I myself greatly prefer the gift of a great grassfed steak to a restaurant meal. Here is the link to the La Cense Father’s Day Sale.

And here is the recipe I used for the bone in tenderloin we enjoyed so much. A recipe this simple depends on the natural flavor of the meat.

Garlic Bone in Tenderloin

Serves 4

4 bone in tenderloins

4 tablespoons unfiltered organic extra virgin olive oil

2 cloves organic garlic, finely chopped

Finely crushed sea salt and organic black pepper for sprinkling

1. About an hour before you plan to cook the steaks, mix the garlic with the olive oil. Place the steaks in a glass bowl, and rub the garlic-olive oil mixture all over the steaks. Let sit at room temperature for about an hour.
2. Bring your barbecue cooker to medium heat. Brush the garlic off the steaks with a spoon. Sprinkle the steaks lightly with sea salt and pepper. Place the steaks on the grill, in front of, but not over the heat source. Place the bone side of the meat towards the heat source. Cover the grill and cook for five minutes.
3. Turn the steaks over, keeping the bone side towards the heat source, cover, and cook for another five minutes. This should give you a medium rare steak, depending on how hot your cooker is. Serve and enjoy.

Cooking the Other Steaks

You could cook the bone in NY strip steak and cowboy steak the same way; though I would omit the garlic to more fully enjoy the particular natural flavors of these cuts.

What about those Porterhouses? Well I’m saving those for Father’s Day, when I will grill them as described above.

This post is part of Real Food Wednesday Blog Carnival at Kelly the Kitchen Kop.

This post is part of Fight Back Friday Blog Carnical at Food Renegade.

Grassfed Meat, recipe
bone in steak, cowboy steak, grass-fed beef, Grassfed Meat, La Cense Beef, NY strip loin, recipe, ribeye steak, steak, tenderloin steak

1 June 2010

TrackBack-URI

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.

Read more

« Don’t Fear the Natural Trans Fats in Grassfed Meat and Butter
This Free Ingredient Makes Everything Taste Better »