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Wednesday, October 8, 2003
Putting Homegrown Steak on Table Takes Effort
By Polly Summar
Journal Staff Writer
You shop for your veggies at the growers' markets because you want to support local farmers. You buy your chile from a roadside stand— none of that Mexican or Texas stuff for you. You want to keep your dollars where you live.
So it occurs to you that you'd like to support New Mexico cattle ranchers— buy only New Mexico beef. Well, good luck, Charlie. It could take you days of research to figure out how to do that (trust us, we know).
To make it easier for you, here's what we discovered:
A) There's no way you can really know if the meat in your regular grocery store is from a New Mexico cattle ranch.
"Because we don't have a large feedlot industry, most of our cattle go out of the state to be fed and finished," says Dina Reitzel, executive director of the New Mexico Beef Council. ("Fed and finished" is cattle speak for the final process of raising a cow. Some cows are raised on grass and weeds, then "finished" on grain.)
The major processors are also out of state, mostly in the Midwest. The cattle go from the feedlots to the processors; then the meat is distributed to supermarkets across the country, explains Reitzel. ("Processor" is cattle speak for the place where cattle are butchered.)
You might, by chance, be eating New Mexico beef when you buy it in your grocery store, but there's no way to know for sure. Also, let us clarify: We're not saying that our grocery stores don't carry good beef— just that there's no way to be certain it's New Mexico beef.
B) There are some exceptions to the above. Keller's Farm Store's two locations in Albuquerque, for example, carry beef from cattle the Kellers raised in both New Mexico and Colorado and processed in Colorado.
However, when you're looking at Keller's meat case, the beef is not going to be labeled as New Mexico versus Colorado. A nitpick, perhaps; it just depends on how specific you want to be in your buying habits.
Local connections
Keller's beef is "natural" as opposed to organic because, while the cattle are raised with no antiobiotics, hormones or growth stimulants, the cattle's feed is not certified organic.
If you live close to Santa Fe or Taos, and are willing to pay extra for organic beef (try $4.20-$6 a pound for ground beef), you can buy New Mexico organic beef at Cid's Food Market in Taos or the MarketPlace Natural Grocery in Santa Fe. The cattle are raised by Matt Mitchell at his Reuñion Ranch north of Roy, and processed at Zenitram Industries in El Rito.
If you live near Belen, you can buy Red Doc Farm beef at the Share 'N Care Pharmacy in Belen. Raised from Santa Gertrudis cattle by Roland and Elia Sanchez, the beef is natural. You can find out more about it at the Sanchezes' Web site, www.reddocfarm.com.
If you live near Clovis, you can buy Living Waters natural beef at the Wholey Cow Deli, a deli and meat market, in the center of town. It's also available at Mallette Feed & Supply in Las Vegas, N.M. Or if you're camping near Conchas Dam on N.M. 104, you can pick up a pound of Living Waters ground beef at the 104 Store there. You can e-mail Living Waters' lady rancher Margaret George at sanpabloranch@3lefties.com. George plans to have her beef in stores in Los Alamos soon.
(These enterprising ranchers made us think you should probably put the word out to your local rancher friends to see if there's someone in your area who sells small amounts to local stores or would sell directly to you.)
No-shows
But we couldn't find New Mexico beef at the stores you might think would carry it— Whole Foods, Wild Oats or Sunflower Market. La Montañita Co-op in Albuquerque used to carry Reuñion Ranch beef, but Mitchell says he doesn't raise enough cattle to be able to fully supply them. Frank Gutierrez, the co-op's meat and cheese manager, says Cid's and the MarketPlace are bigger companies and they're buying all of Mitchell's meat.
Gutierrez says he would like to find a New Mexico organic beef supplier. "There's no one out there at the moment," he says. "I gotta order my beef from Iowa."
So here's an option: While you're driving the High Road this fall, stop in Taos or Santa Fe on the way back, and pop some ribeyes into your picnic cooler.
C) Let's say you're an Atkins devotee and a beef connoisseur, and a field trip for really good beef is something you're willing to spend the time and gasoline for.
