The way Lynne Sawicki explains it, the difference between grass-fed beef and grain-fed beef is a lot like the difference between people who eat mostly vegetables and people who eat a lot of pasta and bread. The vegetable eaters tend to be leaner. And so are the cows who eat mostly grass, she says.
“Beef that is grass-fed is just never going to get the marbling that grain-fed beef does,” said Sawicki. “The grass-fed cow has to move around a lot more than a stockyard cow. More exercise means a leaner and healthier cow, so that cow also doesn’t need the antibiotics and hormones that are routinely used with stockyard cattle.”
Sawicki is the owner of Sawicki’s Meat Seafood and More, a specialty food store in Decatur. She carries cuts of grass-fed beef like tenderloin, rib eye and hanger steak from Oregon’s Painted Hills Natural Beef as well as grass-fed ground beef from White Oak Pastures in Bluffton.
She started her own business after spending more than 20 years in the food industry including working with the Bacchanalia Group at Star Provisions where she says she gained her experience as a butcher.
Leaner cows means leaner meat and nutritionally, that’s a good thing. Here are the numbers on grass-fed vs. grain-fed ground beef.
Grass-fed ground beef per 4-ounce serving: 220 calories (percent of calories from fat, 32), 20 grams protein, no carbohydrates, no fiber, 16 grams fat (4 grams saturated), 68 milligrams cholesterol, 76 milligrams sodium.
Grain-fed ground beef per 4-ounce serving: 284 calories (percent of calories from fat, 51), 20 grams protein, no carbohydrates, no fiber, 24 grams fat (8 grams saturated), 80 milligrams cholesterol, 76 milligrams sodium.
Sawicki also chooses to carry grass-fed beef because she appreciates the taste of the beef, saying it’s a piece of meat that tastes like meat. “There’s a whole lot to the process of taking care of the cows from how they’re grown to how they’re butchered. With grass-fed beef I feel that the quality is there from start to finish. The cows tend to be on smaller farms and the farmers handle things in a more humane way. They want to produce something that tastes really good.”
So how do you cook this lower-fat grass-fed beef? “You have to take your time and you can’t walk away from the cooking. Don’t cook it at the highest heat, and know that it will cook faster than grain-fed beef,” says Sawicki.
She suggests that cuts for roasting like a chuck roast, top sirloin or top round need to be braised. Cooking them low and slow with a little liquid will break down that large muscle mass and make the meat more tender. Another option is to slice these roasts thinly and pound them into scaloppini so they can be cooked quickly.
Grilling works for cuts like hanger steaks because they should also be cooked quickly. When serving, cut them across the grain for the most tender slices.
When she makes burgers from grass-fed beef, Sawicki likes to make them a little thicker, and says you should never ever put the lid down on the grill. “Stay at the grill and pay attention to what you’re doing. It takes no time at all to overcook this beef so if you put down the lid, you’re just enclosing the beef in hot air and that will dry it out,” she said.
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Recipes
Sawicki says it’s important to move the beef from the refrigerator to the counter 30 to 45 minutes before you’re ready to cook so it will come to room temperature. Room temperature beef cooks more quickly and doesn’t get a chance to dry out. And don’t forget that there’s no need for extended cooking times with grass-fed beef because you don’t have so much fat to render out. She suggests seasoning grass-fed beef with a dry rub, or a web rub or marinade, and offers a recipe for each. The third recipe is a quick pan saute.
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Dry-rub Rib eye Steak
Hands on: 15 minutes
Total time: 15 minutes
Serves: 2
Rib eye steaks are definitely one of the fattiest cuts of beef, whether grass-fed or grain-fed. This extra fat makes them a good candidate for dry heat cooking like grilling.
2 (8- to-10-ounce) grass-fed rib eye steaks
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons black pepper
2 teaspoons fresh thyme or rosemary, minced
Thirty minutes to an hour before cooking, set steaks out to come to room temperature.
Preheat grill or grill pan.
In a small bowl, combine garlic, salt, pepper and thyme or rosemary. Just before ready to cook, rub mixture on both sides of steaks.
