Best Cooking Methods for Beef Cuts

Cooking dishes for the entire family, restaurant, or for personal consumption using meat is a routine made by people. With this, it is expected that you have certain chops for every piece of meat that an individual partakes. Whether it is loin, grounded, or brisket, such cuts are necessary when preparing for the desired dish one wants to eat. But who does take attention to such anyway? Particularly, it’s the one who prepares the food who must garner interest in this, or otherwise gain more knowledge in this area, to help increase a person or a group’s appetite.

Listed here are the kind of beef cuts and the best way to cook them:

1) Beef Brisket – found in the middle part of the neck and front legs, this cut is often used for making pot roast. It will take a long way to tenderize as it is a coarsely textured muscle. It’s the traditional choice for making corned beef.

2) Beef Rib – found at the back of a cow’s shoulder, the middle section of rib. Usually, this cut is used for dry-heat cooking. These are the tender, delicious, and savory portion of the cow. Dishes like rib roast, rib eye steak, barbecues include this beef cut.

3) Beef Sirloin – the lower mid section of a cow’s body. Similar to the beef rib, it is also tender, savory, and delicious, with less fat. Usually picked for roasting, steaks, and barbecuing.

4) Beef Round – found in the back leg of the cow. The round cut is usually prepared through boiling, and is best for dishes that will require braising.

5) Beef Plate – known as short plate, this cut includes the short ribs (seen in the chest area), and the skirt steak. This cut contains a lot of cartilage, which is good for braising. Oh, and this one is used for ground beef.

6) Beef Tenderloin – the finest beef cut in the loin where filet mignon is taken. It comes from the pointy end of the tenderloin. On the other hand, the Chateaubriand is taken from the center cut of the tenderloin. Beef tenderloin is best using dry heat cooking methods such as grilling and broiling.

7) Beef Chuck – a tough meat as it consist of the neck, shoulder blade and upper arm. This is great for braised beef dishes like beef stew and pot roast. It is also good for making ground beef.

8) Beef Short Loin – where most of the desirable cuts are taken just like the T-bone, Porterhouse steaks, and strip steak. Dry heat cooking is the greatest method for these tender cuts.

9) Beef Shank – is the animal’s leg and rich in ligament. This is perfect for making the Italian dish called osso buco.

10) Beef Flank – a tough meat that is usually marinated first before being grilled. This is great for braising and making ground beef.

After understanding the various cuts of beef and just how these are best cooked, buying fresh grass-fed beef is best and will give you a most delectable dish to taste. Where to find the best meats? Visit the Farmers Market in Raleigh, North Carolina. There will also be several other fresh meats, fruits, and vegetables at the Market. So come and shop now!

 

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Meat Cuts that are Better when Grilled

There are so many meat cut variations of beef and pork. The manner concerning how to cook them depends on the cut. For example, beef shoulders, chuck, and short ribs are perfect for braising, whereas, cubed beef coming from the chuck or shoulder and pork leg shanks are good for stewing. Pork shoulder is perfect for roasting. To make the most flavor from the meat, grilling is the bettertechnique of doing it. Here are some meat cuts that taste better when grilled:

The Porterhouse

The porterhouse is actually a cut in the rear end of the short loin and hasa bigger portion of the tenderloin filet. For beef aficionados, the porterhouse is the best meat cut since it is actually two steaks in one just like the T-bone steak. On one side of it will be the tenderloin and on the opposite, the classic strip steak. The porterhouse has also enough marbling on it. The bone also adds flavor to the meat when grilled at 350 degrees Fahrenheit or 176.6 degrees Celsius. To get a medium rare treat, grill it for aboutfive to six minutes on each side.

Pork Chops

Pork cuts are invariably best when braised or broiled. The best for grilling is the chop with all the bone on it. Choose chops that contain a thin fat around the edge simply because thisadds to the flavor of the meat when being grilled. Then cut the fat away before serving. An open flame gives the meat an extra good taste making it more delicious.

Beef and Pork Ribs

Beef and pork ribs are often boiled by a fewindividuals toget them to be tender. However, these ribs are fantastic when grilled. When doing a barbecue, set the grill on medium heat, around 250 degrees Fahrenheit or 121 degrees Celsius so they won’tmake the meat tough and difficult to get off the bone. The rule would be tomake sure that heat is not high and that “slow” cooking should be carried out. Rotating the ribs and cooking the meat side down will result to an evenly cooked meat.

