100% grass fed beef. Icky! Am I crazy?

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I went to the greenmarket in Union Sq today and picked up a bunch of stuff. I was about to hop on the subway when I decided to text my SO. As I stood there, the seller nearest me, offered his "shade from the sun" while I texted. Then I got lured into buying his beef. I must admit that I had heard the grass fed beef might taste odd to most of us not used to it. I decided to buy the beef patties, because I did not want to spend more money if the meat wasn't to our liking. So, here I made a delicious cucumber salad, a potato salad, and jalapeno butter grilled corn. I sliced the sweet onions an heirloom tomato to put on top of our grilled burgers. We sat down and took one bite each and looked at each other with faces of disgust. We hated the taste of the meat. I seriously put my burger down and said "Let's order pizza". I figured the salads and produce would hang well until tomorrow when we can make burgers with meat from our butcher. But, am I crazy? Am I missing something? We do try to eat organically and we do love adventurous food. But we just did not like the beef. I almost feel wrong for not liking it. Thoughts?

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Me too. I really wanted to like it, but I thought it was gamey and I could definitely taste that it had more flavor and less fat. We did tried it on the Big Island at Merriman's, so it was locally source. I might try it again just to be sure.

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I think it depends on the producer and other factors. I buy ground grassfed beef from Trader Joe's and like it quite a bit. In fact, I was expecting the worst given the complaints about the flavor. I do, however, use it for kebabs, so the aleppo pepper, mint, red pepper paste, etc. are adding (and potentially masking) flavor.

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Can't say you don't have a right to your taste - but I wonder what you expected, and how you'd describe what you tasted (and what about it you disliked).

I had some and remarked "gosh this actually tasted like beef, not cardboard."

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I've been purchasing grass fed ground beef from a local family farm at our farmers market for a couple of years and it has been consistently good. I tried a steak a year or so ago and wasn't impressed but I can't remember if I bought it from the farmer or WF. Anyway, I really want to like it as well and I understand it can vary from farmer to farmer and seasonally. Last weekend on impulse I decided to try again and I bought one ribeye on the bone and one strip from the same farm. I wasn't expecting a lot but they were awesome. Some of the best steak I've had in a long time - flavorful - beefier, chewy but still tender. If you care about eating pastured beef you might keep trying different sources until you find one you like.

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I don't find it icky, but I do find it inferior to grain finished beef. I've had grass-fed filet that I paid out the nose for at at high end restaurants...L'Etoile in WI comes to mind. That rest. is consistently on the Gourmet top 50 list (assuming that means anything) and is one of those places where every component of a dish is preceded by the name of the farmer. The founder worked originally w/ Alice Waters. So I make the assumption they served the best available. The steak was very good, but not as delicious as many others I have had...Coleman and Lobels come to mind.

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It's so odd to me when people don't like the taste of grass fed beef- grass feeding is how cows are supposed to be fed- it's how beef is supposed to taste. Beef isn't meant to be fed on grain or that slop they feed them now.

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All of our beef in Colombia is fully range/grass fed. When I visit the US, beef tastes like...nothing.

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I'd think it depends on the producer. Until recently, the last time I had grass-fed beef was years ago at the home of a friend to raised cattle. I didn't like it; it was gamey,

But just last night I had a grass-fed ribeye (from the Tallgrass company) that had great flavor, certainly better than any grain-fed steak I've ever bought from a supermarket.

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I find the same thing with grass fed bought from the Farmer's Market in GAP and some of the grass fed from the Park Slope Coop. The meat is tough and has a lot of gristle. Saying that, I will ay it depends on the farm you buy it from. To me the best rib eye out there is by Hardwick's. It's 100% grass, has a nice fat content, it's buttery and has very little gristle. As for ground beef, I will always grind it myself, this way I know what to expect.

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personally i love grass fed beef. however, when i've served it, about half of the people aren' t fans....

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Don't feel wrong...if you have not had it before, it will take getting used to.

Along Sam F's lines, I am from Guatemala and while I lived there as a teenager, all we ate was grass fed beef (because that is how its done down there). My father has a dairy farm and those cows are out in the pasture all the time and depending on what grasses they are eating that is the subtle flavor that comes thru the milk...it is also heavily influenced by the season as well (rainy vs. dry). So it is same with grass fed beef, they are what they eat :D. You may have to shop around until you find the the one ranch whose grass fed taste you like. I would not give up just yet.

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It's unfortunate that we have become culturally conditioned to prefer the taste of beef raised in a manner that is not only worse for the cows but is also worse for the environment and our own health.

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I like grass-fed beef, but not as beef jerky for some strange reason.

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Since I'm used to grain-fed beef, grass-fed beef is too gamey for me.

