News, notes, and more: - Thanks again to Made In for sponsoring this one, get 10% off off your first order over $100 using my link ➡ madein.cc/0624-ethan - Check out my second channel: youtube.com/@cookwelldotcom?si=ZuDpi4Jp9A30R2KS - For all the sources and additional reading, check out this notion page: www.notion.so/ethanchlebowski/Sources-Is-Expensive-Steak-worth-it-f54e385c1cad441a91a4f46cc6717be9 - What type of tests would you want to see me do for a tomato deep dive? I'm thinking a pasta sauce or salsa test with different tomatoes would be fun! Hope you all enjoyed this one. It was fun to put together and really think about steak from a variety of different angles!
Psyched for tomato deep dive! Depending on what attributes of the tomato you are testing, a good old tomato sandwich could be a useful test. That's by far my favorite way to enjoy a raw, fresh, high-quality tomato. Ham El-Waylly also recently did a short on NYT Cooking where he made a pasta sauce out of barely-cooked grated tomato, which could be another good one if you are trying to taste the raw fresh flavors of the tomato rather than heavily cooked.
If you want a *really* deep dive, you should test tomato products, such as catsup, for toxins. Compare catsup that come from various countries, including those with lax pollution standards, like China. And does catsup stored in small packets have more absorbed chems from the packaging than catsup in large bottles?
For the tomato deep dive, I'd appreciate (and thank you for) a section on the uses of green tomato. Or even, is green, unripe tomato healthy? It's a practical problem occurring every fall, when I have to throw out all the tomatoes that haven't had (and won't have) enough time to ripen.
Grass fed tend to be better because the cattle age more slowly. You also tend to have cows that roam freely. Grain/corn/soy fed cattle grow faster and get slaughtered earlier.
My family raises cattle and growing up something that we learned early on is that "happy cows make the best meat." The more stressed the animal is, the worse it is for everyone from the beginning to the end. Now I know not all large scale beef operations are the same, but it's been the case from what I've seen in my area. And as a heads up, "grass finished" doesn't mean the cattle were in a large open field, they were most likely in the same sized pin as the rest, but just had grass in the trough vs a corn mixture.
The animal being raised right is certainly worth the price. Ethan you really seem to be interested in health, you need to check out AGEs or Advanced Glycation End products. Dr. Pradip Jamnadas has a great presentation on these with the exact biological pathways and all the solid evidence to prove what he's saying. No pseudoscience to be found. It's just a very important thing to be aware of, they are a root cause of inflammation, heart disease, cancer, etc.
I've found Prime/Choice/Select grading very inconsistent at times and I tend to just actually look at the steaks themselves and pick the ones that look good. Some of the best, most well marbled steaks I've had were graded as Select and looked better than any of the Prime steaks in the display case
I've definitely seen things that 100% should be Prime be labeled as Choice and make it all the way to my grocery store. Really happy to snatch them up when I catch those errors and I always take a stroll through the meat section now when I grocery shop just to see if I can get more to freeze for another day.
def use eyes.. at costco, i grab the best prime i can find, and then walk over to the choice and try and find the best choice that resembles the prime. im ususally successful and safe myself like 30 bucks
Yeah it’s good to know what to look out for. I had no idea marbling on steak was so important but now I do. I absolutely hate a chewy steak so knowing that the marbling will factor into the texture makes more sense to me.
@@check4v Worth noting that the whole carcass gets the Choice/Prime designations, but for individual cuts you can sometimes find Choice that have more marbling than Prime. So definitely it is worth looking at them closely.
This is an excellent video, but as someone with a lot of experience in the beef industry I must tell you that you’ve missed a critical variable: length and type of aging. Obviously everyone knows the difference between wet aging and dry aging, but there is HUGE variability in the length of aging in wet-aged beef. If you take a conventional prime ribeye that’s been wet-aged for 14-21 days and compare that to one that’s been aged for 40 days, you will be blown away at the difference. Controlling for as much variability as possible, I did a test between grass finished prime ribeyes and conventional prime ribeyes over a few different aging periods and noticed that conventional steaks have what I call “peak” taste and texture from 30-50 days and grass finished peaks at 21-28 days. Conventional steaks older than 50 days really just get looser and more tender, but the flavor doesn’t really change all the way up to 80+ days. Grass fed really started to go downhill in my test after about 45 days. Consumers have pretty much zero control over the length of age for wet age steaks, so maybe it’s a moot point. Just my two cents. Would love to see you add this variable in another text.
3 месяца назад+22
I literally had no idea there was dry and wet aging lol😂
Shhh, you are going to spoil the next steak video! But yes you are totally right. I should have at least mentioned that wet and dry aging happens. This is a whole other set of food science I wanted to get into and start testing a bunch of different options. Had to lay the foundation first in this video!
@@EthanChlebowski I'm looking forward to that video! I dry age my deer and elk around 15 days and it makes a huge difference compared to 4-7 days like most processors do.
Every video this dude makes is pretty bad in terms of accuracy. It's good production value and clickbaity titles and he's likable, but he's very clearly repeating wikipedia article stuff and has no experience whatsoever in the industry. He's one of my go to references when I'm talking about how internet popularity and accuracy are completely unrelated. If you read this Ethan, this is why pro TV productions not using an expert as host hire consultants in the relevant field being covered to help get their script dialed in to 95%. Yours are usually about 70% to my ears. You're a good host, but if you start to get real visibility your lack of education/experience are going to become glaring problems and that's the way to work that particular problem.
Deep dive on fruits would be great! So many things to know like which fruits continue to ripen after they are picked, which skin is edible, how to store them, organic vs non organic, different varieties etc.
I'm a huge beef eater and I'm so glad that I live in the part of the country that raises grass-fed beef. I can go to my local butcher and get completely locally raised grass-fed beef for the cheaper price than you would get horrible meat at Walmart.
What i do. Is use cheaper cuts as "fillers" for veg, rice, tacos, taquitos etc. And use better quaility as the main and use the veg, rice and pasta as fillers.
Since fat is flavor, up to a certain point. I actually stopped buying 80/20 beef for certain dishes like I buy the 93/7 ground beef for tacos. since i'm putting a ton of taco seasoning on the beef. I feel, i dont really need all that wasted fat. Burgers are a different story of course.
I think that's generally a good approach, not even just for beef: using cheaper or less flavour-dense products whenever it's not the main star of the show, and splurging a bit more when it is.
I've been cooking steaks for a long time, I never go to a steakhouse. I started watching Guga 7 or 8yrs ago just to see if I was doing it right (I am). I've tasted steaks from different meat markets and grocery stores here in Oklahoma. Yes, the more expensive meat market ($24 for a 2" NY strip) is the best compared to grocery stores (of course). Butcher box impressed me with their grass fed beef, although the cuts are small. I have found that a 30-60 day dry aged steak is just so damn superior to the rest. Also, doing a dry brine (just salt, refrigerate over night) and cooking in a cast iron with butter and herbs yields the best tasting steak.
Top soil decimation is a huge consideration. When taking the time to visit different farm and especially CAFO you can see just what a regenerative farm is regenerating. Regeneratively farmed beef rehabilitates the land and captures more carbon in the soil.
As a former butcher/fishmonger of 10 years, grass-fed beef will always be what I recommend, and I mostly only eat bison as I prefer the flavor. Free range animals raised well and happy make for the best meat as several others have said. In hunting, an instant, humane drop really does make a difference as the hormones released when an animal is stressed can dramatically change the flavor of their meat. Having made my living selling meat and fish, I truly appreciate hunting my own food, out in the woods and streams as opposed to buying a packaged product that came from who knows where. As an aside, a New York makes a better steak IMO, as it has a nice fat content with great marbling compared to a Ribeye. Cheap cuts can end up making great meals, it just takes a bit more effort, something as simple as cutting perpendicular to the muscle grain reduces the "chewy" texture by a lot. South Americans are devout about grass-fed beef, and their steaks are AMAZING, Chile in particular.
Is it true that "grass fed" rarely means the same thing as pasture-raised? I would prefer to eat pasture raised beef, but in my area the labels only say grass fed.
@@mastergwaha This is the way. If I'm making a quick chicken burrito... I'm not gonna waste a whole plate reheating my chicken/beans/rice... just toss on a deli lid that is already used haha
Also, the type of "grass" is a variable. Grass in the desert southwest is going to different than in the midwest or out east. I had a co-workers who raised cattle as a hobby (4-6 females, and when they had a steer, that became the meat cow). They would grass feed (pasture) the steers for 2 years and then 3-6 months of grain before slaughter (they said grain added to the marbling). I would get half a steer for my freezer (unfortunately they moved away). They would then hang the beef for 40-45 days before cutting it up (dry aged?). They always said never eat "fresh" meat. That was pretty good beef. So aging is also a variable.
