‘I wouldn’t feed it to my dog’

Sorry, folks. Toronto-based author Mark Schatzker says he has tasted grass-fed beef from all over, and the best isn’t from Ontario.

Schatzker is the author of “Steak: One Man’s Search for the World’s Tastiest Piece of Beef.”

After a three-year search, he found the tastiest piece of beef was harvested from an animal finished on grass in Idaho’s Pahsimeroi Valley.

Schatzker says there is something about the grass in Idaho. “That particular valley,” he says, “has both volcanic and ancient seabed influences” that result in excellent grass. He prefers grass-fed beef because of its more natural flavour. While he doesn’t think all grain-fed beef is bad, he laments that producers fatten grain-fed cattle too quickly and slaughter them too early at 14 to 16 months.  

Better Farming - August/September 2012