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SubscribeSunday, October 26, 2008
Artisan Steak Tasting
“So, have you ever thought about doing a steak tasting?” was the start of the first emails I’d gotten from Carrie Oliver of Oliver Ranch Company.
I was intrigued, but wasn’t convinced that the taste of steak could go much more beyond the grades of tough Select, affordable Choice and out-of-my-budget Prime. I’ve also been able to pump up the taste and tenderness of Choice steaks by my salting method, a popular post which has swung around the internet several times.
For the next couple of weeks, Carrie and I emailed back and forth, and in each email, she would slightly turn the faucet, letting a small stream of new ideas trickle my way. Opening the floodgates with beef information would have completely overwhelmed me and knocked me over.
I pay as much for a good steak as I do for a bottle of wine, so why not care about its taste, where it’s from and the quality of my beef? If I care about where my vegetables come from, why not my beef? If I care about what chemicals were sprayed on my produce, why not know what the cows were injected with and how they were treated?
Cattle drive at a Colorado ranch
Simply put, the taste of beef is influenced by:
- REGION: A chardonnay from Napa Valley has a different flavor profile than a chardonnay from New Zealand. Climate, geology and soil all influence the grass and grain that are fed to the cattle.
- RANCHERS: Like a winemaker, the quality of pride and skill in producing the best product matters. A small rancher who treats his cattle humanely will have better tasting beef. And like a winemaker’s art of blending and aging, a rancher’s special blend of feed and aging matters.
- BREED: Doesn’t a pinot noir taste different from a cabernet? Well, a Holstein tastes different than a Black Angus.
If the wine analogy doesn’t ring with you, let’s talk coffee. In the pre-Starbucks days, there was regular, decaf and Juan Valdez. Nowadays, we’ve got Fair Trade Certified, Sumatra, shade-grown, Kenyan, Ethiopian and Indonesian. Same with beef – flavor and quality go way beyond Select, Choice and Prime.
Okay, so I get that steaks taste different and hey, now that I’m thinkin’ about it…maybe that’s the reason I consistently buy my steaks at one market and not the other. Hmmmm…..
But my biggest revelation was yet to come. (Keep reading for a free drawing of an Artisan Steak Tasting Pack)
Artisan Steak Tasting
Last Thursday, Carrie flew down from Toronto and treated a group of 15 of us to a fabulous artisan steak tasting. Carrie led us through tasting six different steaks from small ranchers.
Each steak only seasoned with kosher salt and was quickly grilled rare. The steaks were numbered and it was a blind tasting held at Chefs On The Loose, a brand spankin’ new cooking school in Tampa, Florida.
A big thanks to Chefs On The Loose for hosting us.
Carrie asks if anyone is a vegetarian to raise their hands. Okay, maybe not, but she’s seen here enlightening the group on why being conscious of where your beef comes from matters.
This is just SOME of the steaks. 15 of us ate ALMOST ALL OF IT. omg, we are such fat pigs cows.
Carrie, Jeffrey and Chef Eddie wonder how in the heck we are going to drink 22 bottles of wine at our artisan steak tasting.
Yeah, we opened every single bottle of wine, but only had the wine AFTER the tasting, as wine would affect the taste of the steaks. To clear the palate, we had slices of green apples between each steak. The steaks were seasoned only with kosher salt.
Chefs Laura and Eddie whispers, “who invited the goofball who keeps snappin pics of the steak, telling the meat to ‘work it, baby. look good for the camera. come on beef, gimmee some attitude!’”
Carrie leads the group on how to rate and describe each steak by singing a hymn 
In the foreground, food writer Greg and Ritz Carlton restaurant manager, Laurent, discuss changing their careers to become professional steak tasters…as host Laura slices the next round of steaks. James is in the background stealing bites of steak.
Artisan Steak Tasting Language
To help us find words to describe the sensory experience of steak tasting, here is a chart from Carrie. She started the Artisan Beef Institute to educate consumers and industry professionals:
The Artisan Steak Taste Test Results
N-Bar Ranch, Dave Workman from Montana
- Breed: 100% Black Angus, dry aged minimum 14 days
- Tasting Notes: Well balanced, tastes like a good steakhouse steak, interesting but no big wow. Straight-forward, nice bite.
===============================================
Kobe Beef America Ranchers from Holdrege Nebraska
- Breed: 50% Wagyu, 50% Black Angus. Wagyu is the famous Japanese beer fed, hand massaged cattle. It was brought to the U.S. in 1976 and crossbred with Angus. Wet aged minimum 21 days
- Tasting Notes: Sweet, savory, umami, dark, robust, bold. Melts in your mouth, hands down the group’s favorite. This stuff retails for $50+ a pound and would be considered Prime-Plus. It’s really a superb meat, but personally not my favorite. I’m not melt-in-mouth steak girl – I’d rather have a beefy good sirloin instead of a buttery filet mignon. Even though it’s expensive, if you’re looking to try Kobe beef, Oliver Ranch does sell it much cheaper than any other retailer.
