I was asked the other day by one of our customers – what makes our beef taste so good compared to supermarkets? A great question and really easy to answer. In fact, embarrassingly I said, “I could talk about this until the cows come home!” I think my joke went unnoticed – but I proceeded to explain that firstly, our beef tastes so good because the cattle are fed on a grass based diet*, but also additionally, our beef is good for you in comparison to many others producers.
Grass fed beef, as the name implies, comes from cattle that eat mostly grass. Here at Intwood Farm, we have both Continental and native British beef cattle. But crucially we only use the Native British breeds in our Butchery mainly Hereford beef cattle, that are all home grown. And…..all our healthy cattle are fed a grass based diet compared to some others who offer a grain fed and supplement diet. Having grass-fed beef long term is not only healthier for the cattle, but it actually helps to give more flavour in the meat when consumed. This is stage one for us.
Stage two on why we stick to this healthy approach, is that generally, grass-fed beef is also considered to be a healthier option to the consumer than grain-fed beef, as the nutritional content of that fat is also different. For example, grass fed beef has as much as five times the amount of omega-3 fatty acids as regular grain fed beef.
Then finally, we have stage three. Unlike others, especially supermarkets, we dry hung our beef for a minimum of 21 days. This tenderises the meat, and again increases the flavour of the meat even further. But, what do I mean by ‘dry hung’ exactly?
We take a ‘whole side’ of beef that has been expertly prepared by our extremely skilled butchers, and it is hung in the fridge. This is different to many others, who claim to have aged beef, when they actually mean is that they cut up the beef instead of having a whole side hung, and vacuum pack it! It’s then sold to customers unknowingly. Less flavour and less care.
We believe in excellence here – and hopefully all our customers agree, our three key stages in-order to give the best quality, the best flavour, and the most tenderised beef around, are three stages well worth doing!
Until next time!
Regards
Nigel
*Grass based diet includes other forage such as lucerne and is fed both fresh and as silage. Note, also a small amount of grain is sometimes required to finish the cattle but this kept to a minimum.
