Steaks, roasts, stews and burgers, beef has been an American favorite for centuries. From the westward cattle drives to Chicago's thriving livestock industry, this nutritional and flavorful meat has contributed enormously to the history of this country. What started with a few cattle brought over from Europe by the earliest explorers and settlers has now become our most complex and extensive livestock industry.

• Beef as lean as ours cooks faster and requires a lower temperature.
• Our ground beef averages 90-95% lean depending somewhat on your cut orders.
• When frying: without oil in the pan, our ground beef is too lean not to stick.

We use young animals. This younger meat will be more tender than that of more mature cattle. Turn-of-the-century recipes for beef stews suggested cooking the meat all day to tenderize it. Such toughness is not a real concern for our meat, and meat cooked that long will have a more mild flavor. If you wish to cook beef that long, try enhancing it's flavor with marinades, spice rubs, and/or condiments.

Sopko/Grasmick Beef is raised to have a moderate amount of marbeling which is a built-in natural tenderizer. Lean beef can quickly become dry and tough if overcooked. The solution is to monitor cooking temperatures closely and to use moist-heat cooking methods for all but the most tenderest cuts. Under controlled temperatures, followed with an adequate resting time, the tissue will relax, yielding a less resilient piece of meat that is easier to chew and more pleasurable to eat.

Aging is a process intended to further tenderize and develop flavor in all Sopko/Grasmick Beef. Our meat is dry-aged which is the original method of aging and the best. Finding dry-aged meat in today's market is rare and usually reserved for a very limited expensive market.