I live in a beef area in England. When I walk for exercise, I go past and often through herds of beef steers happily grazing on the grass. I buy my ribeye and brisket from a farm shop selling beef from their own cattle.
Side note on Made In: Project Farm tested this and several other brands of non-stick skillets with Made In ranking par for its price point, but easily lost to less expensive brands in most tests.
I was glad to hear you brought up the fact that seaweed can help reduce methane emissions. It's also important to point out that open ocean farmed seaweed can actually be carbon negative and doesn't need any fertilizer or any type of irrigation for obvious reasons. It's amazing how effective those operations can be in conjunction with shellfish baskets grown underneath them.
Ethan I was so worried that you hadn’t post anything this past few weeks. I’m so glad you’re back but also I know your vids are a lot of work with all the research, the cooking and the quality. Really hope you are doing great man, thanks for another great peace of content.
One deficiency that steak is good for is IRON. My wife was borderline iron deficient. The supplements were not helping. I started making steaks ever Sunday and serving a green vegetable with as well. After a couple of months, my wife's doctor took another blood same and they iron when up...a lot. He asked what she was doing different and she told him " my husband and been making steak and serving green vegetables every Sunday." He replied with and enthusiastic "GOOD! Keep doing that."
I really appreciate your careful and nuanced points. Very refreshing and inspiring in our time of obfuscation and fact hiding. We need more people like you online!
Honestly, it very much comes down to the cow breed and how it was raised. Happy cows are tasty cows as my grandparents say, who run a small cattle operation and sell the animals after the calving stage. Wagyu will almost always have more intermuscular fat than a black angus, it's just how the breeds are, and honestly, I'm a huge fan of the butcher cuts (hanger, skirt, flank), than the typical strip or tenderloin.
@@msjkramey my english is not that good. The thing is the people who are super extremist about red meat consumption or anti veganism or anti vegetarians. They present a lot of info without anything to back their argument. The same can be said about the the extremist vegans and vegetarians.
I've had steak many times in my life, but this year for my birthday, my mom had bought some grass fed steak from a local farmer's shop and it was by far the best steak I've had in my life. Locally raised vs. industry raised can really make a massive difference.
we have a business costco warehouse near us that offers super cheap hallal new zealand grass fed beef. we bought a pichana and it was totally different than any beef weve had. it had alot of interesting flavors that werent better or worse, but totally different. a good way to change up flavors without having to hunt deer, moose, elk.
@@joestarr2136 its totally different and its not graded, so you will have to try and spy marbling to get a good cut. the pichana were a little smaller than the typical options and not as marbled, but it was still alot of fun. if you like MEAT flavors and variety id totally try it, just dont expect it to be AMERICAN BEEF. its its own thing and to me thats great. plus its a few $$ less per lb. you might not try the pichana 1st as that package left me with 5 more to vacuum seal and deep freeze, so if you dont like you youre gonna have alot of leftovers youre not excited about.
Amazingly detailed video on a subject I didn't even know I was interested in! In Ireland, all our cattle are raised in lush grass fields so I have no comparison. However, I know beef is one of our largest agricultural exports so it's obvious others like it too! Subscribed.
Most people aren't willing to sit through a video that actually teaches and informs. Most just wanna see the next wild and whacky stupid viral whatever auto plays next.
Ethan you are thorough in your research and really great at presenting a lot of info in a way that is easy to understand. I am a farmer and your coverage of how things are grown is realistic and accurate --- you never fall for industry hype that surrounds food found in grocery stores. Also, you could overwhelm us with food science factoids but you don't. Thanks for all your hard work. Doesn't hurt that we seem to have similar palates.
I would be interested in beer deep dive. Like what are the differences between a lager and pilsner, do certain often called low quality grains actually make a difference (are rice and corn really "bad" for brewing).
A test that you should try is on leftover beef, grain vs. grass. I've noticed that grass-fed beef develops far more warmed-over flavor than grain fed. This is anecdotal, but I've noticed it every time I've cooked grass-fed beef and had leftovers.
This is all off the top of my head so just some ideas for you to look deeper into, but grass fed beef has more omega 3 (I have found grass fed beef to taste more mineral, gamey, or even fishy) and if I recall correctly warmed over flavour is caused by oxidized fats. So maybe the different fat composition is causing this problem.
For climate impacts, typically people use CO2 equivalent for greenhouse gasses like methane (CH4) over a specific time scale. Typically 10-50 years when talking about ways to avoid warming by more than 2 C. As pointed out in the video CH4 eventually oxidizes in the atmosphere to CO2 + H2O. The water quickly precipitates out so the "CO2 equivalent" over time changes, from CH4 with 100% probability upon emission to CO2 with nearly 100% probability in dozens of years. In the first year, most of the CH4 is still around so you get equivalences that look like 70x more powerful - because CH4 traps heat much more than CO2 while it's around. Over a 100 year time scale most of the CH4 has long since been converted to CO2, so the equivalence is more like 17x more powerful: total heat trapped by CH4 versus CO2, accounting for the fact that the CH4 is likely converted within a dozen years or so. The detailed math way to derive the CH4-to-CO2 warming ratio is a calculus and statistics problem, an integral of the expected time at which CH4 gets oxidized. Take a semester of calculus, learn about the exponential distribution, and Bob's your uncle. As for time scales: as with most things in physics there are natural "time scales" at which key climate impacts happen. If you emitted a gigaton of CO2 into the environment that would warm the surface starting pretty much immediately. Over a few decades that CO2 would equilibrate with the carbonate content of the oceans: this is why the oceans are slowly acidifying, more CO2 in the atmosphere drives ocean chemistry towards having lots of H + HCO3, carbonic acid. Over even longer time scales (order million years) some of that H2CO3 in the oceans turns into seashells and gets deposited on the sea floors. And over even LONGER time scales we get "sillicate weathering" where rain water, slightly more acidic than average in high CO2 conditions, weathers silicate rocks a bit more and forms carbonate sediments that wash into the ocean and sink to the bottom. This last time scale, super long, is interesting for long-term cycles of "hothouse Earths" and "snowball Earths." Periods with many ice ages have much of the land surface covered in snow, not water, so silicate weathering slows down. The typical CO2 fraction of the atmosphere rises. In high CO2 environments there's little snow, lots of water, silicate weathering speeds up, and the atmosphere loses CO2 to rock weathering (slightly) faster. So the reason people talk about CH4 and CO2 over different time scales is because sometimes people care about what the weather effects will be in 5 years. Others care more about what the overall impact will be over 100 years. This consideration of time scales is also part of the discussion on how to mitigate climate change in various ways. Especially CO2 capture and storage. The storage mechanism usually will leak trapped CO2 back to the atmosphere over time. If your goal is to trap CO2 to mitigate spikes in a few years then it makes sense. But if you're pumping CO2 gas into a cavern that will leak it all out in a 100 years, and your goal is to mitigate long-term climate impacts, then it's a total waste of time.
CO2 and methane causing warming in the atmosphere is strictly theoretical. Atmospheric chemist here. CO2 after a certain point may actually cause cooling. I can explain, but it would take a considerable amount of space here.
After starting a carnivore diet and getting a taste for grass fed beef, I honestly hate grain fed beef now. There's a noticeable flavor in grain fed beef fat that's almost sickening when I try eating it, so I stick to only grass fed beef.
@@Lukronius Used to, but I was doing it more as an elimination diet to figure out the cause of my autoimmune disease. I still eat hypercarnivore (>70% animal products), but I also eat plant foods now too.
I did want to mention that the different cuts are also gonna have a different flavor. So for the grass bad burger you should have made sure that all of it was chuck just happens to be a chuck grass or a chuck grain
I recommend watching the bearded Butchers as they do a great job going over the different cuts of meat. Some videos are pretty long though. fair warning for ya.
Ethan, I love how you give me all the information and allow me to make my own decision. It speaks to your candor as video food journalist, and is a truly useful tool for culinary decisions in my life.
