HIGHLAND BEEF COOKING TIPS:
Grassfed beef requires 30% less cooking time and is meant for Rare to Medium Rare cooking. Your meat should be at room temp before cooking (don’t thaw in microwave). Use tongs instead of a fork (fork can cause juices to be lost). Marinate steaks or tenderize with mallet etc. (no need to get carried away with the pounding!!) It is important to remove the meat from the heat source and let it rest. It will continue to cook internally and juices are retained if the meat is allowed to rest. Treat grassfed beef like wild game (venison, ahi tuna). Grassfed beef is as low in fat as Chicken breast.
STEAKS
1. Use a marinate that doesn’t mask the meat flavor..any marinate using lemon, vinegar, wine, beer or bourbon would be good. Always marinate in the refrigerator for safety.
2. Coat a thawed steak with your favorite rub. A top steak chef secret is to use fresh garlic butter in the final minute of cooking.
Cooking:
Grill: Use hot fire to sear (20-30 sec) on each side (seal in natural juices)
After searing, reduce heat to med or low and try 3-4 min for first side and 2-3 minutes for second.
Ideally the internal temp of the grill (with the top down) should be 300-325 degrees.
Stove top cooking: chefs do steaks on the stove all the time. You have more control over temp than on grill.
BURGERS
1. Grass-fed Highland burgers are 85 to 90 % lean. Some moisture is needed to compensate for lack of fat. Coat your burgers and grill with Olive oil or other light oil.
2. Use a very hot fire. Sear burger quickly over high heat on both sides to seal in juices (20 to 30 sec) and then reduce heat to medium or low.
3. Try 3-4 min. for the first side (after searing for 30 sec) and 2-3 min for the second.
4. When the burger starts to feel firm, it is about done. Cooking slower allows internal portion of the burger to cook without drying out the outer part of the meat.
5. Do not press the burger while cooking, as it forces the juices out of the meat. Also, keep your eye on the fire, as it is easy to over-cook the burgers, resulting in a very dry piece of meat. Burgers can go from perfect to overcooked in less than a minute.
ROASTS
1 Reduce the temp of your grain-fed beef recipes by 50 degrees (generally to 275 for roasting)
2. Use slightly shorter cooking time even at the lower temp.
3. Use the lowest heat setting in a crock pot.
4. Always preheat your oven.
5. Coat with olive oil when roasting and sear first before placing in oven. Use moisture from sauces to add to tenderness when cooking.
6. A roast can go from perfect to overcooked in less than 5 minutes.
7. Use a thermometer to test for doneness, watch it carefully. Remove the roast from your heat source 10 degrees before it reaches the desired temp. (we like 115-125 degrees)
8. Rest the roast 8 – 10 min before cutting.
Internal temperature guide:
Steaks and Roasts:
Rare: 120 – 125 degrees
Med. Rare: 130-135
Medium: 140-145
Med. Well 155-165
Well: 170
Lean meat is best eaten rare or medium rare !!
If you must have your meat well done…try a steak cooked to medium.
Or..cook at low temp. in a sauce to add moisture.
