COOKING TIPS

Use these tips for a delicious

home-cooked meal using our beef!

DEFROSTING YOUR BEEF

REFRIGERATOR

THAWING

24 hours per 5lbs of meat

While this method is the simplest method of defrosting your beef, it is also the slowest. Refrigerator thawing offers the most flexibility. Should your meal plans change, ground beef can be kept safely in the fridge for an additional 1 – 2 days and other cuts of beef can remain refrigerated for 3 – 5 days after thawing.

COLD WATER THAWING

30 minutes per 1lbs of meat

Thawing your frozen beef with cold water is quicker than using the refrigerator but it does require more effort. You’ll need to submerge the wrapped beef in cold water and change the water every 30 minutes to ensure it stays cold enough to keep harmful bacteria from multiplying. Once your beef is defrosted, it must be cooked immediately.

MICROWAVE THAWING

Varies by microwave

Using the microwave to defrost your beef is quick and convenient but you will need to monitor the defrosting process to ensure the outer edges of your beef do not cook. Beef thawed in the microwave must be cooked immediately after thawing.

Beef Cooking Tips:

Lower the cooking temperature. Because grass-fed beef is leaner than its grain-fed counterpart, you need to cook at a lower temperature and for less time to preserve the moisture in the meat.

Invest in a meat thermometer. A meat thermometer will ensure that you cook your meat just the way you like it.

The desired internal temperature for grass-fed beef is as follows:
- Rare - 120 degrees F
- Medium Rare - 125 degrees F
- Medium - 130 degrees F
- Medium Well - 135 degrees F

To achieve the desired temperature, remove the meat from the heat when it is 10 degrees shy of the temperature on the list. The residual heat will finish cooking the meat over the next ten minutes as you let it rest.

Thaw your meat on a plate in the refrigerator. Don’t use the microwave.

Use tongs or a spatula to turn the meat. Piercing the meat with a fork will result in the loss of valuable juices.

Add salt in the form of a rub, not in a marinade, which tends to draw out the moisture.