Yes this is a very difficult subject. As a masters student in environmental science and agriculture, I can tell you many of the themes from this video are the same as what we discuss in our seminars. However, despite the controversies there are some aspects of this debate which almost everyone can agree with: - In terms of welfare, the most desirable conditions are ones where the animal can best express its natural behaviour. Moving the cattle from place to place, separating them from one another, or causing pain or anxiety isn’t ethical. -In terms of the environment, grain-fed animals are in direct competition with our own food security because arable land is used to feed them. The most ideal situation environmentally is one where cattle are able use land which would otherwise be unsuitable for crop land or reforestation. Furthermore, modern industrial grain-feeding relies on massive imports of soy and grains from other countries, often from slashed rainforests. The modern american diet is only possible because we are exporting our environmental impact to other countries. The real area of contention in this discourse is what the best solution actually is. Some believe it’s “regenerative” (already at risk of greenwash), others argue no meat at all, some keep thinking of band-aid solutions. Meat alternatives are a dark industry that doesn’t get enough coverage… What people don’t often talk about is the nutrient density and cultural importance of meat especially in countries where malnutrition is a risk. Anyway, I’m glad you added the ethical and environmental discussions in this video because I believe it really is about the information we have that can guide our purchasing decisions.
I have worked in several steak houses and had every cut cooked many different ways. My fav is center cut top sirloin cooked medium rare with butter, sautéed mushrooms and caramelized onions.
I'd love to see a video like this comparing organic vs conventional fruits and vegetables. I think sometimes people are misled by the labels. I recently bought some conventional apples which are considered "bad" by people who buy organic but the apples are absolutely delicious. I would like to know if pesticides being sprayed on produce is bad for us and is organic really any better? I mean organic farms do use pesticides so it's confusing.
Have you ever been to a Brazilian churrascaria? The one with the beef on "swords". They cook the meat on an open flame pit, bring it to you and cut a slice or two of it onto you place then take back the steak to the flame to brown it again. So you always get slices with lots of browning but still very tender on the inside. I think you'd like it.
Super cool deep dive!!! So I was born and raised in Chicago but live in CO. The wife is from a SD ranch family. We raise Certified Black Angus cattle, mainly for the tax write offs. We just slaughtered our first steer last month and kept 1/2, and sold 1/2. The wife spent a lot of time looking at finishing feed blends for protein to fat ratios, carb content etc. Technically, he was grass fed, grain finished but it really wasn't all grain. When we went to have him butchered, the butcher said he was a "big boy" (Certified Black Angus "tend" to be larger than your average black angus.) and if he were to grade him, he would grade him at Prime. My point of this story is that "healthy" also includes, the who, what, where, when and how. We know who raised our beef, we know that all shots were subcutaneous, he was never sick, he had a nice, easy life near a small herd and was dispatched humanely. We know the people who butchered our meat that we are feeding to our friends and family. That matters IMHO. If that matters to you as well, try contacting small beef suppliers that raise beef the way you like it and order some. That's not our primary goal but there are a ton of small farms and ranches that you can build a relationship with. Plus, it's way cheaper than the store.
Ethan, please, I watch your videos in a way unlike any other RUclips cooking channel. I feel like I learn so much. Please, I love tomatoes and red sauce, I need you to do that deep dive on tomatoes. I feel like I would learn everything I've never even thought to think about asking about tomatoes... if that makes sense. Thank you so much for your videos it's really reshaping my relationship with the food I cook for myself and my family! Much love.
I get butcherbox and all their beef is Australian grass fed grass finished and I find there’s a huge difference in flavor from grocery store steaks. The call it to the linolaic acid helped me put words to it - it does have a touch of the lamb/goat taste
To the discussion of steak being better for the environment, I want to draw from Hannah Ritchie's book Not the End of the World. She argues that land use and yield have the most impact on the environment. If you're using more land to feed fewer people, you're contributing more to climate change. Not saying it's more ethical, but it would be more environmentally friendly for us to eat from brutally efficient and centrally located feedlots than even to eat local. But considering the land use of beef at all, it's actually much better to eat less beef. She shows that a person moving from eating beef to eating chicken has a greater effect on emissions than someone going from pescatarian to vegan.
I eat 2-3 steaks on average per week. I'm pretty much keto-vore in my diet. Local farmers whether grass fed or grain fed is best. Ethan you do such a great job on your videos! Thanks for all the work you do!
At this very moment, I am housing the prolific remnants of a steak dinner I bought for my elderly mother’s 77th birthday. It cost more than $100 per person, and I still have not eaten a bite. It is arguably one of the worst meals I have ever experienced. I am furious. The “restaurant” was Taste of Texas, in houston. They are amateurs, charging expert prices. They shaved fresh carrot onto a slice of carrot cake-as a decoration. The shreds are brown, and have a terrible texture. What were they thinking, and why do people enjoy this place? It is a meal I hate. There are more issues, but I will not bore you further.
For these sorts of comparison tests in the future, please make sure to standardize the cuts of meats as much as possible! Though these are all ribeyes, the 2 prime cuts appear to be cut from the end, with 3 distinct muscles in the steaks, as opposed to the 2 choice steaks, which only consist of the rib eye and cap
Another variable this presents though is that any beef from New Zealand/Australia is going to have a different flavor regardless. They almost usually have a more "gamey" flavor compared to US grown cattle, grass fed or not.
@@Temulgeh with a $5 in-app coupon on top of an in app sale coupon, I was able to get some beautiful tri tip for 3 something a pound! And this is in California as well where things generally aren't cheap. I mean of course you're going to get the cheapest cuts of meat for that $5 sale price, but it's all about how you prepare it that makes it really good. With the right choice of marinating and method of cooking, you can make anything taste wonderful
My rule of thumb with steaks is the more marbling the more it should be cooked. Anything really lean I'll usually eat blue, that gives the best texture and keeps most of the flavour. With more marbled steaks, getting the fats to melt more is the goal, so you generally need to go much warmer.
Not sure if anyone mentioned this, but it's good to remember the factor of what you're accustomed to. If you are used to Choice (vs Prime) steaks, and you like the flavor and lower prices ... don't even consider Prime. If you start going with Prime instead, Choice will not taste good anymore, and you'll be stuck with the higher prices! (If you have the extra money, and they're healthier .. I guess you could do that)
i mostly buy meats from my farmers markets and it’s usually grass fed and finished and pasture raised corn and soy free chicken. i love that you made this video. the difference is truly there. i believe that cows are meant to be raised on pasture and believe it helps the environment especially cause i buy local. this is one my favorite videos you’ve made
A restaurant in London called Fallow that are based around sustainability use a lot of ex-dairy cows for their beef snr and it tastes really nice, different to normal beef but in a good way.
A beef farmer once told me many grain finished animals end up having abcesses in their livers. That told me, that grass finishing was more healthful for the animal. What is more healthful to the animal is more healthful to me, in my opinion. Maybe not the most healthful to my wallet...lol!
A Farmer that is no doubt marketing grass finished beef. He is full of it. I grew up raising beef and the best is grain finished. And traditionally the best beef is well marbled with fat and they hit market weight at a younger age. The younger they are the more tender they will be
Used to manage a meat processing plant and thought I’d let you know that ground meat doesn’t have “exact” meat:fat ratios. Is best approximations and the USDA allows for a fairly large deviation.
For intramuscular fat, my understanding is that not allowing the cattle to roam or move as much is what causes greater levels of intramuscular fat. Which from an ethical perspective, makes me less able to appreciate the cuts with a lot of intramuscular fat.
I applaud your approach to presenting the facts. Do many pick on one very narrow tact point and get religious about it. Reality is no simple answer and we are fortunate to have choices that allow us to focus on what is important to us. Key is everyone needs to respect the different perspectives and lifestyles.
The largest chunk of cattle's impact on environment is the economy it comes from. A Paraguay, Botswana or Namibia steak is 4-7 times more pollutant than a Japanese, Swiss, German, US, Norwegian, French or Spanish steak. In Paraguay, the transportation from farm to plate is extremely singularly focused. For example, in Norway and Japan the meat is transported along with vegetables because all farms are hybrid, there is no such thing as a pure cattle farm like in Paraguay, Botswana, Namibia. It's a major efficiency win, and the transport itself is powered by renewables. Norway (and soon Spain) also uses seaweed to reduce methane. Also, in Botswana and Namibia, the grain use is astronomic and moreover the grain has to be imported, because (especially Namibia) they have poor land in large areas for cattle to graze. The transport of this imported grain is factored into the climate cost. However, in Spain for example, water is the biggest problem, having had extensive droughts that are only getting worse. It's definitely the wrong decision to boycott these growing South American and African economies though. We can't pull the ladder up behind ourselves after exploiting them in the past. I think the right way forward is to pressure the "middle of the pack" western/ eastern cattle producers to put more money into increasing their farming efficiencies. Countries like Italy, Romania, China, Poland and Australia should have been further along than they are by now. But definitely don't punish Namibia, Paraguay or Botswana, it's their main industry and we should make sure they have the economy they need to reach western levels. Remember, they may be 50 years behind, but WE put them behind.
