On Soft Beef
The other day, I was invited over for dinner at the home of some friends. They’re new friends and had recently (before they met the purveyor of the best beef in town) purchased a half beef. This beef was not like my Tallgrass Heritage beef, though. This was a “Show Beef”. It had been hand fed corn and grain all its life and had been kept in a small lot with one or two other cattle.
So my friends fired up the grill and before they threw the steaks on, they wanted to show me how they looked 😳 You know those moments when someone shows you something that makes you want to vomit, but you don’t know them well enough to share your honest feelings, so you have to scramble and think of something to say that’s not a lie but will also make them stop asking you what you think about said thing?
“Mmmm.. it looks so… soft,” I said quietly, looking at the pink, lifeless flesh in front of me. I’ve written before about how after eating grassfed beef exclusively has made corn-fed beef absolutely repulsive to me. I think the word I used to describe my first steak in a fancy steakhouse was ‘flaccid’. And here I was, once again, having to choke down a sad, soft steak, and all I could think about was the life that this poor animal missed out on while my friends eagerly watched me for confirmation of how good their new beef was.
People, I’m just going to say here what I couldn’t say then: The American palette has been ruined by this stuff. Instead of hearty, flavorful, mineral-rich, and full of life, people have been duped into thinking soft, sad, and tasteless beef is ‘tender’. Cattle are some of the world’s most glorious animals. And they need certain things to live as nature intended. They need to live in a herd. They need space to roam. They need tall grasses, replete with the minerals that come from healthy living soil. They’re not super complicated, but my God, we humans sure have mastered the art of messing up a good thing.
All this to say, if you ever invite me for dinner, please skip the Show Beef. Let’s just eat salad instead. I can fake smile through a salad all day.
So my friends fired up the grill and before they threw the steaks on, they wanted to show me how they looked 😳 You know those moments when someone shows you something that makes you want to vomit, but you don’t know them well enough to share your honest feelings, so you have to scramble and think of something to say that’s not a lie but will also make them stop asking you what you think about said thing?
“Mmmm.. it looks so… soft,” I said quietly, looking at the pink, lifeless flesh in front of me. I’ve written before about how after eating grassfed beef exclusively has made corn-fed beef absolutely repulsive to me. I think the word I used to describe my first steak in a fancy steakhouse was ‘flaccid’. And here I was, once again, having to choke down a sad, soft steak, and all I could think about was the life that this poor animal missed out on while my friends eagerly watched me for confirmation of how good their new beef was.
People, I’m just going to say here what I couldn’t say then: The American palette has been ruined by this stuff. Instead of hearty, flavorful, mineral-rich, and full of life, people have been duped into thinking soft, sad, and tasteless beef is ‘tender’. Cattle are some of the world’s most glorious animals. And they need certain things to live as nature intended. They need to live in a herd. They need space to roam. They need tall grasses, replete with the minerals that come from healthy living soil. They’re not super complicated, but my God, we humans sure have mastered the art of messing up a good thing.
All this to say, if you ever invite me for dinner, please skip the Show Beef. Let’s just eat salad instead. I can fake smile through a salad all day.