~ Pastured meats should be cooked slowly at low heat. Recommended oven temperatures are 275 to 300 degrees. Higher temperatures will dry out and toughen the meat.

~ Roasts that are well done will be less tender than medium or medium-rare roasts.

~ When grilling steak, don't salt the meat until just before eating. Salt will pull the juices from the steak during cooking, making the steak less tender and juicy.

~ A little plain vinegar sprinkled over any meat before cooking it will act as a tenderizer without changing the tast of the meat. Sprinkle 1 or 2 Tablespoons on roasts, steaks, etc. right before cooking. To add a delicious zing, try using balsamic or wine vinegar.

~ Get a meat thermometer and use it! When reading the thermometer, remember that roasts and steaks will continue to cook for 10 minutes or more after being taken off the heat. A meat thermometer should always be inserted into the deepest portion of the meat, but away from fat or bone.

When cooking pastured beef, OVERCOOKING is the enemy. Trust us when we say that the meat will continue to cook from residual heat for 5-10 minutes after you remove it from the heat source.

Be sure to take your steaks off the grill one level of doneness LESS than that desired, put the steak on a warm plate, cover with aluminum foil and allow the meat to rest for 5 minutes. The meat will continue to cook and should be the desired level of doneness when you sit down to eat it 5 minutes later.

Remember to allow time for your roasts to rest prior to carving. Most of our roasts will cook in the pressure cooker in 30 minutes or less. I count from the time the pressure cooker reaches pressure and usually cook mine for 20-25 minutes. I let the roast rest the time it takes the pressure cooker to release steam so the lid can be removed. You should have great results with this method.

Be sure to purchase a meat thermometer and use it! This is the best way to ensure that you are not overcooking your pastured beef. Most pastured beef is best when cooked to no more than MEDIUM doneness. Remember that the USDA recommended internal temperatures for beef are usually way too high for pastured beef. We use the following guide for our personal cooking:

Rare: 120 degrees
Medium-rare: 125 degrees
Medium: 130 degrees
Medium-well: 135 degrees
Well: 140 degrees

Left-over roast beef can be used in several delicious ways:

1. Roast Beef sandwiches - just slice and eat with your favorite fixings!
2. Stew Meat for an upcoming stew - chop and add to your stew veggies
3. Beef Soup - just add to your favorite beef soup stock recipe
4. Tamales - We take left-over roast beef and put it in our Vitamix to chop it to a finer consistency. We add whatever sounds good to get the texture we want - some b-b-q sauce or mole sauce or worcestershire sauce - use your imagination and think about how you want your tamales to taste. Using purchased masa and corn husks from the grocery we follow the instructions on the masa for making the dough (don't worry, it's easy). Put the dough on the corn husks that have been softened in warm water. Spoon in your tamale meat. Roll and steam. Yum!
5. Bar-B-Que sandwiches - again, you could use a Vitamix or food processor to chop the beef into a finer consistency, add b-b-q sauce and make a quick meal!

We love our pastured beef steaks! Our girls at ages 8 and 5 can each eat a whole sirloin. We all know there are only so many steaks on a steer, so I like to find ways to stretch the steak cuts. One way I do this with sirloin steak is to make Beef Tips. You can also do this with T-bone or Club steak.

I take a package of 2 sirloin steaks and using a sharp filet or boning knife, remove all the fat and any gristle. I then cut the steaks into evenly portioned bite size pieces, about 1/2 inch pieces.

Put all of this in a glass bowl and put in a touch of worcestershire sauce. Let this rest for a few minutes, while the pan heats. Quickly saute the beef over medium-high heat for just a few brief minutes - only about 4 at the most. Remember that the beef will continue to cook from residual heat once removed from the heat. And, these pieces are small, so they cook quickly. I like to see quite a bit of pink still in the middle; this way I know that by the time I get everyone seated the meat won't be too done.

Serve this beef with veggies or rice or whatever sounds good and is fresh for the evening. I can feed my family of 5 with 2 sirloin steaks using this method.

Portioning is one topic that we would like to address with all of our friends who have discovered pastured beef. While it is true that pastured beef is miles ahead nutritionally of feedlot beef, it does not mean that it is healthy to vastly increase the portion size! Even if you consume the same size portion as you did with feedlot beef, you will probably be healthier just from the quality of the pastured beef.

Eating the recommended size portions is important to our health today. These portion sizes generally appear exceedingly modest to most Americans; it seems we have gotten used to "super-sizing" our portions of everything!

An easy reference, while not precise but easy to implement, is that your piece of meat should be no larger than the size of the palm of your hand. A child's hand is smaller and so therefore is the corresponding portion of meat.