Locally Raised Grass-Fed Beef Burgers

Last weekend, I went home to Hendersonville, NC. We picked up some local grass fed ground beef and made some killer burgers. We also grilled some sliced up vegetables and whole ears of corn.

Ingredients:

• Burgers
• 2lbs ground beef from local grass fed cows.
• 1/2 an onion, finely diced
• 1 egg
• Oregano
  
• Worcestershire
  
• Dales
• Black pepper
• Paprika
• Garlic powder
• Corn (whole ears)
  
• Eggplant
• Zuccini
• Onion
• Sweet potato
• Red bell pepper
  
• Cherries
• Olive oil
• Kosher salt
• Black pepper

Procedure:
This was about as straight forward as it gets. I mixed all the burger ingredients together and made 8 1/4 pound patties. While I did that, others cut up the vegetables and covered them in olive oil, salt and pepper, and cleaned up the corn. The patties went on the grill, the vegetables went in a grill basket, and the corn went up on the top rack. This was the first time I used my dad's new grill, and it was great.
Because we used grass-fed beef, I grilled the burgers at slightly lower heat than I might have used for standard corn fed. For burgers, this really isn't necessary because of the standard mix of lean meat and fat. However, for non-ground, real cuts, you normally need to cook grass fed beef a little slower and have to be more careful about overcooking. This is because grass fed beef generally has less fat, and the fat acts a little different than that in corn fed beef. This makes grass fed less forgiving and easier to burn. The healthier product and superior taste is well worth it.

Resulting Deliciousness:
The grass-fed burgers were fantastic. It's amazing how much grass-fed beef tastes more like beef than corn-fed. Grass-fed beef has a more full, robust flavor that will prove it's superiority over corn-fed even if you don't know the somewhat disgusting fact about how corn-fed cows are raised.
The vegetables turned out well too. the grill basket was filled to the point of overflowing, but everything still cooked through evenly. The cherries that my brother, Sam, through in were awesome. Grilled cherries are a new one for me.
The corn was some of the best grilled corn I've ever had. We didn't soak it or anything, so I was a little worried. But, it cooked well on the top rack. At one point, I moved the corn down to where the burgers had cooked and some of the husks caught on fire. I was afraid there would be a burnt flavor, but it turned out to taste kind of smoked. It was delicious... of course, the butter didn't hurt.

It's been a while since I've had grass-fed beef, but you can count on seeing a lot more of it on this blog, along with more free range naturally raised meat. Beyond the moral, health, and environmental reasons for going with this type of food, it simply tastes a whole lot better.