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was it the taste, or the texture, or both? I ask because grass-fed has less fat content & burgers can get tough when subjected to normal (grain-fed) beef cooking treatment.

also, since the patties were ready-made, you don't know what cuts went into them. some cuts definitely have a more game-y/liver-y taste.

I recommend that you try again...but go with a good cut - try a thick-cut (1.5-2 in.) new york steak. Split one between you and SO & you will be spending less than $20.

Some websites (including grass-fed beef suppliers!) recommend cooking grass-fed beef more delicately (lower heat; less time). I think this misleads. The best way is to season with salt & pepper, brush with olive oil & grill over a *high* heat fire to sear both sides nicely dark brown & grill-marked. Then move off direct heat & let the steak roast until the thickest interior is 120 degrees. (I like to throw some wood chips over on the charcoal side for this part).

Let rest for 5 minutes or so after you remove from the heat. Interior should rise another few degrees or so & be fairly rare.

...so...quick direct heat for exterior crusty flavor & then slow, even heat to finish.

If you like your steak medium or above, then skip the whole thing.

-E

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I also grew up eating grass fed beef. To me, the US beef is like pink cottonwool. Bland and mushy. I also like goat and mutton. It tastes like meat!

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We buy all of our beef from a local farm that pastures their animals from birth to slaughter. The taste is the differece between budweiser (grain fed) and a wonderful microbrew (grass fed). 

I really enjoy the way the flavor is different depending on the time of year, etc. To me, these differences are akin to a wine's terroir. Grain fed beef is quite literally a factory product. If that is your bag, fine. I, personally, am not keen on it.

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I have bought grass fed beef hamburger at the grocery store. It was a little gamey, more like farm raised buffalo. It also had a distinctively more beefy taste. 

The farmer we bought a 1/4 cow from mostly grass feeds, he was going to finish the cow the week before it was sent to the meat locker on grains. He changed his mind at the last minute, said the cow didn't need additional fattening up. So what we ended up with was basically grass fed and it is awesome stuff. It tastes more beefy but not gamey. The steaks practically fall apart, but some of the traditionally tougher cuts are tougher than grain fed grocery store equivalents.

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I'm curious--how does the flavor of grass fed beef compare to buffalo meat? We eat buffalo all the time and like it quite well. To me, it has a sweeter, more mineral flavor that I wouldn't describe as gamey, though it's certainly more flavorful than grain fed beef. Do they compare?

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i'd say, yeah you're crazy-- but that would be rude. also i think maybe something else is going on.
i think that the op got pressured by the seller into buying something she wasn't sure she'd dig, then she may not have prepared it correctly, it's hard to tell from the post. it's also unclear whether the "beefy, meaty" taste was too strong or whether it was too lean & it got overcooked. she just says "we hated the taste of the meat" and doesn't say what she was tasting.

just as milk from pastured cows can taste different at different times of the year and due to different regions/types of pasture, grass-fed beef can vary due to what the animal ate. if the farmer is serious about the taste of his animals' meat, s/he will take care of the pastures and the types of grasses that grow there. 

assuming it was a "pressure sale"-- maybe the guy is unscrupulous or sloppy. maybe he's selling you patties because they're from old, tough animals-- milkers, maybe? or maybe the meat was overcooked & that's why it didn't taste good.

ask a friend who enjoys grass-fed beef where they prefer to buy their beef (butcher, store, farm. . .) & share a meal with them. maybe you like grass-fed beef, just not those burgers from that farmer/producer. give it a second shot before panning all grass-fed beef. to me, grass fed is wonderful!

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I've had grass fed beef that is amazing, and grass fed beef that is awful. Like any artisinal product, quality varies from producer to producer. Would you judge all goat cheese by one mediocre gouda?

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Today I wanted to buy some good beef to feed my family (6 at home tonight). Knowing this could get expensive, I went to my local Wild Oats, in search of some grassfed. Incredibly, their grassfed filet mignon was $17.99 per pound compared to $24.99 for regular. I bought 2lbs., and proceeded to grill it, and accompanied it with old school baked potatoes, a salad made from arugula, basil, and napa cabbage, and a bottle of "Heart of Darkness" 2004. It was delicious. And my grocery bill was less than what one person would cost at a steakhouse. My family has no problem with grassfed meat. That's what I buy whenever given the choice. It just tastes better to me.

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I'm thinking that maybe something was wrong in the packaging. I bought some grass fed steaks from an organic farm that wrapped the steaks in butcher paper and then froze. The steaks were freezer burned and tasted awful. I recently bought some at my farmers market that were shrink vac-packed and were wonderful.

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What's the difference between grass-fed beef and Kobe Beef from Japan? What do they feed the Japanese Cows that makes their meat so expensive?

