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Fresh Look - Marin Sun Farms Beef
June 5, 2007

My parents have always told me that I don’t appreciate a good steak. And for the most part, I think they are right. The texture and taste of the meat and the sheer amount of grease in even a small steak often turned me away. Later what I learned about how most cattle were raised in the US completely shut down my appetite for any steaks. Michael Pollan wrote the famous article in New York Magazine, March 31, 2002 - This Steer’s Life, which detailed “how a modern, industrial steak is produced in America these days, from insemination to slaughter.” The unnatural process of feeding corn to cattle that have successfully evolved over thousands of years to eat grass seemed entirely strange and wrong to me. But the economics easily explained it – profit. The government-subsidized corn is so cheap it provides huge incentives for farmers to feed corn to everything that moves. Then there is the speed of growth. In the 30’s, a steer grew to the slaughter-appropriate weight at 4-5 years old. In the 50’s, it was 2 or 3 years old. Now with corn, protein supplements, and lots of drugs, it only takes 14 months for a calf to go from 80 to 1,200 pounds. Miracle? Perhaps, in a turning the prince back into a toad sort of way. Aside from the taste, there are so many reasons that I could not stomach a conventional steak.

Then I visited Argentina and tasted for the first time what a real steak outght to taste like. What a difference! It did not have nearly as much fat as American grain-fed beef, so for me one of the ick factors was gone. The meat had so much more flavor and the texture was just right. People ate their steaks without any sauces. The natural flavor of the meat did not need to be buried under globs of artificial “enhancements”. For the first time I liked steak. After coming back from Argentina, I searched around for grass-fed beef but really could not find much available. I was told in a few grocery stores that people “preferred grain-fed beef”. When asked whether the stores ever carried any grass-fed beef, the unanimous answer was no. Interesting, so customers never had a chance to taste grass-fed beef but they clearly preferred grain-fed beef?

After much searching, I finally found that one of our local stores carried grass-fed beef from Marin Sun Farm. It has distinctively different flavor from the Argentinean grass-fed beef. But isn’t this local food all about? The local breed, climate, grass, and even water resulted in very locally flavored beef. I introduced the meat to my parents who then told me that they had to get used to the flavor. Exactly, they, as so many people, have been conditioned to the bland meat raised with bland corn from somewhere in the Midwest. And the conventional beef industry has us brainwashed into believing that we prefer the fattiness and the blandness. Sure, steak sauces with 58 different artificial flavors can “solve” any bland problem.

Marin Sun Farm raises their own livestock and also purchase from partner ranches in Marin County. All cattle are 100% grass-fed without ever receiving growth hormones or antibiotics. By that, it also means they have never been confined to a feedlot. Healthy cattle raised naturally in a clean environment, eating what they have evolved to eat. That to me, is what a great steak should come from. You can get beef from Marin Sun Farm from a list of vendors:

• Marin Sun Farms Butcher Shop (10905 Hwy 1, Point Reyes Station, CA). (415) 663-8997×204
• Good Earth Natural Foods (1966 Sir Francis Drake Blvd, Fairfax, CA) (415) 454-4633
• Bi-Rite Market (3639 18th Street, San Francisco, CA) (415) 241-9760
• 6001 California Market (6001 California Street, San Francisco, CA) (415) 221-7600
• Guerra’s Meats (490 Tarval Street, San Francisco, CA) (415) 564-0585
• Baron’s Meats (1650 Park Street, Alameda, CA) (510) 864-1915
• Baron’s Meats (3068 Claremont Avenue, Berkeley, CA) (510) 864-1915
• Country Sun Natural Foods (440 California Avenue, Palo Alto, CA) (650) 324-9190
• Anstead’s Market (428 Center Street, Healdsburg, CA) (707) 431-0530
• Willowside Meats (3421 Guernville Road, Santa Rosa, CA) (707) 546-8404
• The Palace Market in Point Reyes Station, (415) 663-1016
• San Rafael Civic Center Farmers Market
• San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers Market
• Planet Organics online store

Because grassfed beef is leaner than grain-fed, it does not have much extra fat to keep it moist when cooked too long or at temperatures that are too high. So…

Tip #1 for cooking grass-fed beef is: Do NOT overcook. Grass-fed beef generally needs 30% less cooking time than most grained fed beef. You can coat the beef with olive oil for preventing drying and easy browning.

Tip #2: Get a thermometer and keep the temperature between 145 to 155 F for medium-rare to medium. Going over 155 F is a good way to ruin your grass-fed steak

Tip #3: Do not microwave. Thaw the meat in refrigerator. Do NOT defrost in a microwave

Tip #4: Let the cooked meat rest for 10 minutes before serving. This will redistribute the juices inside the meat.

Here is more information on other locally raised grass-fed beef, who raise the cattle and where you can buy the meat.

For previous entries Fresh Look Entries:
Organic Kids’ Shirts with Cool Designs
Straus Milk, Yogurt, Ice Cream
Castor & Pollux Organix Pet Food
Rethink Roses
Cool Kids Website
Sigg Bottles

CindyW at Organicpicks

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