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Brady’s Beef: Happy cows means flavorful beef {GIVEAWAY}

by 92 Comments

Picking up pork roasts from Costco is about as local as I get when it comes to buying meat for a main dish. Throw in some Foster Farms ground turkey and chicken breasts and I’m all over the local movement.

Except I’m totally not.

Honestly, I’ve wanted to do the local thing when it comes to beef, but it always seemed a bit cost prohibitive. That’s why when Brady’s Beef contacted me about a review of their 100% grass-feed beef, I was totally on board.
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Brady's Beef cows
Those cows look super happy, don’t they?

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I wanted to know if it really tasted all that different from that tube of ground beef I’ve bought in the past. (I know, the answer is obvious when I put it that way, but still. I wanted to taste the difference for myself.)

First, a bit about Brady’s Beef:

Brady’s Idaho beef is raised in a small mountain valley in the Southeastern corner of Idaho. The farm has seen four generations of Brady’s produce everything from sugar beets & sheep to a small dairy operation to bedding plants, vegetables & now, grass-fed, Idaho beef.

And why pay a little bit more for local, grass-fed beef? Well, Brady’s has a few answers to that question:

  • Flavor. Rich, full-beef flavor representative of the Marsh Valley area due to our unique climate, soils and plants.
  • Finish. Animals are allowed to grow and mature naturally, allowing for full marbling and excellent taste.
  • Health benefits. Higher CLA content, high in Omega-3 and low in Omega-6 fatty acids make grass-fed beef more “heart healthy” (similar to health benefits from fish).
  • Cleanliness. Pasture-raised beef has a far better record for NO e-coli or salmonella bacteria contamination. Plus, our beef has NO added hormones or antibiotics. Processing is done locally.
  • Local product. The cattle are not hauled to the Midwest to be fattened on government subsidized corn, butchered in a (Brazilian-owned) factory, and then trucked back through a chain of brokers and giant supermarkets.
  • Gentle and humane treatment of animals. Pasture raised. Open spaces.

Actually, you should be convinced already without my showing you the gorgeous beef our family sampled. (By the way, when you’re talking about all-natural, 100% grass-fed beef, you can call it gorgeous.)

But back to the beef. Brady’s gave me a couple pounds of their lean ground beef and a chuck roast to test out on the family.

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Bradys Idaho Beef ground beef

Brady's Idaho Beef chuck roast
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Check out the beautiful coloring of this lean ground beef:

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Brady's Idaho Beef lean ground beef
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We started out using one pound of the ground beef for tacos on Taco Tuesday and then used the second pound for sliders about a week later. I fear the taco seasoning made it a bit difficult to truly enjoy the flavor of the ground beef, but I would have had a mutiny on my hands if we did something other than tacos on Tuesday night.

Fortunately the sliders more than made up for my oversight. They were SO dang good! And I didn’t mess with that grass-fed beef very much—just a dash of this and that. (I’ll be posting the recipe tomorrow and you won’t want to miss it!)
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Brady's Idaho Beef ground beef sliders
The other slider was made using ground turkey. We had guests and one pound of lean ground beef wasn’t going to cut it!

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Last but definitely not least was the Brady’s Beef chuck roast. I went right to John Brady, one of the owners, to find out the best way to cook this cut of meat and here’s what he told me:

1 chuck roast + 1 slow cooker + 1 cup of water + Montreal steak seasoning

That’s it.

And it was delicious. I found McCormick Grill Mates Montreal steak seasoning at my local grocery store (there I go supporting local again!) and water from my local tap. I put the chuck roast in the slow cooker, added the water and generously seasoned the roast. I cranked the slow cooker to high and slow cooked the roast for nearly six hours. Or five. Or something. So glad slow cookers are forgiving.

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mccormick montreal seasoning
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Um, delicious! That roast was perfectly cooked, super tender and well seasoned. It was in a class all its own—a grass-fed class, of course.

I didn’t snap a photo of the roast because my food photography skills are not up to the challenge. But trust me, it was really, really good, and I can only imagine the fabulous French dip sandwiches you could make with a roast from Brady’s.

You can check their website for pricing on the various cuts (they even have bulk pricing for larger families), plus you get a helpful little guide to understanding the different cuts of beef.

Brady’s even shows you their cows via their Idaho beef YouTube video. Want a few more testimonials? They have those too.

If you have a slightly geeky side like I do, you’ll love the Brady’s Beef blog. Did you know there was a difference between grass finished and grass fed?

As far as delivery, Brady’s Idaho Beef delivers regularly along the I-15 corridor from Rexburg/Idaho Falls all the way down to Spanish Fork/Payson and as far West as Boise. They also deliver to Cache Valley/Logan (basically southern Idaho and northern Utah). If you’re near the farm, you can pick up your orders on site in Downey, Idaho. (Seriously? Downey? That name makes me want to buy their beef even more!)

And now for the giveaway! YAY!
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Brady’s Beef is giving away one (1) $50 gift certificate to one (1) lucky ITRML reader!
Winner must be within delivery area (see info in the delivery paragraph above).

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Now you get to try the tastiness that is local, grass-fed beef!

To enter, leave a comment telling us your favorite beef-based recipe (required). Is it grilled New York steak or hamburgers off the grill? Or perhaps you prefer a plate of spare ribs slathered in your secret sauce?

For extra entries, you can do any/all of the following. Please leave a separate comment for each one you do (each one earns you an extra entry).

