Beef Does a Body Good Grilling Tips

Got beef?

Beef and The Body

Meat and potatoes. Or just meat. This was the food of our ancestors. There is so much stank put on the beef industry due to their use of growth hormones in fertilizer and feed, some accused of injecting the animals themselves, or the monopolies they once placed on beef, that we have some forgotten just what it is that beef does for our bodies.

I've made a living selling beef. It is a product I believe in.

Beef does a body good.  Makes us strong. Muscles.  Oh yeah, that's why I'm supporting the first annual Atlas Classic Bodybuilding Show and talking about beef and protein! Nutritionally speaking, it contains protein and iron which are essential, in fact, recently it was noted that Top Round, Eye Round and Bottom Round (which I use) came out on top of the 12 Skinniest Cuts of Meat list.  They also claim you have to eat a crapload of Tuna to get the same nutrients in 3 oz of beef.  Read about it here in Beef Bytes.

You can read how to make these beef tips recipe here.

Choose Your Meat Wisely

Now what type of beef you eat or buy is up to you and this is where it gets dicey. If you go to the grocery store with a few bucks in your pocket chances are you are going to get yourself some crappy ass ground snout and hoof meat. I'm not going to call this "pink slime" because the public has done a good enough job of using that term to destroy the beef market (which drove prices down, so I guess that was a good thing.) 

Seriously folks, eating healthy is a bit more expensive these days.  If you are going for steaks, they come in different cuts, some fattier than others.  There are ways to trim and sear your steaks to cook off some of the fat.  I use Bottom Round beef flats, but after high temp grilling on the fatty side, which protects the meat from getting burnt to all-hell, then trimming and searing in my five step grilling process the fat is 90% gone so there are ways to grill your meat to death and still have it taste dynamite.

Big Fat Daddy's Beef Grilling Tips:

• Tenderize your meat with a butcher hammer before applying dry rub or marinade.
• Marinate over night in dry rub or liquid even up to 48 hours for optimum flavor.
• Trim fat leaving only a thin layer to "grill off".
• Grill low and slow.
• Flip often avoid burnt or overcooked areas.
• Place fatty side down at first which will serve as flame enhancer and sear flavor into your meat.
• If using wood and you have a flame flare up, do not "doust" the flame but instead hit with a few drops of water. Otherwise you just put your flame out.
• BBQ Sauce or final leftover marinade should be placed at 80% to 90% finished to avoid excess burning.
• Some may choose to use the "foil" method for placing beef that is 60% cooked in a foil wrap with veggies and oil and steaming it off the rest of the way, which has been known to flavor the veggies and keep the meat tender and juicy. 

Hunk of Bottom Round, marinated, with fatty side down allowing fat to cook and burn off!

Get Creative With Your Meat

If you are wanting to eat healthier, try to find grass-fed or organic beef. Perhaps you can budget accordingly and buy a small steak that is top quality versus three steaks at bad quality. Use the steak in another dish such as beef tips over pasta or veggie wraps with beef in them, or grilled steak on top a dynamite salad.

You don't have to have straight up steak. You can get creative implementing this beef or steak into something tasty and low fat, obtaining the protein from a good quality cut of meat.

Burger Junkies : Love Me Some Angus

I'm a burger junkie. If you a burger junkie, ground beef can be bought lean or high quality rather than fatty, choose lean ground round, Angus, or even Bison if you really want to have less fat.  Make sure to read the label, because some "angus" labels are not "Certified Angus".

According to this Angus Beef Explanation article at Straight Dope, "Certified Angus Beef" (CAB) is a special industry designation developed in 1978 that involves standards for marbling, tenderness, age, and color. According to the National Cattleman's Beef Association, only about 8% of U.S. beef is entitled to the label "Certified Angus." Just because something is labeled "Angus" or "Black Angus" doesn't mean it's the same quality as "Certified Angus Beef." Angus beef is further differentiated by USDA grades such as "prime," "choice," and "select," giving us such labels as "Certified Angus Prime," indicating the best Certified Angus Beef."

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