Forget Winter, steak is coming!
I got a bit of a treat this weekend when my parents came down for my sister’s 50th birthday party.
Along with the PC my dad bought down for me to rebuild, they also bought down a chilly bin full of steaks and schnitzel.
But not just any steaks, oh no.
These are from one of my aunt’s cows from her dairy farm. When they are too old for milking the cows are turned into steaks and stuff for the family.
The big difference between these steaks and what you get at the supermarket is the quality. The cows have spent their whole lives being well looked after. They eat fresh green grass for most of the year, and plenty of hay and silage to supplement them over the winter.
They are rounded up for milking twice a day by farmer who calls them by name (sometimes their name is a number, but you get the idea). So life is generally stress free for them.
They live close to the sea, so the extra salt ingested from the grass enhances their health, and their flavour.
When they are put down, it is humanely done as quickly as possible. They don’t spend hours in a yard listening to the rest of the heard being slaughtered. So when they die they are relaxed. This makes an incredible difference to the meat that comes off them.
The steaks my father cooked when I was last visiting could have been cut with a spoon. It just melted in your mouth.
Remember these are normal steaks, fried in a pan for about five minutes. They weren’t slow cooked or anything.
So now we have a freezer full of deliciousness.
Apart from the flavour and quality of the meat, I much prefer these steaks because I know where they have come from, and how well the animals are treated when they are alive.
I strongly believe that if you are going to raise animals for food, at least let them have a good life – treat them with respect, feed them well (not just a lot of food, but good quality food) and make sure they are happy.
The payoff will be happy animals while they are alive, which should make you happy, and really nice meat when they are not, which should also make you happy.
There is no justification, financial or otherwise, for mistreating animals. Nothing is gained from it.
So if you have the opportunity to source your meat direct I would encourage you to do so, and to make sure the animals have the best quality of life possible.
And if you are getting such good quality meat, it also makes sense to ensure you know how to prepare and cook it to perfection – if for no other reason than as a mark of respect for the animal.
Whenever we have steaks or schnitzels for sausages from one of my aunt’s cows, it’s always a special meal for us and we make sure to spend the time to really appreciate the food we are eating.
It’s mid-afternoon now and dinner is not due for a few more hours, but that’s ok. Because one thing I can count on, is that steak is coming.
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