An Essential Guide to Beef a Cattle Farm Shares How to Purchase and Prepare Beef

Get frozen meat shipped to your door! Visit our Home Delivery (Shipping) page under the Ways to Buy menu to learn more.

Grass-Fed and Grass-Finished - Most beef raised in the United States eat their natural diet of grass for only a short period of their life. They often eat grass, along with grain supplements, while they are young and are sent to feedlots during the last several months of their lives. There, they are primarily fed a mixture of corn and soy. Some producers claim that their beef is grass-fed, even though they feed grain by-products and still "finish" on feedlots. Our cattle are 100% grass-fed and finished, meaning they spend their whole lives grazing the food that their bodies were designed for.

Antibiotic-Free

- Cattle finished in a feedlot are given regular doses of antibiotics for two major reasons: 1) to prevent illness from spreading rapidly within crowded enclosures, and 2) because antibiotics have a growth-enhancing effect in cattle, encouraging cattle to gain an excess of weight in a fraction of the time. Being antibiotic-free means our cattle are allowed to grow at a natural rate, roaming with all the space they like on large fields of pasture.

Primals, Sub-Primals, and Cuts

- Primals are large sections of the whole beef side, grouped according to their location in the body (seen in the illustration above). They can be further broken down into sub-primals, then into the muscle cuts or portions that you see in our online shop or at the grocery store. It's helpful to know where the cut comes from in the beef, as it can help determine best cooking methods. Hard-working, high-use areas—e.g. the round primal—are going to be leaner and tougher. They do better when cooked slowly in a moist environment (like braising). Lower-use areas, like the tenderloin, make ideal cuts to cook with hot, dry heat (like grilling or searing).

Marbling

- Marbling is the term used for intramuscular fat found within a muscle cut of beef. In other words, it's the streaks of fat that run within and through a steak or roast. This fat renders and provides juiciness and tenderness to the meat during cooking. Ribeyes tend to have the highest degree of marbling out of the beef cuts.

USDA Grades

- These are the USDA classifications of quality, based on the tenderness, juiciness, and flavor of the beef. When grading, inspectors primarily look at the ribeye cut at the 12th rib to judge the amount of marbling. In order from lowest to highest, the grades you'll see sold are Select, Choice, and Prime. Because grass-fed cattle are often leaner than grain-fed, a Prime rating can be difficult to achieve (luckily, we know the secrets to frequently meet Prime grade).

Dry-Aged/Wet-Aged

- Aging can help create more tender, flavorful cuts. Dry-aged beef has been hung in a cold, dry environment (typically for 1-4 weeks). During this process, excess moisture evaporates leaving a more concentrated flavor in the meat and enzymatic reactions break down connective tissues to tenderize the muscle. In wet-aging, the meat is vacuum-sealed and kept cold; it does not go through any moisture loss but still benefits from natural tenderizing.

Chuck Roast

The area from which this roast is cut is particularly well exercised, so it's got a lot of connective tissue that could make it tough—that is, if it didn't have its secret weapon: fat. When cooked low and slow, the generous deposits of marbling will render and baste the rest of the meat, yielding a mind-blowingly delicious, fall-apart roast. Because of its perfect ratio of meat to fat, chuck is a popular choice for making ground beef.

Recommended Cooking Methods:

Roasting — Braising/Stewing — Pressure Cooking — Slow Cooking

Recipe Ideas

- Roast with potatoes, carrots, onions, and tomatoes in a 325°F oven or slow cooker until meat shreds easily with a fork.
- Cut into cubes, sear on all sides, and add to homemade chili. Simmer until tender.
- Cube and grind (or pulse in a food processor) to make your own ground beef. Form patties and grill into the best hamburgers ever.

Arm Roast

Also known as a shoulder roast, this cut is leaner than your typical chuck roast. Give an arm roast plenty of time in a low oven or slow cooker to get tender, but keep your eye on it! Even roasts can overcook. This makes a great cut to thinly slice and serve cold on sandwiches the next day.

Recommended Cooking Methods:

Roasting — Braising/Stewing — Pressure Cooking — Slow Cooking

Recipe Ideas

- Braise with red wine, beef stock, and mushrooms in a covered Dutch oven in a 325°F oven until tender.
- Cut into small cubes, sear, and simmer with celery, carrots, and onion in beef stock until tender. Add in barley and chopped kale for a comforting beef & veggie stew.

