I hear people frequently talk about grass fed beef and how “gamey” it is. This frankly confuses me to an extent because this has never been an issue with our beef. I’ve never had a batch of our beef come out game-y but it got me thinking, what do we do to prevent that flavor from coming out?
There are a lot of factors that contribute to flavor of beef. Age of the cow, gender (bull or cow and steer vs bull as well), conditions of the actual slaughter house/how the animal is butchered, hang time, how/what they are fed, how they are treated during life, etc.
Older cows honestly taste better in my opinion. The beef is literally “aged”. (Think aged cheese. Much richer flavor) I actually heard/read somewhere recently that chefs for upscale restaurants are looking to get beef from older cows because the meat tastes sooo much better and richer.
Gender matters and whether it’s a bull or a steer (fixed bull). Bull meat CAN be more game-y because of the testosterone still in the system of the animal. Doesn’t always make a difference, sometimes it does. Unfortunately, breed also plays into this. We had an angus bull (beef breed) processed and the meat was sweet and rich and not gamey in the slightest. We had a milking short horn (dairy breed) bull butchered, totally different flavor. A little more gamey than the angus, but still not enough to be off-putting.
If the animal is not treated well or eats substandard grasses or hay, it may come out gamey. If the animal doesn’t have a good place to rest or is constantly fighting for food or dealing with other stresses, it will taste gamey. If the animal does not have easy access to good water (whether that be pond/stream or human-provided water source), it will cause the meat to be gamey and tough.
Feeding, I think, probably is biggest factor. You can’t just throw a cow out there and hope the grass it has is enough. You honestly can’t even buy just any ol’ hay and feed them that. You need to control what they are eating at all times in order for the meat to come out tasting good. We always ensure that our beef cows (and our dairy cows too, of course!) have access to good quality hay, highly nutritious grasses, legumes, etc. and a good variety within their pastures. This helps ensure the beef from those cows will taste the absolute best!
If the animal is stressed immediately proceeding the actual slaughter, adrenaline will rush into their system and ruin the meat. It will be tough and gamey. If the slaughter house conditions are substandard, this causes stress which causes gamey flavor. How the animals are handled at the processor is very important. The processor we have selected is the best we’ve found. They don’t use a shock stick, don’t yell or whack the animals, they’re calm and gently move the animals into the pens.
Hang time also effects flavor. Warning: if you’re unfamiliar with the process of butchering, this may seem graphic. When an animal is processed, the first step is the actual killing. The blood is drained, the organs are removed (and in some cases like ours, saved to be packaged up later) , the skin is removed as well as anything else that is not the actual “meat” of the animal. This is called the carcass of the animal and it is left to hang in the cold storage for an amount of time. Pigs for example usually hang for about 3-4 days. They don’t really require much longer than that. Beef needs to hang for quite a bit longer in order for the beef to get good and tender. Yep, that’s what this step does: makes the meat tender. We never hang our beef for less than 12 days. I’d prefer 21 days but it’s hard to get a processor to hang it this long cause they gotta make room for more product. Once the hanging is done, the meat is cut into the cuts selected (such as roasts, steaks and ground meat, etc.) It’s packaged and ready for pick up!
There are probably more factors that I am not thinking of at the moment that contribute, but these are the basics of what makes grass fed beef good or bad. You should always feel completely comfortable asking the local farmer you intend to purchase from about any of these things. I know I personally am always happy to answer any questions that folks have and if I don’t know the answer, I’m happy to find out!
~JoAnna