I was at a family gathering yesterday and (while grilling some delicious Painted Hills steaks) my brother-in-law was telling everyone that grain-fed beef is bad for you. You should only eat grass-fed beef. Something about grain-fed is in wide distribution because of consumer demand and that grain help the cows grow and get to market faster. However, he said, grain-fed beef generates a disproportionate amount of omega 6 fatty acids to omega 3 fatty acids, which then increases internal inflammation and such. Something like that. I'm not sure I'm buying it......................................or should I be? BTW, prior to throwing the steaks on the grill for a quick-sear, he pre-cooked them using the sous-vide method. Incredibly tender and tasty!! BTW:BTW, he also went on some mini-rant about our American farm-belt farmlands' top-soil being slowly and systematically destroyed through the extensive practice of mono-cropping and over-fertilization................but that's tomorrow's topic, children. FWIW.. [video=youtube;CwwDtW7eEv8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwwDtW7eEv8[/video]
Corn has almost no nutrional content but it is used becuase it is cheap as dirt due to all the subsidies. I've heard this view quite a few time and it makes sense.
They use hormones and steroids thats why on some packages of meat you will find the "this product does not contain hormones etc" on it. Are meat is tainted period so no matter what you do you pretty much screwed.
Buffalo meat is the best. It's just pure protein. Belgian Blue's meat is like buffalo in terms of the fat/protein ratio, both are very low in fat.
Just wait until you try grass-fed beef, I've tried a few times. Not good, not good at all. Tastes ummm.... grassy.
Cattle evolved to live on grasses, not grains. When fed on grain, they gain weight quickly due to the high calories content, but they can't easily digest grain so are continually sick (imagine going your whole life eating nothing but a food that "does not agree with you"). So because they are so sick, and because they are so tightly backed together in feed lots, they are given loads of antibiotics as a preventive, not to treat a given disease. And hormones to make them grow faster. It's a matter of debate whether the final product, the steak or burger or roast, is less nutritious to eat. But the antibiotics et al do stay in the meat and there is evidence at least that they have some responsibility for the increase in antibiotic-resistant human diseases. And there is no doubt it is a lot worse environmentally. Corn requires heavy fertilizing with petroleum based fertilizers and a lot of water. We think of meat as "cheap" only because corn is so heavily subsidized, that's why grass fed beef costs significantly more even though, left to itself, grass would cost less to raise and be less environmentally damaging. And while some may say it's a contradiction to care about the comfort of an animal you're going to eat, no question the animals live a happier and healthier life on grass.
I bought some ground buffalo a few weeks ago and made burgers out of it. After hearing my wife and daughters say it was the best "hamburger" that I had made, and only after it was all eaten, I told them they had just eaten buffalo burgers. They love buffalo burgers now. Lean but still tender. It's perfect for burgers.
I believe the health benefits of eating grass fed beef over grain fed are minimal. Traditional corn fed beef is the best tasting and most tender as well.
Grain fed is more tender. As to taste, we are now so used to the blander flavor of grain fed that some consider grass fed too strong while others like it as being more "beefy". Look, I knew someone who would not eat my homemade ice cream because she was so used to the taste of the additives in cheap ice cream that ice cream made just from cream, sugar, egg yolks and vanilla did not taste right to her.