Flat Iron Steak

Also known as a top-blade steak, this little cut is an great solution to a steak craving. It tends to be a bit more tender than its neighboring cuts and can actually be grilled or seared with great success. Watch out though, it does tend to have some connective tissue, so we recommend that you slice it (against the grain!) before serving so you can cut out any tough parts. It's perfect for carne-asada style tacos or to serve alongside a chimichurri sauce. If you're a fan of flank or skirt steaks, you'll like the flat iron.

Recommended Cooking Methods:

Marinating & Grilling — Searing/Stir-Frying — Smoking

Recipe Ideas

- Marinate and grill to serve as a sliced steak or use in tacos or fajitas.
- Slice raw and sear over high heat. Add to stir-fry veggies and sauce and serve over rice.

Ribeye Steak

Ribeyes are commonly found either bone-in or boneless. Their rich flavor and buttery tenderness make them one of the most classic steak choices, from backyard grill nights to fine steakhouses. Treat your ribeyes simply with straightforward seasoning (hello, salt & pepper) and skip the marinating—they don't need it—to fully experience the gold standard of steaks.

Fun fact: ribeyes with a large bone extending out from the top are known as tomahawk or cowboy steaks.

Recommended Cooking Methods:

Grilling — Searing — Sous Vide & Reverse Searing

Recipe Ideas

- Heat a few tablespoons of oil in a cast iron over high heat until lightly smoking. Add salted steaks and sear on both sides until a dark golden crust forms. Rest at least 10 minutes before enjoying.
- Rub steak with oil, salt, pepper, and smoked paprika. Grill over high heat and rest for at least 10 minutes before enjoying.

Prime Rib

Is there any cut of beef that is more fitting for a celebration? The prime rib is also known as a ribeye roast because—you guessed it—it's an uncut portion of the same region where we get the steaks. One side of this cut tends to be covered in a layer of fat; score it lightly with a knife and cook with the fat-side up to encourage self-basting.

Recommended Cooking Methods:

Roasting — Smoking

Recipe Ideas

- Rub all over with Dijon mustard and season generously with salt, freshly cracked black pepper, and chopped rosemary and thyme. Sear and roast in a 350°F oven until the internal temperature reaches 135°F for medium-rare and 145°F for medium. Alternatively, smoke at 225°F for 3 to 4 hours.

Short Ribs

Located at the lower end of the rib primal, short ribs are one of the most versatile selections of beef. They can be cut in a variety of ways. We usually have the most common type, English cut, which are thick portions made up of one bone each surrounded by meat. They are better for slow cooking (especially braising). You can also find flanken cut short ribs, which are thinly sliced across multiple rib bones. Flanken cut is often used in Korean-style barbecue as it's narrower slices are more suited for grilling. Boneless short ribs are also found, but these are typically from the plate or chuck primals.

Recommended Cooking Methods:

Roasting — Braising/Stewing — Pressure Cooking — Grilling — Smoking

Recipe Ideas

- Sear and braise in beef stock and/or red wine, mushrooms, carrots in a 325°F oven until meat pulls apart with a fork. Alternatively, use a pressure cooker to braise in a fraction of the time.
- Rub with your favorite barbecue rub and smoke at 225°F until internal temperature reaches 180°F.

New York Strip Steak

Depending on your region, you may also know this steak as the Kansas City Strip Steak. Boneless and lean, the strip steak is one of the easiest cuts to eat (beyond it being incredibly delicious). When cooking, keep an eye on the doneness—because it doesn't have a lot of fat, it can overcook faster than a ribeye. Keep your thermometer nearby and don't forget to let it rest after you take it off the heat.

Recommended Cooking Methods:

Grilling — Searing — Sous Vide & Reverse Searing

Recipe Ideas

- Heat a few tablespoons of oil in a cast iron over high heat until lightly smoking. Add salted steaks and sear on both sides until a dark golden crust forms. Rest at least 10 minutes before enjoying.
- Rub steak with oil, salt, and pepper. Grill over high heat and rest for at least 10 minutes before enjoying.

