Trying Out Grass Fed Beef - Reverse Sear Steak

[Preacher Man]

I've never had grass fed beef, but I keep hearing a lot about it. Found a nice, thick strip steak on sale so I decided to educate myself.

Seasoned it with just salt n pepper.


Smoked it at 210° with mesquite pellets in the MES 30 until the IT was 120°.


Seared it on each side, hoping to hit that med-rare IT.


Verdict: Pass the grain fed, please.

 

[motocrash]

Grass fed beef tastes like those uppity vegans that were protesting around my...OH...Agreed,GF beef is no good on my palate either.

 

[phantom krankor]

Haha yeah, grass fed definitely tastes like such.

 

[hoosiersmoker]

Apparently I have different tastes or pastured / grazed beef tastes different. We have a butcher that only sells local, grass fed / Grazed beef. In my opinion the flavor is hands down better than the meats from the grocery stores. Most concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) feed their cows some form of grasses with the grains anyway so there might not be much different than the "Grain Fed" in the stores. The Ribeyes I can get from him are also regularly only $10.00/lb and around $8.00/lb (your choice of thickness) on sale and he has 3 smokehouses he uses continuously for sausages, meats and cheeses (I love driving past when he smoking stuff! Mmmmmmmm!). That means not much chance I'll go back to a grocery store for my beef anyway. I will say of all the grocery store beef, Kroger always had better looking and tasting beef, maybe theirs is mostly grass fed too? I definitely go to Kroger for my pork though! Last fall I bought 5 racks of spare ribs for $1.59/lb! best price I've seen in years. They always run specials through the spring too! I can't wait for our first pool party!

 

[SecondHandSmoker]

Grass fed beef tastes like those uppity vegans that were protesting around my...OH...Agreed,GF beef is no good on my palate either.

Vegans...the other white meat.

 

[HalfSmoked]

Interesting always heard that grass fed was better.

Warren

 

[banderson7474]

Apparently I have different tastes or pastured / grazed beef tastes different. We have a butcher that only sells local, grass fed / Grazed beef. In my opinion the flavor is hands down better than the meats from the grocery stores. Most concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) feed their cows some form of grasses with the grains anyway so there might not be much different than the "Grain Fed" in the stores. The Ribeyes I can get from him are also regularly only $10.00/lb and around $8.00/lb (your choice of thickness) on sale and he has 3 smokehouses he uses continuously for sausages, meats and cheeses (I love driving past when he smoking stuff! Mmmmmmmm!). That means not much chance I'll go back to a grocery store for my beef anyway. I will say of all the grocery store beef, Kroger always had better looking and tasting beef, maybe theirs is mostly grass fed too? I definitely go to Kroger for my pork though! Last fall I bought 5 racks of spare ribs for $1.59/lb! best price I've seen in years. They always run specials through the spring too! I can't wait for our first pool party!

Kroger is my favorite store around my area too. Although I am thinking of making a trip to Costcos. It's about an hour away. I have Sams that is closer but I can't stand their rubbery chicken.

 

[Hawging It]

I've never had grass fed beef, but I keep hearing a lot about it. Found a nice, thick strip steak on sale so I decided to educate myself.
View attachment 385821
Seasoned it with just salt n pepper.
View attachment 385822

Smoked it at 210° with mesquite pellets in the MES 30 until the IT was 120°.
View attachment 385823

Seared it on each side, hoping to hit that med-rare IT.
View attachment 385824

Verdict: Pass the grain fed, please.
View attachment 385825

Yep! Thought so. Gimme corn, Milo and sorghum Baby!!

 

[SmokinVOLfan]

Looks great! My wife loves the grass fed beef and it always tastes great. I also like getting meat from Kroger’s. Next time pull it at 115 and give it a quick sear carryover will get you to 130ish. Rare to low medium rare best in my opinion

 

[hoosiersmoker]

V-Day dinner with my sweetie: 1.5lb Ribeyes (local, grazed,grass fed) with sauteed Morels, nice salad and Local winery (Tabor Hill) Traminette (Gewurztraminer blend).

After reading their responsible sourcing info, I'll make the 20 min. trip to Kroger when they have their beef and pork sales.

 

[banderson7474]

I've never had grass fed beef, but I keep hearing a lot about it. Found a nice, thick strip steak on sale so I decided to educate myself.
View attachment 385821
Seasoned it with just salt n pepper.
View attachment 385822

Smoked it at 210° with mesquite pellets in the MES 30 until the IT was 120°.
View attachment 385823

Seared it on each side, hoping to hit that med-rare IT.
View attachment 385824

Verdict: Pass the grain fed, please.
View attachment 385825

Preacher, did you like your final temp of meat? I'm going to reverse sear steaks this weekend and I'm thinking about going a little lower around 110 to get mine medium or a tad less.

