Tips for Cooking Grass Fed Meat

One of my first delivery trips I had somebody hold up a beef roast and ask: “What do I do with this?” What do you do with a beef roast? I was flabbergasted, gob-smacked, etc. I thought everybody knew how to cook a roast. Then I realized that many people probably didn't watch their mom prepare dinner on a farm. Shortly after that, I had someone ask me for some recipes. Not being too fancy, I came up with the following:

Yes I do have some.  They tend to be the really simple kind like I would make.  The fancy stuff is made by Caroline. My main focus is on getting the food cooked and ready to eat. Nothing fancy.

 Roast. See: Make WAR for dinner (Walk Away Roast). Keep in mind that for grass fed use longer times, lower heats when making roasts.  Season as you like.  Time and temperature basics are:  About 250 degrees Farenheit and at least an hour per pound of roast.  I take the roast out and check it after the 1 hour per pound rule.  If the roast is still 'bouncy', it goes back in the oven or stays in the slow cooker on medium. 

 Steaks

Grass Fed steaks are NOT grain fed steaks.  They are much less forgiving and there is definitely a technique to cooking them that is not the same as grain fed. 

There are two ways of making Grass Fed steaks.  Either HOT and fast or Low and slow. 

Hot and fast means on a grill that has been heated to about 700 degrees.  Cook your steaks flipping about every minute.  It is very easy to overcook a grassfed steak and it will be tough.  Sous Vide is also a good way of making grassfed steaks. 

Sous vide is a variation on Low and Slow and Hot and Fast.  First you do the low and slow in the sous vide and then you do the hot and fast on the grill.  You can make a tender, medium rare grassfed steak by sticking it in the sous vide machine for 24 hours at 131 degrees. This tenderizes it. When that is done, put it on the grill and grill it like you would a grain fed steak. 

Marinading grassfed steaks for a long time is also a good idea. Starting to cook them when they are at room temperature is also a good idea. Leaving them lie while thawed is also a good idea, let them take in the scenery from your counter top for an hour or three before throwing them on the grill. 

Low and slow is the way we like to do our steaks.  They go in the dutch oven inside the oven.  Temp is about 250 degrees and they should be in there about an hour per pound of steak.  You will not get a medium rare steak out of this. 

 Sliders, otherwise known as Hocky Puck Burgers. OK, this is a Jack Pine Savage recipe. 

Take the chub of hamburger out of the freezer.  Score the package with a knife and peel off the plastic.  Stick it in the Mic for about a minute.  Rest for 30 seconds, then another minute of Mic. After doing this a time or three, it won't be soft enough to make into patties but you will be able to force a big knife through it. Cut it into patties that look like red hocky pucks. Fry them up starting with them frozen.  You will salvage a lot of the myowater (look it up) still inside the frozen burger. Eat them on 'dollar buns'. It makes a small, tall burger.

 Liver and Onions.

Start with equal parts Bacon, Liver and Onions. Cut the Bacon up into strips about as big as a pencil. Put the strips in a fry pan and cook like you would normally fry bacon.
Cut up the Onions also in strips about the size of a pencil. You can probably do this while the bacon is frying. When the bacon is mostly done, put in the onions. Cut up the liver also in strips about as big as a pencil. It is smart to do this ahead of time unless you are really quick. If you are really quick you can do this while the bacon and onions are cooking. It works better if the liver is partly frozen. Get rid of any veiny or tough parts. When the onions are mostly done, the bacon should be a little closer to being done. Put in the liver at that point. Cook all three together until the liver changes color. Cease and desist at the point where the liver has all changed color from red to a done looking brown. I like to wait until the bacon is ALMOST done. That is about all the time it takes to finish the liver. The easiest thing to do is overcook the liver. Hey, the Indians used to eat raw liver! Liver that is overcooked gets tough.

 Tongue.

Take it out of the plastic wrap and wash it off in the sink. Use a brush if you want. You aren’t going to hurt it because of its tough skin. Put it in a pot and cover it with water. Add a little salt. Boil it for a couple to several hours. Simmering will also work but will take a bit longer. You are after a tender tongue. Take it out of the broth and skin it. If it is really done, the skin will almost peel off with no knife work. You will have to let it cool down a bit or you will get burnt hands. Taste a little bit. You will probably love it. I love it too but I have trouble getting over the fact that I am eating a tongue. I usually boil some tongues and peel them and stick the meat in the fridge.

Cold tongue makes REALLY GOOD sandwich meat. Cold tongue gets me over the tongue eating squeamishness.

 Joint Bones for broth.

Just take the bones and stick them in a pot, cover them with water and boil them for several hours. The nutrients will come out of the bones and get into the broth. This is VERY good for you. Like Chicken Soup will revive the dead, this stuff will do pretty much the same thing. You can put other stuff in the broth and have a soup. Like rice or vegetables, or onions or pretty much whatever you have in the fridge. If there is some meat on the bones, you can cut the meat off the bones after it is cooked. It will come off much easier when cooked. I have even heard that people make up to six batches with the same bones. I.E. there is MORE nutrients in those bones.

 Marrow bones.

Thaw them out and then they go into the oven on a cookie sheet. Open side up if they are sliced lengthwise. Some salt and pepper on top. Roast them at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes per pound. Bigger bones will take longer than the smaller ones. You want the marrow to be well cooked but not dried out. Check them after about 15 minutes to get a feel for how long it will take.


I don't know any fancy type meat recipes. As I said my wife does that. She uses more spices and takes more time at it than I do but she definitely makes sure to compliment me on my cooking whenever I cook!  That is almost certainly because she doesn't have to cook if I do... I of course think it is more because my way is closer to the original, standard, usual, normal, ordinary way.  No, I am NOT prejudiced about my cooking!

SV