Beef Loin Strip Steak

The strip steak is one of the tender cuts of beef steaks. In the US and Canada, it is known as the New York strip steak, strip loin, shell steak or Kansas City strip steak. It is best when cooked on a hot fire. A nicely-cut strip steak has plenty of marbling and a thin layer of fat around it. Patting the steak with essential olive oil, rosemary, crushed garlic, a little bit ofpepper and salt is a tasty recipe for grilling. Cooking the strip steak, medium rare at 350 degrees Fahrenheit or 176.6 Celsius with each and every side of the steak being grilled for approximatelyfive to six minutes is a delectable treat.
Want to purchasethe best meats for grilling? Visit the Farmers Market in Raleigh, North Carolina. You will enjoy buying farm fresh grass-fed beef, grass-fed lambs, pastured pork nags head, chicken, fruits and vegetableswhich are for sale at the Market. So come and enjoy shopping now!

 

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5 Reasons Why We Should Eat Meat

Have you asked why there are some individuals who don’t eat meat at all? The reason may be due to diseases that happen to be blamed to meat consumption. However, if you take a good look at it, meats which are unprocessed and come from grass-fed animals are incredibly healthy compared with processed meat. According to studies at the Harvard School of Medicine, the likelihood of premature death by a fifth is increased by the intake of small amounts of processed meat like bacon, salami or sausages.
How come it’s important for man to eat meat? Here are five reasons why:

Man was designed to be an omnivore.
For hundreds of years, man has thrived on meat. He performs best eating both animal meat and plants. It is part of man’s metabolism that is in his DNA. Thus, it is natural to crave it.

Eating grass-fed meat is best because it has potent nutrients and contains the right ratio of omega fatty acids needed by the body. However, commercial grain-fed meat is unhealthy.

Meat is very nutritious.

Meat which is unprocessed and comes from grazing animals has the essential proteins, vitamins, and minerals necessary for the body. It provides vitamin B12, B3 (Niacin), Iron, Zinc, Selenium, as well as other nutrients like Creatine, Carnosine, DHA, and EPA. DHA and EPA are active forms of Omega 3 within your body and these are only obtained in animal foods.

Meat is loaded with high-quality protein.

Proteins are large biological molecules that consist of one or more long chain of amino acids that are essential for body growth and maintenance. Animal proteins are great sources of all the amino acids that the body needs.

Proteins can also be vital for bone health. Studies have discovered that animal protein is related to increased bone strength and density in old age and reduce risk of fractures. If one would like to gain or maintain muscle and at the same time, prevent osteoporosis and fractures, one should always include animal proteins as part of his diet.

Meat doesn’t increase the probability of having heart disease and diabetes.
The reason for such belief is the fact that meat has lots of saturated fat. However, studies conducted by the Harvard University and EPIC Study of Europe have shown that there is no correlation between unprocessed red meat, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. These studies also said that there’s a significant increased risk in processed meat.

It is not the meat itself that has a link to cancer but the effect of how it’s being cooked.
While usually there are some studies that reveal that the intake of red meat may increase the risk of cancer, this is simply not true for unprocessed meat. In accordance with the so-called meta-analyses, which are studies that analyze data from many researches on red meat and cancer as well, there exists a weak link between red meat and cancer. Thus, it could be concluded that the effects of how meat has been cooked can be linked to the formation of carcinogens. It is strongly suggested that burnt or charred portions needs to be cut away when eating meat.
If you’d like to find fresh, unprocessed meat that comes from grass-fed animals, come and visit at the Farmers Market in Raleigh, North Carolina. There you’ll find pastured pork nags head, grass-fed beef, grass-fed lamb, a whole bunch more of farm fresh fruits and vegetables. So, shop at the Market now!

 

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What Meat Labels Mean

Customers are now conscious that there are meat labels on animal foods. However, they may be confused and uneducated on what these labels mean. To offer information on what these are, listed here are the definitions:

Grass-fed
Meat coming from ruminants such as cattle that fed on grass and forage throughout their lifetime is defined as “grass-fed.” These ruminants are not fed with grain and grain by-products and should always gain access to pasture through the growing season.

