Ethical Meat Makes Better Beef Stew
I’ve set the bar high declaring that my intention is to purchase traditionally farmed meat over cuts from factory-farmed livestock.
It’s actually not as easy as I’d hoped, sourcing traditionally-farmed animal foods.
At the store, the meat and poultry I gravitate to is labeled organic, organically fed, and or natural, but I’ve never noticed a label identifying animal foods as “traditionally farmed.”
And of course labeling is not always accurate.
On further reading of Nicolette Hahn Niman’s Righteous Porkchop, I followed the author’s research trail and found my way to the Animal Welfare Approved website.
On their home page I read that the Animal Welfare Approved (AWA) program “audits and certifies family farms that utilize high-welfare methods of farming.”
And what that means for the consumer is this:
“Animals are raised outdoors on pasture or range on true family farms with the most stringent welfare standards according to the World Society of Protection of Animals…”
I liked the sound of this, so I scrolled down the home page to a window that says “Find Farms and Products in your Area.”
If consuming high-welfare meat, poultry, dairy and eggs stamped with approval by the AWA is of interest to you, type your area and the product you’re seeking into that window, and see what comes up.
I noticed that Whole Foods carries AWA certified products. Perhaps there’s a store near you; follow the link to find out.
Compared to rock-bottom priced, factory-farmed meats, you’ll pay a bit more for products stamped with the AWA symbol. However, if you’re on a budget, you can buy less meat, buy less expensive cuts of meat, or stretch your meat items further.
With that in mind, the beef rib stew recipe below is less about the beef and more about the vegetables and barley that make up most of this dish.
Beef Rib Stew
- Your choice of stew vegetables (onions, leeks, carrots, celery, potato, garlic)
- Approx. 3/4 lb. grass-fed, AWA-certifed beef back ribs
- 1 tsp. black peppercorns
- 2-3 bay leaves
- sprig of fresh thyme or sage (optional)
- 1/2 cup barley, brown rice, lentils or cooked beans (or a combination of all of the above)
- Sea salt, to taste
- Fill a large pot with water and add your chopped vegetables.
- Add as many beef back ribs to the pot as will fit. In the picture above, I have approximately 3/4 pounds of beef ribs.
- Add black peppercorns, bay leaves, and sprigs of fresh thyme or sage, if using.
- Add barley, brown rice, lentils or your favorite cooked beans.
- Simmer stew for 2-3 hours on low, periodically skimming the surface of the stew for fat and debris.
- The liquid in the pot will decrease during cooking creating a thickened stew, however if the contents of your pot begin to look too dry, add a bit more water.
- Taste test and season to your liking.
To Serve: Remove ribs from stew pot and cut meat from bones, trimming away any excess fat. Toss meat back into the pot and ladle spoonfuls of stew into serving bowls; top with chopped parsley and present with chunks of crusty bread or corn bread.
I have been a longtime Mindful Meat customer. The operation is run by a doctor who wanted her patients to eat healthier. All of their animals are pasture-fed, organically-raised on grass, and are compassionately-slaughtered, and travel less than an hour from the farm to the slaughterhouse. The herds are closed (meaning the animals from their farmers are always raised from birth in the herd). They supervise every step of the way; the doctor actually has worked in the slaughterhouse at each of the slaughter days! The best part is that the meat is AMAZING. I love the beef, and the lamb is literally the best I’ve ever had, organic or non. They also have kosher meat.
Hi Marica,
Thanks for sharing the above info about Mindful Meat. I googled it and easily found my way to http://www.mindfulmeat.com
I’ll weave Mindful Meat into my blog posts this week — it’s a great resource for people wanting to purchase and consume humanely-farmed animal protein.
Thanks again,
Louise
Animals that are raised in a relaxing enviroment, where they are free to roam around, will always have better meat. This is so because the animal doesn’t stress as much resulting in a better diet and finer meat.
Hi “Beef is What I like,”
You’re absolutely right, free-roaming, stress-free cattle produce less cortisal, which results in a better quality meat.
Dr. Temple Grandin, Professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University, has some great articles on this subject, “Stress and Meat Quality,” on her website:
http://www.grandin.com/meat/meat.html
Louise
Ethical beef! Did you mean organic meat by that? It makes better tasting soups and main courses yeah! But aren’t they a little on the higher side as far as costs are concerned? Great post by the way! Cheers!!
Thanks for your comment, “Buy Beef Online.”
It looks like you’re a marketer for a UK-based online meat store. Though your store promotes “naturally reared” meats of “quality,” since Buy Beef Online sources from 10 different countries, firstly, it would be hard to determine the real origins of the meat your store sells, and secondly, whether in fact that meat has been raised “naturally.”
And then what does “naturally” mean? That’s not definined on your site and so it could mean anything in this day-and-age of misleading labeling.
There is also the issue of sustainability when buying imported meat online. For example, the carbon footprint of a US-based customer buying meat from your site that’s been sourced from Denmark is uncessarily greater than if that customer were to buy grass-fed beef from a local farmer or at least one in his/her state.
So thanks again for your comment, but I would always encourage meat-eaters to source locally grown, humanely-farmed meats whenever possible. It just makes good, common, healthy sense, and ultimately it will always be more cost-effective — on many levels.
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Interesting post,thanks for sharing the recipe
Er…did I hear that right?! Ethical meat? Well, organic meat is known to taste better and make dish taste 10 times better flavored than conventional meat products, but ethical meat?! Well… since you have detailed the recipe here, I might as well give it a try. LOL.. thanks for the stew recipe anyway..
Well what’s wrong with ethical meat anyway?