The adventures of chocolate and grass-fed beef …

Although the Irish in me absolutely loves my brisket as corned beef and cabbage; slow cooked to perfection and tenderly falling apart—this year I wanted something just, well, different. I wanted adventure. Not only that, but whatever I cooked had to accommodate my time constraints of either being in the office completing the Alaska Health Improvement Center expansion and remodel or out on the ski slopes enjoying our record-setting Anchorage snowfall.

Both of those reasons are why I haven’t written in quite a while—good problems to have, sorry for the hiatus, I hope this makes up the damage 😉

I bring you an adventurous rub with convenience. But first a few words:

Selecting your meat:

Meat grade. Beef is graded based on the age of the animal and the amount of fat marbling. The most common grades, from lowest to highest are: Select, choice, prime, and Wagyu. As long as your meat is grass fed and raised without hormones or antibiotics, the more marbling the better. Fat makes the meat more tender, flavorful, and juicy. And, fat does not make you fat—definitely not!

What about grass fed beef? Unfortunately, if your meat is not grass fed and humanely raised, it is loaded with all manner of hormones to make the animal get to size faster plus those animals need antibiotics because they are more likely than grass-fed to get sick. As well, the grain-based feed used often contains toxic chemicals—some that are even banned from production like PCBs. In fact, you might be disgusted by some of the things fed to commercial dairy and beef cows. Out of respect for you coming here to find a delicious recipe I won’t list them, but if you are interested go to this  Union of Concerned Scientists page.

Two of my favorite vendors: In Anchorage you can select the cut you like by visiting Duane Clark at Sears Mall 10-4 on Wednesdays. I’ve seen the Clark family farm and met his animals. Beautiful.

If that can’t work, order your quality grassland meat products from US Wellness Meats. Good quality and low shipping costs.

Grains fatten the animals more quickly, but they don’t result in healthy fats in those animals. Grass-fed meat is low in “bad” fat (including saturated fat). It gives you from two to six times more of a type of “good” fat called “omega-3 fatty acids.”

We’ve heard how omega-3 fatty acids are essential for health. People deficient in omega-3 fatty acids tend to experience more anxiety, hyperactivity and depression, they are more likely to get Alzheimers, they tend to have irregular heartbeats and are more likely to have serious cardiac events and even high blood pressure.

Grass-fed, but not grain-fed, meat is an excellent source of omega-3s because these fats are formed in the green leaves (specifically the chloroplasts) of plants. Sixty percent of the fat content of grass is a type of omega-3 fatty acid called alpha-linolenic or LNA. Even those cattle that are “finished on grain” lose their valuable store of LNA as well as two other types of omega-3 fatty acids, EPA and DHA very rapidly when sent to the feedlot.

With Brisket, this is very important because the fat surface on the outside of the meat will baste and tenderize as you slow cook the meat. In other words, you want the fat.

I cannot stress this enough: When shopping for brisket, go grass-fed and go for the highest grade you can find. If the grade is not labeled, chances are it is “select.” Avoid it. Brisket is the classic example of “garbage in garbage out”. Please don’t write to me and say you can’t figure out why your brisket was tough if you did not buy USDA Choice or better. Also hand pick the piece with the most fat striation visible.

US Wellness Meats sells quality grassland meat products – Visit us Online!

For your recipe, go here. Let me know how you like it.