Does Expensive Ground Beef Really Taste Better?

[jlawrence01]

Originally Posted by mainebrokerman

australia and new zealand have very good lamb,,,we sell tons of it over here,,,(frozen, then thawed)

beef is a challenge..,, how do you keep it fresh?? being shipped from Australia?? and many prefer not buying previously frozen beef.. although its easier with retaurants.

in the 70's i believe cheap burger stock was purchased from australia (when you didnt have to place country of origin on the packages or on nearby signs ) the stock would come in frozen and mixed with burger. it was nicknamed kangaroo meat (to most of us)

When I was in the business years ago, I made it a practice to visit my meat and produce purveyors several times a year. It would always be "semi-planned" to pick up items that I needed for catering jobs.

They used to get a lot of beef from Australia and Argentina. I asked them about it. Most of it was boxed chucks and rounds that they would use for ground beef.

I agree with you on the Aussie and NZ lamb products. When I lived in Detroit, I would cross the border, buy NNZ lamb from the grocery at $2.49/# rather than buying the US product at $5.99/lb at Krogers in Detroit. And with the Canadian $ at the time around $0.70 US, it was a steal.

[nightbird47]

I get mine from the local meat shop nearby. His most lean version tastes like your eating steak. You have to add a drop or two of oil. I make mini meatballs out of it to put in a veggie mix since it tastes so good. Yes, it isn't cheap but you don't need a huge burger with all the added flaver to satisfy you.

And its got no added antibiotics or growth hormons either and I'm SURE it makes a difference.

If I was making sloppy joes, I'd still get the more fat version since even the texture is nicer.

He also sells no antibiotic and hormone chicken frozen and you really taste the difference.

And the best part is the hamburger comes from one piece of meat from ONE animal ground together. His grinder is right out where you can see how clean it is. Its not samplings from a herd of cow parts.

Skip the store and find a meat market and you'll choose it over the best the store has to offer.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by Dirt Grinder

I prefer the taste of ground turkey with a bit of Marmite added to make it more savory and add "umami."

to me ground turkey is like eating turkey sausage: it is good, we eat both but it is very different from ground beef.

now to OP: I like ground sirloin if I am having a patty with mushrooms, as long as the meat is medium and not over cooked. Most of the time, using ground beef I actually prefer the cheaper cuts of beef.

[Honolulu21]

Originally Posted by Dirt Grinder

We use ground turkey exclusively, but not the lean ground. When folks come over to eat and we serve tacos, lasagna, cottage pie, chili, etc. - no one can tell that it's turkey, you just have to know what you're doing (Marmite) . As for ground beef, I do NOT like the flavor AT ALL.

I agree with you. Sorry I couldn't rep you again, as I have to spread it around! LOL I usually substitute ground turkey for heavily seasoned dishes that traditionally use ground beef. Some of those dishes are spaghetti, curry, chili, sos and stuffed bell peppers. Guests cannot tell that it's ground turkey because of the seasonings and spices I use such as garlic, onion, celery, oregano, basil, thyme, tarragon, chili powder, cumin, bay leaves, etc.,etc..

I do like ground beef for Salisbury steak though...

[Suburban_Guy]

The organic beef free of hormones and other nasties sold in places like Whole Paycheck are indeed much better tasting than the regular ground beef sold in stores like Safeway, Vons, etc.

The meat just tastes 'cleaner' without the nasty blood after taste.

[mainebrokerman]

hormones,hormones hormones,,,,

those dastardly hormones that the evil factory farmers are putting in our meats... to accelerate growth
oh the horrors!!

to put this in perspective,,

one,,,just one birth control pill,, has the same amount of hormones as 20,000 lbs of beef

below is an article from "agricultered"


How much hormone are we talking about?

Posted on March 29, 2012 |


Okay. Hormones are used in some beef farming. But just how much hormone is used? And how does that compare to the amount of hormone that cattle (and people, for that matter) already have?

beef cows

The Iowa Beef Center has a great article about how hormones are used in beef farming. This article also includes information on the amounts of hormones in some common foods.

In 1.1 pounds of beef from cattle that have not been treated with hormones, there are 5 nanograms of estrogen. (There are 500 grams in 1.1 pounds. There are one billion nanograms in 1 gram. So we’re talking about a very small amount of hormone here.)

Beef
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In 1.1 pounds of beef from cattle that have been treated with hormones, there are 7 nanograms of estrogen. So while the difference between 5 and 7 may sound like a lot, remember we’re talking in billionths of grams. Teeny tiny.

The recommended serving size of beef is 3 ounces. There is 0.9 nanograms of estrogen in 3 ounces of beef from an animal that did not have a hormone implant; there are 1.3 nanograms of estrogen in 3 ounces of beef from an animal that did have a hormone implant.

What about some other foods? You might be surprised…

eggs
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In the same amount of eggs (1.1 pounds) there are 555 nanograms of estrogen. (Granted, you’re probably not going to eat a full pound of eggs in one sitting, but you shouldn’t be eating a full pound of beef in one sitting either.)

white bread
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1.1 pounds of white bread has 300,000 nanograms of estrogen.

And 1.1 pounds of tofu has 113,500,000 nanograms of estrogen.

People have lots of estrogen, too. An adult male will produce 136,000 nanograms of estrogen every day. A non-pregnant adult female will produce around 513,000 nanograms of estrogen a day. And a pregnant woman will produce 19,600,000 nanograms of estrogen a day.

(Depending on the source, the exact numbers for hormone amounts differ a little across publications and websites, but they are similar across the board.)

As a final note, all the hormone implants used in farming do undergo rigorous testing to be sure they are safe both for the animals and people. All products must be approved by the FDA before they are used.