Is beef finished on grass tough?

[BedHead]

My husband claims that we will need to marinate everything to make it palatable once we get our grass finished meat. He says they finish them in feed lots on grains to add marbling, which makes them tender. What's your experience?

[AllieFaye]

Grass finished beef isn't tough, but it is strongly beef flavored. Considering that we ate mostly game before trying it, it was more palatable to our taste. Supermarket beef had an odd lack of flavor from our point of view. We can tolerate the higher end beef now, but plan to go back to 100% grass fed and finished once our budget allows.

[JElaineB]

I think it depends on what cuts you like and how you like to cook it. Anything cooked low and slow will be fine. If you like steaks that are medium-well or well-done those could be tougher due to less marbling.

[dogmom327]

Originally Posted by JElaineB

I think it depends on what cuts you like and how you like to cook it. Anything cooked low and slow will be fine. If you like steaks that are medium-well or well-done those could be tougher due to less marbling.

:

The secret to steaks is to cook them only to 130 or 135 degrees. Anything more and there isn't enough moisture/fat left to keep them tender.

[tallulahma]

we eat ours medium rare.... it was never tough- per se.... but it is definitely a different texture IMHO and took some getting used to.

my dh's best friend is a french chef and he turns his nose up at the steaks completely.... but he did enjoy my grass fed ox tails.

hth

[plantmama]

We've experienced both. We had some grass fed old dairy cow ground beef the other night that was tough...yes it was GROUND!
We get our grass fed beef from 1 farm at our farmer's market that is SOO good. We've gotten roasts, ribs, sausage, corned beef, now we're going to try to steak so we'll see if it's still as good.
The other farm has the tough problem. I honestly don't know what it is that makes them different.
We had grass fed beef from my parents' farmer's market that almost made us give it up, it was what i would call gamey and I really disliked the taste. I do like venison though. So, keep trying it until you find a farm and a cut that you like.

[velcromom]

I kind of expected it to be, but I've had it from two sources and neither was tough. Both had great beefy flavor, too. I haven't tried all the cuts in our quarter but so far, it's very good and tender despite how lean it is.

[quietserena]

My farmer friend tells me that if the animal was losing weight, meat will be tough and won't taste as good.

[Carlin]

We've been eating grass fed for 2 years now and none of it's been tough. It's often leaner and more flavorful, and of course how tender it is depends on the cut, but it's certainly not tough. Maybe try buying a couple good cuts of meat for your husband to try? I suspect he'll like it.

The main reason cattle are finished in feed lots is because you can get a lot more weight on them a lot faster than if they're only eating grass.

[pampered_mom]

I've never really noticed a difference in the roasts, but I have noticed a difference in the steaks and ground beef - although only when we make hamburgers. They key for both of those has been to avoid overcooking - medium rare is about the most done we can go. I've also noticed that the steaks are quite a bit more gamey than most other cuts. So much so that we can't actually eat them. Marinating there helps, but not enough for our tastes.

[weliveintheforest]

We have had good experiences with our grass finished meat and it has not been tough.

[~*~MamaJava~*~]

marbling has a lot to do with breeding as well - they can be bred to have better marbling.

our grass fed beef is super tender...but it is aged :

[Slabobbin]

Originally Posted by ~*~MamaJava~*~

marbling has a lot to do with breeding as well - they can be bred to have better marbling.

our grass fed beef is super tender...but it is aged :

Okay, clue me in. Why is aged bad?

[~*~MamaJava~*~]

well, they hang it, raw, for two weeks (in our case) that is sort of rotting it, right? if you listen to kevin trudeau etc they say that's terrible for you. but it's SO much more tender.

[Attached Mama]

As a former veg I can't stand meat that is tough or meaty - and I only buy humanely raised grass fed beef from local farmers.

We buy mostly ground beef which does have far less fat than grain raised. But I season it so profusely that it always tastes great to everyone. We also get london broils or other similiar steaks. I usually use them like stew beef or slow roast them in the oven with onion and garlic and oil - so they end up shredded for soups, Mexican food or stews.

I don't really ever sit down and eat a steak so I'm no help there. We did cook a roast beef cut a few months back and I was really surprised at how tender and flavorful it was (don't remember what my dh seasoned it with).

I don't buy stew beef because to me it's too fatty and tough even in a stew.

[kjbrown92]

Is it only grass finished, but grain the rest of the time? I personally wouldn't bother spending more unless it was totally grass fed, but maybe that's just me.

I bought local grass fed meat and it was very strong flavored and tough. I bought grass fed meat from TX and it was lean but tender and absolutely wonderful (and I'm ordering again as soon as they can tell me the ingredients on their sausage).

[Junegoddess]

I've had such a variety- I've now eaten grassfed beef from four different sources, but never yet noticed it being tough. We even grill the steaks- high heat, for a short time- and haven't noticed anything being too chewy. We generally don't cook them past medium-rare. I have noticed a variety of flavor. One place I got beef from the steaks and roasts were divine but the ground beef tasted like ground turkey. Very bland. Blech. Our current cow was from a dairy farm, so he was younger than usual, but not bred for marbling... so tender thanks to being semi-veal, but lots of trimming needed on the round steaks and such, due to sinewy parts. Tastes really good, though.

I've heard it over and over again that grassfed equals tough, but I've yet to experience it.

[Nan'sMom]

Originally Posted by ~*~MamaJava~*~

well, they hang it, raw, for two weeks (in our case) that is sort of rotting it, right? if you listen to kevin trudeau etc they say that's terrible for you. but it's SO much more tender.

Wow, I thought this was ok to do. Ours doesn't seem tough to me but I have no frame of reference since only the non grass-fed beef I ate was when I was a child.

[MoonStarFalling]

I'm not sure what makes them tough but I've had the most tender beef ever and it was totally grass fed yearling with almost no fat in it. I've had some tougher beef too but it was an 2 year old cow with a lot more fat on it. My friend swears that the best beef he ever had was a really old grass fed jersey.

[mnnice]

We by and eat totally grassfeed beef and lamb and I've never found it to be tough. But I think the genetics of the animals play a part. The farmer we buy our grassfeed beef from only buys from genetic lines that have never been feed grain (He started with Galloways and has been crossbreeding with Hereford bulls from some seriously old bloodlines. So each year the meat get more "Herefordy"). Both have tasted great. They did taste different to our tastebuds in the begining, but I'm not going back.