You could contact Kay and Tom Payne in the Santa Rosa area at tpayne@plateautel.net to buy some of their Bar 7 natural Angus-Hereford beef. They sell it by the quarter, half or whole (as in, the whole cow), ranging in price from about $300 to $1,150.
You can either go to their ranch, if you'd like to have that "ranch experience," or they will work out a way to deliver it to you. "We'll work with the individual," says Kay Payne.
The public can buy meat at a number of meat processors throughout the state. At most of these, you can call ahead and custom order. That means, for example, you can discuss the aging of your beef and figure out what the processor can do to accommodate you.
You can ask about organic, natural and "regular" beef, for example. Even though most processors do not process organic beef, some may offer beef that meets your specifications.
For example, Ben Gardner, with the "meat lab" at New Mexico State University (the school trains students in meat processing and sells beef), says, "Our beef is all grain-fed, no antibiotics, no growth hormones," but it's not considered organic, which is stricter, requiring no pesticide use on the ranch, for example. Whatever you're concerned about, just ask the processor. Processors are inspected by the state and subject to rules.
Zenitram Industries is the only processor in the state certified as organic. (A plant has to meet certain standards, including cleaning processes, to get that certification.) Zenitram also produces its own label, Naturally New Mexico, which means no hormones, growth stimulants or additives, but Martinez says the cattle for his label were not fed certified organic feed.
Art Marquez, a beef kahuna in New Mexico (he's the program manager for meat and poultry with the New Mexico Livestock Board), says that growing and processing what's called "natural" beef is "pretty much an honor system. No one really has any standards for this 'natural' term— the USDA doesn't."
But for organic certification, the livestock board works with the New Mexico Organic Commission, which certifies the system for the organic meat.
Appetite for aged
The organic question isn't the only consideration. There's the aging issue. For example, Cortese Meats in Fort Sumner normally ages its beef for 14 days, but says Karen Cortese, "We have a cousin— we hang his beef 40 days. A lot of the Kansas City steak people, they age theirs a long time."
(The theory about aging beef is that hanging a beef carcass makes it more tender and flavorful because the enzymes break down proteins and connective tissues. Beef that is not aged can taste a little gamey, say the experts.)
Besides specifying aging time, you can also ask that your roasts be cut to fit your slow-cooker or that all of your meat be boneless.
A side of beef could cost you a pretty penny, and you've got to have the freezer space. Cortese says that since her processing business freezes meat at about 20 degrees below zero, it will stay frozen during a very long trip home. "Ranchers come from as far as three and four hours away," says Cortese.
Here's the way buying a side of beef (that would be half the cow) from these processors usually works. You pay for the carcass weight, which can vary from about 300 to 350 pounds. The cost per pound is about $1.80. (That's $540 to $630, in case you can't do math in your head.) Keep in mind that beef prices are constantly fluctuating according to cattle prices. And the fancier the beef, from "natural" up to organic, the more money you will be paying per pound. By the time the excess fat and bone are cut and trimmed away, the meat you paid for has decreased in poundage from 25 percent to 50 percent.
In the cut
Here's the skinny on some processors around the state (and yes, for most of these, you can just walk in, but it's best to call first and discuss what you're interested in):
-- Brian's Custom Processing, 904 S. Thornton St., Clovis, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday, (505) 763-6050.
-- Cortese Meats, U.S. Highway 60/84, Fort Sumner, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday, (505) 355-7601.
-- High Country Meats, 340 Colfax St., Raton, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday, (505) 445-2449. They sell only by the quarter, half and whole carcass.
-- New Mexico State University meat lab, Neale Hall, corner of Stewart and Espina, Las Cruces, 8 a.m.-noon, 1-5 p.m. Monday-Friday, (505) 646-2114.
-- Zenitram Industries, N.M. 554, downtown El Rito, 6 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday-Friday, (505) 581-4576. Owner Donald Martinez likes customers to call ahead. The message machine is almost always on, with a very informal message, but Martinez will call you back.