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No...I would not say I was pressured, as I was already interested in a way. Although, my interest was not enough to actually make me buy it until they purveyor offered me his shade from the hot NYC sun while I was texting. I went for the beef patties, because they were cheap and did not want to spend and arm and a leg on my first foray into grass fed beef. Do you think if I bought a whole cut, like a rib eye, it would be "easier" to accept? The taste was very, welly, grassy, my BF said "like hay", and also kinda metallic. And it had an interesting smell. We understand that cows are meant to eat grass and I totally acknowledge that my taste buds have been treated to grain fed beef for 32 years, for good or bad, but as much as I would like to train my palette to accept grass fed, this experience has gotten me running from it. 

Fortunately, I bought free range farm chicken at the Greenmarket in Sunnyside today and I know that is something we already like better than the supymarket kind.

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Yeah, maybe it was the producer. I recently bought some New Zealand grassfed ground beef from Citarella, made a hamburger at home, and it was the best hamburger I've ever had in my life by miles. A friend at work tried it and she loved it too. It was truly superior. Certainly not gamey or tough in any way. More like melt in your mouth and so fresh. Of course, we're not doing the environment any favors flying things in from New Zealand but it was so delicious I will have to get it again.

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Grass-fed beef tastes like... beef. It's just more intense.

Also, grass-fed beef (or any animal) is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which is an essential nutrient. Grain-fed beef has more omega-6 fatty acids. The ratio of omega3:omega6 is critical for metabolism. 

In other words, omega 6 intake reduces out the benefits of omega-3 intake. Ratios that favor omega-3 will reduce inflammation, blood clotting, and tumor growth; ratios heavy in omega-6 promote these health hazards. Also, omega-3 is critical for brain metabolism, while omega-6 has been linked to depression.

The typical (grain-fed) American diet is heavy in omega-6, and this is probably a major factor behind our many health issues.

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I haved read all the above because I am trying to learn more about the topic of Graas-finished vs. Corn-finished beef. The web page below is to some good info on topic. 

As for your question, IMO, No, not crazy! You are just another victim of the American Cattle farmer lobby. In the beginning the Native Americans hunted grass-fed buffalo on the Great plains. That all changed with the creation of Indian Reservations for the Natives and the Scorched Earth policy for the Prairies, which burned the grass and starved the buffalo. Other buffalo herds were shot so their hides could be used to make belts to turn the wheels of the industrial revolution. Now comes the Cattle farmers to feed the nation with Natural grass-fed beef (a domesticated animal) on the "open" prairies. The problem with this plan was that seasonal changes and weather problems have a bad impact on profits -- Yikes. Moreover, corn-fed beef finished in "industrial feedlots" grow faster, bigger, have more savory fat and concerns about mass illness of the heard, caused by such close proximity of cattle in those feedlots, are addressed by mixing antibiotics into the feed - Yummy! Overtime, our Manifest Destiny was to gradually learn to like “Midwest Corn-fed beef.” Recently, however, Americans (from the Mountains, to the Prairies, to the Oceans -- white with foam) have begun to question what they have been taught to eat and the result is a more educatied consumer wanting to eat better foods -- even gress-fed buffalo.

"White with Foam"? Yes! Use Sea salt and pepper on your gress-fed beef at least one hour before cooking slowly over low heat and it is something to sing about. 

As for the flavor issue, it might be that what is learned first is learned best. Thus, maybe it is simply hard to adapt to the flavor of grass-finished beef, and/or maybe it is the quality of the grass that the particular beef eats which is determined by those same problems of seasonal changes and poor weather that brought about our learning to eat domesticated animals finished on corn mixed with antibiotics. Anyone for a chezborger?

The Web page below is a good article by Cathy Thomas, Food editor
The Orange County Register
http://www.ocregister.com/life/steak-grassfed-vs-1712975-grainfed

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I've never been able to detect any difference in taste, but I've only tried the patties. It seems to cook faster and shrink more.

Maybe not scientific, but I like the idea that this is what the cows would eat naturally if they were to roam free and not domesticated.

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I LOVE grass fed beef from Whole Foods supermarket. It’s SO much better than regular beef! If there’s a Whole Foods near you, go try theirs, it’s wonderful! My whole family agrees, it’s all we buy now.

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We buy our grass-fed beef on the hoof then have it dressed, aged, and butchered to our liking. Our preference is for very young beef; a nine month old steer being perfect for our taste. I do wish more people had the opportunity to taste this younger beef. It's tender, succulent, flavorful, and quite digestible. The fat is still creamy from mother's milk, and lightly yellow from the grass; and the cuts are about 1/4 to 1/3 smaller than those of older beef.

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I've been buying only grass fed beef, mostl from Australia and NZ for a few years now, for health reasons and for taste and texture and because grain finishing negates the health benefits.