===============================================
Robert L. Beechinor, 3 Brand Cattle Company from Bakersfield California
- Breed: Holstein-Friesian
- Tasting Notes: Meaty, pleasant, subtle, softer flavor. No big wow. Flavor faded quickly, didn’t last throughout chew.
===============================================
Elliott & Ferris Families from Front Range Region, Ft. Morgan, CO
I must have missed photographing their beef, but here’s a photo of the families!
- Breed:Charolais/Charolais Cross
- Tasting Notes: Bright, sweet, balanced, full-flavored and filled mouth. I loved this meat – flavors changed throughout chew, it was rich and savory. This was one of my favorites and definitely Carrie’s favorite – she described it as “fabulous umami, gimme more!”
===============================================
Amazin Grazin from Manatee, Florida
- Breed: Braburn (crossbreed between Brahman and Hereford), very young cattle, less than 10 months old, fed only milk and grass, no grain
- Tasting Notes: Feral, complex, very gamey, like mackerel. This steak had a very distinct flavor, characteristic of only grass (no grain at all) fed cows. Grass fed beef is also much more lean than grain-finished, perfect for people who are concerned with fat content. This is definitely an adventurous steak, fun to try.
===============================================
Estancia from Uruguay
- Breed: Hereford, only grass fed, no grain
- Tasting Notes: Deeply complex, broody, mushroomy, earthy, iron, roquefort. Again, because it’s only grass fed, it’s a very lean meat. HOWEVER, lean DOES NOT equal tough and chewy. This grass-fed beef tasted incredibly different from Amazin’ Grazin. I would have never guessed that this steak was this lean – on the traditional USDA rating, this would have been graded as Select, but wow, the tenderness and big, deep flavor of the meat really surprised me.
My big revelation
I didn’t care for the big-super-fancy expensive Kobe-style, Wagyu beef. It was good, don’t get me wrong. I’d never turn down a Kobe-style steak. But my style is big, beefy, nice chew. Heh. Makes me a cheaper date. But guess what…these were some of the very best steaks that I had ever tasted in my life. None of them were rated Prime. They were all Choice or Select cuts. So my big revelation was that quality was not just about Prime, Choice or Select. Flavor had so much to do with region, climate, diet and care. Knowing where your beef comes from is important – wouldn’t you rather support a small artisan rancher who takes pride in their beef?
Oliver Ranch Company is out to carve a new map for the beef industry, catering to people who enjoy discovering the specific flavor profiles of what they enjoy in steaks and connecting consumer to small ranchers.
If you’re interested in having your own artisan steak tasting, Oliver Ranch Company has a Taster’s Pack that includes 4 steaks, each from a different rancher. You can try this tasting test yourself – and include 1 or 2 steaks from your local supermarkets just to compare. Make sure your tasting is a blind taste test, so that your feedback is absolutely fair! I think you’ll be really surprised with what you’ll experience. If you have any questions, you can ask them here in the comments, or email Carrie at carrie@oliverranch.com.
The grand finale – a free Artisan Steak Tasting Pack!
Baby, all you got to do is comment below. Carrie is giving away a free Artisan Steak Tasting Pack. We’ll do a random drawing of unique commenters on Sunday, November 9th. I apologize to my dear international friends, this contest is only for U.S. and Canada residents, as international shipping of beef would be too difficult.
The four styles included in the Artisan Steak Tasting Pack
Dry-Aged Charolais-Cross, Front Range Region, CO, Elliott & Ferris Family Ranches
Dry-Aged 100% Black Angus, Russell Country, MT, N-Bar Ranch, Dave Workman
Wet-Aged Holstein-Friesian, Imperial Valley, CA, 3 Brand Cattle Company, Bob Beechinor
Wet-Aged Wagyu-Angus Cross, Select Kobe Beef America Ranches, directed by R.L. Freebornpack normally sells for $84.95, you get a 8-12 ounce NY Strip cut of each style.
Just comment below and I’ll enter you in the drawing. If you want to Tweet or blog about this contest, I’ll give you an extra entry – just come back and comment again for your bonus entry!
Contest over! Come see the winner...
***
How to turn cheap “choice” steaks into gucci “prime” steaks (yes, it really does work – Carrie tested the salting method with us on several of the steaks)
Skirt Steak Tacos and the Adventures of La Taqueria
Print Recipe
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477 Responses to “Artisan Steak Tasting”
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I hope I drew over some new traffic. I retweeted the link for you! Good luck!
hmm, I never thought about a beef tasting. I wish I has something like that around my area.
the steaks sound great
This sounds so interesting! I’d watched a documentary about grass fed beef and was really interested in trying some of those steaks!