T-Bone/Porterhouse Steaks

These two steaks are combination cuts, both with a large "T" shaped bone across the top and middle. On one side of the bone is a strip steak, on the other a portion of tenderloin. The differentiator between the two is the size of the tenderloin: the T-Bone has a few bites of tenderloin attached, while the Porterhouse boasts an entire filet mignon portion. It's two premium steaks for the price of… two premium steaks. These are coveted and expensive cuts, and they take culinary prowess to cook to perfection—but when you want to feel like royalty, they're the first and best choice.

Recommended Cooking Methods:

Grilling — Searing

Recipe Ideas

- Generously season with salt and pepper and grill or sear in a cast iron until internal temperature is 120°F-130°F. Let rest for 15 minutes before enjoying.

Filet Mignon

You might recognize this as the steak that's traditionally wrapped with a strip of bacon. This is typically present to lend fat to one of the leanest cuts on the cow. While it may add flavor, this is a completely optional addition. Yes—filet mignons can get dry when cooked for too long, but with the right technique, they're one of the easiest steaks to perfect. Using a hot cast iron gives you the most control and also offers the best potential outer crust. Heat it to smoking, sear the filet mignons for 2-5 minutes per side, then let rest for at least 10 minutes before serving.

Recommended Cooking Methods:

Grilling — Searing — Sous Vide & Reverse Searing

Recipe Ideas

- Heat a few tablespoons of oil in a cast iron over high heat until lightly smoking. Add salted steaks and sear just until a golden crust forms. Flip and add a few tablespoons of butter to the pan. Once melted, use a spoon to baste the top of the steak with melted butter. Remove from heat and let rest at least 10 minutes before enjoying.

Sirloin Steak

The sirloin steak tends to be leaner and slightly less tender than its brothers, strip steaks and ribeyes. It's a more cost-effective choice for steak night and a good choice for marinating or slicing into pieces for pasta, salads, and kabobs.

Recommended Cooking Methods:

Marinating & Grilling — Searing — Stir-Frying — Sous Vide & Reverse Searing

Recipe Ideas

- Season with salt and pepper and sear in a cast iron pan. Drizzle with a homemade Italian vinaigrette and serve with pasta or salad.
- Slice into cubes and thread onto skewers along with blanched potatoes, summer squash, and sweet peppers. Season with your favorite rub and grill until veggies are tender and steak is medium.
- Marinate with soy sauce, sriracha, sesame oil, and rice vinegar. Drain and stir-fry with broccoli, snow peas, and red bell pepper.

Tri-Tip

This cut is aptly named for its triangle shape (three tips). It has a loyal fan club, and for good reason! It's as comfortable being roasted as it is being smoked or grilled. Popularized in the Santa Maria Valley of California, tri-tips are often seasoned with a blend of salt, pepper, dried garlic, and onion. Slice against the grain after cooking for the most tender bites.

Recommended Cooking Methods:

Roasting — Grilling — Smoking

Recipe Ideas

- Preheat grill for medium-high heat. Season tri-tip generously with salt & pepper or a Santa Maria rub. Brown the tri-tip on all sides, then reduce heat to medium-low and let cook until internal temperature reaches 135°F. Let rest for at least 15 minutes before slicing.

Bavette Steak

Sometimes called the sirloin flap, the bavette steak shares many similarities with flank and skirt steaks. It's a thin cut with some marbling. It does best when marinated and cooked hot and fast. It's a good pick for fajitas or other carne asada-style dishes.

Recommended Cooking Methods:

Marinating & Grilling — Searing/Stir-Frying

Recipe Ideas

- Marinate with adobo sauce, lime juice, minced garlic, and chopped cilantro. Grill until browned on both sides, slice thinly, and serve on tacos with sliced radish, scallions, and extra cilantro.

Roasts from the Round

The round contains many types of roasts originating from various places in the primal, but with most of the same properties and cooking techniques. Here's some you might recognize:

• Bottom Round Roast (also known as a Rump or Outside Round Roast)
• Eye of Round Roast
• Heel of Round Roast (also known as a Pikes Peak Roast)
• Sirloin Roast (also known as a Sirloin Tip or Round Tip Roast)
  

In general, these are best when roasted slowly. Similarly to the arm roast, these may not ever get tender enough to shred. Instead, cook these to an internal temperature of 135°F-140°F (medium-rare). Thinly slice and serve hot or cold as roast beef.

