$3.99/lb grass fed beef tenderloin
I picked up 2 of them this week! We have a new supermarket near my work, Price Rite. As part of their grand opening they have whole beef tenderloins on sale. They are grass fed from Australia. I've never cooked grass fed beef before, and I'm afraid of ruining them. I plan on cutting them down into steaks & perhaps a roast from each. Any suggestions on cooking both the roast & the steaks. I'd love to grill them, and I've done alittle online research that said to cook them for less time than grain fed. I'd love to hear from anyone who has cooked grass fed tenderloin before!? Thanks!
Add a comment:
Previewing your comment:
HTML Hints
Some HTML is OK: <a href="URL">link</a>, <strong>strong</strong>, <em>em</em>
Comment Guidelines
Post whatever you want, just keep it seriously about eats, seriously. We reserve the right to delete off-topic or inflammatory comments. Learn more at our Comment Policy page.
If you see something not so nice, please, report an inappropriate comment.
Start Talking!
Need a question answered? Have advice to share? Start a Talk topic now!
Sign up to get your questions answered and share advice.
6 Comments:
In general, you'll want to grill grass-finished steaks at a lower temperature (typically 50 F lower than what a recipe calls for) and for less time than a commodity-quality grain-finished steak. A lot of folks suggest that you also not cook your grass-finished steaks past medium rare because such beef tends to have less intramuscular fat in it. This fat can provide a sensation of juiciness in a steak. If you have a copy of Harold McGee's book on Food & Cooking, you'll see that most meat cooked past medium (140 F) begins to exude juice so this would be true for most commodity steaks, too, even those with a high degree of intramuscular fat (marbling).
Another thing that could impact how you cook the steaks (or roast) is whether and how the beef has been aged. If it was dry-aged (which I doubt), the flavor will likely be more adventurous and the meat more tender but the beef would have already lost some moisture.
Net: Without seeing the meat, I'd probably grill it up rare and then have a nice compound butter to melt over the top to give that juicy sensation! With the roast, I'd make a Wellington, yum.
ps On an anecdotal basis, beef raised without the use of growth hormones - whether grass-finished or grain-finished - seems to cook a bit faster than commodity beef. Up to 20% faster.
pps What surprises me is the price of your tenderloins. The price today of whole untrimmed tenderloins, grain-finished commodity beef, Choice grade, is $5.87 (which FWIW is actually already quite low compared to the price I've seen at other times of year).
OliverRanch at 3:21PM on 03/31/09
We tend to use a variation on the Alton Brown method. We grill a nice sear on stovetop [a ribbed cast iron bacon skillet does this nicely] and then finish in the oven. A lot of it is purely by guess and by golly experience as far as temps or times, and for a large piece of meat we'll use a thermometer go guage doneness.
Nursie at 3:36PM on 03/31/09
yes, i've gotten 3 of these tenderloins so far.... so cheap, i'm almost afraid to eat it... but i did, and it's very good..... we grilled them up and they were fine, rare & med. rare. perfect.
in fact i'm roasting up a chunk tonite, i'll sear it up and then lower it down to 325 degrees to finish it off....baby new potatoes .... maybe a little compound butter.... or some ewe's blue cheese ....
pooch at 4:08PM on 04/01/09
Thanks for the tips!
@OliverRanch - yes...the price of these is incredible. I attributed it to the grand opening of the store...last week I got full racks of ribs for .99/lb...there are 2 three packs in my freezer. So far I've picked up 2 more tenderloins....I hope to grab more tomorrow.
I cooked up some of the first one tonight. I was suprised how much trimming I had to do, I've never been able to work with beef tenderloin before. Once I trimmed it up into a nice loin, a couple small 'roast' type pieces and a pound or so of cubes, I cut 6 medallions and grilled those off. I rubbed them w/olive oil & salt & pepper. My dh likes his steak well done..which made me nervous w/the grass fed part of the equation, but I seared them hot then cooked them on a lower heat til they were medium well. (I know...sad.....) I cooked mine rare and everything turned out perfect. I even tested a piece of his well, and it was still tender. I wish I could grab this deal every week.....guess I'll have to be satisfied with 4 in the freezer!
mepolo at 8:04PM on 04/02/09
first of all, cash in a cd, get a second mortgage on your home or rob a tourist and buy as much of this at that price as possible. don't get caught up on the grass/grain fed beef stuff, cook them the same way.
olddad at 8:39PM on 04/02/09
@olddad...got about 30 lbs chillin in my fridge waiting for me to break it down right now....wish I could have gotten more but they had a 2 per person limit...although I did consider going through each register w/2 at a time for as long as I could get away with it. I ended up w/6 total.
Unfortunately we just got 1/4 cow about a month ago, along w/the 6 racks of ribs I got last week @ .99/lb, and various other meat stuff in our basement freezer, so I knew I wouldn't have room for more!
Hopefully the bargain will come up again sometime! :-)
mepolo at 2:18PM on 04/04/09