Grain vs. Grass Burger Bash
There’s much misinformation about grain- vs. grass-fed beef. Lately we’ve even been faced with the startling and confusing “vegetarian-fed” beef of Steak Shoppe. Which makes one think that Steak Shoppe has a zombie army of cannibalistic steers somewhere, gnashing their sharp canines and incisors and advancing in a threatening wave. OK, so fine, that story has been told before, except with mutton:
The point, dear reader, is that an awful lot of people know so little about where the meat they tear into around barbecues each weekend comes from that they just cling to catchphrases and buzz words to guide them. Dickson’s and the Eat Meaty crew have come to their rescue. And in doing so, they answer the eternal question: What are you grilling this weekend?
Dickson’s is offering a special that says basically, in the words of Sy Syms, an educated consumer is their best customer. And in this thinking the Chelsea Market-based meat shop offers its grand special for the uniformed and indecisive. In a battle for the ages it’s the Grass-Finished vs. Grain-Finished Burger Bash.
For $70 you get to take the Pepsi Challenge this weekend with enough fresh ground beef to make 20-30 burgers. The bash includes:
- 5lbs of dry aged Grass-Fed Ground Beef from Herondale Farm (in 2.5# packages)
- 5lbs of dry aged Pasture Raised, Grain Finished Ground Beef Wrighteous Organics (in 2.5# packages)
Not only do you get the beef, but you get a whole bunch of knowledge about your food and information about the small-scale suppliers Dickson’s uses. They’re out to change the bad name that grain-fed beef has gotten since being associated with factory farming and agribusiness. The biggest issue here are the farming practices, use of hormones and antibiotics and how the animals are cared for.
So, no, kids, grass-fed beef isn’t necessarily “green” or better and grain-fed isn’t necessarily evil. There are taste differences to be sure, and, after you fire up the grill this weekend and sample each type of burger you’ll know the differences for yourself and can decide which you prefer. Or you can just keep getting both.
And watch out for the killer sheep.
Comments (1 Comment)
Carrie Oliver added these pithy words on Jun 12 10 at 6:36 pmI love this! Another thing people can do is collect ground beef from two more farm & butcher teams and do an Artisan Burger Tasting. I should get you a copy of my guide.
