comment by kleinbl00

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kleinbl00 · 4697 days ago · link · · parent · post: We're Eating Less Meat. Why? - NYTimes.com

I had an interesting discussion with a friend who lives out in dairy country up in NW Washington. She said that she found grass-fed beef to be tougher than regular beef - she bought a side of cattle last year. I, myself, have not found this to be true... but the only way I typically eat meat is in burgers and broccoli beef.

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mk · 4697 days ago · link ·

Huh, I've never noticed. But, I have noticed a difference in taste, and that's a bigger motivator for me, (behind not eating hormones and antibiotics).

TBH, I don't mind my meat to be a bit tough, if it is tough in the right way. Flank steak is always going to be flank steak, and I'm not a fan of those tough threads of sinew. But, I don't mind at all if my sirloin has a bit more chew. Grass or corn fed, sirloin isn't going to get strings of stuff stuck between my teeth.

+discuss+discuss

thenewgreen · 4697 days ago · link ·

Conventional meat is always going to be more tender due to the lack of movement. There's a reason that the japanese cows are massaged and fed beer and just basically lay around... they don't flex there muscles as often as free range grass fed cows. The tenderness of the beef has less to do with what it's fed than how it lives.

The most tender parts of the cow are often what are referred to as "reactionary" muscles. These are the parts of the animal that aren't used all the time and are therefore more tender. A great example of this is the "hanging tender", which is a muscle that's just kind of... there. It serves no function and because of this, damn does it make for some good eats. http://www.smartkitchen.com/resources/hanging-tender

So, the trade off is that cows that are treated like shit all there lives will likely be more tender because they've rarely been allowed to move.