Cooking method, prep, finish, etc, are a big part of this equation as well. When go to Japan for instance, they do not cook their steaks like we do in America for the most part. They start with a full steak on a flat top, then break it down into bite sized pieces as they cook it thereby getting the crust we love so much. You might have a better experience with Prime grades if you cook your steak using this method.
That is interesting to note because fatty Wagyu is usually cut thin and used for dishes like yakiniku or sukiyaki. It's super rich and not typically eaten in chunks. Which is why a lot of people prefer Wagyu well done when eaten Western style. The fat is just too much when it's medium rare
Fresh ground makes a huge difference for burger patties, especially if not doing smash burgers IMO or meat balls. Vacuum packed is fine for smash burgers...
It always frustrates me when people are like: I don't like beef and it's bad for the environment, so I eliminated it from my diet to save the planet. I am now going to grandstand about how everyone else needs to make the same sacrifice I made even though I'm giving up something I don't like anyway and you're giving up something you do like.
Regarding browning, I find I don't like using oil when cooking steaks. To me, any oil (veg, lard, tallow, ...) dulls the taste a bit. I lower the heat and cook it longer, get great browning, and more beefy flavor.
@@Xolition he’s just frugal. It’s more than likely that he grew up extremely poor and he doesn’t value objects, so he just doesn’t care. There’s nothing wrong with that.
I got a cheap steak once from the local grocery store, and I got another one from the farmer's market. The latter was way more expensive, but also so much better: dry aged, good marbling, amazing taste
Or maybe just eat a great (but expensive) beef portion every 2-3 weeks, and enjoy 1 or 2 meals of pork or poultry and fish in the same period. The rest being vegetables and fruits. Your food expenses will stay the same, and the quality and pleasure of eating meat will just be multiplied! I never enjoyed meat more than when I reduced quantities and increased quality. It's the same for tomatoes. If you accept the fact that no good tomatoes can be grown outside of the period from 15th june to 15th september, you will never be as happy as tasting the first tomatoes since 10 months, and only really amazing ones which are not full of water.
@@dougmackenzie5976 Same here. Maybe 1x mo as a special occasion if they're on sale. I've found my grocer provides sirloin/top round wagyu at as low as $9/lb with similar marbling to choice NY strip
Great video! For a suggestion, I'd like to see a video on cooking with (using?) raw cuts of meat, whether it's a steak or fish tartare, a civeche, homemade sushi, etc.. I learned from a biologist that she would not use the frozen tilapia I previously was using for civiche, and I think an overall video on consuming raw meats would be great.
I prefer flank or skirt, but regardless of the cut, it's *gotta* be at least medium, better on the well side of medium - just a tiny strip of pink left in the middle.
Hey Ethan, I have a deep dive I'd love to see you take on if you're willing. It's something that has been bugging me for awhile, and that is bread fermentation. Specifically, I hear people say all the time how a long slow ferment of dough in the fridge gives you more flavor. Is that really true? Does a short ferment at room temperature give the same flavor? Is less yeast for a longer time better than more yeast for a shorter time? Thanks for the interesting videos!!
just some feedback on this great show. whenever your transcript says the words "as we learned in my last video", consider a linkout to that video. keep up the great work. i love it and learn something everytime!
As someone who has never bought a steak, this surprisingly important to me. Because if you're going to buy something so individually expensive, you want it to be good. (I always think, I could buy some meat to make 2-3 family meals, or buy 1 portion of small steak.)
I hope Ethan does a video of farm vs wild caught fish/seafood. I can taste the difference of tuna from bumblebee/chicken of the sea or starks vs wild planet tuna. I'm not sure if it's because it's not packed in oil or water but in it's own fish juice. Come to think of it, why didnt this video touch on organic beef? You can have organic grains and I've heard you can tell the difference between that type of beef
My retired admiral uncle is in La Grange, texas. He raised Limousin cattle, exclusively. I have never seen it highlighted on a menu, so I have wondered, my entire adulthood: where did his special cattle end up? Were they ground into patties, with lesser cows? He hated his cattle-he said so, freely. He has given me a very ugly image of ranchers. They are evil.
Oh man. This is so true. I have a local butcher/steak purveyor that I feel preys on the confusion and lack of knowledge of the consumer. Using terms like “yield grade” and making subjective claims about the marbling score. Prices are off the charts for a product that most don’t even understand
PS regarding this video, I think it’s finding a supplier you trust, I’m from the UK and we don’t have the USDA prime, select etc grading, your local butcher will tell you where the beef is from and how it was raised. I live in London and there are some good butchers but very expensive, I generally stock up with meat every few weeks when I visit family in the north, the meat is better and probably 30/40% cheaper 👍
Thank you for the great video! I think cooking the steaks to the same temperature was not ideal, leaner pieces will have better texture served rawer than fattier ones. Also there are some quality factors that you didn‘t go into here are all the factors: 1. Breed 2. Feed 3. Age 4. Slaughter (for example stress before and during) 5. Handling
I dont know exactly what your plans are for future cideos, but id like to see if you could go over different kinds of milk and creams and compare how they affect cooking, heavy cream vs whole milk vs whipping cream, etc.
Will wait in earnest for your deep dive into ground beef. I treated myself to a Wagyu sampler at a high-end restaurant and it was very enlightening. I preferred the American Wagyu because Japanese A5 texture-wise was practically not a steak even though it tasted really good. I guess my preference is to have a little more texture to a steak.
We bought a 1/4 grass fed and grass finished cow and it tasted very different. It was not as tender and had a distinct flavor my kids did not like. Helpful video, thanks!
News, notes, and more:
- Thanks again to Made In for sponsoring this one, get 10% off off your first order over $100 using my link ➡ madein.cc/0624-ethan
- Check out my second channel: youtube.com/@cookwelldotcom?si=ZuDpi4Jp9A30R2KS
- For all the sources and additional reading, check out this notion page: www.notion.so/ethanchlebowski/Sources-Is-Expensive-Steak-worth-it-f54e385c1cad441a91a4f46cc6717be9
- What type of tests would you want to see me do for a tomato deep dive? I'm thinking a pasta sauce or salsa test with different tomatoes would be fun!
Hope you all enjoyed this one. It was fun to put together and really think about steak from a variety of different angles!
Psyched for tomato deep dive! Depending on what attributes of the tomato you are testing, a good old tomato sandwich could be a useful test. That's by far my favorite way to enjoy a raw, fresh, high-quality tomato. Ham El-Waylly also recently did a short on NYT Cooking where he made a pasta sauce out of barely-cooked grated tomato, which could be another good one if you are trying to taste the raw fresh flavors of the tomato rather than heavily cooked.
If you want a *really* deep dive, you should test tomato products, such as catsup, for toxins. Compare catsup that come from various countries, including those with lax pollution standards, like China.
And does catsup stored in small packets have more absorbed chems from the packaging than catsup in large bottles?
For the tomato deep dive, I'd appreciate (and thank you for) a section on the uses of green tomato. Or even, is green, unripe tomato healthy? It's a practical problem occurring every fall, when I have to throw out all the tomatoes that haven't had (and won't have) enough time to ripen.
are you still in Mexico?
Grass fed tend to be better because the cattle age more slowly.
You also tend to have cows that roam freely.
Grain/corn/soy fed cattle grow faster and get slaughtered earlier.
My family raises cattle and growing up something that we learned early on is that "happy cows make the best meat." The more stressed the animal is, the worse it is for everyone from the beginning to the end. Now I know not all large scale beef operations are the same, but it's been the case from what I've seen in my area. And as a heads up, "grass finished" doesn't mean the cattle were in a large open field, they were most likely in the same sized pin as the rest, but just had grass in the trough vs a corn mixture.
thats why i pay extra for pasture raised grass fed and finished..its a good bit more expensive..but tastes soo much better
That must be why I hear good things about meat from retired dairy cows. They want to keep them happy for the milk too.
I thought grass finished meant they were peacefully slaughtered over green pastures
The animal being raised right is certainly worth the price. Ethan you really seem to be interested in health, you need to check out AGEs or Advanced Glycation End products. Dr. Pradip Jamnadas has a great presentation on these with the exact biological pathways and all the solid evidence to prove what he's saying. No pseudoscience to be found. It's just a very important thing to be aware of, they are a root cause of inflammation, heart disease, cancer, etc.
Grass finished just means the last bit of their life they were fed grass, what you really want is grass fed and finished.
