Organic Ground Beef

[usedto]

Went to a BBQ today at a relative's house I noticed how dark the meat was when he was making the hamburgers. Fixed mine with the usual onions, lettuce, tomato, mustard, ketchup, and mayo. Mine had a strange taste to it, but not enough to not eat it.

When we got in the car to head home, Wifey asked if I liked the burger. I told her no, not really. She didn't care for hers either. She also noticed how dark the meat was, and happened to look at the package it came in - Kirkland Organic Ground Beef. The lack of fat in the meat explains the darker color, and the grass fed explains the gamey taste.

Sorry, but I'll stick with grain fed, thank you.

 

[OBMG74]

We used the Kirkland organic for lasagna tonight.
We use it for everything but burgers.

For burgers we use we use Kirkland frozen grass fed patties.

 

[unga-unga]

I got a friend in the beef business so I'm gonna weigh in...

With Kirkland or similar corporate beef, they're gonna be buying the same cattle that would have gone to lot for McDonald's hamburgers and finishing them on "organic" certified pasture (although most pasture is just uncertified organic). So this is probably not the best representation... Sometimes it'll be great, sometimes not. I've never had it.

Grain finishing is better, objectively, I don't know how anyone would come up with contrary data in a blind taste test.... I like what the Japanese do with kobe/wagyu. Corn is the biggest part of that.... breed makes a huge difference. Quality pasture makes a huge difference.... but you can certify a lousy patch of desert as organic pasture and feed them organic bales and call it "grass fed organic." That's kinda what's going on with that....

There's just so much of the conversation that is lost underneath this veneer of marketing. Grass finished isn't better. But raised in quality pasture is. The difference between that kinda meat and heards that spend months out of the year on bales only is dramatic.

Best steak I've ever had was in Peru, in a small town in the cloud forest. They have perennial high green pasture. Year round abundance for cattle. Bought at a regular market in town... just looked good, lots of fat marbling... they have alot of varietal gene pools, same with other animals.

Bales are often full of pesticides and fungicides and everything. Range pasture rarely is... imagine the logistics of spraying 480 acres....

The best beef just comes from happy cows, basically. Preferably fat on corn.

 

[usedto]

When I was a kid, we raised our own beef on the ranch. They were allowed to graze in an oak grove that we own, and would eat the acorns that fell in the grass. The tannins in the acorns would leave a smell and taste in the fat that I despised. I got a hint of it in the meat today. Not unbearable, but not to my liking. Wifey noticed it, too.

 

[BillyTheKid]

Interesting conversation.
We did a ground beef taste test during covid. Bought a sample of all the 'good' beef at the supermarkets. As well as Aldi, and 4 local farms.
Surprising how much difference in taste and fat content. Eventually we settled on a place about 3 miles from home called Farm To Table. Their own happy cows and $6 lb. We use it for burgers only. For everything else we use ground turkey.