|
|||||||||||||
Printer-Friendly
Email this Story
Post a Comment (0)
Local beef offers taste, tenderness
"Men want steak. We're tired of eating chicken!" said Doug Linton, co-owner of Angelic Beef as he greeted me on my recent visit to his Remington farm.
"And our beef is the healthiest, most flavorful beef available today."
Just when I think I've already tasted everything good there is to eat (and there couldn't ever be anything else), my jaded palate gets a whopping surprise.
"We were looking for a different type of cattle to raise — leaner, healthier — and found a ranch out west in Montana that raises Piedmontese cattle. We ordered some of their meat and were hooked. We went to [a farm in] Madison to buy a Piedmontese bull and wound up buying the whole herd," Linton said.
Linton and his wife, Debbie, along with partners Lee and Jill Williams, raise Piedmontese cattle that they breed to our favorite local breed, Angus, to maintain the healthful qualities of the breed while supplying the extra tenderness that consumers love.
Angelic Beef is what Linton and Williams call their cattle operation. Although Linton's farm is sprinkled with angel statues that stand guard over the herd, "angelic" in the logo stands for "all naturally grown exceptionally low in calories" beef.
It's a small family business, and the partners want to keep it that way. They monitor every animal every day and know instinctively when the meat is ready.
"We harvest two animals per month, hopefully three very soon. Our goal is to harvest 10 per month in about two years," said Lee Williams.
Their extraordinarily healthy-looking cattle graze on the 300 pristine, pastoral acres of Linton's farm. The pasture was so drop dead gorgeous that I asked Linton for his secret.
"Oh, just healthy cattle and then we drag the fields to spread the manure so the sun can do its work," he answered.
After grazing, the cattle are moved across the road to Williams' farm for grain finishing to a weight of 1,100 to 1,300 pounds. No growth hormones, no antibiotics and no steroids are ever used in Angelic Beef. The cattle reach their finished weight the old fashioned way — by eating.
"We want people to know that there is a healthy alternative to ordinary beef. Ours is naturally lean with tenderness already build in," said Linton. "Lean doesn't mean tough and dry," added Williams.
Piedmontese (pronounced peed-mont-tease) is an Italian breed of cattle that evolved naturally in the foot hills of the Alps over centuries. The beef from these cattle is prized as being wonderfully tender as well as low in fat.
Technically, Angelic Beef is called 1-copy Piedmontese beef. This means that their beef contains one of the genes that characterizes the lean meat, Piedmontese breed.
Purebred Piedmontese cattle will have two genes. Meat from pure bred cattle is called 2-copy Piedmontese beef. Unlike 1-copy which is lean but very tender, 2-copy is ultra lean and would probably not have the general consumer appeal that Linton and Williams want for their beef.
The American Heart Association recommends 300 mg (or less) of dietary cholesterol per day for the average person. One 3.5-ounce serving of Angelic Beef contains only 60 mg or 20 percent of the daily allowance. Traditional beef has 68 mg for the same size serving.
Angelic Beef, while low in cholesterol, is high in essential fatty acids especially those omega 3's you're always hearing about.
Calorie-wise, Angelic Beef drifts in at only 168 calories per 3.5-ounce serving, with traditional beef tipping the scales at 245 calories.
And because it's leaner, Angelic Beef packs on the protein with 20.60 grams per serving while traditional beef pales by comparison at 18.50 grams.
"Here, look at this," Linton coaxed pointing to the heavenly blue and sunny yellow label on the vacuum-packed cuts of their beef. "Isn't it pretty? Our product just presents itself. All we have to do it get it into your mouth."
"Anyone who's tasted or bought our meat wants more," said Linton. And was he ever right.
Angelic Beef was every bit as delicious and tender as the partners promised. It tickled my taste buds with the real old-fashioned, full beef flavor that's been missing from modern-day beltway dining. And since it's local and extra healthy, it's a winner any way you cook it.
Cooking Angelic Beef is a little different than conventional beef, but that's good because it's easier and faster — a plus for our time stressed lives.
"Our beef cooks in one-third to one-half less time than conventional beef," Williams said. "That's because fat insulates the meat (from the heat of cooking). When there's lots of fat, meat takes longer to cook."
"Here, try this liver," Linton said as he handed me a package. "Most people say they don't like liver, but when they taste ours, they love it."
"The liver," Linton continued, "is the organ that filters out all the toxins from the body. A strong-tasting liver means there were lots of toxins in the animal. You can just tell (from the mild taste of our liver) that this was a clean animal."
Angelic Beef is locally processed at Fauquier's Finest Country Butcher Shop in Bealeton. The state-of-the-art facility is certified for humane processing and the meat is handled according to strict USDA guidelines. After processing, the meat is vacuum packed and quickly frozen to preserve freshness. But wait, there's more.
In addition to steaks, roasts and ground beef, Angelic Beef produces its own line of nitrate/nitrite free hot dogs and homemade sausage.
"We go to two farmers' markets — one in Oakton and one in Reston. You should see how (fast) we sell our hot dogs!" said Linton. "What parent doesn't want nitrate-free hot dogs for their children?"
Back home in my kitchen I started to cook.
"Ah, meat," my husband said gleefully as he poked his head around the kitchen door to see how soon dinner would be ready. (Had it been that long since we had beef?)
First in the pan was the ground beef. Just like Linton and Williams promised, it cooked up in a flash. The meat was very lean, but had just enough fat that I didn't have to add any to the pan, or drain any off.
The grind was perfectly wonderful — big and coarse (like ground meat used to be) so the meat cooked up into gorgeous, uniform crumbles that were just the right size for chili or spaghetti sauce. I didn't have to mash or cut up the cooked meat, as I often have to do when the grind is so small that the meat mashes together during cooking.
Next came the liver. I dusted it with Italian bread crumbs and sauteed it quickly in a little peanut oil. The result was a mild-tasting, smooth-as-silk slice of down home cooking. I never did get around to frying up onions and making gravy to go with it because we finished it before it hit the plate.
Saving the best for last, I thought I'd test the tenderness of Angelic Beef by pan grilling a package of stew meat instead of stewing it — something that should have rendered the meat tough. To my surprise, it was as tender as could be. Next time, I'll make the stew meat into kabobs.
Angelic Beef passed my taste test — it's good, it's healthy and it's fresh off the farm.
We're sure Angelic Beef has a steak in your future.
For more information on Angelic Beef, call (540) 439-2019 or (540) 439-0441 or visit www.angelicbeef.com .
You must be logged in to post a comment.