I've found Prime/Choice/Select grading very inconsistent at times and I tend to just actually look at the steaks themselves and pick the ones that look good. Some of the best, most well marbled steaks I've had were graded as Select and looked better than any of the Prime steaks in the display case
I've definitely seen things that 100% should be Prime be labeled as Choice and make it all the way to my grocery store. Really happy to snatch them up when I catch those errors and I always take a stroll through the meat section now when I grocery shop just to see if I can get more to freeze for another day.
def use eyes.. at costco, i grab the best prime i can find, and then walk over to the choice and try and find the best choice that resembles the prime. im ususally successful and safe myself like 30 bucks
Yeah it’s good to know what to look out for. I had no idea marbling on steak was so important but now I do.
I absolutely hate a chewy steak so knowing that the marbling will factor into the texture makes more sense to me.
@@check4v Worth noting that the whole carcass gets the Choice/Prime designations, but for individual cuts you can sometimes find Choice that have more marbling than Prime. So definitely it is worth looking at them closely.
@@Galastin Very good point.
This is an excellent video, but as someone with a lot of experience in the beef industry I must tell you that you’ve missed a critical variable: length and type of aging. Obviously everyone knows the difference between wet aging and dry aging, but there is HUGE variability in the length of aging in wet-aged beef. If you take a conventional prime ribeye that’s been wet-aged for 14-21 days and compare that to one that’s been aged for 40 days, you will be blown away at the difference. Controlling for as much variability as possible, I did a test between grass finished prime ribeyes and conventional prime ribeyes over a few different aging periods and noticed that conventional steaks have what I call “peak” taste and texture from 30-50 days and grass finished peaks at 21-28 days. Conventional steaks older than 50 days really just get looser and more tender, but the flavor doesn’t really change all the way up to 80+ days. Grass fed really started to go downhill in my test after about 45 days.
Consumers have pretty much zero control over the length of age for wet age steaks, so maybe it’s a moot point.
Just my two cents. Would love to see you add this variable in another text.
I literally had no idea there was dry and wet aging lol😂
Shhh, you are going to spoil the next steak video!
But yes you are totally right. I should have at least mentioned that wet and dry aging happens.
This is a whole other set of food science I wanted to get into and start testing a bunch of different options. Had to lay the foundation first in this video!
Sweet. Looking forward to it. Appreciate how thorough you are!
@@EthanChlebowski I'm looking forward to that video! I dry age my deer and elk around 15 days and it makes a huge difference compared to 4-7 days like most processors do.
Every video this dude makes is pretty bad in terms of accuracy. It's good production value and clickbaity titles and he's likable, but he's very clearly repeating wikipedia article stuff and has no experience whatsoever in the industry. He's one of my go to references when I'm talking about how internet popularity and accuracy are completely unrelated. If you read this Ethan, this is why pro TV productions not using an expert as host hire consultants in the relevant field being covered to help get their script dialed in to 95%. Yours are usually about 70% to my ears. You're a good host, but if you start to get real visibility your lack of education/experience are going to become glaring problems and that's the way to work that particular problem.
Deep dive on fruits would be great! So many things to know like which fruits continue to ripen after they are picked, which skin is edible, how to store them, organic vs non organic, different varieties etc.
you got my vote!
I'm a huge beef eater and I'm so glad that I live in the part of the country that raises grass-fed beef. I can go to my local butcher and get completely locally raised grass-fed beef for the cheaper price than you would get horrible meat at Walmart.
I’ve seen those walmart steaks and they look floppy and sad
@@Shaosprojects Who is really buying steaks at Walmart?
@@IanAmstadter Those who don’t know what makes a good steak, or for those who sadly cannot afford anything better
@@IanAmstadter most people
People who must spend less money on groceries, for whatever reason
What i do. Is use cheaper cuts as "fillers" for veg, rice, tacos, taquitos etc. And use better quaility as the main and use the veg, rice and pasta as fillers.
Since fat is flavor, up to a certain point. I actually stopped buying 80/20 beef for certain dishes like I buy the 93/7 ground beef for tacos. since i'm putting a ton of taco seasoning on the beef. I feel, i dont really need all that wasted fat. Burgers are a different story of course.
I think that's generally a good approach, not even just for beef: using cheaper or less flavour-dense products whenever it's not the main star of the show, and splurging a bit more when it is.
@@lasaldudeDefinitely don't waste the fat! Save it to flavor other things
@@lasaldude 80/20 is best for burgers imo. I don't really know what else i'd use it for aside from maybe a meat loaf or kabobs
naw you can make "cheap" steak the main focus and have it be amazing - you just need some technique, take skirt steak for example
Ethan just doesn’t miss. One of the few content creators I will gladly lend over my 30 minutes for a video
I've been cooking steaks for a long time, I never go to a steakhouse. I started watching Guga 7 or 8yrs ago just to see if I was doing it right (I am). I've tasted steaks from different meat markets and grocery stores here in Oklahoma. Yes, the more expensive meat market ($24 for a 2" NY strip) is the best compared to grocery stores (of course). Butcher box impressed me with their grass fed beef, although the cuts are small. I have found that a 30-60 day dry aged steak is just so damn superior to the rest. Also, doing a dry brine (just salt, refrigerate over night) and cooking in a cast iron with butter and herbs yields the best tasting steak.
We're so back
But I'm not black, though.
@@Dulceria-La-Princesita But Juneteenth just happened.
@@g.4279 True, yet did any black people bother to thank me? No. Such disrespect.
@@Dulceria-La-Princesitait says BACK.
So why are you bringing race into a cooking video??
@@UndertheNeedle282 regardless of what it says, what I have said remains true.
Top soil decimation is a huge consideration. When taking the time to visit different farm and especially CAFO you can see just what a regenerative farm is regenerating. Regeneratively farmed beef rehabilitates the land and captures more carbon in the soil.
Would a deep dive on seafood be a good idea?
Atlantic salmon vs King salmon vs Rainbow trout, farm vs wild caught, and Cod vs other white fish etc.
yesssss!
My sister is a salmon expert, if you need help, I can give you their contact information
As a former butcher/fishmonger of 10 years, grass-fed beef will always be what I recommend, and I mostly only eat bison as I prefer the flavor. Free range animals raised well and happy make for the best meat as several others have said. In hunting, an instant, humane drop really does make a difference as the hormones released when an animal is stressed can dramatically change the flavor of their meat. Having made my living selling meat and fish, I truly appreciate hunting my own food, out in the woods and streams as opposed to buying a packaged product that came from who knows where. As an aside, a New York makes a better steak IMO, as it has a nice fat content with great marbling compared to a Ribeye. Cheap cuts can end up making great meals, it just takes a bit more effort, something as simple as cutting perpendicular to the muscle grain reduces the "chewy" texture by a lot.
South Americans are devout about grass-fed beef, and their steaks are AMAZING, Chile in particular.
Is it true that "grass fed" rarely means the same thing as pasture-raised? I would prefer to eat pasture raised beef, but in my area the labels only say grass fed.
13:00 I relate and respect so much that he's using deli container lids as plates. I do that all the time
or to cut something small and i dont want to wash a cutting board haha
@@mastergwaha This is the way.
If I'm making a quick chicken burrito... I'm not gonna waste a whole plate reheating my chicken/beans/rice... just toss on a deli lid that is already used haha
Also, the type of "grass" is a variable. Grass in the desert southwest is going to different than in the midwest or out east. I had a co-workers who raised cattle as a hobby (4-6 females, and when they had a steer, that became the meat cow). They would grass feed (pasture) the steers for 2 years and then 3-6 months of grain before slaughter (they said grain added to the marbling). I would get half a steer for my freezer (unfortunately they moved away). They would then hang the beef for 40-45 days before cutting it up (dry aged?). They always said never eat "fresh" meat. That was pretty good beef. So aging is also a variable.
Agreed. Beef should be finished on grain. Alberta brags about its beef, it is from the barley cattle are finished on.
How about a potato deep dive. Which varieties make the best mashed potatoes, the best way to cook them etc etc
I live in a beef area in England. When I walk for exercise, I go past and often through herds of beef steers happily grazing on the grass. I buy my ribeye and brisket from a farm shop selling beef from their own cattle.
Side note on Made In:
Project Farm tested this and several other brands of non-stick skillets with Made In ranking par for its price point, but easily lost to less expensive brands in most tests.
I was glad to hear you brought up the fact that seaweed can help reduce methane emissions. It's also important to point out that open ocean farmed seaweed can actually be carbon negative and doesn't need any fertilizer or any type of irrigation for obvious reasons. It's amazing how effective those operations can be in conjunction with shellfish baskets grown underneath them.
