What Makes Beef Tasty? Its Provenance, Not Grass Or Grain
Lets face it. Who are we kidding? Anyone who was a connoisseur or aficionado of beef before embracing what blogger Darya Pino calls upgrading your healthstyle knows where I am going. Flavor and marbling have little to do with each other when it comes to meat. Let me repeat, flavor and marbling have little to do with each other when it comes to meat. In the words of Carrie Oliver, sometimes known as the Beef Geek, marbling accounts for maybe 5% of the pedigree of a meat.
There I said it. Now let us move on. 
Yes, I know. You will hear in many corners how marbling makes things all fine and dandy, but it ain't so. You will also hear that grass finished beef is often dry, chewy, and lacking flavor because it is so lean, but that also ain't so (yes I am aware of my grammar usage – it is deliberate).
No question the best tasting conventionally raised beef I ever had was prime grade, but not all prime is equally buttery and succulent, despite the price. No question that I've had some less than memorable grass finished cuts of meat, but I've had some outstanding culinary representatives of that genre as well.
However, nothing will ever quite match the genuine kobe beef steak I had once for a whopping $13 an ounce (something similar is pictured above). The meat is so marbled and tender it cuts like butter, even when raw. Buttered beef, as one food writer in the video below refers to it. So in principle there are other dynamics at play when it comes to meat flavor that has little to do with marbling.
Hint #1: It is the same dynamic(s) that makes for fantastic tasting fruit and vegetables. Oh wait, most of you have probably never had an apple or orange to die for, or watermelon where every bite seemed liked a little taste of heaven. Most of you probably don't know how to find produce like that (and no, organic rarely has anything to do with it) or have the tools to do so, although I briefly covered the topic in my posts The Revolution In Nutrition: How To Identify Good Food and Determining Food Quality – See With The Eyes Of An Insect.
Hint #2: It is the reason why a good sommelier worth his/her salt can immediately distinguish between certain California wines and certain French wines (as one example) even though the grape used in the production of the wine is the same. Oh wait, not so good on the wine tasting either, eh? Well this can get you started.
Hint #3: Dr. Weston Price touches on it quite directly in his book Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, whose title serves as the template for this blog and its related forum. I wouldn't be surprised if you still can't guess, given that the chapter I am referring to is probably the most neglected insight in Price's corpus of work, which is still largely unavailable to the general public.
What determines an animal's flavor profile whether it is grass finished or grain finished (all cattle are grass fed most of their lives – it is how they are finished that determines the nomenclature of the beef at retail)?
Simple.
The terroir.
It is not the fat that determines a tasty cut, although in a tasty cut the fat is delicious. Rather it is a number of other factors involving the micro-climate the animals are raised in, the water they drink, the overall terrain of the property they are raised on, other animals being raised, and most importantly, the soil and feed of the animal. Yes, the kind of grasses fed to the animal and the nutrients in those grasses make all the difference in the world when it comes to taste, as any big game hunter will tell you.
If you are into wine, the concept of terroir is fundamental to your worldview: soil and taste are inseparable. If you understand soil fertility, or have at least been exposed to the concept, then the above shouldn't surprise you either.
Show me an animal raised in a great overall climate that consciously accounts for all of the above factors in a proper and effective way and I will show you great tasting meat. Show me an animal where those factors are left to chance and I will show you an animal whose flavor profile is a hit or miss proposition. [By the way it is the confinement overfeeding of grain, and not grain per se that can be potentially problematic. Sally Fallon has noted that in the wild some animals would have had access to and in fact did eat various grains during certain times of the year].
Even controlling for just a few of the factors can make a huge difference in the taste of the meat. I once bought some steaks from Whole Foods (Country Natural Beef – grain finished) and some comparable steaks from an upscale grocer nearby. I grilled and served them both at the same time and even my junk food eating neighbor noticed the difference. Why? Because one set of steaks came from a conventional CAFO producer while the other set came from a conscientious farmer even though both were grain finished and neither would necessarily hit on all the points I mentioned above.
As Carrie Oliver has noted at her Artisan Beef Institute website:
The purpose is to help home buyers, chefs, and the producers themselves discover and celebrate the fact that the best meats are like fine wines, they vary by breed, growing region, diet, husbandry, aging time and technique and the relative talents of the farmers, truckers, slaughterhouse workers, and butchers.
Yes, neither prime grade beef or grass finished beef is the sine qua non of carnivory. As noted above it depends on a number of factors. The video below is an example of an artisan beef tasting, which are like wine tastings (or beer tastings, or beer dinners, or olive oil tastings, or cheese tastings) except beef and not wine is the main event (though good wine is included).
Using intramuscular fat (or what is commonly known as marbling) as a determiner of taste is a conventional producers myth. I have had bland tasting well marbled steaks. They certainly taste better than bland tasting lean steaks but not by much. Grass finished steaks being automatically flavorless and chewy is also a conventional producers myth. By the same token, grass finished steaks being automatically better is an alternative producers myth.
Grass finished producers think their meat is automatically better for two very dubious reasons. One, nearly all grass finished producers have been caught up in the low fat (mostly saturated) mantra. So much so that they parade the leanness of their beef as an advantage. They do this because lean beef is a market demand for an element of the particular demographic to whom grass fed farmers appeal. If it wasn't no beef producer in their right mind would use it as a marketing tool.
They also do this because it takes longer at pasture to produce a fatty grass fed animal, which most farmers don't consider economically viable. As one producer of pigs has pointed out (by the way, I think with pigs the fat content is more important and feeding a "pastured" pig is very different than feeding beef or dairy cattle but more about that later this week):
In addition to tasting better, older animals eat a lot more, are much riskier for the farmer and have fatter, less-economic carcasses – explaining why almost nobody raises such animals anymore.
They also do it because the popular breeds typically used for meat in America don't naturally marble (short of intensive grain feeding), although I have heard stories that some farmers are starting to buck this trend by purchasing less popular breeds.
My regular readers know that saturated fat is a preferred nutrient and that butter (and ghee) is a health food, but for many people, even people who eat real food, that can be a very difficult concept to get their head around. Even people I respect say the literature doesn't show the benefits of saturated fat, even though it can no longer be implicated in heart disease. Leaving aside the Kitavans, the Tokelauns, the Maasi and others, I would argue the literature does show such an advantage, as I will demonstrate in an upcoming post.
Though grass finished meat is marketed as lower in fat than conventional beef, leanness is neither a flavor advantage or a nutritional one. Lean may not play the large role in flavor profile that the conventional producers would have you believe, but neither is it automatically an advantage. All things being equal I would much rather have a tasty and marbled cut of beef.
I think it was Melissa McEwen who once described herself on her blog as the queen of fats, well if so then I am the undisputed king, especially when it comes to saturated fat.
Don't believe me about the low fat mantra among grass finished beef producers and retailers? Here are some typical quotes from around the web:
More Nutritious. A major benefit of raising animals on pasture is that their products are healthier for you. For example, compared with feedlot meat, meat from grass-fed beef, bison, lamb and goats has less total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, and calories. It also has more vitamin E, beta-carotene, vitamin C, and a number of health-promoting fats, including omega-3 fatty acids and “conjugated linoleic acid,” or CLA.
Our 100% grass fed beef is more than delicious. It's a healthy alternative to conventional, grain fed beef. No pesticides, antibiotics, or hormones.
Lower in both fat and calories than conventional beef – a great option for beef lovers looking for heart-healthy, lower calorie options.
Grass fed beef products are lower in total fat than beef from grain fed cattle. When meat is lean, it actually lowers your cholesterol levels and because grass fed meat is so lean, it is lower in calories.
Another highly touted advantage of grass finished beef over grain finished beef is the amount and ratios of essential fatty acids (EFA). EFA's have, in my opinion, risen to cult status in both the conventional and non-conventional food worlds. The only problem is that unless you are eating a highly purified laboratory diet a la Burr and Burr in their original work on this issue, it is impossible to get a deficiency of EFA's unless you have certain enzyme defects and eat no animal foods.
The problem in the typical SAD diet is the overconsumption of omega-6 fatty acids. The answer to that problem is not a massive increase in omega 3 fatty acids, whose main benefit is interfering with the toxic effects of excessive omega 6 metabolites, but rather to massively reduce the amount of omega 6 fatty acids in your diet. Forget about balancing the ratio. The extremely low amount of N-3 needed in an adult diet does not have to be supplemented if you are eating butter, liver or egg yolks, which provide small amounts. You will get even more if you eat whole fish and fish livers. Keep the consumption of omega 6 fatty acids low and the ratio will take care of itself.
As I recently noted on Stephan Guyenet's Whole Health Source blog:
…while I think there is some value to eating grass fed meat, its EFA content and/or ratio is not among them.
Essentially this is what I have seen in the literature, that grass-fed beef is much higher in n-3 content, as a proportion of total fat and total mass. It is roughly equivalent to or somewhat higher in n-6 content as a proportion of total fat, while significantly leaner when it comes to total fat.
Most studies I have seen people interpreting as an argument against grain fed on this issue, well… they are not doing the math right.
Are there advantages to grass finished meats? Yes, but the essential fatty acid issue isn't one of them, especially within the context of an overall nutritious diet that includes the traditional foods I mentioned above.
Mark Schatzker wrote an article for Slate magazine back in 2006 titled Raising the Steaks:
If You Feed Cows Grass, Does The Beef Taste Better? He and a panel of friends did a steak tasting, much like the Artisan Beef Institute in the video above, and then ranked the steaks accordingly.
He starts by noting the standard government method for grading beef:
Can you tell how good a steak is going to taste by looking at it? The government thinks you can. That's why, when a USDA meat grader assesses the quality of a beef carcass, he or she makes an incision between the 12th and 13th rib, takes a good look at how much marbling there is, and assigns the meat a grade, from the highest, Prime, to Choice and Select and all the way down to Canner. That's why a well-marbled steak, one that is abundantly flecked with little specks and streaks of white fat, costs a lot more than a steak that's all red muscle.
He then asks the magic question:
But is marbling all there is to a good steak? Doesn't, say, a cow's diet have something to do with the way a steak tastes? And can someone please explain why that gargantuan USDA Prime strip loin I ate in Las Vegas last year had about as much flavor as a cup of tap water? I decided to find out for myself. My mission: to taste steaks from cattle raised in very different ways and see how they stack up.
Here are the panels tasting results edited by me:
From worst (which, in all fairness, was still a decent steak) to first:
USDA Prime Beef, Wet Aged
Price: $32.50 per pound
Aging: Wet
Purveyor: Allen Brothers
What it is: The best beef the industrial system has to offer. Only 2 percent of steak receives the lofty grade of Prime.
Raw impressions: Of all the competitors, these USDA Prime steaks looked the best raw. They had a pleasing shape, no unappetizing thick veins of fat, and abundant marbling. One taster's note: "Now those look like the kind of steaks I'd spend money on."
Tasting notes: This steak was juicy and so tender you could have practically cut it with a Q-tip. The only problem? Flavor—there wasn't much.
USDA Prime Beef, Dry Aged
Price: $35 per pound
Aging: Dry
Purveyor: Allen Brothers
Raw impressions: Visually, it was impossible to distinguish the dry-aged from the wet-aged rib-eyes.
Tasting notes: This steak had more flavor than its wet-aged sibling. Tasters described it as "woody" and "smoky," although the texture reminded one taster of liver. Despite all the time it spent hanging in a cold room losing moisture, it seemed juicier than the wet-aged steak.
Wagyu Beef
Price: $40 per pound
Aging: Dry
Purveyor: Strube Ranch Gourmet Meats
What it is: The Japanese have a thing for incredibly marbled beef, which is known as Kobe beef. According to legend, they feed cows a secret ancient recipe that includes beer and keep their muscles tender by massaging them with sake. This beef was raised on American soil, so it can't technically be called Kobe. But the breed—called Wagyu—is the one that the Japanese use, and the method of raising them is comparably particular.
The knock against it: The price. Also, there are Wagyu-beef enthusiasts who say cooking it like a regular steak will lead to disappointment and an acute sense of having been ripped off. As the "foie gras" of beef, they maintain, it's better suited to searing or being served raw in, say, a miso-ginger-sesame-sake dressing.
Hormones? None.
Raw impressions: On looks alone, this steak faired the worst. The fat appeared pallid, and the meat possessed a gamey smell that had some tasters wondering if it had gone off.
Tasting notes: When cooked, though, what started out as a peculiar aroma mellowed into a distinctive taste that everyone enjoyed, although to varying degrees. (One person said: "I like it in the same way I like blue cheese.") The consensus: "Gamey, strong flavor. I like it."
Editor's note: I don't think the was the real deal. Most American wagyu is cross bred and not fed on a similar program as beef in Kobe, Japan. My tasting experience was entirely different (and more expensive!).
Naturally Raised Grain-Fed Beef
Price: $26.70 per pound
Aging: Dry
Purveyor: Niman Ranch
What it is: As with industrial beef, these cattle are finished on grain at a feedlot, which makes for well-marbled steak that is consistently tender. But Niman Ranch claims to raise cattle "with dignity." Feed is sourced locally. The feedlot is less crowded and features shaded areas and sprinklers where cattle can cool off. Niman Ranch cattle are finished on a blend of grain—including barley, corn, soy beans, and distiller's dry grain—along with plenty of roughage, which makes the grain easier on bovine stomachs. Also, Niman Ranch waits an extra year before sending cattle to the feedlot on the theory that steaks from an older cow, though slightly less tender, will taste better.
Breeds: Angus, Hereford, and Short Horn
Hormones? None
Raw impressions: Niman Ranch doesn't sell its beef based on a USDA grade because Bill Niman doesn't believe in the direct correlation between marbling and eating quality. That said, these steaks were the most marbled of the bunch.
Tasting notes: Gustatory joy. Everyone loved this steak, declaring it juicy, tender, and, most importantly, bursting with flavor. Comments were roundly flattering, proclaiming it to be "full bodied" with "a good steaky taste," "mouth-filling and rich—holy cow!"
And the winner is…
Grass-Fed Beef
Price: $21.50 per pound
Aging: Dry
Purveyor: Alderspring Ranch
What it is: Beef from cows that have never ingested anything other than mother's milk and pasture, which is just as Mother Nature intended. Like great wine and cheese, grass-fed beef possesses different qualities depending on where it's grown and what time of year it's harvested. The grass-fed steaks for this experiment came from a ranch in Idaho where cattle graze on orchard grass, alfalfa, clover, and smooth brome (a type of grass) in the summer and chopped hay in the winter.
The knock against it: Consistency, or lack thereof. Restaurants and supermarkets don't like grass-fed beef because like all slow food, grass-fed beef producers can't guarantee consistency—it won't look and taste exactly the same every time you buy it. Grass-fed beef also has a reputation for being tough.
Hormones? None
Breeds: Alderspring cattle are 90 percent Black and Red Angus, with some Hereford and Short Horn, Salers, and Simmental bred in. ("Red Angus cattle finish particularly well on grass," according to Glenn Elzinga, who runs Alderspring Ranch.)
Raw impressions: Not good. It had the least marbling, and what little fat it had possessed a yellowy tinge.
Tasting notes: Never have I witnessed a piece of meat so move grown men (and women). Every taster but one instantly proclaimed the grass-fed steak the winner, commending it for its "beautiful," "fabu," and "extra juicy" flavor that "bursts out on every bite." The lone holdout, who preferred the Niman Ranch steak, agreed that this steak tasted the best, but found it a tad chewy. That said, another taster wrote, "I'm willing to give up some tenderness for this kind of flavor."
The Verdict:
Marbling, schmarbling. The steak with the least intramuscular fat tasted the best—and was also the cheapest. That said, the steak with the most marbling came in a not–too-distant second. Do the two share anything in common? Interestingly, neither was finished on straight corn or treated with hormones. Both steaks also hail from ranches that pride themselves on their humane treatment of bovines.
______
Notice that the two best tasting steaks come from ranches that consciously utilize more of the terroir in the production of their beef, so we shouldn't be surprised at the results of the panel tasting, even though one producer finishes on grain and the other does not.
From my own experience the most memorable beef I have had outside of Kobe, Japan is the product from Northstar Bison. Their animals are 100% grass and range fed and the only beef grown stateside that I have had that cuts like butter even when raw.
What beef producers in America are you particularly fond of?
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