Mesa_John

After taking possession of our Beef last week, it has stirred a question in me. I was amazed at how deep red the color of the beef is, compared to grocery store beef, but even the 1/2 Beef we purchase last year. This beef is more the color of Elk Meat. This calf was on mama cow's milk, up to it's 11th month of life and then on a grass, cracked corn and silage diet for about 45 days before going to the processor. The rancher tells me the meat is so dark red for two reasons. #1. The calf if mostly grass fed. #2. The calf spent 6 months in the mountains, above 9,000 feet elevation. The negative of this calf is that it will not grade Prime and probably not even Choice, but is likely Select. The Tenderloin we ate last week was spectacular, but the Ribeye we ate last night was about as tough as a Sirloin, but it just didn't have any marbling. There just isn't much marbling and there is very, very little fat on the Ribeyes. I suspect all grass fed beef is Standard or Select, not having a long Corn diet where the fat reserves are really built up. But this got me to thinking..... I actually wonder how "healthy" prime grade beef is, where the fat reserves are built up on a Corn diet? In us eating that fat, I wonder how much of it clogs our arteries? And I wonder if grass fed is much more "healthy" for us to eat? I suspect what some of you will say, with most of the very recent data and evidence coming out regarding Keto and Carnivore on the health of humans. But I think the question is a valid one.... There is so much negative about humans eating wheat and corn, so what's the effect of us eating Beef that has been gorged on wheat and corn?

Red's and some awesome, pan-friend, boneless, skinless chicken thighs...... Oh yea.... a bunch of butter as well.... and some Blue Cheese Crumbles.....!!!! Great KETO meal.

Ketovore at its best!!!! This plate of deliciousness broke our OMAD today at 5:30pm. First bacon, jalapeño, avocado, bunless burger with our new beef!!!! Oooh lala! Our bodies are great with all of these ingredients, except... the Jalapenos. They stop up our sinuses, but it is a difficulty I will easily embrace because these are wonderful.

Probably heresy... but I am not a fan of Roasts. I had all the roast meat ground into hamburger. Out of this calf, we ended up with 198 lbs of Hamburger.... but we flippin love hamburger in all sort of varieties. Our newest thing is to mix it 50/50 with ground Pork, Boston Butt with some Italian seasoning for the best Sausage Balls on the planet. We like eating the Sausage Balls by themselves without tomato sauce.

Yeah, the processor bagged us 9 big bags of soup bones. Big ole bones with a ton of marrow. Gotta wrap the wife's head around this, as she is reluctant to 'stew' them all, with all the goodies floating around in the broth. I will show her how to stew, break up the marrow and then use an emulsifier blender to "make it all happy", for the best Bone Broth on the planet.

If you have a pellet grill/smoker, you have a HUGE opportunity to add some great flavor to your meats. First.... put the raw meat out on the pellet grill, on the "smoke" setting. This will keep the temp between 170-220 degrees, but really pump out smoke every 2-3 minutes or so. I put some tenderloin on the grill this evening on "smoke" and left it there for an hour. Then I brought inside and finished in an iron skillet in butter..... OH WOW!!!!!!!

Received a call on Friday that my beef is ready. Net package yield is just over 500 lbs. After paying for the calf and processing, it all came to $7.63 a lb. That might sound a little high, when compared to the cost of grocery store ground beef, chicken breast and/or pork chops, but it is a darn good price when compared to organic tenderloin ($25 a lb), ribeye's ($18 a lb), etc... Heck, Sam's is charging $8.29 for trimmed briskets. Plus, we know everything about this calf..... what it was fed, what vaccinations it did or didn't received, etc. and he would easily qualify for certified organic. We pick up the meat on Friday and the challenge begins.... Can we eat 500lbs of beef in the next 365 days???? That's 11 oz consumed per day between two of us for the next year. I think we can do it. ........

You know... back in the day (1960's) my family was cross breeding Bison with Domestic Cattle. They claim the steaks were awesome. .....

Geoff... all I see is Ribeyes!!!! Oh my goodness... beautiful pics.

A bit of an ignorant country approach here... but if I can't pronounce it... I ain't eating it. .........

Wecome! Great place for bouncing ideas and sharing stories. No judgement... just love ..... love for Beef! hahahaha ........

And I bet he ate that cold center, rare steak.... after about 4 Bourbon's neat.

Here's the question.... Who of you Carnivores would consider purchasing beef off a ranch, rather than out of a grocery store? ??? Last year the wife and I purchased 1/2 a beef from a local rancher. It was processed nicely and it has taken us a year to eat it all up. This year, due to us going Ketovore and eating so much more Beef, we opted to purchase a whole calf. The Angus calf just went to the processor, is 16 months old and weighs 1,100 live weight. It was completely milk/grass raised until the last 30 days, when it was given a diet of Meadow Hay and Cracked Corn, which will boost the fat content. After processing and paying for the calf, it will cost me $5.45 a lb for everything. Yep, that is a lot of money up front, but everyone on this forum knows the cost of Beef at the store these days. Sam's Club Pricing this week......... Tenderloin is $20 a lb Ribeye is $15 lb Sirloin is $10 a lb Hamburger is $4.79 a lb for Organic, non-Antibiotic. Oh... my Ranch raised steer is Organic, non-Antibiotic.... So check those prices at Whole Foods!!!!!! Also, when you buy a beef and have a local processor kill and package your meat, you get to choose the cuts you want. And you get to choose the fat percentage of your hamburger. We opted for 85/15 for our hamburger. Like I said, we have to pay north of $3,500 for a full beef, but there is two of us and that only amounts to about $150 a month per person for a year. And here is the BIG DEAL... We know how that calf was raised and fed and processed. PS... the other cool thing is... you can request all of the big bones and you can make your own Bone Broth.

Growing up on a ranch, I ate a lot of Beef and a lot of steaks. I hated the idea of a bloody steak, so Medium Well was the way I wanted them cooked from a child to my late 20's. Starting in my late 20's I began to realize that steak cuts like Top Sirloin was WAY Better when it was a hot pink center. Medium (Hot Pink, slightly bloody center) is my favorite these days.