Meat from grass-fed animals contains saturated fat and is full of nutrients compared with grain-finished meat. If a person sees a label which says “100% grass-fed” or “grass-finished” and verified by a third party, it simply means that the meat comes from ruminants which are only fed with grass and hay.

NaturalRight here is the most misleading label on meat since this is true to all fresh meat. Therefore, it is meaningless. The USDA defines “natural” as those food products which includes no preservatives or artificial ingredients and has been minimally processed, a process which doesn’t basically affect the raw product.

Naturally Raised
The USDA standards for “naturally raised” meant that meat from livestock should not be raised with hormones, antibiotics, not fed with animal by-products taken from the slaughter, including meat and fat, animal waste, and aquatic by-products. However, it won’t include animal products just like milk and cheese since there are no regulations that govern how the product is processed.

Organic
The USDA specifies that meat from livestock labeled as “organic” shouldn’t be given growth hormones, antibiotics, fed with animal by-products nor genetically modified feeds. Thus, prior to labeling the products as “organic,” a government-approved certifier inspects the farm to make certain that the USDA standards are being strictly followed.

Pastured Raised
This meant that the meat in which the animals originated from was “raised on pastures.” Pastures are parcels of land for grazing animals where there is usually an abundant species of grasses, forages, flowers, herbs and various plants.

Pastured beef means grass-fed beef, where cattle spent their lives eating nothing but grass. However, you can find cattle that are finished on grain and meat which comes from this isn’t healthy.

Free Range
The standards set are for chickens and not for other meat. Which means that chickens labeled as “free range” or “free-roaming” can wander outdoors and doesn’t necessarily mean that they should be in pastures. These chickens could be in areas where there exists dirt or gravel.

Cage Free

This refers to chickens that are not caged and raised on open floor barns.

No Antibiotics
Producers have to submit documentation on meat that is labeled “raised without antibiotics.” However, there’s no third party verification or testing done.

No Hormones
Meat with labels as “no hormones administered” meant that there are no growth hormones given by the producers. In the same manner as those labeled with “no antibiotics,” documentation is necessary. There is also no third party verification or testing done on it.

Want to buy fresh farm products? At the Farmers Market in Raleigh, North Carolina, farmers convene to sell their garden-fresh fruits, vegetables, and fresh meat products such as grass-fed beef, grass-fed lamb, pastured pork nags head, and others to provide consumers the best produce that suits their needs. So, come and shop at the Market now!

 

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A Healthy Option: Meat and Dairy Products from Grass-fed Cows

People have been made to consider that no matter what an animal is fed, the nutritional value of its products is the same. This is not rightly so. The nutritional content of the products is determined by the kind of food that the animal consumes.

Meat and dairy products from grass-fed cows offer a great deal of health benefits needed by the body. Here are interesting nutrition facts:

Pastured milk lessens the potential risk of heart attacks.
For many years, many people have accepted the truth that eating full-fat dairy products increases the danger of heart attacks. However, in a 2010 study conducted by The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers learned that the more full-fat dairy products people consume, the lesser the danger of heart attacks, provided that they consume dairy products from grass-fed cows.

Milk from grazing cows has five times more conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), a healthy fat present in meat and milk of foraging animals. It’s a potent anti-oxidant, anti-carcinogen, anti-catabolite, along with an effective immune system enhancer. In a study of more than 3,000 individuals who consumed products from farmland cows, it demonstrated that those with the greatest level of CLA stored in their tissues had a 50% lower risk of heart attacks.

Butterfat from farmland cows contains unsaturated fats and cancer-fighting CLA.Have you ever tried taking your butter from your fridge and spreading it onto your bread? Did it spread easily or did it have hard lumps on your bread?
Based on researchers, butter which is easy to spread has less saturated fat and a lot more unsaturated fat. Unsaturated fat is recognized as healthy fat that is certainly important to diet mainly because it helps reduce heart disease and reduced cholesterol levels.

Studies showed that grass-fed cows produce the softest butterfat because they get all the nutrients from the grass. Butter that comes from these cows has more cancer-fighting CLA, beta-carotene, vitamin E, and omega-3 fatty acids compared to butter from cows raised in feedlots.