Rarely, I've gotten a piece of meat with an unusual flavor I don't love, but usually it's very buttery, with the good mineral flavor that good beef should have. What it tastes like is very influenced by what's growing in that particular pasture at the time of grazing, so there's huge variety in the flavors of grass fed beef depending upon where they've been range fed.

I like Oze beef from Australia and the NZ beef Trader Joe's carries. I also much prefer lamb from those countries.

I really hate Niman ranch And Coleman beef, bad texture and flavors, IME.

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There's a good chance that if you bought grass-fed ground beef, and it tasted bad, then some of the fatty acids oxidized. This would have given it a rancid flavor. Read the post from JerseyMidwest. I think this might have been the problem, try some grass-fed steak that seems more fresh next time.

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I can definitely understand your dislike for grass-fed beef. It has a sort of Earthy, dirt-taste to it that you don't find with other beef. But I do think it's taste you can adjust to if you prioritize the movement. I interviewd Bill Kurtis, a former CBS anchor who owns a ranch of grass-fed cows, and he swears by it.

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Adam Perry Lang, famous BBQ chef,openly admits to viewing grain-fed beef as being better. The main difference being that grain-fed beef is much more fatty than grass. Grain-fed cows are the main reason why our beef is generally considered the best in the world, no matter what all-natural, organic pundants might say.

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This seems to be a YMMV issue, As a kid I ate at the stockyards at Grand Jct. Colo and the beef there was range fed, back east I spent 10 years working for a residential school that raised its own beef, all grass fed. It is going to be different from feedlot beef and it is a function of what you are used to.

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I've recently been buying grass fed beef at our local farmers' market (NY) and while I like the taste, it's been really challenging grilling it. The burgers are easy to get to medium rare, but yesterday I grilled strip steaks for less than 3 minutes on each side (last time 4 on each was too much), and they still came out past medium rare. I was so frustrated... I guess I'll try again with 2 minutes on each side. Any tips?

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It all goes back to you are what you eat. I don't think I've ever had 'exclusively' grass fed beef being born and raised here in the U.S. That and the fact that Ive never sought it out. A few cases in point with regard to the 'you are what you eat' statement. Many years ago not long after I furloughed out from the Air Force I moved up to up in Napa from So Cal. Lesuire time included fishing various lakes throughout Northern Ca, one of them being Lake Berryessa near Napa itself. Catfish were one of the more easily caught fish in the lake. The first time me and my friend brought home a mess of them my friends wife, who was from Thailand, fried them up in a pan for dinner. One bite and I wasn't too impressed with the muddy/mossey taste of the flesh of the fish. Even further back in time, when I was a young teen-ager and we were visiting my grandparents who were living in San Jose at the time and while dining out in what was at that time a 'fine dining' restaurant' I saw a 'frog legs' dinner on the menu and decided to be adventerous and ordered them because of all the talk that they tasted like 'chicken'. Well nothing could've been further from the truth. Tasted like pond water. Fast forward to more current times and now that most all the catfish you see on any menu in any restuarant in the country are farm raised and fed a diet of some kind of pellets and live in shallow waters of man made ponds. I decided to give catfish on the menu at a local Red Lobster a try. Well, there was no comparison in taste to those muddy creatures from the depths of Lake Berryessa. It was in a word dilectable. I now never hesitate to order it in any seafood restaurant that may have it on their menu or to buy it in the market and fix it myself. As far as frog legs goes, although I haven't had them since, I imagine if they are now 'farm raised' and fed a diet that is not the same as they would feed on in the wild, that they too would taste quite differently. And so it is I would imagine with the domesticated 'bovine' of the animal world. Should they be dining exclusively on the grasses of the the natural habitat of their wild ancestors the taste of the flesh is going to be different and not the same as if they had been grain fed. So if you've been raised all your life eating grain fed beef and are accustomed to its flavor and taste, then experiencing exclusively grass fed is going to be somewhat of a shock to your tastebuds and one that you might not enjoy...at first or may never come to like it period. So you may not be missing anything at all and I would not feel wrong, for not liking it. Of course there may be seasoning and or cooking techniques that could help with the flavor issue you experienced with the grass fed beef. Maybe an internet search engine could help you find information on how to prepare this type of beef. In fact here is the link to one just such web sight from a google search of 'preparing grass fed beef', 'Tips for Cooking Grass Fed Beef ' and the link to the many hits from that search. 

http://www.americangrassfedbeef.com/tips-for-cooking-grass-fed.asp

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=preparing+grass+fed+beef

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the beauty of grass fed beef (well i should say ONE OF the ) is that you dont have to slather it in sauces and spices. it is so good and flavorful just the way it is. cows were meant to eat grass, not corn. With grain fed beef - you're getting antibiotics along with that taste. Really - it's just b/c you are used to it ... someone from argentina, just like the person who posted to this reply from colombia - they eat beef fed on grass - always - and when they eat grain fed beef here - it tastes bad. This is one of the couple of reasons Americans are SO FAT, and other countries - dont suffer from the obesity we see here. EVERYTHING is processed here! corn is genetically modified then given to cows. YOU SHOULD read OMNIVOURS DILEMA - very good book - easy read too...