Ethan I was so worried that you hadn’t post anything this past few weeks. I’m so glad you’re back but also I know your vids are a lot of work with all the research, the cooking and the quality. Really hope you are doing great man, thanks for another great peace of content.
One deficiency that steak is good for is IRON. My wife was borderline iron deficient. The supplements were not helping. I started making steaks ever Sunday and serving a green vegetable with as well. After a couple of months, my wife's doctor took another blood same and they iron when up...a lot. He asked what she was doing different and she told him " my husband and been making steak and serving green vegetables every Sunday." He replied with and enthusiastic "GOOD! Keep doing that."
33:51 something that could be fun and interesting for summer would be a "gas vs coal" or like generally grilling techniques deep dive
I really appreciate your careful and nuanced points. Very refreshing and inspiring in our time of obfuscation and fact hiding. We need more people like you online!
The best bang for your buck cut of steak is definitely the chuck eye
It's really going to vary depending on where you are, what time of year it is, current food trends and so on.
Honestly, it very much comes down to the cow breed and how it was raised. Happy cows are tasty cows as my grandparents say, who run a small cattle operation and sell the animals after the calving stage. Wagyu will almost always have more intermuscular fat than a black angus, it's just how the breeds are, and honestly, I'm a huge fan of the butcher cuts (hanger, skirt, flank), than the typical strip or tenderloin.
So good to see a good non biased explanation that is not beef eaters extremist
What?
@@msjkramey my english is not that good. The thing is the people who are super extremist about red meat consumption or anti veganism or anti vegetarians. They present a lot of info without anything to back their argument. The same can be said about the the extremist vegans and vegetarians.
@@JuanPabloDj88 most people aren't at either extreme
@@msjkramey Most people who recommend things are though
@@jacobkummer2067 most people who recommend things? People who recommend anything are extremists? Lol
I've had steak many times in my life, but this year for my birthday, my mom had bought some grass fed steak from a local farmer's shop and it was by far the best steak I've had in my life. Locally raised vs. industry raised can really make a massive difference.
we have a business costco warehouse near us that offers super cheap hallal new zealand grass fed beef. we bought a pichana and it was totally different than any beef weve had. it had alot of interesting flavors that werent better or worse, but totally different. a good way to change up flavors without having to hunt deer, moose, elk.
man i have been wanting to try that beef out at the business center.. i might have to give it a go.
@@joestarr2136 its totally different and its not graded, so you will have to try and spy marbling to get a good cut. the pichana were a little smaller than the typical options and not as marbled, but it was still alot of fun. if you like MEAT flavors and variety id totally try it, just dont expect it to be AMERICAN BEEF. its its own thing and to me thats great. plus its a few $$ less per lb. you might not try the pichana 1st as that package left me with 5 more to vacuum seal and deep freeze, so if you dont like you youre gonna have alot of leftovers youre not excited about.
Amazingly detailed video on a subject I didn't even know I was interested in! In Ireland, all our cattle are raised in lush grass fields so I have no comparison. However, I know beef is one of our largest agricultural exports so it's obvious others like it too! Subscribed.
It’s crazy how u only have 2mil subs.. your videos are so freaking informative
I think it’s crazy to say someone “only” has 2 mil subs lol.
Most people aren't willing to sit through a video that actually teaches and informs. Most just wanna see the next wild and whacky stupid viral whatever auto plays next.
Ethan you are thorough in your research and really great at presenting a lot of info in a way that is easy to understand. I am a farmer and your coverage of how things are grown is realistic and accurate --- you never fall for industry hype that surrounds food found in grocery stores. Also, you could overwhelm us with food science factoids but you don't. Thanks for all your hard work. Doesn't hurt that we seem to have similar palates.
I would be interested in beer deep dive. Like what are the differences between a lager and pilsner, do certain often called low quality grains actually make a difference (are rice and corn really "bad" for brewing).
A test that you should try is on leftover beef, grain vs. grass. I've noticed that grass-fed beef develops far more warmed-over flavor than grain fed. This is anecdotal, but I've noticed it every time I've cooked grass-fed beef and had leftovers.
This is all off the top of my head so just some ideas for you to look deeper into, but grass fed beef has more omega 3 (I have found grass fed beef to taste more mineral, gamey, or even fishy) and if I recall correctly warmed over flavour is caused by oxidized fats. So maybe the different fat composition is causing this problem.
For climate impacts, typically people use CO2 equivalent for greenhouse gasses like methane (CH4) over a specific time scale. Typically 10-50 years when talking about ways to avoid warming by more than 2 C.
As pointed out in the video CH4 eventually oxidizes in the atmosphere to CO2 + H2O. The water quickly precipitates out so the "CO2 equivalent" over time changes, from CH4 with 100% probability upon emission to CO2 with nearly 100% probability in dozens of years. In the first year, most of the CH4 is still around so you get equivalences that look like 70x more powerful - because CH4 traps heat much more than CO2 while it's around. Over a 100 year time scale most of the CH4 has long since been converted to CO2, so the equivalence is more like 17x more powerful: total heat trapped by CH4 versus CO2, accounting for the fact that the CH4 is likely converted within a dozen years or so. The detailed math way to derive the CH4-to-CO2 warming ratio is a calculus and statistics problem, an integral of the expected time at which CH4 gets oxidized. Take a semester of calculus, learn about the exponential distribution, and Bob's your uncle.
As for time scales: as with most things in physics there are natural "time scales" at which key climate impacts happen. If you emitted a gigaton of CO2 into the environment that would warm the surface starting pretty much immediately. Over a few decades that CO2 would equilibrate with the carbonate content of the oceans: this is why the oceans are slowly acidifying, more CO2 in the atmosphere drives ocean chemistry towards having lots of H + HCO3, carbonic acid. Over even longer time scales (order million years) some of that H2CO3 in the oceans turns into seashells and gets deposited on the sea floors. And over even LONGER time scales we get "sillicate weathering" where rain water, slightly more acidic than average in high CO2 conditions, weathers silicate rocks a bit more and forms carbonate sediments that wash into the ocean and sink to the bottom. This last time scale, super long, is interesting for long-term cycles of "hothouse Earths" and "snowball Earths." Periods with many ice ages have much of the land surface covered in snow, not water, so silicate weathering slows down. The typical CO2 fraction of the atmosphere rises. In high CO2 environments there's little snow, lots of water, silicate weathering speeds up, and the atmosphere loses CO2 to rock weathering (slightly) faster.
So the reason people talk about CH4 and CO2 over different time scales is because sometimes people care about what the weather effects will be in 5 years. Others care more about what the overall impact will be over 100 years.
This consideration of time scales is also part of the discussion on how to mitigate climate change in various ways. Especially CO2 capture and storage. The storage mechanism usually will leak trapped CO2 back to the atmosphere over time. If your goal is to trap CO2 to mitigate spikes in a few years then it makes sense. But if you're pumping CO2 gas into a cavern that will leak it all out in a 100 years, and your goal is to mitigate long-term climate impacts, then it's a total waste of time.
CO2 and methane causing warming in the atmosphere is strictly theoretical. Atmospheric chemist here. CO2 after a certain point may actually cause cooling. I can explain, but it would take a considerable amount of space here.
After starting a carnivore diet and getting a taste for grass fed beef, I honestly hate grain fed beef now. There's a noticeable flavor in grain fed beef fat that's almost sickening when I try eating it, so I stick to only grass fed beef.
So no vegetables in your diet at all?
@@Lukronius Used to, but I was doing it more as an elimination diet to figure out the cause of my autoimmune disease. I still eat hypercarnivore (>70% animal products), but I also eat plant foods now too.
@@EZCarnivore very cool, and I appreciate the quick reply. I hope you’re on the mend or all healthy now!
I did want to mention that the different cuts are also gonna have a different flavor. So for the grass bad burger you should have made sure that all of it was chuck just happens to be a chuck grass or a chuck grain
My goodness, I love this channel. I just started to really enjoy cooking this year, and I have learned so much from this channel.
Thank you for making this video. The steak market is kind of confusing to me so I’m sure I’ll take something from this!
You are welcome!
I recommend watching the bearded Butchers as they do a great job going over the different cuts of meat. Some videos are pretty long though. fair warning for ya.
Ethan, I love how you give me all the information and allow me to make my own decision. It speaks to your candor as video food journalist, and is a truly useful tool for culinary decisions in my life.
short answer yes
Yes this is a very difficult subject. As a masters student in environmental science and agriculture, I can tell you many of the themes from this video are the same as what we discuss in our seminars. However, despite the controversies there are some aspects of this debate which almost everyone can agree with:
- In terms of welfare, the most desirable conditions are ones where the animal can best express its natural behaviour. Moving the cattle from place to place, separating them from one another, or causing pain or anxiety isn’t ethical.