Twittered it! ^_^
I have been in Argentina 5 times, and served some outstanding Parilla and Bife Chorizo….all from grass fed beef who live out their lives on the rich Pampas grass, have normal sex lives. and never see a feed lot or a syringe full of some veterinary cocktail designed to make them bulge and marble in all the right places. Just remembering plate after plate of Medium Rare beef….time to raid the frig!
And then there is Brazilian Churrascaria……
d
Mmm. Steak.
I have spent some time in Brazil and grass fed and free roaming cattle is beyond compare. I would love to win this.
This was an outstanding post (I’d never considered a steak tasting before) but will be thinking about it until I get the chance to do so!
My husband and I love to eat steak, never tried some of the ones you have offered in the giveaway. They sound delicious! Thanks for the chance to win!
My grandfather was a beef farmer and taught me the delicacies of this amazing meat. A steak tasting would be a dream come true for me!
My husband would love you forever if I won!
Very nice. Good idea.
beef. its whas for dinner!
This was a great post! A good beefy steak is my favorite comfort food! If you are shipping to Hawaii, then add my name in!
Jaden,
I’ve always known that the old axiom “you are what you eat” applied to the meat protein we consume, and as a result tended to by my steaks or roasts from butchers who had a product line that I consistently enjoyed.
Oliver Ranch Company has some interesting ideas and a new approach to viewing our beef steaks, and it’s a pretty simple concept….almost a no-brained when you think about it.
Just as each vineyard has it’s micro-climate and soil characteristics, each ranch has the same attributes of live stock, grass, feed and water. The beef produced from this unique set of attributes is distinctly different in taste and texture.
Frank Perdue was one of the first to take steps in branding poultry, and was eminently successful as a result. The poultry industry, unfortunately never really followed on and developed the micro branding approach.
New Zealand Lamb picked up on it somewhat, but what the Oliver Ranch folks are doing is fantastic. It will be interesting to see if the beef industry can learn from this, and provide a win-win situation for them and the consumer.
Great story!
Keep up the great work…
What a wonderful idea! I bet you had a great and fulfilling (grin) time!!
in
Very informative!
so jealous!!
A horizontal steak tasting… what a great idea!
Count me in, seeing the differences in flavor profiles got me all ready to grill!
Yum! These would go wonderfully on my new grill!
I would love to win this I love steak and my fiancee is a executive 5 star chef…all the different ways he could cook this yummy.
I grill steaks every weekend (its either a habit or a hobby, havent figured that one out yet). I would love to try some new meat to compare and contrast with what i have already tasted. I’ve been to Perini’s Ranch in Buffalo Gap, TX and aspire to one day cook a steak like they do there.
What an interesting revelation!!!
A steak tasting is a great idea. I could definitely get down with that.
This sounds delicious
I went back and read your salting steak post. Hilarious! I love your diagrams!
Looks great! Too many of my friends around here are vegetarians, so I would have to invite people from work
I just love steak! Great Giveaway and good luck everyone
A steak tasting event with my hands. Now that’s how a man does it.
I really need a steak break!!
As a carnivore, I feel that this is the best idea ever ^_^
I have been really wanting a good steak lately. Hope I win!
Who knew there were so many artisan steaks? Amazing.
I sure would love those steaks
Very nice article Jaden! Looks like a lot of fun.
Derek
Great post Jaden! I would love to have a steak tasting too!
Oh wow, I’ve never heard of a steak tasting but it looks like fun!
Hooray for steak!!
I’m with you. Filet is nice but I love a good skirt steak. Thanks for another great give away
I’ve been to wine tastings. I’ve been to glass tastings (the type of glass will change the taste of the wine, really). And now I need to add a steak tasting to the list. Thanks for the info.
As usual, your photos are amazing, Jaden! I am just glad the steaks “worked it” for you! I have hosted wine tastings and chocolate tastings, but never a steak tasting…what a fabulous idea! I would love to host a steak tasting party!
I tried your salt steak method and the steak was incredible. Do you think this would work on lean meats like elk or buffalo?
Keep up the wonderful posts…I am hooked!
P.S. Did the group really drink 22 bottles of wine?
this is such a lovely post, so well inform so well written! thanks Jaden!
Oh baby. We use the salting method every time we make steak now (since I’m a cheap-ass) and I would love to have an artisan steak tasting party. Pick me, random number generator, pick me!
OMG steak. These steaks look beautiful. I love the idea of artisinal beef. Everyone should know so much about their ingredients!
ze steak! yummmm
Steak is amazing! I am craving it now after reading about it!
Oooh! I’d love a steak-tasting kit. I wonder if I could manage to make this experiment double-blind?