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Ohmagawd, thank u so much for posting this. I had a similiar experience and my husband and I were so perplexed. Was it us? Was it something we did/didn't do? I feel better, after reading other responses. 

We purchased a couple of ribeyes from a grass-fed beef farmer at our farmer's market. We've had his flank steaks before and liked them, but we had marinated them. I didn't do anything to the ribeyes other than oil, s&p and cooked them 3 mins each side in a cast iron skillet and then an additional 2 mins. in a hot oven to med. rare. The beef had a strange gamey flavor (for lack of a better description) and it was so tough that we couldn't finish our steaks. Now, mind you, we are adventurous eaters and not typically turned off by something out of the ordinary. I suppose it was not what we were expecting and so we were surprised by the flavor. Does the beef tend to be tougher too?

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I'll agree that what you had was probably oxidized beef. I've had rancid/oxidized corn-fed meat before -- I don't think the bad taste had to do with it's provenance.

We eat almost exclusively grass-fed beef and buffalo, and I prefer it so much to grain-fed beef that on the rare occasion I go to a steakhouse and order a corn-fed steak, I am immediately struck by how flavorless and "not-beefy" it is (I have given up filets forever. Just 'cause something is tender doesn't make it delicious. Flabby, bland, overpriced. Boo.) We just served grass-fed buffalo strips at a party, and they were the tenderest, most flavorful (and with only moderate marbling) steaks we had ever had. Our guests remarked on how delicious they were and didn't realize they were Buffalo until we told them. 

Re: Mr. Jig's (furious!) post, I don't think this is food snobbery. I think trying to eat in a way that respects the environment, and also your family's health (who wants to eat meat from an animal that spent it's last days standing knee-deep in feces, eating ground up bits of other animals and being pumped full of drugs to keep multiple infections at bay? Yuck!). Most other developed countries pasture their cows (I just spent three weeks in France and didn't see one feedlot -- drive a couple of hours in California and it's nothing but manure and miserable cows as far as the eye can see) and it's better for the animals, better for the environment, and better for you.

Give it one more try. Whole Foods is a very reliable place to get certified, sustainable, grass-fed meats. Don't write it off just yet!

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Once you had grass fed beef in Argentina you will not eat anything else. 

Cows cannot digest corn and would never eat it if they had a choice. But corn is cheap, government subsidized fodder, so the cows get it together with medication which helps with the digestion. I do not want these drugs in my food even if they are considered safe.

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I use lamb recipes for my grassfed beef. I would chop up those burgers and add them to a tomato sauce. Or mix with bread pieces to stuff summer squash. The flavor makes a little meat go a long way. DH grew up on wild game, so he grills a steak on high heat, pink inside. Too strong for me. 

Try it in a lamb korma recipe. Or Mexican birria. Thai beef salad (marinate beef, then grill, and then the salad gets a dressing). Strongly flavored meat with more 'texture' are why these recipes were invented!

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It's very possible that it depends on what the cow is eating. "grass-fed" is a generic term meant to describe cows who are not fed commercial feed and instead are allowed to graze. But there are SO MANY types of grass (and plants) on the range. Also, different breeds of cattle taste different as well.

Most of the beef I buy is straight from the rancher, or just one small step away (as in I could potentially visit the ranch), and I've tasted quite a wide variation among the locally produced grass-fed cows. Personally, I can't stand the taste of beef from the grocer- I assume it's because that beef is grain-fed (most of the beef I buy is fed on the range during warmer months, and stored alfalfa during the winter). BUT I did buy some commercial grass-fed beef that was raised in ?Brazil? because it was on sale and cheaper than even the local stuff. It was AWFUL. Like you said- gamey and sort of dry. I didn't like it at all, and we had to use the rest of it in very highly flavored meals to mask the taste.

The grass-fed beef I usually buy tastes exactly like what I was raised on, even though my parents never intended to buy grassfed (they bought from the farmer because it's cheaper that way around here)- definitely has a lot of fat in it which I really liked as a kid (and still do). Anyway, in short, the taste will depend on the cut of the meat, the type and age of the cow, how/if the meat was aged, where it was raised, and what the local micro-ecology is like there, as well as what the season was like (warmer, wetter seasons will result in fatter cows). So, feel free to try again sometime from a different producer if it's not too difficult or expensive to find in your area.

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Your not crazy. grass fed beef tastes like crap. It produces a leaner cow. Unfortunately, fat means flavor. That's why I buy Angus or prime if I can afford it. Both grades are a measure of how much fat is in the meat. Yes, I know Angus isn't a government grade but I have found it to be exactly what the producers say it is.... Choice or above.

