Grass-fed beef on the menu

[rkaiser]

Thanks for the update gaucho. Nice to know you are growing at 25% per year. That either means you will have to help build on at Lacombe or work with us at the Balzac plant.

As for the beef soaking in it's own brine in the cryovac cool aged method. After a bit of experience at our stores, we find that the drier the carcass when bagged, the better. Some of this is due to the methods used at different plants and I have to say that the best product we had processed came from the Canadian Premium Meats boys at Lacombe. Once again proving that size can make a bit of a difference. The small provincial plants seem to cut some corners, mostly due to profit margins. The chances of leakers -- or tiny wholes in the cryovac bags was definitely less prevalent in the CPM product.

I personally feel that dry aging has potential to tenderize the beef, but the extra cost needed to compensate for loss in weight is hard to recapture. It does not change the taste and I don't really think implanted hormones or beta agonists change the taste much either. These are more ethical issues and issues that we are experimenting with on humans; similar to antibiotics. And these experiments do cause tenderness and lean issues.

What can change the taste or flavour is feed, and grass finished definitely has a different flavor. So does corn vs. barley and the addition of peas and some of the other feedstuffs we are working with to trim tab the product in our Second to None stores. The Canadian Celtic product that is. The Heritage Angus product we are buying ( for pricing reasons only) is very good, and packaged well by CPM, but our loyal customers can still taste the difference. Maybe some genetics involved in flavor as well.

Have a great day everyone.

[grassfarmer]

I guess this proves there are horses for every course in the world of beef. Every customer is different - some of mine like my grassfed because they perceive it to be leaner, some because its better marbled and some because the taste is better. Gaucho thinks dry ageing can improve taste but will not definitely make it more tender. Randy reckons dry ageing will make it more tender but won't alter the taste and the shrink loss value is hard to recapture. On the restaurant deal I was talking about a steak runs $40-$65 and you have to pay extra for the potatoes and vegetables to go with it so I think they can recapture the shrink loss pretty easy.

That left me wondering what Randy was talking about with "tiny wholes in the cryovac bags ...." Is that what you get when you use Pharo genetics?

[gaucho]

Randy just so you are aware the points that I put on this sight are scientifically reviewed stats peer reviewed in the Journal of Animal science and other peer reviewed scientific journals... the data is very clear that implants and betagonists effect the sheer force of meat and therfore the tenderness of meat... when these products are used in tandem the effects on meat quality are even greater. I like to stick to facts and not feelings. GF hats off to the reataurant for being able to sell your beef at that price... unfortunatley there are not many like that.

[rkaiser]

I am sorry that your feelings come in to play each time you read and pull out the tiniest bit of information from my posts to tear apart gaucho. so much so that you obviously don't even read my words carefully before reacting.

What I said was that beta agonists and implants do not effect taste, and by the way, taste is more experiential than scientific.

I do not argue, and in fact support the facts with my opinion, that beta agonists and implants change the texture and therfore tenderness of beef.

And it is my "feeling", which I believe I am allowed, that using these experimental procedures, along with antibiotics, is causing colateral damage to the people that conventional beef producers are experimenting on.