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Grass-fed beef

Is it worth it?

In Colorado, we love our beef. It’s the first thing we serve out-of-town guests, and it’s our No. 1 choice to celebrate a special occasion.

After all, nobody asks for salmon for their birthday dinner.

But with America’s industrialized food production under fire, a newer, supposedly healthier style of beef is becoming all the rage at restaurants and gourmet food shops.

Of course, Durango is in on it.

Cattle ranching being the Colorado tradition that it is, you should expect our area to be one of the first where cows are raised on grass alone, a return to the ancient method of cattle ranching. Think about it – without it, no cowboys or Westerns.

Foodies here tout grass-fed beef for its lower fat content and greater nutritional value, full of healthy omega-3s, antioxidants and vitamins and missing the chemicals and GMO fall-out from animals that are force-fed grain.

One couple is so dedicated to the notion of humanely raised cows that eat only nutritious grass, they named their brand-new Main Avenue restaurant Grassburger.

“Organic cooking, nutrition, whole foods are a huge passion of mine,” said Jessie Kileen, who opened the casual restaurant, which serves only grass-fed ground beef, with her husband, Ed, this week. “I wondered ‘How can we take the idea of the American burger and make it healthy, sustainable and ethical?’”

It took two years for the master gardener and the real estate developer to bring a business plan hatched in one inspired evening to fruition. They turned a 100-year-old building into an industrial-chic, 80-seat restaurant (including the patio), with stone floors, red steel counter seats and exposed ductwork, tucked behind Durango Coffee Co.

The menu is a simple one of burgers (including vegetarian burgers), farm salad, white and sweet potato fries and ice cream floats. During the chaotic unofficial opening Monday night, orders went awry, the hand-cut, skin-on french fries were room temperature and the soft-textured, blandly flavored black bean burger obviously needed work.

Nonetheless, the goodwill of the owners and the sheer beefy tastiness of the grassburger itself won the day. The 80/20 mix of meat and fat lent it a richer flavor than one might have expected, and the 4-ounce patties had a distinctive char, even though they’re cooked on a griddle. The meat-eaters in the group gave it a definite thumbs-up.

OK, so what is grass-fed beef and what makes it any better than the corn-fed specimens we all were raised on?

Both cows start their lives grazing in the pasture, but grass-fed cows finish their days eating hay in winter and fresh grass in summer before heading to market.

Conventionally raised cattle move from the range to the feed lot after a year. There, they’re confined to pens and fed a diet of corn (almost all U.S. corn is genetically modified) and other grains, often supplemented with hormones and antibiotics to keep them from falling ill in such cramped quarters.

One longtime local rancher used to raise cows that way but switched to strictly feeding them grass because of the nutritional and ethical issues involved.

“Using grass to feed cattle is the old way of doing things,” said Kay James, who cofounded James Ranch near Hermosa 53 years ago. “It sounded right to us to use what we have here, and we have grass. If it’s good for the animals and good for the soil, then the food is good for people.”

It isn’t easy and it isn’t cheap – someone has to pay for all that pasture land. That translates to a $2- to $4-a-pound bump for consumers when they buy grass-fed beef. On Monday, a pound of ground grass-finished beef cost $6.99 versus $4.99 for conventional beef at South City Market, whereas grass-fed rib-eye cost $17.99 and conventional cost $13.99. The prices were closer at Natural Grocers, where grass-fed ground beef could be bought for $8.99 a pound and organic beef for $7.99, while grass-fed rib-eye steak cost $20.40 and “not confined” grain-finished rib-eye cost $19.40.

Nonetheless, it’s worth it to Kay James and her husband, David, to provide the community with meat from animals that live outdoors, eat natural grass and are given no hormones or drugs. Their cows graze on BLM or Forest Service lands for about 18 months before moving to the James’ open pastures, where they rotate fields to help fatten them before slaughter.

At Stubborn Farms and Burk’s Beef outside Mancos, the Black Angus cows live a happy life grazing on pasture land in fair weather and eating hay in the winter, free to roam the scenic meadows at will.

“It’s a huge ethical issue for me,” said Dustin Stein, ranch and farm manager, “and that’s a large reason why I do it.”

Ethical, shmethical say others, how does grass-fed beef taste?

Grass-fed beef is leaner with less obvious marbling and therefore is more difficult to cook. Sear it quickly over high heat, give it a few minutes to finish and a few minutes to rest, add a pat of butter, and voila, a luscious steak dinner awaits. Leave it on the grill a moment too long and … shoe leather. Really, no matter how expertly you prepare it, it’s chewier than conventionally raised beef.

“I find it has a beefier flavor,” said Aaron Brandes, manager of the Mahogany Grille, who buys organic, grass-fed beef for his family but serves prime-rated, grain-fed beef at his restaurant. “A lot of people like corn-fed beef because it has more fat and more flavor.”

As for the prime cuts of beef, Brandes says that’s the highest quality beef you can buy, with just one of 50 cows qualifying for the FDA rating and comprising just 2 percent of the beef on the market.

At Olio in Mancos, chef Jason Blankenship puts a higher premium on locally grown beef, regardless of its feed, as long as it’s raised with healthy and often organic practices. He buys from Burk’s Beef, but others as well.

“I’m not one who thinks hyper-lean is a good thing. You’re taking out all the flavor and the moisture,” he said of grass-fed beef. “I prepare it differently because there’s a danger of it drying out.”

Local chefs and butchers point out that just because cows eat corn in the final months doesn’t mean they’re eating junk or being raised in substandard conditions.

The cattle Holly Zink buys for her Sunnyside Farms Market eat hay and roughage as well as corn grown by the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe. The cows roam free and aren’t dosed with antibiotics or hormones.

They’re also fresh. One of the benefits of corn-fed cows is that they can be raised year-round in our harsh climate, while grass-fed beef has a distinct season (May to October) and is often sold frozen.

Look at it this way. You can buy super-beefy, grass-fed ground chuck for your cookout and rich, buttery porterhouse for a fancy dinner. Both can be locally and ethically raised and both will taste fabulous. As always, Durango foodies are the lucky ones.

phasterok@durangoherald.com



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