Sarah and I tried grass-fed beef for the first time last night. We bought ground beef from the Cleveland Food Co-op and I made charcoal-grilled cheeseburgers. I was a bit worried while making them, as this was clearly hamburger, not ground sirlion, round or chuck. There was a lot of marbling, and the grind was course.
The burgers were excellent, though. The first word that came to Sarah’s mind to describe them was “clean.” Typically, after eating beef or some cheap potato chips, one can feel one’s mouth coated in a yucky kind of grease. That was not the case with these burgers, though. The flavor of fresh beef really came through, and even Jonathan seemed to like them more than regular burgers. The course grind also made them taste meatier than supermarket burgers. And, even if the fat content was a bit high, these only have 1/3 the saturated fat of corn-fed burgers, plus some of it cooked off on the grill.
We’ll definitely try these again, although our next grass-fed meal will probably be steak, which they also carry at the Food Co-op. Click here for The Cage Free Tomato’s post on some other local options for grass-fed beef.
Looks like we’ve got some compatable tastes (or maybe I’m just swimming in your wake). We went to the Zingerman’s restaurant. Sadly, I missed the deli.
Thanks for the reference, and glad you liked the beef–some folks’ cows better than others. It sounds like you got good stuff.
Being on the West Side these days I miss the co-op as a regular shopping stop. Great blog.
I just skimmed the Zingerman’s post and didn’t catch that you visited the restaurant. I’d forgotten Zingerman’s had one (I went to U of M in Ann Arbor 88–92, when there was just the deli). We’ll definitely stop by there sometime.
Even being East siders, the Coop is a bit tricky, as we have to make a slow trek through Little Italy. The total travel time for us there and back is a little under a half hour, but to Whole Foods it’s less than 5 minutes each way. We’d like to shop at the Coop more often though.
I’m glad you like the blog. We like yours too!
–Ben