The Meat Lessons: Grain-fed versus grass-fed beef

This week in the Olliffe Test Kitchen we decided to join the debate over grass versus grain-fed beef. We secured a total of eight striploins of which 4 were grain-fed and the remainder grass-fed. The 100% grass-fed striploins were purchased at a reputable butchershop in Toronto and Olliffe supplied the AAA Striploin sourced from Wellington County in Ontario.

The Wellington County beef is grass-fed in pasture and then finished with corn the last 90 days. Finishing with corn does increase the fat content and therefore marbling that contributes to tenderness and flavour.

The aged 100% grass fed beef was supplied through a reputable butchershop in Toronto sourced from Ontario. There is generally little marbling however, and the argument is that grass-fed beef has a beefier taste.

As you can see there is a contradiction when grass-fed beef is said to have a beefier taste when at the same time corn-finished beef is to have more of the flavorful fat. Our testing kitchen wanted to get to the bottom of the debate.

Before cooking each tasting judge viewed the NY Striploins. The grass-fed muscle had beautiful deep red colour as the corn-finished was more opaque. Both had the same consistency in body when prodded however the grain-fed had considerably more moisture. Interestingly we noticed that the grass-fed butcher decided to leave on a considerable amount of fat covery around the steak. We wondered if this was to compensate for the lack of marbling.

The test kitchen and the six tasting judges were asked to grade each beef varietal on three merits: texture, tenderness and flavour. It is important to state that the tasters were asked to put aside any environmental and nutritional arguments that have contributed to the debate and focus solely on the three merits that encompass taste:

Texture: The two opposing striploins were profoundly different. This was confirmed upon initial texture tasting. In the blind tasting each tasting judge had the ability to discern each varietal with 100% accuracy. Also, the fat left on by the grain-fed butcher was very tough and the judges were unable to chew through it.

Tenderness: After taking the rare steaks off the cast iron pan to rest we knew upon slicing that the grass-fed would be less tender. It should be noted that grass-fed steaks did have more of a chew but some people enjoy that, especially with a NY cut. The Wellington County corn-finished was very tender. Our test kitchen believes that the excess moisture in the grass-fed beef plus the high heat from the cast iron pan caused the muscle to contract that may have contributed to lesser tenderness.

Flavour: None of our tasters were able to discern a beefier flavour with either steaks therefore debunking the beefier tasting argument of the grass-fed. They definitely tasted different, but none were able to discern a grassy taste that is often attributed to grass-fed beef. Interestingly some of the tasting judges were able to sense a livery taste with both steaks.

Based on taste alone, setting aside nutritional and environmental arguments, we were able to state with confidence that the corn-finished beef is superior in each of the judging criteria of texture, tenderness and flavour.

Chief Forager joins The National Post The Appetizer

The Meat Lessons: Know your beef

Posted: October 15, 2009, 4:09 PM by Brad Frenette

Sam Gundy, Olliffe, The Meat Lessons

Along with two brothers, Sam Gundy is owner of Olliffe, Purveyor of the Finest Meats located at The Shops of Summerhill in Toronto. Gundy will be contributing to The Appetizer as our new resident meat expert, posting about the fine points of meat.

When you visit your butcher you may see tags such as “Prime", "AAA Choice", or "Single A". But what do they mean? Understandably, the labels can be a bit confusing, but once the system is explained, it's actually quite simple to understand.

Buying beef at your local provider is easy, buying excellent beef does take a bit of knowledge. At Olliffe, when customers ask what to look for in selecting their steak or weekly joint, we break it down to four easy identifiers:

1. Muscle: Muscle is the lean part of beef that should be bright to deep red. Often you will see your local butcher cutting steaks and notice the colour has a purple hue. This is normal due to a lack of oxygen touching the beef and with time the oxygen will quickly turn to the normal deep red you know. Consider ground beef – the outside is always red but the inside remains purple.

Beware of moist meat or blood pooling. This means the beef has not been properly aged. If possible, touch the piece you are considering to buy. Beef should be firm and dry; if it is wet and floppy a red flag should go up in telling you that the beef purveyor is cutting corners and rushing his product to market.

2. Marbling: Marbling is the fat consisting of small white flecks throughout the red muscle of beef. When you look at marbling you want to see a striking contrast of white and red and more of the white flecks generally means higher quality. Marbling is a key contributor to juiciness, tenderness and most importantly, flavour.

3. Government Grading: In Canada our abattoirs are broken down into federal and provincial inspection processes. Provincial abattoirs are generally smaller in production, localized, are not allowed to ship across provincial boundaries and are unable to “officially” grade their beef. There are many excellent producers who prefer the provincial abattoirs due to ease of market access such as our exclusive supplier, Scotch Mountain Meats.

At The federal abattoir level the grading of beef occurs where you will find the nomenclature (from superior to least) “Prime”, “AAA”, “AA”, and “A” classes of beef. In order to obtain a higher grade, each beast is inspected by an agent of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency or CFIA on site. The grading system relates back to how much “marbling” the animal has.

At the best butchershops you will find AAA or Prime graded beef which often comes at a higher dollar cost than the A or AA beef you find in the bargain bin of the larger supermarket chains. Before starting the oven for your next roast it is good to consider that the value is placed on quality rather than the price point.

4. Know Your Butcher: A good butcher lives and breathes meat. Our butchers are cutting and tying steaks and roasts within easy talking distance of the customers. The best butchershops in Toronto do make their butchers available should a special need or cut arise. Consequently your local butcher should know their product and be able to satisfy most informational or practical requests.

no-sweat Thanksgiving meal

Toronto Life Daily Dish, October 7, 2009

Attention, time-crunched turkey lovers. This weekend, some of Toronto’s top chefs and gourmet shops are offering no-fuss Thanksgiving meals to satisfy all tastes. From take-out options to sit-down dinners, here are our picks.

• Rosedale’s Olliffe recommends against buying pre-cooked turkey—reheating tends to dry the meat out. The gourmet shop sells their birds trussed, stuffed and ready for the oven. Hosts anticipating many guests can opt for one of the larger birds: a 25-pounder will easily feed 30. And for people looking to skip endless prep work, Olliffe also sells fresh cranberry sauce, gravy and stuffing.

Olliffe. $5 per pound. 1097 Yonge St., 416-928-0296, olliffe.ca.

Full article at torontolife.com