Meat from pastured cows is lean thus, has low calorie content.
It takes about 100 fewer calories in eating a 6-ounce steak from a grass-fed steer compared with a 6-ounce steak from a grain-fed steer. In case you are consuming around 30.16 kilograms of beef each year, eating grass-fed beef can save you 17,733 calories a year without changing your diet.

Grass-fed meat provides two to six times more omega-3 fatty acids, good fats which are important to health.
Omega-3 fatty acids aren’t just important in nurturing body cells, but also vital to the brain as well. Those who have sufficient amounts of omega-3 inside their diet are not prone to sickness like depression, Alzheimer’s disease, hyperactivity, or schizophrenia.

Grass-fed beef contains four times higher vitamin E than beef from feedlot cattle.
Vitamin E is considered to help lower the possibilities of having heart disease and cancer. It is usually an anti-oxidant which has anti-aging properties too.

Having known these nutrition facts, why don’t you come and visit the Farmers Market in Raleigh, North Carolina. There you will not only find fresh pastured meat and dairy products from grazing cows, but also farm fresh fruits and vegetables that suit your expections. So visit the Market now!

 

Please visit: http://spruillbros.com/a-healthy-option-meat-and-dairy-products-from-grass-fed-cows/

 

The Benefits of Eating Pork from Pasture-Raised Pigs

Today, men and women are so health conscious that they often avoid eating pork meat. But is it really bad for health? Here are reasons why eating pork from pastured pigs is beneficial for the body:

1. Pork from pastured pigs is nutritious.

Pigs raised in pastures where they are happy roaming around, wallowing in the mud or water, and eating forage produce nutritious and delicious pork lean meats. Considering they are exposed to sunshine during their lifetime, their fat is loaded in vitamin D. Thus, it’s always best to consume pork meat from pasture-raised pigs.

On the other hand, pigs raised in feedlots produce tasty pork, but provides unhealthy meat mainly because they consume GMO corn as well as other grains. They are also given synthetic vitamins and injected with growth hormones and antibiotics to ensure they are alive.

2. Pasture-raised pigs aren’t filthy and toxic.

The belief that because pigs in the pastures wallow in mud or water, they are filthy and toxic isn’t true. Pigs do that as they wanted to cool their temperature down and at the same time, this prevents them from being sunburned and being bitten by insects. They do not wallow in their own excrement as they are very conscientious just like humans.
While it’s true that pigs do not have sweat glands, they filter toxins through their liver and kidneys.

3. Pork from pasture-raised pigs contains conjugated linoleic acid (CLA).

Pigs raised in pastures are not injected with growth hormones, antibiotics, and other drugs that could cause cancer. Actually, these pigs contain conjugated linoleic acid or CLA, a fat that may fight cancer. According to research on animal studies, small amounts of CLA stop the occurrence of all stages of cancer.

Unlike pigs raised in pastures, pigs raised in feedlots have high levels of arachidonic acid in the form of omega-6 fatty acids. Small quantities of this fatty acid are necessary to muscle build up, but in large quantities, this may cause heart related illnesses.

4. Pigs raised outdoors and fed with omnivorous foraging diet, minimize the likelihood of harmful parasites.

Parasites are a normal part of life and when in balance, are vital to health. Bad parasites are eliminated by how pigs are raised and just how pork meat is prepared prior to cooking.

Preparing pork in the traditional way in which it is marinated in an acidic medium before cooking for a period of time eliminates parasites in the meat. Cooking pork meat thoroughly eradicates the probability of having trichinosis, a parasitic disease brought on by eating uncooked pork meat.

Knowing farmers who raise pastured pigs, buying pork from them, and preparing pork meat in the traditional method of marinating or curing it will give you the appropriate nutrition that you need from pork.

Where to buy fresh pastured pork meat? These are definitely available for purchase at the Farmers Market in Raleigh, North Carolina. You can also find farm fresh fruits, vegetables, and other meats including grass-fed beef, grass-fed lambs, and pastured pork nags head at the said market. So come, visit, and enjoy shopping now!

 

Please visit: http://spruillbros.com/the-benefits-of-eating-pork-from-pasture-raised-pigs/