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By Cindy Sutter
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
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| The beef shortribs at the Boulder Cork are one of two grassfed beef entrees on the restaurant's menu. The Other is chopped steak. Grassfed steaks are frequently offered as specials. All other bef on the menu is antibiotic and hormone free and humanely raised. |
Executive Chef Jim Smailer, lays out rib-eye and porterhouse steaks, as well as shortribs and ground beef, in the kitchen of the Boulder Cork.
All are 100 percent grassfed; the shortribs and ground beef are on the regular menu. The other grassfed items are featured as specials.
"It's different," Smailer says of the grassfed beef. "You can see it in the color of the meat. ... I love handling it. It even has a smell that's so clean."
Smailer, the Cork's chef for 26 years and counting, is on something of a crusade. While it's not feasible for the Boulder steakhouse to use all grassfed beef -- it's costly and not available in quantities necessary for a busy restaurant centered on beef -- he features grassfed steaks frequently as a special and urges anyone who would like a grassfed steak for dinner to call in advance and ask for it. The rest of the beef he serves is humanely treated and raised without hormones or antibiotics.
"It's just gotten disastrous, how horrific the cattle industry is," he says, referring to large commercial feedlots that routinely confine beef cattle, treating them with hormones and antibiotics, and sometimes mistreating them.
The issue came to the fore earlier this year when the United States Humane Society released video of an undercover investigation at a Chino, Calif., slaughterhouse that revealed sick cows being electrically prodded and forklifted to their feet, so they could be slaughtered for food. Beef trade groups argue that such practices are a rare exception and that American beef is tasty, safe and inexpensive for American consumers. Feedlot animals are no longer fed parts of other mammals, but they may be fed such substances as the litter from chicken coops as a portion of their diet in addition to the corn or other grains.
The way animals are raised and slaughtered is something to think about this week if you're planning fire up the grill Sunday to honor Dad. For those who love a steak, there are options for celebrating Father's Day that are healthier for Dad and kinder to both cow. Grassfed beef is foremost among them.
Yet grassfed beef has a reputation for being difficult to cook, and some people don't like the flavor, which is somewhat more intense than corn-fed beef. For those who feel intimidated by grassfed, consider choosing organic beef or natural beef that specifically states that the cows have not been treated with hormones or antibiotics. Look for the Certified Humane label to discern how the animal was treated during its life, or better yet, buy the meat from a farmer you know.
If you want to try grassfed, but are a little wary, read on. Smailer and The Kitchen's head chef, Dakota Soifer, offer tips on how to cook grassfed beef, as does Carrie Balkcom, executive director of the Denver-based American Grassfed Association, which this summer plans to offer a grassfed certification program.
Correct handling is the key with grassfed beef.
"You have to cook it a little more gently," Balkcom says. "It's not an artificially enhanced meat."
The first step is to make sure to bring the beef to room temperature before cooking.
"If you put it straight on the grill, the muscle is going to seize," she says.
Soifer agrees and suggests taking the meat out of the refrigerator up to three hours before cooking. He also likes to salt it in advance, using kosher salt and letting the salt sit on the meat while it comes to temperature.
Both he and Smailer cook grassfed steaks on the grill, but watch them a little closer. They cook slightly quicker and there's less margin for error.
When Smailer cooks a porterhouse (a steak that includes the ribeye and the tenderloin), after the initial searing and turning 90 degrees to create the iconic hatchmarks, he moves the steak so that tenderloin portion with its extremely lean meat is on a less hot part of the grill.
Both chefs know the doneness of the meat by feel. The more done the meat is, the more resistance it offers to gentle poke of the finger. But home cooks can use a meat thermometer sparingly. Putting a hole in the meat can let juices run out.
For those cooking without a grill or if the steak is thick, it may be seared on the stove in a saute pan over medium high to high heat on each side and then finished by roasting in a 400-degree oven for several minutes. The timing depends on the thickness of the meat.
The most important thing after cooking, all agree, is to allow the meat to rest. Smailer suggests 5 to 8 minutes. That allows the juices to be reabsorbed into the meat, rather than running onto the plate, leaving a tough cut behind.
Smailer adds that when you cut the steak, it's important to use a sharp knife, so the meat isn't torn rather than cut. It should be sliced across the grain.
"That way the diner is eating with the grain of the meat," he says.
For those not confident about their grilling skills, a braised cut can be a great introduction to grassfed meat. Smailer loves the flavor of grassfed shortribs braised slowly in the oven. He points out how much leaner they are than their corn-fed counterparts.
Yet, he says: "They still retain that richness of flavor."
And what is that flavor like?
Smailer describes it as a more intense flavor, perhaps a little sweeter.
Balkcom turns to wine-like terms:
"It's woody, nutty, fruity," she says.
Soifer says uses the term "grassy" and says it reminds him of the way you can taste grassy elements in soft ripened cheeses.
He adds that the more intense taste and slightly more resistant texture can be surprising to some customers.
"It's all about education," he says, adding that servers learn how to explain the differences to customers when they are considering a grassfed order.
"What we can do is bring it out, pair it with seasonal vegetables to create a synergy around what's available locally and seasonally," Soifer says.
The restaurant currently is serving a ribeye, sliced across the grain and served with Colorado asparagus and a bearnaise sauce.
Smailer says he often leaves the kitchen and "hand-sells" a grassfed steak to regular customers, and he has featured grassfed meat in wine dinners in addition to the two grassfed items on the menu.
As he slices the ribeye and savors the taste, he says he hopes he can help introduce grassfed to more people.
"I just want to get the word out," he says.
For the ribs:
4 pounds grassfed shortribs, cut into one-bone sections
1 tablespoon Wondra (flour)
Salt and pepper
Best quality olive oil
For the vegetables:
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 carrots, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 sweet onion, chopped
8 cloves garlic, whole and peeled
6 cremini mushrooms, thickly sliced
6 sprigs fresh thyme
1 sprig fresh rosemary
½ cup parsley, chopped
1 cup port wine
1 bottle good quality red wine
1 cup chopped canned tomatoes
2 quarts hot chicken or beef stock
Directions: Sprinkle the shortribs with Wondra, salt and pepper and saute in the olive oil until browned on all sides. Transfer ribs to a baking pan or dutch oven.
In the pan the shortribs were sauteed in, add the vegetables and saute until just tender. When vegetables are done, add the port, wine and tomatoes. Cook mixture until reduced by 1/3 and then add add hot stock.
Pour mixture over the shortribs and roast in a covered pan for about 3 hours at 300 degrees. Skim off fat and serve bone-in.
Source: Jim Smailer, Boulder Cork
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