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I'm curious if you ever found a good source of grass-fed (no grain) beef. In line with what some have touched on already, the flavor & texture will vary by the same things that influence wine, including breed (and the specific genetics ala root stock), growing region, specific diet, age at slaughter, husbandry/handling on farm and truck and at slaughter and butchering, aging time and technique and the relative talents of folks who raise, transport, slaughter, or butcher it. The one critical difference between wine and beef is that with wine one seeks to stress the grapes whereas stress can ruin beef. 

I have personally tasted and helped others taste a lot of different grass-finished and grain-finished beef (I host education and blind tastings across North America) over the past five years. One thing I can say for sure is that there is no "perfect" steak or burger! We have different palates and preferences for meat just as we do for wine, coffee, chocolate, potato chips, even apples. I'm guessing that you might have done this already but if not, if you have the opportunity, see if you can get samples (steaks or ground beef) from several farm/butcher teams and do a taste test. If you find one that you like, stock up on it so you have your favorite flavor of beef (or pork, lamb, poultry) on hand whenever you want it!

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Every traditional peasant knows that a cow that feeds on bitter grasses will produce bitter-tasting milk. It's been lost on generations of urbanites, apparently, that the flesh and milk of animals taste of what they ate. That's why supermarket chicken breasts and white pork have all the flavor of soy mush, that's why American feedlot beef is so flavorless, that's why supermarket milk tastes barely different from water. 

Anyway, it's obviously too late to reply to the original poster, but in general, if you find yourself disliking the taste of grass-fed beef, there are two possibilities:
1. The animal was fed on unsavory grasses and as a result has an unsavory taste. 
2. You're the typical American who grew up eating all this ungodly garbage that passes for food in this country. Ask yourself two simple questions: do you like stronger flavored meats/offal in general (lamb, venison and other game meats, tongue, liver, etc.)? Do you buy and eat Wonderbread-type sliced bread? If the answer is no to the first question and yes to the second, don't worry: you're a typical American garbage eater. You dislike the taste of real food. Just relax and keep eating your ketchup and chemicals. If that's not the case, look to the first possibility again. Beef and lamb raised on fragrant grasses can be incredibly flavorful. The trick is in finding them.

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Sorry if I'm politically incorrect, but if one hunts, deer, elk, antilope, wild turkey, grouse, fowl, etc., on probably prefers grass fed beef.
Search your values.
Zen Keg

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It is more accurate to think of bacteria as beef cattle's main feed. The bacteria thrives on the grass a cow munches down, then, through an array of stomachs, the cow digests a portion of this bacteria-in-residence for its nutrient needs. If all the beast has to eat is grain, it will have a very disrupted flora in its gut. A cow cannot - CAN NOT - reach and maintain optimal health unless it eats its natural food: grass. Grain-fed beef is denatured beef. Foodies would, in turn, enjoy better health if they included such biological imperatives in their criteria of what constitutes a truly special meal.

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Yes, definitely. Grass fed beef is the only way to go.

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Another factor in the grass fed beef debate is the breed of cattle that are used. Breeds like Herford, Angus, and Shorthorn, which are crossbred to Charolais, Simmental or Tarentaise are the most common. 

As mentioned previously, what the cattle graze on is also a significant factor in the taste and texture of the meat.

I am lucky that I live in an area of California that has access to a wonderful farmer's market. At this market, we are able to purchase grass fed beef directly from the producer. While it may be a bit pricier, it is most definitely worth it. I know where the producer is and I know the land that the cattle are grazing on. It makes all the difference in the world. 

Please do not give up on grass fed, but better yet grass FINISHED beef. It is healthier for you by far in the Omega-3 and conjugated linoleic acids (CLA) in the meat. Grain fed and grain finished beef products do not have these healthy fats in them as the ruminant stomach cannot process the grain as efficiently as the grass.

Furthermore, grass fed beef needs to be cooked at a lower temperature than grain fed beef. This low slow cooking results in a tender, juicy and flavorful piece of meat.

BTW, if you an wondering, I am a high school ag teacher that teaches my students the beauty of sustainable agriculture.

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I have an acquaintance that is a geneticist by trade (worked on the human genome project at Stanford), and a hobby cattle farmer. His cattle are grass fed and grain finished. Best damn rib steak I've ever had - by far. Much superior to the local grass fed and finished rancher at the farmer's market. 

Grass fed is like any other ag product - variable. Like wine, it all comes back to varietal (breed) and terroir......

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there are hundreds of Union Squares in the United States, including NYC and SF and SLO.

