McCALL AND WESTERN BEEF GRILL 04 SEPT 2022

 

The Labor Day weekend gathering looked to be the ideal place to try out the McCall Grass Feed beef compared to the more traditional beef, as all the people are well-developed carnivores.  We also tapped the cellar and had a fine selection of wine to pair with the beef and traditional steak sides.  There was also a large selection of seafood, but that will be the subject of a separate posting.  The beef weighed about 12 Lbs. before grilling (Fig 01) and consisted of  McCall Wines Grass Feed steak and some mid-western corn-finished beef via Stew Leonards.  The McCall steak is very dark and rich in color, with the mid-western corn finish notably paler in color. 

Cattle ranching should not be surprising as Long Island has a long history of Cattle ranches, having the first one in the U.S. and dating back to the mid-1600 in Montauk.  However, McCall Beef Cattle has a unique history; starting to raise cattle in 2010, selecting a rare breed in the U.S., the Charolais Cattle, which can trace back its origins to the late 800s C.E. 

The cattle are free range, Grass feed, within a minimal intervention environment producing fine quality beef.  The ranch is an authentic Farm to table process, as the cattle walking about today can be on the table in less than two weeks.  As with most Farm to table products, the price is higher than the mass-produced equivalents, but the quality is well worth it. 

Starting with about 8 Lbs of Porterhouse, bone-in rib, and Skirt steak from McCall, we add about 4 Lbs. of USDA Choice mid-Western corn-finished bone-in Rib steaks.  The steaks were prepared simply with a light dusting of Himalayan Sea Salt and fine ground tri-color pepper about 6 hours before cooking.  Before cooking, the Steaks are misted with EVOO to seal the juices and keep them from sticking on the grill (Fig 03).  All the steaks are cooked on an outdoor 1800⁰F gas-fired infrared searing station.  As most of us like our Steaks rare to medium, the steaks are seared for about 2 minutes per side and rotated after 1 minute by 90⁰ to achieve the cross-hatched grilling marks.  The grilled Steaks were allowed to rest for about 5 minutes, then sliced and plated (Fig 04).  Paired with the steaks were Corn On The Cob, Sautéed mushrooms, and caramelized onions (Fig 05).  

The taste is very different from excellent grade supermarket steak with a much richer beef taste, higher minerality, juicer, and surprisingly more tender.  In short, we have found a new meat market on the east end of Long Island. 

#LongIslandFood #stewleonard #McCallwines

FIG 01 - McCALL BEEF AND WESTERN BEFORE PREPPING 04 SEPT 2022

FIG 02 - McCALL BEEF AND WESTERN PREPARED 04 SEPT 2022

FIG 03 - McCALL BEEF AND WESTERN AWAITING THE GRILL 04 SEPT 2022 © @JAC_LENS_

FIG 04 - McCALL BEEF AND WESTERN GRILLED SLICED 04 SEPT 2022 © @JAC_LENS_

FIG 05 - MUSHROOM ONION GRILLED STEAK SIDES 04 SEPT 2022