Recommended Cooking Methods:

Roasting — Braising/Stewing — Slow Cooking

Recipe Ideas

- Generously season with black pepper, salt, granulated onion, and dried herbs. Roast on a roasting rack in a 325°F oven, until internal temperature reaches 125°F (the temperature will continue to rise at it rests). Let sit for at least 20 minutes before slicing and serving with horseradish sauce.

Top Round Steak

Also known as a Round Tip Steak or London Broil. While this cut is well-suited to many cooking methods, it follows many of the same rules as the round roasts. It is a less tender cut and is best suited for medium or rarer temperatures.

Recommended Cooking Methods:

Roasting — Braising/Stewing — Pressure Cooking — Marinating & Grilling — Searing/Stir-Frying — Broiling

Recipe Ideas

- Marinate for 30 minutes in pineapple juice, soy sauce, and freshly grated ginger. Grill over high heat, just until both sides are browned. Let rest at least 10 minutes, slice, and serve with rice.

Tenderized Cube Steak

Also called cubed steaks, this style of beef can actually be made with any lean, thinner cut. Our tenderized cube steaks usually come from round steaks. They are tenderized using a cubing machine (didn't see that coming, right?), which pokes hundreds of tiny holes into the meat, disrupting the tough protein strands. This style of cut is almost exclusively used for fried beef, like country fried steak (AKA chicken fried steak).

Recommended Cooking Methods:

Frying

Recipe Ideas

- Coat cube steaks with flour, dip in beaten egg, then coat with breadcrumbs or additional flour. Shallow fry in a cast iron pan in canola oil. Serve with mashed potatoes and country pepper gravy.

Brisket

The brisket can be found in a large, whole cut or into halves: the fattier point and the leaner flat. Both are rich in flavor and should be cooked slowly in order to become tender and juicy.

Recommended Cooking Methods:

Roasting — Braising/Stewing — Pressure Cooking — Smoking — Curing & Slow Cooking

Recipe Ideas

- Rub all over with yellow mustard and season generously with a barbecue rub. Smoke until tender, wrapping halfway through if needed to insulate during cooking.
- Sear and cover with beef stock. Braise in a covered Dutch oven in a 325°F oven with tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, and onion until tender and meat pulls gently when poked with a fork.

Inside/Outside Skirt Steak

Two sides of a whole, the inside and outside skirt steaks are often labeled in stores as "fajita meat." They fall in the same category as bavette and flank steaks as thin cuts that respond well to marinating and quick, high heat.

Recommended Cooking Methods:

Marinating & Grilling — Searing/Stir-Frying

Recipe Ideas

- Season generously with salt and pepper and grill over high heat until browned on both sides. Let rest for at least 10 minutes, then slice. Serve over a salad of romaine, bleu cheese, roasted red peppers, and walnuts.
- Slice raw into thin slices and saute in a cast iron pan over high heat. Remove from pan and set aside while you saute peppers and onions. Combine and serve with tortillas, avocado, and fresh salsa.

Flank Steak

Like its partner steaks, the bavette and skirt steaks, the flank is perfect for marinading and grilling or stir-frying. Unlike its partners, it also does well when braised for short periods of time, like in a carne asada chili.

Recommended Cooking Methods:

Braising/Stewing — Pressure Cooking — Marinating & Grilling — Searing/Stir-Frying

Recipe Ideas

- Slice raw into thin slices. Sear in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add pureed red chiles, beef stock, and spices like cumin, granulated onion, and oregano. Simmer until meat is tender and serve with rice.
- Rub with dried chili powder and grill over high heat. Slice and serve with a fresh chimichurri sauce and roasted potatoes.

Tongue

Beef tongue may be more recognized by its Spanish translation: lengua. While some people shy away from the idea of eating this talkative cut, anyone who has had a bite of tacos de lengua knows that tongue is tremendously tender and flavorful. It's a highly used muscle (obviously), but it has no connective tissue and is high in fat content. The raw tongue is topped with a thick layer of skin, so it must be boiled and peeled before enjoying. The traditional preparation method is to cover the tongue in water or stock (flavored with onion, garlic, bay leaves, peppercorns, cilantro stems, or other aromatics) and boil for 1-6 hours until it is cooked through and the membrane/skin peels away easily. It can then be chopped/sliced and browned in a saute pan or on a grill (or just combined with a sauce) to serve. If you haven't yet, give the beef tongue a try.