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I had a bad experience with grassfed beef myself. I thought that the grass had made the beef bad. But I've been reading about people who say that they enjoy grassfed beef and there have been taste tests where people prefer grassfed beef over feedlot beef. http://www.slate.com/articles/life/shopping/2006/11/raising_the_steaks.2.html I think the problem with some grassfed beef is that it is butchered too young, while it has very high growth energy requirements which are not being met on a diet of grass alone. I really believe that is the reason that some grassfed beef tastes off and some tastes delicious.

My younger brother also raises Angus cattle. This weekend he told me that one time he took his steers to PX Feeders to be fed http://pxfeeders.com/index.asp . They were fed in a feedlot, a dry lot, with no grass. He had the beef processed the same way that he always does, dry-aged 14 days. When he tasted the beef he was not very happy with the flavor of the beef, it did not have the same good flavor that he was used to, it lacked flavor. The flavor of the beef that he raised at home, that was fed corn while on grass pastures had a much better flavor. He told me that cattle need to eat grass to produce beef with the best flavor. I once thought that eating grass hurt the flavor of beef, but I've competely changed my opinion. I now believe that eating grass greatly improves the flavor of beef. Whether the animal is eating corn or not eating corn, as long as the animal is consuming enough calories to support their specific level of growth, eating grass does improve the flavor of the beef

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The shityist beef I have ever had has been Grass-fed beef, by turn, the best beef I have ever had was Grass-fed beef.

Grass-fed meats are a lot like wines in the sense that management practices, breed, locale, and aging technique all play a huge role in what the finished product will taste like. Even more important is what type of grass the cattle have been fed.

Cattle harvested before they are ready or during the wrong part of the grass season usually produce much tougher steaks with a strong gamey flavor unlike those harvested within the proper season for that locale.

I just purchased some rib-eye's from nature's reserve Australian beef, and it was so gamey, so tough and so awful, that I threw it out (and I have eaten and enjoyed much venison and other game meats). The fat and connective tissue was like steel. The best I have had is from http://www.nimanranch.com/beef.aspx but this is grain finished. Apparently, many people feel that this ruins the beef and cuts down or eliminates all the beneficial substances that grass-fed beef can produce.

I would not give up on grass-fed beef. It is like hearing how great wine is and then getting a corked bottle the first time you try it and then never try it again. 

Read this and think about it the next time you run out and get supermarket meat:

 Feedlot cattle fattened on stale gummy bears 

Some commercial feedlots feed stale candy to cattle in an effort to reduce costs. According to a recent review, milk chocolate and candy "are often economical sources of nutrients, particularly fat. They may be high in sugar and/or fat content. Milk chocolate and candy may contain 48% and 22% fat, respectively. They are sometimes fed in their wrappers. Candies, such as cull gummy bears, lemon drops, or gum drops are high in sugar content." The article recommends that "upper feeding limits for candy or candy blends and chocolate are 5 and 2 lb. per cow per day, respectively." 

As long as beef producers are not accountable for the ultimate nutritional value of the meat, they will continue to formulate feedlot diets on a least cost basis and American consumers will continue to eat meat that is artificially high in fat and low in vitamin E, beta carotene, omega-3 fatty acids, and CLA. 

("By-Product Feedstuffs in Dairy Cattle Diets in the Upper Midwest." Randy D. Shaver, Ph.D.
 Associate Professor, Extension Nutritionist, Department of Dairy Science, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Wisconsin

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I love steak, in nearly all its forms. In my area, there isn't a wide availability of many cuts of grass-fed beef but if the same cut is available in both grass-fed and grain-fed, I usually go for grass-fed. That's not to say that I won't eat grain-fed or find it bad, but I prefer grass-fed for a multitude of reasons including flavor as well as it's nutritional profile and have never found it "icky." While I eat mostly grass-fed beef (75%), some nights I just want a hearty grain-fed rib eye or another cut which isn't easy to find in grass-fed variety in my area and I don't blink twice at buying the the corn beef.

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I don't agree with the notion that cows are supposed to eat grass, therefore grass-fed cows taste better.

Cows aren't supposed to be fed beer either, but Kobe beef is still the best in the world. 

I think the problem with much of that grass-fed beef is that it tends to be much leaner, so you don't get that texture and umami taste from a well-marbled steak. 

I care about taste only. Good steaks are all depended on a producer that cares.

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Its a matter of taste. I grow and eat only grass-fed beef and can't stand the fatty taste of regular beef. (I also don't like whole milk) so I think its just what you're used to. Also there are ways to cook it that make it more palatable. I always add canola oil to my burgers and fast grill steaks.

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I'm with you. And now it seems that is all the stores carry now. Nothing taste better than a good Alberta grain fed beef. Good being the operative word.
What are they doing to our food? They have ruined my chicken does taste good and is always bruised and bloody and the oil. Why on earth did they change it to the horrible tasting canola oil. It has been around for a long time and it was garbage then as it is garbage now.
I want my edible food back.