-In terms of the environment, grain-fed animals are in direct competition with our own food security because arable land is used to feed them. The most ideal situation environmentally is one where cattle are able use land which would otherwise be unsuitable for crop land or reforestation.
Furthermore, modern industrial grain-feeding relies on massive imports of soy and grains from other countries, often from slashed rainforests. The modern american diet is only possible because we are exporting our environmental impact to other countries.
The real area of contention in this discourse is what the best solution actually is. Some believe it’s “regenerative” (already at risk of greenwash), others argue no meat at all, some keep thinking of band-aid solutions. Meat alternatives are a dark industry that doesn’t get enough coverage…
What people don’t often talk about is the nutrient density and cultural importance of meat especially in countries where malnutrition is a risk.
Anyway, I’m glad you added the ethical and environmental discussions in this video because I believe it really is about the information we have that can guide our purchasing decisions.
I have worked in several steak houses and had every cut cooked many different ways. My fav is center cut top sirloin cooked medium rare with butter, sautéed mushrooms and caramelized onions.
Another Ethan Banger.
I'd love to see a video like this comparing organic vs conventional fruits and vegetables. I think sometimes people are misled by the labels. I recently bought some conventional apples which are considered "bad" by people who buy organic but the apples are absolutely delicious. I would like to know if pesticides being sprayed on produce is bad for us and is organic really any better? I mean organic farms do use pesticides so it's confusing.
Beef always felt like something that you need to either get the good stuff or not at all. "Bad" chicken is still decent, bad beef is just bad.
Bad beef goes in the stew
There is no bad beef, only bad cooks
Have you ever been to a Brazilian churrascaria? The one with the beef on "swords". They cook the meat on an open flame pit, bring it to you and cut a slice or two of it onto you place then take back the steak to the flame to brown it again. So you always get slices with lots of browning but still very tender on the inside. I think you'd like it.
Super cool deep dive!!! So I was born and raised in Chicago but live in CO. The wife is from a SD ranch family. We raise Certified Black Angus cattle, mainly for the tax write offs. We just slaughtered our first steer last month and kept 1/2, and sold 1/2. The wife spent a lot of time looking at finishing feed blends for protein to fat ratios, carb content etc. Technically, he was grass fed, grain finished but it really wasn't all grain. When we went to have him butchered, the butcher said he was a "big boy" (Certified Black Angus "tend" to be larger than your average black angus.) and if he were to grade him, he would grade him at Prime. My point of this story is that "healthy" also includes, the who, what, where, when and how. We know who raised our beef, we know that all shots were subcutaneous, he was never sick, he had a nice, easy life near a small herd and was dispatched humanely. We know the people who butchered our meat that we are feeding to our friends and family. That matters IMHO. If that matters to you as well, try contacting small beef suppliers that raise beef the way you like it and order some. That's not our primary goal but there are a ton of small farms and ranches that you can build a relationship with. Plus, it's way cheaper than the store.
Ethan, please, I watch your videos in a way unlike any other RUclips cooking channel. I feel like I learn so much. Please, I love tomatoes and red sauce, I need you to do that deep dive on tomatoes. I feel like I would learn everything I've never even thought to think about asking about tomatoes... if that makes sense. Thank you so much for your videos it's really reshaping my relationship with the food I cook for myself and my family! Much love.
I get butcherbox and all their beef is Australian grass fed grass finished and I find there’s a huge difference in flavor from grocery store steaks. The call it to the linolaic acid helped me put words to it - it does have a touch of the lamb/goat taste
To the discussion of steak being better for the environment, I want to draw from Hannah Ritchie's book Not the End of the World. She argues that land use and yield have the most impact on the environment. If you're using more land to feed fewer people, you're contributing more to climate change. Not saying it's more ethical, but it would be more environmentally friendly for us to eat from brutally efficient and centrally located feedlots than even to eat local. But considering the land use of beef at all, it's actually much better to eat less beef. She shows that a person moving from eating beef to eating chicken has a greater effect on emissions than someone going from pescatarian to vegan.
Fascinating! Similar ideas in Michael Schellenbergers work.
I eat 2-3 steaks on average per week. I'm pretty much keto-vore in my diet. Local farmers whether grass fed or grain fed is best. Ethan you do such a great job on your videos! Thanks for all the work you do!
At this very moment, I am housing the prolific remnants of a steak dinner I bought for my elderly mother’s 77th birthday. It cost more than $100 per person, and I still have not eaten a bite. It is arguably one of the worst meals I have ever experienced. I am furious. The “restaurant” was Taste of Texas, in houston. They are amateurs, charging expert prices. They shaved fresh carrot onto a slice of carrot cake-as a decoration. The shreds are brown, and have a terrible texture. What were they thinking, and why do people enjoy this place? It is a meal I hate. There are more issues, but I will not bore you further.
I can’t speak to the beef or desserts, but Taste of Texas as an awesome salad bar.
For these sorts of comparison tests in the future, please make sure to standardize the cuts of meats as much as possible!
Though these are all ribeyes, the 2 prime cuts appear to be cut from the end, with 3 distinct muscles in the steaks, as opposed to the 2 choice steaks, which only consist of the rib eye and cap
Another variable this presents though is that any beef from New Zealand/Australia is going to have a different flavor regardless. They almost usually have a more "gamey" flavor compared to US grown cattle, grass fed or not.
Man, $8 a pound is too expensive for me, I'm usually waiting to buy beef that's on sale for $4-5 a pound
wow you're pretty lucky to get these sales
@@Temulgeh with a $5 in-app coupon on top of an in app sale coupon, I was able to get some beautiful tri tip for 3 something a pound! And this is in California as well where things generally aren't cheap. I mean of course you're going to get the cheapest cuts of meat for that $5 sale price, but it's all about how you prepare it that makes it really good. With the right choice of marinating and method of cooking, you can make anything taste wonderful
I usually pay like $20/lb, but I only eat beef like once every two months, and I get prime cuts of steak whenever I do.
My rule of thumb with steaks is the more marbling the more it should be cooked. Anything really lean I'll usually eat blue, that gives the best texture and keeps most of the flavour. With more marbled steaks, getting the fats to melt more is the goal, so you generally need to go much warmer.
Not sure if anyone mentioned this, but it's good to remember the factor of what you're accustomed to. If you are used to Choice (vs Prime) steaks, and you like the flavor and lower prices ... don't even consider Prime. If you start going with Prime instead, Choice will not taste good anymore, and you'll be stuck with the higher prices! (If you have the extra money, and they're healthier .. I guess you could do that)
Great topic to discuss. 👍🏻
Thank you Ethan. 🙏🏻
i mostly buy meats from my farmers markets and it’s usually grass fed and finished and pasture raised corn and soy free chicken. i love that you made this video. the difference is truly there. i believe that cows are meant to be raised on pasture and believe it helps the environment especially cause i buy local. this is one my favorite videos you’ve made
A restaurant in London called Fallow that are based around sustainability use a lot of ex-dairy cows for their beef snr and it tastes really nice, different to normal beef but in a good way.
I love this sort of videos, they are really entertaining and educating, I enjoy watching them while I cook, love the channel!!!
A beef farmer once told me many grain finished animals end up having abcesses in their livers. That told me, that grass finishing was more healthful for the animal. What is more healthful to the animal is more healthful to me, in my opinion. Maybe not the most healthful to my wallet...lol!
A Farmer that is no doubt marketing grass finished beef. He is full of it. I grew up raising beef and the best is grain finished. And traditionally the best beef is well marbled with fat and they hit market weight at a younger age. The younger they are the more tender they will be
Great video! Liked some of the comparisons you made but I felt like you missed a fairly large sector of steaks: dry age vs wet vs fresh.
You are basically the food scientist we didn’t know we needed
Used to manage a meat processing plant and thought I’d let you know that ground meat doesn’t have “exact” meat:fat ratios. Is best approximations and the USDA allows for a fairly large deviation.
No mis-steaks were made in this video...
For intramuscular fat, my understanding is that not allowing the cattle to roam or move as much is what causes greater levels of intramuscular fat. Which from an ethical perspective, makes me less able to appreciate the cuts with a lot of intramuscular fat.
I applaud your approach to presenting the facts. Do many pick on one very narrow tact point and get religious about it. Reality is no simple answer and we are fortunate to have choices that allow us to focus on what is important to us. Key is everyone needs to respect the different perspectives and lifestyles.
so what is the answer, is expensive steak worth it. Choice vs Prime? you never answered the question.