Recommended Cooking Methods:

Boiling — Pressure Cooking — Sous Vide — Grilling — Searing/Sauteing — Stewing

Recipe Ideas

- Chop boiled and peeled tongue into bite-sized pieces and brown in a pan over high heat. Pile onto warmed corn tortillas and top with fresh lime, salsa verde, chipotle puree, fresh cilantro, cotija, and/or diced white onion.
- Thinly slice boiled and peeled tongue. Serve warm or cold on your favorite crusty, rye, or sandwich bread with high-quality mayonnaise and your choice of mustard, pickles, lettuce, sliced radishes, etc.
- Chop boiled and peeled tongue and simmer in your favorite curry sauce. Serve with rice.

Cheek Meat

Beef cheek, like short ribs or many roasts, requires long, moist cooking methods (traditionally braising), but can yield mouthwateringly tender and fall-apart dishes. It can come lined with fat and sinew that can be trimmed before cooking. Serve the meat in tacos, with polenta, or silky mashed potatoes for a unique showstopper.

Recommended Cooking Methods:

Slow Cooking — Braising/Stewing — Pressure Cooking — Smoking

Recipe Ideas

- Sear cheek meat on both sides in a Dutch oven over high heat. Remove and set aside. Saute shallots, mushroom, carrots, and celery. Add in red wine and/or beef stock along with cheek and braise in a 325°F for 2 ½ - 3 hours or until meat is tender.

Heart

This cut isn't for the faint of… nevermind. Because of all the blood flow that moves through it, beef heart can have a mildly gamey flavor. It's very lean meat and contains thick valves as well as pockets of fat and gristle that can be trimmed out when splitting the heart out into sections, which is recommended when preparing. After slicing it into thinner pieces, this cut responds well to searing to rare or medium-rare. You can also stew the beef heart, and the outcome will be somewhat like that of a chicken gizzard.

Recommended Cooking Methods:

Searing — Braising/Stewing — Marinating & Grilling

Recipe Ideas

- Sear sliced and trimmed heart on both sides in a cast-iron pan over medium-high heat. Cook until internal temperature reaches 135°F. Serve with herbed butter or homemade aioli.

Liver

Many people either hate liver or adore it. What's easy to love about it: the nutrition. Liver is chock-full of Vitamins A and B12, along with iron, copper, and choline (just to name a few!) The metallic flavor that can be a turn-off to some can be diluted by soaking the liver in milk for up to 2 hours before cooking, though this step is not necessary for liver lovers.

Recommended Cooking Methods:

Searing/Stir-Frying

Recipe Ideas

- Melt butter in a cast iron pan over medium-high heat. Dredge liver in seasoned flour and sear on both sides in the hot pan. Remove and let rest while you saute onions until soft. Pour onions over liver and top with fresh chopped parsley.
- For chopped liver, sear liver on both sides and place in a food processor. Add a hard-boiled egg, minced garlic and onion, a few tablespoons of lard or oil, and fresh chopped parsley. Puree until smooth and serve with bread or crackers.

Oxtail

Although it's on the tail-end of beef cuts, oxtail isn't something to forget about. Rich in collagen, oxtails lend a luxuriously silky mouthfeel to ragus, stews, and braises. After being slowly cooked, the meat surrounding the oxtail will easily shred into succulent bites.

Recommended Cooking Methods:

Roasting — Braising/Stewing — Pressure Cooking

Recipe Ideas

- Dredge oxtails with flour, salt, and pepper. Brown on all sides in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat, then transfer to a plate. Sweat carrots, onion, garlic, celery, and fresh thyme and rosemary until softened before adding oxtails back in. Add crushed tomatoes, a splash of red wine, and beef stock and gently simmer for 3-4 hours or meat is tender.

Beef Bones

If you love making your own beef stock, you already know the magic that comes in bones. For bone broth, choose bones with an abundance of marrow running through them as it will render and add fat, flavor, and an unctuous mouthfeel. For the best flavor and to create purer stocks (more clear and with less impurities), follow the classical French method of roasting the bones before using them.