  • Comment on the Brady’s Beef blog (you should see a post about this review over there) and leave a comment telling me you did.
  • “Like” Brady’s Beef on Facebook.
  • Follow Brady’s Beef on Twitter.
  • Tweet about this giveaway using the hashtag #BradysBeef and leave the URL of your tweet.
  • Update your Facebook status with a link to this giveaway.
  • “Like” ITRML on Facebook (or tell me you already have).
  • Subscribe to ITRML (or tell me you’re already a subscriber).

This giveaway will end at midnight on March 6th.

Note: Winner will be notified via email. If no reply is received, a new winner will be drawn.

Disclosure: A big thank-you to Brady’s Idaho Beef who provided me with samples of their grass-fed beef and converted me to a “buy local” gal when it comes to red meat…and probably poultry too. Brady’s also provided the $50 gift certificate for the giveaway. Yep, they’re awesome.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. Adam Weinstein

    I once made it a goal to cook the most complicated recipes I could find—and by that I mean if the recipe called for smoking, I built the smoker. Case in point—two years ago some friends of mine had an “Eating Alabama” picnic wherein all the food was grown locally, by farmers we knew (I was living in Alabama at the time). The highlight was pit bbq’d pig. The recipe? Dig a big hole, start your fire around 4pm the day before you want to cook, add wood all night long, and then, in the freezing cold morning of a September day, lay on the pork, and cook for 10 or so hours, adding hardwood to keep that lovely smoke going.

    Eventually I got myself a pretty sweet smoker. But when I moved to Salt Lake, I had to give it up (the U-Haul couldn’t take an extra glass, let alone a double-chambered smoker). When I arrived in Utah, I’d also lost all my farmer friends. But then I found Brady’s on the interwebs, and gave it a go—meaning we ordered somewhere around 35lbs of beef. I quadrupled up on my favorite cut—brisket. But alas! I had no smoker!

    It turns out that the people who lived in our house before us left two of those little Webber hot-dog grills. But I took a shot. I packed one side with hardwood coals, put the nicely seasoned brisket on the other side, and put soaked hickory chips right on the grill and over the coals, so they’d burn–but not too fast. Six hours later? Damn if that wasn’t one of the finest briskets I’ve made. We shredded it, put it on tortilla chips with homemade queso, and cried as Alabama lost to LSU.

    Reply

    • Brooke

      Adam…I am an Alabama native transplanted to Utah too! Tuscaloosa born and bred and I cried too, once this season, but cheered the second time!

      Reply

  3. Brooke

    One of my favorite beef recipes is Meatza Pie. Basically, pizza with a meat crust! We eat paleo and prefer grass fed beef for tons of reasons, but it’s not always in our budget. Would love to win this gift certificate!

    Reply

  17. Jessica

    I love burgers off the grill — medium well, please! It reminds me of growing my in my hometown of Farmland, Indiana. Yep, it’s a real place.

    Reply

  19. Rebecca

    Brady’s Beef is awesome!

    My favorite is grilled tenderloin steak with grilled vegetables & mashed potatoes on the side. Something about the grill…

    Reply

  20. Brynne

    I love beef!!! Hamburgers, sloppy joes, tacos, roast, ribs, steak…you name it!!! My favorite roast recipe is also a crockpot one. 1 roast, 1 brown gravy mix, 1 onion soup mix, some water. First sear each side of the roast in a frying pan, then put it in the crockpot with the other ingredients. Cook on high for 5-6 hours. So good!!!

    Reply

  22. Tamara/Selloholicmom

    Would love a chance, started Primal way of eating 7 days ago, grass fed beef would be wonderful to ad to dinner.
    *Followed on Twitter
    *Followed on FB
    *Left comment on both blogs :O)
    *Already a fan on facebook fan page ITRML (left comment)
    *posting on Selloholicmom fan page & will tweet.

    Thanks for the oppurtunity

    Reply

  40. Cindy B

    I totally love beef so picking a favorite is rather difficult… I love ground beef on pizza… I had beef bacon once and that was the bomb… I make spaghetti sauce with beef in it… recently tried a stir fry recipe by Rachel Ray that was the bomb and reminded of real take out “Chinese” but was way fresher. I guess the way I like it best though is a piece of thick cut Sirloin on a grill with real wood. Thanks for a great giveaway.

    Reply

  51. ~j.

    I wish I knew how to cook an awesome steak, but I don’t. My favorite beef-based recipe is simply a delicious roast in the crockpot — Sunday dinner, mmmm perfect.

    Reply

  53. Camille

    Anything my husband makes with beef is absolutely Mouth-Watering! If I must be specific, I’ll go with his latest specialty – bacon-wrapped filet mignon (wrapped with 6 pieces of bacon – yep, diet didn’t start until AFTER that meal!)

    Reply

  64. Nicole Bullock

    Already subscribe to ITRML.

    I’m excited that you were able to do this review and giveaway. When Robert asked me for a blog that would work well for it, you were the first to come to mind. Can’t wait to try some of that grass-fed beef!

    Reply

  80. Ben Neely

    My wife and I bought a quarter cow from Brady’s beef last year. It is so good! While my wife is the kitchen pro in our house (I help in a sous chef like roll) when I cook with the beef my favorite recipe is steaks.
    I usually just rub the steak with oil, salt it and then put it in a pan that has been warmed up in a 450 degree oven. I sear it for 30 seconds on each side and then stick it in the oven for 3-5 minutes. We like are steak rare, and it comes out deliciously so! Be warned, your house will be smokey!
    Ben

    Reply

  86. Samantha

    My favorite recipe that I make with Brady’s ground beef is Mexican Chili. I’ve got it simmering on the stove right now! I love Brady’s Beef!

    Reply

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