The largest chunk of cattle's impact on environment is the economy it comes from. A Paraguay, Botswana or Namibia steak is 4-7 times more pollutant than a Japanese, Swiss, German, US, Norwegian, French or Spanish steak. In Paraguay, the transportation from farm to plate is extremely singularly focused. For example, in Norway and Japan the meat is transported along with vegetables because all farms are hybrid, there is no such thing as a pure cattle farm like in Paraguay, Botswana, Namibia. It's a major efficiency win, and the transport itself is powered by renewables. Norway (and soon Spain) also uses seaweed to reduce methane. Also, in Botswana and Namibia, the grain use is astronomic and moreover the grain has to be imported, because (especially Namibia) they have poor land in large areas for cattle to graze. The transport of this imported grain is factored into the climate cost. However, in Spain for example, water is the biggest problem, having had extensive droughts that are only getting worse.
It's definitely the wrong decision to boycott these growing South American and African economies though. We can't pull the ladder up behind ourselves after exploiting them in the past. I think the right way forward is to pressure the "middle of the pack" western/ eastern cattle producers to put more money into increasing their farming efficiencies. Countries like Italy, Romania, China, Poland and Australia should have been further along than they are by now. But definitely don't punish Namibia, Paraguay or Botswana, it's their main industry and we should make sure they have the economy they need to reach western levels. Remember, they may be 50 years behind, but WE put them behind.
Cooking method, prep, finish, etc, are a big part of this equation as well. When go to Japan for instance, they do not cook their steaks like we do in America for the most part. They start with a full steak on a flat top, then break it down into bite sized pieces as they cook it thereby getting the crust we love so much. You might have a better experience with Prime grades if you cook your steak using this method.
That is interesting to note because fatty Wagyu is usually cut thin and used for dishes like yakiniku or sukiyaki. It's super rich and not typically eaten in chunks. Which is why a lot of people prefer Wagyu well done when eaten Western style. The fat is just too much when it's medium rare
Fresh ground makes a huge difference for burger patties, especially if not doing smash burgers IMO or meat balls. Vacuum packed is fine for smash burgers...
It always frustrates me when people are like: I don't like beef and it's bad for the environment, so I eliminated it from my diet to save the planet. I am now going to grandstand about how everyone else needs to make the same sacrifice I made even though I'm giving up something I don't like anyway and you're giving up something you do like.
Well said
Regarding browning, I find I don't like using oil when cooking steaks. To me, any oil (veg, lard, tallow, ...) dulls the taste a bit.
I lower the heat and cook it longer, get great browning, and more beefy flavor.
asmongold should watch this video
He's never used his kitchen. He probably can't even get to it
@@Xolition there is literaly a few videos of asmon cooking.. do research before making a fool out of your self
@@disgustedalien don't worry I like him. He just has a problem
He’s already a steak god, he doesn’t need it. He could probably actually teach homeboy a thing or two.
@@Xolition he’s just frugal. It’s more than likely that he grew up extremely poor and he doesn’t value objects, so he just doesn’t care. There’s nothing wrong with that.
I got a cheap steak once from the local grocery store, and I got another one from the farmer's market. The latter was way more expensive, but also so much better: dry aged, good marbling, amazing taste
might have a lil to do with being dry aged
@@ellowell8160 exactly
$28 a pound?! Not on my fixed income. Nope.
Or maybe just eat a great (but expensive) beef portion every 2-3 weeks, and enjoy 1 or 2 meals of pork or poultry and fish in the same period. The rest being vegetables and fruits. Your food expenses will stay the same, and the quality and pleasure of eating meat will just be multiplied! I never enjoyed meat more than when I reduced quantities and increased quality.
It's the same for tomatoes. If you accept the fact that no good tomatoes can be grown outside of the period from 15th june to 15th september, you will never be as happy as tasting the first tomatoes since 10 months, and only really amazing ones which are not full of water.
@@fredericdehohenstaufen7874, due to its cost, I no longer buy or consume steak, thanks.
@@dougmackenzie5976 Well, it simplifies the question indeed!
Stop buying candy, cookies and soda. Suddenly it becomes very affordable.
@@dougmackenzie5976 Same here. Maybe 1x mo as a special occasion if they're on sale. I've found my grocer provides sirloin/top round wagyu at as low as $9/lb with similar marbling to choice NY strip
Great video! For a suggestion, I'd like to see a video on cooking with (using?) raw cuts of meat, whether it's a steak or fish tartare, a civeche, homemade sushi, etc.. I learned from a biologist that she would not use the frozen tilapia I previously was using for civiche, and I think an overall video on consuming raw meats would be great.
I prefer flank or skirt, but regardless of the cut, it's *gotta* be at least medium, better on the well side of medium - just a tiny strip of pink left in the middle.
Not me ordering a steak at 2am while watching this.
Hey Ethan, I have a deep dive I'd love to see you take on if you're willing. It's something that has been bugging me for awhile, and that is bread fermentation. Specifically, I hear people say all the time how a long slow ferment of dough in the fridge gives you more flavor. Is that really true? Does a short ferment at room temperature give the same flavor? Is less yeast for a longer time better than more yeast for a shorter time?
Thanks for the interesting videos!!
just some feedback on this great show. whenever your transcript says the words "as we learned in my last video", consider a linkout to that video. keep up the great work. i love it and learn something everytime!
It makes sense that grass feed creates a different texture than grain fed. I figured the texture would be more different from the taste
As someone who has never bought a steak, this surprisingly important to me.
Because if you're going to buy something so individually expensive, you want it to be good.
(I always think, I could buy some meat to make 2-3 family meals, or buy 1 portion of small steak.)
I was expecting more comparison between different cuts in addition to grade and raising style, e.g. grain vs. grass fed
I like your nuanced take in this video. I especially like your question of "how much beef do you eat?"
Hands down the most valuable cooking content in the web💪🏽
I hope Ethan does a video of farm vs wild caught fish/seafood. I can taste the difference of tuna from bumblebee/chicken of the sea or starks vs wild planet tuna. I'm not sure if it's because it's not packed in oil or water but in it's own fish juice.
Come to think of it, why didnt this video touch on organic beef? You can have organic grains and I've heard you can tell the difference between that type of beef
My retired admiral uncle is in La Grange, texas. He raised Limousin cattle, exclusively. I have never seen it highlighted on a menu, so I have wondered, my entire adulthood: where did his special cattle end up? Were they ground into patties, with lesser cows? He hated his cattle-he said so, freely. He has given me a very ugly image of ranchers. They are evil.
Oh man. This is so true. I have a local butcher/steak purveyor that I feel preys on the confusion and lack of knowledge of the consumer. Using terms like “yield grade” and making subjective claims about the marbling score. Prices are off the charts for a product that most don’t even understand
Love your test/reviews! Also love your audio production - what mic are you using?
PS regarding this video, I think it’s finding a supplier you trust, I’m from the UK and we don’t have the USDA prime, select etc grading, your local butcher will tell you where the beef is from and how it was raised. I live in London and there are some good butchers but very expensive, I generally stock up with meat every few weeks when I visit family in the north, the meat is better and probably 30/40% cheaper 👍
Internal temperature also effects flavor, full rendered fat (medium well) has more flavor then fat that is not rendered (rares).
Thank you for the great video! I think cooking the steaks to the same temperature was not ideal, leaner pieces will have better texture served rawer than fattier ones.
Also there are some quality factors that you didn‘t go into here are all the factors:
1. Breed
2. Feed
3. Age
4. Slaughter (for example stress before and during)
5. Handling
Ethan, Can you make a video on the best way to marinate meats? Beef, Chicken, Pork, lamb?
Best beef in my opinion is from a open pasture diary cow (holstein)- after 3 or 4 years of retirement also in open pasture.
I dont know exactly what your plans are for future cideos, but id like to see if you could go over different kinds of milk and creams and compare how they affect cooking, heavy cream vs whole milk vs whipping cream, etc.
Will wait in earnest for your deep dive into ground beef.
I treated myself to a Wagyu sampler at a high-end restaurant and it was very enlightening. I preferred the American Wagyu because Japanese A5 texture-wise was practically not a steak even though it tasted really good. I guess my preference is to have a little more texture to a steak.
We bought a 1/4 grass fed and grass finished cow and it tasted very different. It was not as tender and had a distinct flavor my kids did not like. Helpful video, thanks!
This is the most informative video on steaks I've ever seen. You out did yourself on this one. Keep it up!