Allow all grassfed beef to come to room temperature. Never defrost in the microwave.
STEAKS -
When grilling steaks, SEAL not sear, steaks on each side over high heat coals then move to medium to low heat coals to finish cooking- slowly. Grassfed steaks are at their best cooked medium rare. Anything done past this temperature may dry them out, so baste with garlic infused olive oil (see below) or rosemary butter (soften a stick of butter and stir in one teaspoon of fresh rosemary needles) while grilling.
If you don't have a grill or don't wish to grill, do as the restaurants do - put your steaks in a heated oven proof frying pan on top of the stove, such as cast iron, brushed with olive oil. Seal them on both sides. A gourmet secret to try is the ol' sugar crust tip. While the pan heats to temperature, rub salt and pepper and 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon full of sugar on each side. Don't wait to seal your steak - the sugar melts quickly! Seal steaks for two minutes per side. The resulting crust will be a nice brown. Remove the pan from heat and brush steaks with garlic infused olive oil (half a minced garlic clove to one teaspoon of oil). Then, place them in a 325 degree preheated oven until their internal temperature reaches 120 to 125 for rare to medium rare. (You may wish to take them out of the oven or off the grill at 10 degrees before done as the steaks will keep cooking for up to 10 minutes after they are removed from heat.) Let rest for 10 minutes before slicing.
ROASTS: Grassfed beef must be cooked slower and at lower temperatures than commercial beef. When following recipes, lower the temperature stated by 10 to 20 degrees. Grassfed beef likes to cook leisurely. Roasts are wonderful, coated with minced garlic, sprinkled with pepper and seasoned salt, then crossed with sprigs of fresh rosemary. Place on a rack in a medium sided roasting pan so that the oven's heat can flow all around the roast. Do not open the oven door unless you absolutely must. Place an accurate, oven proof meat thermometer in the roast before sliding it into the oven. Make sure that you can read it through the glass window of the oven door. Let roasts rest for 5 minutes before carving. Cut all beef across the grain in thin serving pieces. Enjoy!
- Rare — 120F
- Medium Rare — 125F
- Medium — 130F
- Medium Well — 135F
- Well — 140F
TURKEY - click this link:
PORK - Shannon Hayes of Grass Fed cooking fame (
www.grassfedcooking.com) says: I'm always surprised at how many people over-cook pork -- especially responsibly-produced pork, raised out on pastures. The USDA tells us to cook it to a minimum of 160 degrees. If you choose to follow this recommendation, please don't invite me to dinner! Trichinae are destroyed at 137 degrees, so as long as you cook above that temperature, you are well within the safety zone. I feel that pork tastes best around 145-150 degrees, where there's still some lovely pink juice drifting about the meat.
To order grassfed cook books, we recommend Shannon Hayes' publications:
