*real beef?

I prefer a nicely marbled rib eye thanks.

this. filet suuuuuuuuuuucks

I'm happy for you, and I'mma let you finish but...

Add in a couple lardons in that filet, cover in finely ground and concentrated mushrooms and garlic, salt it and pepper it well, sear it on a grill, then wrap it in filo or pastry dough and finish in the oven.

Blow ya mind.

ok, now THAT sounds phenomenal...i'll preheat the grill and grab a decent red. swing by around 8? #mandate

Bastardized beef wellington. I'm sure it's tasty, but the original incarnation of the dish is well worth the time and effort (threw one together for a dinner party a few weeks ago to rave *kitten*' reviews. It took three days to properly prep, but it was better than sex on mescaline.)

I could never get it up on hallucinogens

I prefer a nicely marbled rib eye thanks.

this. filet suuuuuuuuuuucks

I'm happy for you, and I'mma let you finish but...

Add in a couple lardons in that filet, cover in finely ground and concentrated mushrooms and garlic, salt it and pepper it well, sear it on a grill, then wrap it in filo or pastry dough and finish in the oven.

Blow ya mind.

ok, now THAT sounds phenomenal...i'll preheat the grill and grab a decent red. swing by around 8? #mandate

Bastardized beef wellington. I'm sure it's tasty, but the original incarnation of the dish is well worth the time and effort (threw one together for a dinner party a few weeks ago to rave *kitten*' reviews. It took three days to properly prep, but it was better than sex on mescaline.)

I could never get it up on hallucinogens

Well you should still give a traditional welly a try some time.

There have been a lot of scientific studies showing that grass-finished vs. grain-finished beef (as well as pork and poultry) is both healthier for you and for the environment. That said, a LOT is going to depend on the cut and the % of fat that goes into a hamburger mix.

Here's a nutrition label for "generic" grass-finished hamburger. There's no indication of the fat percentage in the grind, so take it with a grain of salt. http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/beef-products/10526/2

I eat a lot of grass finished beef, primarily because I raise it myself (I'm a cattle rancher). I know that isn't all that easy for everybody to do, but if you CAN source grass-finished beef you'll be better off. One, the overwhelming majority of grass-finished animals aren't kept around long enough to develop the intramuscular fat that you see in grain-finished animals. The reason grain-finishing (and the rest of the crimes against nature perpetrated by the commercial livestock industry) became popular was because it was more cost effective for the processors to have these animals get really fat really fast. Producers bred large-framed animals for the feedlots to hang a lot of fat and a lot of meat on during the finishing process. A rancher/farmer raising grass finished animals can't use those cheats, which means that the steer has to be around for 24 months or so before he starts developing that kind of fat. Most farmers/ranchers can't keep them around that long, which means they're sold with less intramuscular fat.

Grass-finished animals also have more "good" fats - the fats you need to stay healthy - than grain finished animals do. Calories are NOT calories in this case. We need good fats, we need to avoid bad fats. Grass finished animals have the Omega-3 and Omega - 6 fatty acids that our bodies need. There's all kinds of information on this out there, google "grass fed beef nutrition" to read up.

Finally, grass finished animals tend NOT to be raised in close confinement, meaning that they're not fed the prophylactic antibiotics that go into commercial cattle's feed. Not only that, but depending on the rancher they're not routinely given growth hormones as calves (I don't use the hormones). You can learn a lot by talking to the producer about how he/she does business.

The "organic" label is regulated but can be fairly meaningless. "Organic" can still be grain-fed. "All Natural" as a label is barely regulated at all. Your best bet, if you can pull it off, is to buy local and ask a lot of questions. Anybody running a quality operation will be happy to answer.

The stuff at the grocery store isn't real beef??

What if I don't know anyone with a cow???

this made my day

I prefer a nicely marbled rib eye thanks.

this. filet suuuuuuuuuuucks

I'm happy for you, and I'mma let you finish but...

Add in a couple lardons in that filet, cover in finely ground and concentrated mushrooms and garlic, salt it and pepper it well, sear it on a grill, then wrap it in filo or pastry dough and finish in the oven.

Blow ya mind.

ok, now THAT sounds phenomenal...i'll preheat the grill and grab a decent red. swing by around 8? #mandate

Bastardized beef wellington. I'm sure it's tasty, but the original incarnation of the dish is well worth the time and effort (threw one together for a dinner party a few weeks ago to rave *kitten*' reviews. It took three days to properly prep, but it was better than sex on mescaline.)

Three days to prep?

I'm cancelling my subscription to this news letter. Ain't nobody got time for that!

It's not like I stood in the kitchen for 72 hours, sleep deprived and covered in my own filth! You just have to prepare the mushroom mixture and let the flavours meld, and get the pastry dough properly rested, and then there's a process of preparations and then refrigerations in the several hours prior to cooking.

If it's less greasy, it has less fat, which means it's probably just a better cut of meat than what you normally buy (ground chuck vs. filet mignon, for example).

The calories should be the same.

If it's got less fat and the cut is better, likely, the calories are NOT the same, as less fat usually means less calories (unless it's a product where sugar is added to compensate for taste.)

The same cut from the grocery store is going to have the same calories as the same cut from his friend's cow. THAT was my point.

It's ground. There is no "cut." Obviously there is lass fat though...is my point.

Send it to a lab for testing. Otherwise, use the *fake beef listing

It's not like I stood in the kitchen for 72 hours, sleep deprived and covered in my own filth! You just have to prepare the mushroom mixture and let the flavours meld, and get the pastry dough properly rested, and then there's a process of preparations and then refrigerations in the several hours prior to cooking.

Ok, I'll cut you a little slack. :laugh:

Disclaimer: I spent nearly five hours for my husband's birthday dinner/cake between prep and cook time.Sometimes it's worth it for something special. However, I stand by my claim about sex on mescaline. :smokin:

Did a Google image search for pretentious cow, hoping to find a funny gif that would reflect my amusement at this thread. Alas, there was none.

I'm just really stoked they're bringing back those, "Where's the beef?" t-shirts.

The stuff at the grocery store isn't real beef??

What if I don't know anyone with a cow???

Real cows say moo, grocery store cows say μ.

haha, I laughed at that way more than I should've