Beef at last!

I am so looking forward to this weekends markets in Yeppoon and Rockhampton! Apart from the fact that I get to catch up with our customers (I really do enjoy some of the great conversations I have and the friendships that I've made!), and the fact that I have been going into local vegetable withdrawal, I'm looking forward to selling our first lot of beef. And believe me, you won't be disappointed! We tried the sirloin steak last night and it may not be the best beef I've tasted (the best came from Western Australia), but it's certainly the best beef we have EVER produced! I just hope that we can continue to supply such quality. Grass fed beef is a little tricky to get right, which is why so much of it is grain fed/assisted. It is very important to get the breed right to get consistency. At the moment we are still working on getting the breed right, so it's been a bit of trial and error. We only want to sell a tasty and tender product, so if it's not good enough, we won't sell it and will keep it for ourselves. So I was very pleased to taste test this and it passed with flying colours!

As most of you are aware, we do not buy meat, because we grow our own. One of the problems with only doing the markets once per month this last 4 months, is that we aren't getting our usual top up of meat (left over pork from the markets). And coupled with this, we haven't had a cold room since the cyclone (didn't come back on when the power came on) so we haven't killed a cow for ages! We have now hit the bottom of our freezers! For the last couple of weeks I've been getting very creative with the cuts that don't get used - osso bucco, pork shanks, bacon hocks etc! We have had a bit of goat and some chickens to space these out with!

I've now got quite a collection of osso bucco recipes which I must type up and post on the blog, as they have all been very good! Shanks are good roasted or braised or even turned into a curry (long slow cooking and then pull the meat off the bones - YUM!)

I've also discovered my favourite way of doing bacon hocks. I like to boil them up as I would cornbeef or pickled pork. Then put whole potatoes and chunks of pumpkin in the same pot. Serve with white onion sauce and green vegetables. The meat just falls off the bone and is totally delicious! One hock easily feeds two people. The stock I then keep for bone broth - add the bones back into the pot,  with some chicken, beef or pork bones and then simmer for 24 hours. Lovely ham flavoured broth.

All these cuts of meat are slow cooked, so I have to plan ahead - no last minute coming in from the paddock and taking some steaks out to defrost! It's where menu planning is essential. I saw that Natural New Age Mum did a post on menu planning last month and I find that when I don't do it, I get totally disorganised. Do you menu plan? Do you like to slow cook food?

So this weekend we will have beef and pork for sale. Then in May we'll have pork, goat and lamb. Yes that's right I said lamb - we now have some dorper sheep. These have been bred by a friend (chemical free, grass fed) and they are now living with us to grow out. We will take them to the markets over the coming months, starting the first weekend in May. We will taste test them before hand - we have good quality control standards here!

Beef Prices - if you want me to keep something aside, especially Rocky customers, let me know.

Cut		$/kg
Rump Steak		$22.00
Rib Fillet Steak		$26.00
Porter House Steak		$20.00
Eye Fillet Steak		$35.00
Roast		$13.50
BBQ Ribs		$13.50
Mince		$12.00
Sausages (gluten & preservative free)		$12.00
Sausages (paleo style)		$16.00
Stewing Beef - Diced		$12.00
Stewing Beef - Steaks		$12.00
Osso Bucco		$15.95
Beef Strips		$14.50
BBQ Steaks		$14.50
Neck Bones		$8.00
Other Bones for soup/stock/bone broth/dog		$5.00
Ox Tail		$8.00
Beef Cheeks		$12.00
Corn Beef	Nitrate Free and Conventional	$13.50

Look forward to seeing you soon.........