Forming ground beef into a ball and then smashing it down with a heavy metal press onto a hot griddle yields a nice switch-up from the usual grilled hamburger. A smashed burger (inspired by the Smashburger restaurant chain) cooks quickly, is juicy but has a little added crispiness to the burger texture, is delightfully irregularly shaped, and is great for stacking toppings. Of course, you'll want to use North of Nowhere Farm grassfed, grass-finished beef for the very best results!
Here's how to make a smashed burger:
We hope you'll give this method a try and let us know what you think of a thin juicy burger with a seared crispiness on the outside. Did it give you the feels of eating at a classic burger joint?
]]>North of Nowhere Farm's cow #406 wouldn't win a Montana Day beauty contest, but she'd be a shoo-in for a Montana Day spirit award. Born four years ago during a blizzard, she lost the ends of her ears and tip of her tail to frostbite. We kept her not for her looks, but for her solid structure and good attitude. It was a good decision; 406 has very nice calves (see photo above) and is an exceptional mother.
Do I wish our farm's 406 was picture perfect? At first I did, but I don't any more. Our 406 represents the spirit of Montana better than any other cow in the herd. She's reslient, strong, level-headed, nurturing, friendly, and a majestic beauty (on the inside). She seems to love her quiet life on the prairie and knows that she is appreciated - maybe even a little favored - by the people who care for her. Her fortitude came naturally to her. In fact, it seems she was born with it. It's a characteristic recognizeable in many Montanans who were raised on the land - fortitude passed down from earlier generations and augmented by not-so-easy life experiences.
As you reflect on the beauty that spans the Treasure State on this 406 Day, I hope you'll include North of Nowhere Farm's 406 in your reflections. You might smile at her quirky unconventional looks; you may feel inspired by her resiliance. Our 406 is a symbol of Montana priarie life and beauty that runs much deeper than the surface. Happy 406 Day!
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High-CLA North of Nowhere Farm grassfed, grass-finished steaks come to you frozen and vacuum-packed. It's perfectly safe to thaw and store your steak in the original vacuum-packed bag in your refrigerator for a few days before cooking. In fact, we recommend it. You not only gain the convenience of having a ready-to-use steak in your fridge, it also "ages" the steak to increase tenderness and flavor complexity.
A note to my fellow chronic multi-taskers: A key thing to remember when you're getting ready to cook a grassfed steak is that it is very lean and will cook about 30 percent faster than grain-fed beef. A grassfed, grass-finished steak can go from perfect to overdone in less than a minute, so stay focused on the task at hand while cooking.
All that walking around and eating grass that North of Nowhere cattle do makes their bodies healthier. We couldn't be happier that our committment to keeping our cattle out of the feedlot system results in a delicious, fat-burning, high-quality protein food source for you.
Download our handy 'How to Cook Grassfed Steak' cheat sheet: https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0580/4703/7628/files/How_to_Cook_Grassfed_Steak-largesize.jpg?v=1647040419
Let us know your tips for cooking grassfed steak. Do you have a favorite rub or seasoning? A particular type of pan you recommend? Please share!
]]>North of Nowhere Farm whole-heartedly endorses the practice of making and eating healthy homemade beef stew - especially in the winter months or when you're battling a cold - so below are our Basic Beef Stew "general guidelines".
Many thanks to Darla (Nordhagen) Larson for these photos taken recently while making beef stew at her home. We hope that you will comment with any variations that you personally like in the process or ingredients of stew-making. Cheers to nutritious eating that warms you up in the winter!
]]>Bone broth isn’t just a soup base any more. The clear, protein-rich liquid has become popular as a delicious, healthy sipping beverage. If you swap out a cup of coffee for a cup of hot bone broth, your joints, skin, and digestive system will thank you. This is because when you simmer beef bones in water, the bones release the collagen protein, vitamins, and minerals stored inside. The broth delivers the healthy nutrients in a format that your body can easily absorb and use.
Daren recently made a batch of beef bone broth when he was fighting a cold and wanted a natural vitamin and amino acids boost. Don’t wait until you’re sick to try it though! Consider making bone broth a part of your dietary routine, if not for sipping at least as a savory cooking liquid for grains or legumes or a superior soup base.
Makes about 8 cups.
Before you Begin: Make sure you have 2 to 4 cups of vegetable odds-and-ends on hand. A good way to manage this (and lessen food waste) is to throw vegetable ends and unused pieces into a bag in the freezer whenever you’re cooking veggies for meals.
Step 1: Thaw and then roast beef bones (and some veggies, too, if you’d like) in a 450-degree oven or on a grill for 30-40 minutes, turning once during the roasting time. Roasting is optional, but it WILL enhance the flavor and richness of the broth.
Here are the basics for the veggies and bones, but use what you have on hand and make it your own:
Step 2: Start the ‘low and slow’ cooking process in a slow cooker or a 6-quart or larger stock pot with lid. Scrape the roasted bones and the vegetables into the pot with:
Cover the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a very low simmer and cook with the lid slightly ajar for at least 8 hours, but up to 24 hours on the stovetop or in a crockpot. (Don’t leave an unattended pot on the stovetop; just cool and refrigerate it and continue the next day.)
Step 3: Turn off the heat and let the pot contents cool slightly. Remove the bones from the liquid and discard them. Then strain the liquid using a fine-mesh sieve to remove the vegetables and other solids from the liquid. Let cool until barely warm, then refrigerate overnight. Remove solidified fat from the top of the chilled broth.
Bone broth can be stored up to 5 days in the refrigerator. It can be stored up to 6 months in the freezer.
As always, the quality of ingredients matters. When you use bones from North of Nowhere Farm’s pasture-raised cattle who have never been given growth hormones or unnecessary antibiotics, you can feel confident in the healthfulness of your homemade beef bone broth.
]]>Get the grill going early and hot.
Always start with a pre-heated, very hot grill (450-475º F). If your grill doesn’t have a thermometer, use this test:
Use a wire brush to scrape the grate clean, and if needed, oil the grate lightly.
Prep the patties, but don’t over-handle them.Over-handling the patties can make them more likely to fall apart. Just do these two things:
Place the patties over the hottest part of the grill and follow this grilling process:
Please remember that grassfed ground beef is pinker than grain-fed beef! That’s due to lots of iron-rich protein (myoglobin) from the animals’ pasture-raised lifestyle. Don’t let the pinkness trick you into over-cooking your grassfed beef patties. Use the cooking times we provided as a guide, but check the meat during the cooking process, and use a thermometer if possible.
Most of our family members like our burgers medium-rare to medium, with a nicely seared outside and an internal temperature of 130 to 140º F. We do have one family member who insists that her burgers are cooked well (155º F), and for her we use the same approach that we use for melting the cheese on burgers. Her burger gets moved to the side of the grill where we finish it up with slow cooking for 5 minutes in indirect heat. This method keeps the well-done burger from drying out or getting too crispy on the outside.
Check out this downloadable burger grilling cheat sheet.
Do you have any grassfed beef hamburger grilling tips? Please share what works for you! Questions? Please ask and we’ll do our best to help.
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