Oil grill and then set steaks on grill. Leave the lid open. Sear for 3 to 4 minutes on the first side. Using tongs, check to see the steak has seared, and then turn. Cook another 3 to 4 minutes for medium rare. A telltale sign that you are close to medium-rare is that liquid will pill up on the top of the steak.
When steaks are cooked to your preference, remove from grill and keep warm. Let sit 5 minutes before serving. Sprinkle with more dry rub before serving if desired.
Per serving, using grain-fed beef: 206 calories (percent of calories from fat, 57), 24 grams protein, 3 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram fiber, 10 grams fat (1 gram saturated), 55 milligrams cholesterol, 1,731 milligrams sodium.
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Hanger Steak with Chimichurri
Hands on: 15 minutes
Total time: 1 hour, 15 minutes
Serves: 4
Chimichurri is a zesty green sauce that is traditionally served with steak in Argentina and Uruguay where they raise lots of cattle. You can double the recipe here and serve it as a tangy dip for other grilled meats or vegetables. It will keep about 3 days in your refrigerator. Hanger steak is one of the so-called “flat” steaks and comes from the underside of the cow. It also is a little fattier than other cuts but it can get tough if exposed to dry heat. Using a marinade is the way to make sure it stays moist.
1 1/2 (one and a half) cups parsley, finely chopped
1 cup cilantro, finely chopped
5 teaspoons olive oil
5 teaspoons fresh lime juice
5 teaspoons sherry vinegar
5 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 shallot, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 teaspoons red chile flakes
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 (1-pound) grass-fed hanger steak
In a large bowl, make chimichurri by combining parsley, cilantro, olive oil, lime juice, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, shallot, garlic, chile flakes and salt. Set aside 1 cup to serve with steak.
Put hanger steak in a sealable plastic bag and pour in remainder of chimichurri. Let sit for one hour. Do not marinate longer than that.
When ready to serve, preheat grill or grill pan over high heat.
Oil the cooking grates; discard marinade from steak. Sear steak on each side for 3 minutes for rare, 4 minutes for medium-rare. Allow steak to rest 10 minutes before slicing. Serve with reserved chimichurri.
Per serving: 286 calories (percent of calories from fat, 56), 24 grams protein, 7 grams carbohydrates, 2 grams fiber, 18 grams fat (6 grams saturated), 58 milligrams cholesterol, 931 milligrams sodium.
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Beef Scaloppini with Cremini Mushrooms
Hands on: 20 minutes
Total time: 20 minutes
Serves: 6
Sawicki prefers to use cremini mushrooms in this recipe, but you can substitute whatever mushrooms you prefer. Serve the scaloppini over noodles and top with the pan sauce and mushrooms.
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
3/4 pound cremini mushrooms, sliced
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 teaspoon salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon pepper, divided
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 pounds grass-fed top round, cut into thin slices and pounded to 1/8-inch (one eighth) thickness
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup beef stock
Chopped parsley, for garnish
In a large skillet, melt 4 tablespoons butter over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms, lemon juice, 1/2 (half) teaspoon salt and 1/4 (quarter) teaspoon pepper and cook until mushrooms are tender, about 8 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
While the mushrooms are cooking, in a large skillet, melt remaining butter and add olive oil over medium-high heat. On a plate, combine flour, and remaining salt and pepper and mix thoroughly. Dip each slice of beef into the flour to coat both sides. Shake off excess flour and place a few slices at a time in hot butter/oil mixture. Do not crowd pan. Brown meat quickly, about 1 minute per side, and remove to a plate. Cover to keep warm and repeat with remaining beef.
Pour off fat from skillet and deglaze pan with white wine. Bring mixture to a boil and cook until reduced, about 2 minutes. Reduce heat to simmer, add stock and reserved mushrooms with their juice; return beef slices to pan. Cook until sauce thickens, about 5 minutes. Taste sauce for seasoning. Serve over noodles and garnish with chopped parsley.
Per serving: 439 calories (percent of calories from fat, 65), 26 grams protein, 11 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram fiber, 31 grams fat (14 grams saturated), 95 milligrams cholesterol, 416 milligrams sodium.
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