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Hello, I grew up in the farms from Argentina. When I had learned about the possibility of buying grass feed beef I run to sprouts market and I got my self a lot of beef. My surprise was that it does not taste like the grass feed beef from my child life at all. In fact is quite disgusting flavor and texture, I'm sorry I am all for going back to nature but not this nature. I wonder what kind of grass this cow eat definitely is not the same grass.

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I found this post by googling "I hate grass-fed beef"!! I've had it a couple of times before (all recently actually, maybe the trend is catching in the UK!) and been really put off by the taste and smell but thought we maybe had cooked it wrong or just been unlucky, but we went to a new branch of one of our favourite steak restaurants last night and ordered the prime rib and as soon as it was put in front of us the smell hit and we just looked at each other like "nah"!! We are proper carnivores and I'm paleo so was so keen to get into just eating grass fed etc, but I've changed my mind!

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I raise beef. We harvest and eat our own beef. I guarantee you that beef that eats only grass has a different flavor than beef that eats grain. Corn is a grain (http://www.eatdonteat.com/foods-in-the-grass-family-wheat-corn-sugar-and-others/) so eating corn means the beef is grass fed; however, as some say, beef has changed dramatically in the last few years. As I said, I raise beef. Every cow I've ever met would eat every bite of corn s/he could get and choose it over almost anything. The way a rancher makes "grass" fed beef that has higher Omega 3 is to give it rye seeds or feed it on a rye pasture. It is true that we can alter the Omega 3 in the beef by what it eats; however, it has been said that flax seed will increase the Omega 3, so a person can put a cow in a feedlot, feed flax seed, and get more Omega 3 in the beef. (http://www.beefmagazine.com/mag/beef_facts_flax) and http://www.beefmagazine.com/mag/beef_facts_flax There are many ways to make the beef better for a person, but beef is good for a person's health. (http://www.livestrong.com/article/247293-what-vitamins-does-beef-contain/) And to maintain health, you really need beef of a supplement to it to supply those nutrients that beef provides if you refuse to eat beef. But feeding a feed additive called "Optaflexx," [which is a relatively new additive, gains the feedlot 44# per head. But it is a Beta-agonist which does not affect the endocrine system (like implants which I also suspect are less than desirable) but alters the blood chemistry. It changes blood chemistry but also really adversely affects eating quality of beef. In fact, the grading of beef (Select, Choice, Prime and tenderness--all of which are grades of beef after testing and have nothing to do with anything else except quality grades--Prime being the best and tenderness being also rated separately if done at all) shows a significant difference when fed some of these chemicals, and if you want to avoid them, you probably should buy from a local farmer and know exactly what was done to the beef that you eat while it was being raised. Organic is good, but it isn't perfect when someone else raises it because, unless you actually have the animal tested, you don't really know if the person who raised the beef is honest or not, so deal with someone you trust. And thus, the flavor differences from one "grass fed" beef to another. If I could not raise my own beef but was interested in my own health and that of my children and wanted to avoid the chemicals in store bought beef, I would find a farmer/rancher I trusted and have them raise it for me. I would go out a few times while the animals were being fed and stop by to see what was being fed, and how often and how clean it was. Cattle have no problem standing in their own feces and standing on their own food, and they seldom get sick unless their own feces has sickness in it or unless they are stressed. They can get worms from feces, but those most often stay in the intestines and don't affect the meat. In fact, during the winter, they seek feces to lie on to keep warm (degenerating feces creates heat). So although your dream is to see your beef on a grassy field, it may make little difference to the beef except in the off-taste and flavor of it (and the Omega 3). What does matter is the stress created by their environment, and a farmer/rancher who stresses cattle is just foolish because it affects how they grow and the quality of the beef we get. There are other things the feedlots (grocery store beef raisers) put in feed that I don't want in my food. This is why we went to growing our own beef. Of course, you know everyone must make money to do a job, and $44 a head means that the profit can be turned to $44,000 in a quick hurry when a feedlot has 100,000 cattle in it, so they use it because, if it is approved by the gov't, it's approved to use. But our government has become less responsible in what they approve in the last few decades, and there is not enough testing, and so we the people become the test subjects. It's only after we use products that are government approved that we discover they might not have been good. So we all need to protect our own health by making healthy choices and knowing what we eat. My husband and I, who eat beef most days a week, have not had high cholesterol (except when he eats on the road a lot), and I know many people who raise and eat beef that are in their 80s and 90s. In fact, most beef ranchers are nearly in their 60s (http://www.beefusa.org/beefindustrystatistics.aspx), so beef is probably a lot better for us than we have been told. But I fear the irresponsibility of those who feed out our animals and the chemicals they use. Are the chemicals all bad? No. But are they all safe? You decide.

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