Cooking Advice
General Advice
Our beef is lean, it is therefore important that you don't overcook it by accident. As a rule, expose it to as little heat as you can. Here are some tips:
Thawing Advice
Thaw slowly in the refrigerator or in a bowl of warm water - not in the microwave!
Recipes
For recipes, click here.
Cooking advice from the Double Check Ranch
Hello and good eating! You’re about to enjoy the finest grass-fed beef around and we’d like to provide some cooking tips to help you enjoy your meat to the fullest. Most of these helpful tips come directly from Jean Schwennesen who has been perfecting cooking with grass-fed beef for many a year now. We invite you contact us if you have any questions.
“The secret of cooking meats successfully is to remember that a high temperature makes proteins tough. This statement explains a thousand cooking failures and is the basis of dozens of household rules… It explains why eggs fried in smoking fat might be used for vulcanizing tires and why cheese browned under the broiler usually resembles chewing gum. Thousands of dollars’ worth of tender, delicious meats have been ruined, many a guileless steer blamed, and many an innocent butcher cursed because housewives have not realized that high temperatures make proteins tough. Meats need not be ruined if one merely glances at a thermometer and controls the heat.” From “Let’s Cook It Right, Good Health Comes From Good Cooking,” by Adelle Davis, B.A., M.S., Harcourt, Brace and Company: New York, 1947.
Jean’s first recommendation is that you dust off your meat thermometer, or get one if you don’t have one already. This will help to best cook your roasts – and make a mean roast beef, like the web site recipe.
The second is to practice cooking with the more forgiving pieces of meat such as the ground beef and strips, before cooking your first steak. This meat does not have heavy marbling, thus it will cook faster (about a third less time) than store-bought meat. Low temperatures and a sharp eye will work wonders to ensure that your meat is cooked to your liking. Paul likes to sear the thinner steaks with hot heat and then turn down the heat, the juices will come up when done, giving a delicious medium-rare steak; but he cautions against doing this with steaks over ¾” thick, which need lower temperatures to cook through.
Sarah likes to use the round roasts to make shredded beef, by cooking it in the crock pot or slow cooker for the entire day. Put it in, in the morning and forget about it until evening, and then after a few minutes of pulling the meat apart, you’ve got a ready main course for dinner. There is also a simple and delicious recipe for chuck roast on the web site. A good short ribs recipe is online too!
Grilling steaks is feasible, but generally steaks have a tendency of getting forgotten on an outside grill. So, unless you plan on watching your meat very closely outside, we recommend ‘grilling’ your steak in a pan on the stove top – ideally a seasoned cast iron skillet, but any pan will do, if you use olive oil.
Olive oil is the final recommendation – use it liberally. It’s good for you any ways, and because this meat does not have excessive fat, it will help to ensure your meat resists drying out while cooking.
Once again, we invite you to call with questions, comments or to submit recipes if you like! Thanks for supporting small, sustainable and humane agriculture. Enjoy your Double Check Ranch beef!
Our beef is lean, it is therefore important that you don't overcook it by accident. As a rule, expose it to as little heat as you can. Here are some tips:
Thawing Advice
Thaw slowly in the refrigerator or in a bowl of warm water - not in the microwave!
Recipes
For recipes, click here.
Cooking advice from the Double Check Ranch
Hello and good eating! You’re about to enjoy the finest grass-fed beef around and we’d like to provide some cooking tips to help you enjoy your meat to the fullest. Most of these helpful tips come directly from Jean Schwennesen who has been perfecting cooking with grass-fed beef for many a year now. We invite you contact us if you have any questions.
“The secret of cooking meats successfully is to remember that a high temperature makes proteins tough. This statement explains a thousand cooking failures and is the basis of dozens of household rules… It explains why eggs fried in smoking fat might be used for vulcanizing tires and why cheese browned under the broiler usually resembles chewing gum. Thousands of dollars’ worth of tender, delicious meats have been ruined, many a guileless steer blamed, and many an innocent butcher cursed because housewives have not realized that high temperatures make proteins tough. Meats need not be ruined if one merely glances at a thermometer and controls the heat.” From “Let’s Cook It Right, Good Health Comes From Good Cooking,” by Adelle Davis, B.A., M.S., Harcourt, Brace and Company: New York, 1947.
Jean’s first recommendation is that you dust off your meat thermometer, or get one if you don’t have one already. This will help to best cook your roasts – and make a mean roast beef, like the web site recipe.
The second is to practice cooking with the more forgiving pieces of meat such as the ground beef and strips, before cooking your first steak. This meat does not have heavy marbling, thus it will cook faster (about a third less time) than store-bought meat. Low temperatures and a sharp eye will work wonders to ensure that your meat is cooked to your liking. Paul likes to sear the thinner steaks with hot heat and then turn down the heat, the juices will come up when done, giving a delicious medium-rare steak; but he cautions against doing this with steaks over ¾” thick, which need lower temperatures to cook through.
Sarah likes to use the round roasts to make shredded beef, by cooking it in the crock pot or slow cooker for the entire day. Put it in, in the morning and forget about it until evening, and then after a few minutes of pulling the meat apart, you’ve got a ready main course for dinner. There is also a simple and delicious recipe for chuck roast on the web site. A good short ribs recipe is online too!
Grilling steaks is feasible, but generally steaks have a tendency of getting forgotten on an outside grill. So, unless you plan on watching your meat very closely outside, we recommend ‘grilling’ your steak in a pan on the stove top – ideally a seasoned cast iron skillet, but any pan will do, if you use olive oil.
Olive oil is the final recommendation – use it liberally. It’s good for you any ways, and because this meat does not have excessive fat, it will help to ensure your meat resists drying out while cooking.
Once again, we invite you to call with questions, comments or to submit recipes if you like! Thanks for supporting small, sustainable and humane agriculture. Enjoy your Double Check Ranch beef!