Cooking Instructions & General Hints

Princess Beef is leaner than most beef. It can be overcooked and dried out easily.
For tender yummy meat, cook this range-fed beef a bit differently.
Here are some hints for deliciously successful Princess Beef.
Be safe, cook hamburger medium well.

Avoid:
Overcooking
Cooking frozen or partially frozen meat
Thawing steaks and roasts in the microwave

Enjoy!
Cynthia Houseweart

 

More Tips from The Grassfed Gourmet Cookbook

One of the biggest challenges of marketing grass-fed beef is to educate my customers on cooking methods. Once the beef is out of my hands I have no control over how you treat it. Grass-finished beef is lower in fat and more flavorful but cooked improperly, it can be tough.
A new cookbook was just published that helps a great deal with cooking Grass-finished beef. It is very well written and helpful! I am not the greatest cook in the world but I have been enormously successful with recipes from this cookbook: The Grassfed Gourmet Cookbook, by Shannon Hayes.

In it she talks about 4 basic principles for cooking grass-fed meats:

  1. Put away your timer, get a good meat thermometer and be prepared to use it. Since fat works as an insulator, your lean roasts will cook in the oven faster than roasts that are higher in fat.
  2. Turn down the heat. If the heat is too high when grass-fed meat is cooked, the fat and moisture exit which will toughen the protein.
  3. Learn when to use dry-heat cooking methods (for tender cuts-loin cuts for example) and when to use moist-heat methods (for tougher cuts-shoulder cuts for example).
  4. Ease up on the seasonings and sauces. Shannon says, “As a nation, we’ve become accustomed to the flavor and texture of conventionally raised, factory-farmed meats. Animals raised on pasture produce meats that have a distinctive flavor.” They should be seasoned lightly so as not to mask its true flavor!

Shannon Hayes explains that once you learn these basic principles, you can adapt any of your favorite recipes to accommodate grass-finished meat.

 

Guidelines for Cooking
STEAK

Grill steaks on the lowest possible temperature.
Grill slowly and turn frequently.
You might find that these lean steaks cook a little faster than conventional meat.
The internal fat of corn-fed beef acts as an insulator — Princess range-fed beef has less fat and therefore cooks more quickly.
Steaks do cook internally for several minutes after you remove them from the grill.
The trick is to remove your steak before it reaches your preference of “done.”

(Hint from Homestead Healthy Foods)

 

Guidelines for Cooking
ROASTS

Cooking super tender roasts is easy in the oven.
The best luck I have had has been in a roaster, but a Dutch oven with a lid will work just as well.

Season the meat as desired in the pan and add a cup of liquid. Using half a cup of wine or seasoned vinegar and a half cup of water is superb.
Cover and place in a preheated 500° oven. Immediately turn down to 250° for 4 to 6 hours.
Test the meat after 4 hours and, if you want a more tender roast, simply return it to the oven for another hour or two.

Roasts should just flake apart when tested with a fork!

 

Guidelines for Cooking
GROUND BEEF

Princess ground beef is lean and yummy! You should not have fat to drain off during cooking.

I have never had trouble making patties to grill, but if you do, here is another tip from Homestead Healthy Foods.
Add a teaspoon of olive oil (monounsaturated fat) and one egg to two pounds of ground beef to help hold the patties together.
Cook hamburger to at least 140°.

Keep hamburger and all beef frozen until you are prepared to use it.

Click on the links below for some of my favorite recipes
for cooking Princess Beef!