 

[Bearcarver]

I can tell you a little about Aussie Grass Fed:
The first time I tried Aussie Grass fed Beef Tenderloin, because it was only $7.99, instead of the American for $17.99.
It wasn't bad, but not as good as American Beef.
Then I tried it again @ $10.99, and it was terrible!!
Strictly American Beef from now on---Never noticed whether it was Grass or Grain fed American Beef, but always Great.

Bear

 

[Preacher Man]

Preacher, did you like your final temp of meat? I'm going to reverse sear steaks this weekend and I'm thinking about going a little lower around 110 to get mine medium or a tad less.

I really think it all depends on how much of a sear you want on it. If you like a light sear, then take your temp up a little higher. If you like a heavy sear, then start with a lower IT.

I took mine to 120º and then seared it about 45 seconds on each side on a screaming hot cast iron that I pulled out of a 500º oven. I meant to get the IT after my sear, but was so anxious to bite into it that I forgot to.

 

[banderson7474]

Hmm I never thought about putting the cast iron in the oven to heat it up. I always heated it up on the stove top.

 

[Preacher Man]

Hmm I never thought about putting the cast iron in the oven to heat it up. I always heated it up on the stove top.

I put it in the oven to get it real hot, then bring it out onto the stove top to keep the heat going while searing.

 

[zwiller]

I have few friends raising beef and need to try that. My parents got beef this way and swear it was better too.

I did CI in oven one time with silicone glove etc and it's not for me. Results were decent tho. If you guys like pan searing inside you will LOVE the sear you get from a gas burner "cajun cooker" or the something big outside. It's a few levels above. Check out how dark the world famous Peter Luger's steak is.

hoosiersmoker Glad to see I am not the only guy into that wine style. Local one here is an award winner.

 

[Khaymanbb]

I've found that the beef depends heavily not only on what they eat, but where they eat. A grass fed cow in Texas tastes different than a grass fed cow in Kansas. Similar to how coffee tastes different from different parts of the world, the soil in which the feed is grown creates a different taste. The ground in Texas has a different soil Ph content then up in the midwest, and same all over the country. I honestly didn't like Texas grass-fed beef, as I've grown up with Kansas. However, after 4 years living down there I got used to it. Then ate at a steakhouse in KC and wowzer, really tasted the difference!

 

[tallbm]

I can tell you a little about Aussie Grass Fed:
The first time I tried Aussie Grass fed Beef Tenderloin, because it was only $7.99, instead of the American for $17.99.
It wasn't bad, but not as good as American Beef.
Then I tried it again @ $10.99, and it was terrible!!
Strictly American Beef from now on---Never noticed whether it was Grass or Grain fed American Beef, but always Great.

Bear

I haven't bought Australian beef here in the US but I'm glad you mentioned your experience with it because I have a different experience with Aussie beef but have only eaten it in Australia.
I spent quite a bit of time there in 2008 and was blown away that basically all of their beef in the country and in stores was Prime grade, even the ground! My understanding is that their meat and food standards are higher than in the US. I was puzzled at first by this but then learned that they only have to feed a max 22-27 million people that live in the country so they keep the best and ship the rest lol. The burgers I had there were so amazing it was ridiculous, but it makes sense when every piece of beef is the top 1% or so hahaha.

After your experience I won't worry about Aussie beef here in the US. Each year I have so much well cared for ground venison (I shoot and process it myself) that I rarely have to buy ground beef.
Fortunately for me if I really need to start stocking up on ground beef you can bet I'll go grab a choice brisket and grind it since our brisket prices in TX are so much cheaper than ground beef anyhow.

I do know that their lamb is much better than US lamb and while in Australia they all bought New Zealand lamb because NZ's lamb was better than Australian lamb. So if you ever see NZ lamb you know the pecking order... even though its their exported left overs lol :D

 

[chef jimmyj]

Taste based on what they eat goes for any meat animal. A Deer scratching out a living on Acorns, Leaves, Sapling Bark and whatever they can find in the forest, tastes way Gamier than a Deer fattened on Corn and Soybeans living near a Farm.
In contrast, Pasture Raised/Free Range Chicken has an exponentially better and more intense Flavor, than commercial Grain Fed Chickens.
The Grass Fed Beef I had was good but I just like Grain Fed better...JJ