How to Cook with Beef Bones:

- Roast bones at 400°F for 30 minutes to render the fat off and brown all over. Let cool slightly and add to a large stock pot or slow cooker, along with chopped onions, carrots, celery and fresh or dried rosemary, thyme, summer savory, garlic, and peppercorns. Cover with cold water and gently simmer for at least 6 hours, skimming any foam that forms on the top. Strain and cool completely. Once cooled, it will be easier to scoop off any solidified fat so that you get a very clear stock.
- For bone broth, do not roast bones as you want the fat in your broth.

Ground Beef

The ultimate go-to for quick weeknight meals or showstopping culinary achievements; no freezer is complete without a backup supply of ground beef. You can find ground beef that ranges in lean/fat percentages, from 70/30 on the high-fat side all the way to 93/7. Hamburger that is around 85% lean is the most common and is best suited for most recipes to provide fat and flavor without making the dish greasy. Redger Farms ground beef is typically between 80-90% lean.

Recommended Cooking Methods:

Searing/Stir-Frying — Grilling — Slow Cooking — Braising — Roasting

Recipe Ideas

- Crumble ground beef in a hot skillet and cook until well-browned, about 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove beef from the pan and set aside. Add in plenty of diced onions, carrots, and minced garlic and saute until very soft, about 10 minutes. Deglaze with a splash of red wine or beef stock and pour in 2 large cans crushed tomatoes. Add beef back in along with a few sprigs of fresh basil and oregano. Bring to a simmer and cook for 20-30 minutes or until sauce is reduced and slightly sweet. Serve with cooked pasta and top with Parmesan.
- Mix ground beef, granulated onion and garlic, salt and pepper, fresh chopped parsley, 2 beaten eggs, and ⅔ cup breadcrumbs. Form into meatballs or a meatloaf and bake in a 350°F oven until internal temperature reaches 160°F. Alternatively, form into patties and grill for meatloaf "sliders."

Stew Meat

Stew meat is typically cubed pieces trimmed off of various roast cuts. It is an excellent choice for slow cooking into beef stews (of course), shredded beef, or chilis. The pieces tend to be lean, so cook them low and slow to give them ample time to become tender.

Recommended Cooking Methods:

Roasting — Braising/Stewing — Pressure Cooking — Slow Cooking

Recipe Ideas

- Sear stew meat on all sides in a Dutch oven over high heat. Add in minced onions and garlic and cook until softened. Pour in a puree of red peppers (like chipotle in adobo, New Mexican red chiles, or dried and rehydrated chiles) and water, just to cover the meat. Let simmer, covered, for 2-3 hours, or until meat is tender to the bite. Season to taste with oregano, honey, salt, and pepper. Serve on tacos with sliced radishes, sour cream, scallions, and/or chopped cilantro.
- Dredge stew meat in flour and add to a slow cooker along with chunks of carrots, onions, and potatoes (or any of your favorite squash/root vegetables). Season generously with dried herbs, paprika, and/or seasoning salt. Top with a splash of stock or water. Cook on high for 1-3 hours or low for 4-6 hours, or until stew meat is tender.

Sausages

Sausage is made with finely ground meat, flavorfully seasoned with spices like garlic, onion, red pepper flakes, fennel, marjoram, oregano, etc. The meat is traditionally stuffed into a pork casing, which is what provides the iconic "snap" when you bite into a mustard-covered bratwurst. Grass-fed sausages can be slightly leaner than grain-fed, so make sure you keep an eye on them while they're on the grill.

Summer sausages have been dried, smoked, or cured to make it shelf-stable at room temperature for long periods of time (but should be refrigerated after opening). It can be sliced and enjoyed with crackers and cheese.

Recommended Cooking Methods:

Boiling/Simmering — Grilling — Searing — Smoking

Recipe Ideas

- Simmer bratwurst sausages in beer for approximately 10 minutes, or until cooked through. Preheat grill to high heat and char brats briefly on all sides. Serve with sauteed onions and coarse mustard, either on a bun or sliced on a plate.
- Sear sausages on all sides in a pan over medium-high heat until cooked through. Slice diagonally and serve with sauteed peppers and onions over seasoned, buttered pasta.

higginsdwas1972.blogspot.com

Source: https://redgerfarms.com/beef-guide

Share this post