Grass Fed Beef and Free Range Pork

Since my diatribe about tasteless meat some time ago, I took some steps to research whether there were any local producers of free range, grass and forage fed livestock. Last weekend I went to the farmers' market in Millbrook and bought some fabulous animal flesh from a member of the Hudson Valley Livestock Marketers Cooperative. For about what we would have paid for good cuts of crappy meat in a supermarket, we came away with some rib eye steaks and an enormous sirloin. We also bought a smoked ham (he was out of other cuts of pork until the next slaughtering in September) and a free range chicken.

We cooked the steaks medium rare over charcoal, the rib eyes on Saturday and the sirloin on Sunday. Ordinarily, we buy only tenderloin because other cuts are practically inedible, but these grass fed cuts exceeded any filet mignon we have ever had in texture and flavor. That's right, these steaks had flavor, something I thought had been lost from beef forever. The meat was tender but with a full grained texture. The flavor was complex and wonderful and sped like a shot to the pleasure centers of our brains. I can never enjoy any other kind of beef again, because I have been reminded of what beef can taste like if it is properly raised.

We heated up the ham and tried a taste. Mrs Vache Folle remarked that she had never tasted this meat, since she had never had any free range pork in her whole life. I grew up eating it and had almost forgotten the joy of it. It all came back to me in the first luscious bite. No nitrates, no other preservatives, just ham the way the good Lord intended it to taste (apologies to Iceberg). The texture of the meat was more natural than store-bought ham and quite a bit more lean without being tough. It tastes nothing like store-bought, factory-farm produced pork. Like the beef, it has flavor. I want dibs on the next pig and plan to lay up a supply for the winter. Mrs Vache Folle does not yet know that I am shopping on the web for a chest freezer to fill up with good meat.

It was also fun to get out and see the quaint town of Millbrook. I liked getting meat and produce straight from the farmers. We also took a side trip to the Millbrook Vineyards and Winery and tasted their wines. We ended up buying a mixed case as it was quite good. The Cabernet Franc went very well with the steaks. We find that supporting local agriculture is quite enjoyable and we hope to find ways to do so even more, perhaps by getting involved in a community supported farm.