Mark Schatzker is a Canadian-based writer who is obsessed with steak. He has put his journalistic skills to good use, by assembling a team of tasters to find out what beef makes the best steak. He tells us how breed, feed, the aging process and use of hormones affect different kinds of cattle. The winner? Grass-fed beef. At an average cost of $21.50 per pound, grass-fed beef is one of the more economical choices but still incredibly flavorful and juicy. And because grass-fed beef tends to be lower in saturated fats and higher in omega-3 fatty acids, it’s a good choice for health conscious meat eaters. The drawback is that grass-fed beef is sometimes inconsistent in its taste, depending on the variety of grasses the cattle are fed. The beef from Mark’s experiment came from a ranch in Idaho, where the cattle grazed on orchard grass, alfalfa, clover and smooth brome in the summer and chopped hay in the winter.
The complete results of Mark’s research are available in his article at Slate.com.
Mark Schatzker is a freelance magazine writer. His humor, travel, adventure, and food stories have appeared in many publications including Toro, Slate.com, McSweeneys, Toronto Life, Saturday Night and Cottage Life. He lives in Toronto with his wife, Laura.