If you're going to buy the best for your family you should learn how to prepare and serve it safely and with enough appeal to make your family smile. Burning an expensive steak or ruining great ground beef hurts twice so it's important to take enough care in the preparation of it so that it enhances the meal rather than leading to disappointment. Don't be in a hurry to get it done, set aside enough to prepare the meal so that all the items being prepared come out and ready to serve all at their peak of flavor and temperature. To maximize flavor and juiciness, I recommend cooking at lower temperatures wherever possible.

Anytime either meat, poultry or fish is grilled or cooked at high temperature, carcinogenic heterocyclic amines (HCA) are produced where the organic matter meets the hot cooking surface. Cooking at lower temperatures produces less of the HCAs so we recommend cooking at mid-range temperatures, enough to cook but not burn or overcook red meat. The higher levels of Conjugated Linoic Acid (CLA) in grass-fed/fattened beef counteracts the carcinogenic action of HCA whereas grain-fed beef has much lower levels of CLA and is eaten at your own risk.

We also recommend the liberal use of crushed raw garlic as a seasoning and antibacterial treatment for all meats, poultry and fish, unless you or your family are allergic to garlic or its sulfur compounds. A compound, allicin, in crushed raw garlic kills bacteria, including E-coli, Staph and strep among others and it not only delightfully flavors your meat but sanitizes it by immediately killing all bacteria the garlic comes into contact with.

When it's time to grill a steak, usually a sirloin but sometimes a ribeye, we light a fire using fine kindling and twigs - no lighter fluid- in an old steel wheelbarrow out back and burn a nice sized pile of oak or pecan and add a little mesquite wood and enjoy a good time around the fire. We let the fire die down to coals and then lay a grill across the wheelbarrow to heat up and prepare the thawed steak while the coals are slowly cooling down. We coat the entire steak with two good sized cloves of garlic that have set for 15 minutes after crushing and before rubbing all over the steak, lightly salt (with unrefined sea salt) and freshly ground pepper. When the coals have cooled down enough to have a light gray ash coat on them we put the steak(s) on the grill and let them cook a few minutes before turning to expose the other side to the heat. We will usually turn them two more times so that each side has been exposed to the heat twice and when the middle has gone from red to pink but still juicy, we call them done and remove to a serving platter and serve immediately.

If you want to really spice up your ground beef, cook it outside over firewood coals like the steak above. No, don't use commercial charcoal and starter fluid, why ruin a good meal? Firewood coals are a hundred times better than even the most expensive gas grill.

We hope you enjoy your Gourmet grass-fed, grass-finished beef, however you decide to prepare it. If you have further questions or comments, please email or call us.