All of our Hillacres Pride beef is Jersey beef. When I tell people that, many of them think that means that the beef comes from New Jersey, which can be confusing because our farm is in Pennsylvania. What we are talking about is the breed of the animals that we raise for beef. We have Jersey cows, they are the smaller brown dairy cows. I promise that you will not find Jersey beef in any grocery store, or even at many other farm stands. Jerseys are not typically raised for beef because they are smaller, which means that they don’t put on weight nearly as fast and will never get to the size that the processors want for the most economical beef.
We raise Jersey beef because our main farm product is milk, and we love to milk Jersey cows. They produce milk that is so flavorful, with more protein-the perfect cheese milk. Dairy farms only milk the females, so the males (bulls) are usually sold as calves by dairy farms. When I married Tom and moved to his family farm, that is exactly what they were doing. I also grew up in farming and was raised on home grown beef (although not Jersey beef). My first order of business on this new farm was to insist that we raise a steer for meat. A steer is a bull that has been castrated, which makes them less aggressive and much safer to work with.
Tom thought I was a bit crazy, but of course he wanted to make the new wife (who had moved several hours from home) happy. So, we started our first steer. It takes nearly 2 years for a Jersey to grow to the proper size for processing. When Tom tasted the delicious meat he understood why it was so important to me. An added bonus was that we knew exactly how the animal was raised. And I knew that Jersey beef really was something special.
Just what makes Jersey beef different?
- Jerseys are not bred to gain weight fast, so the meat is lean. A lot of time people think that lean meat is dry, but that is not the case with Jersey meat. It is naturally tender. Since they are not growing as fast, the meat stays tender.
- The yellow fat-I don’t know all the science behind it, but yellow fat simply melts into the meat and the flavor is amazing. The fat is yellow because Jerseys naturally produce more carotene and that shows up in both the meat and the milk. Carotene is what makes up vitamin A.
- Steak sizes-In today’s world, the smaller Jersey steaks are the perfect size. The angus steaks are huge! We do wish the filets were bigger (they are soo good), but most of the cuts are the perfect size.
First time buyers often ask what cut they should start with…I always say ground beef. Our steaks are amazing, but the grocery store steaks are also the better cuts. You will notice a huge difference in our ground beef. If you brown a pound of the beef, you will not have much grease to drain, and the meat will still be packed with flavor. I also prefer the texture of the meat compared to that of the grocery store.
Often, we see burger recipes that are loaded with added ingredients. Why is that? Because the meat needs flavor. You will not have to add anything to our ground beef for a flavorful burger. Of course, we recommend that you top it with one of our cheeses and maybe some bacon-but that is only to compliment the flavor, not provide it.
We also love ground beef because it is so versatile and economical, even if you made it for dinner 7 nights in a row you could have different meals. Our top 10 meals are:
- Burgers of course-be sure to select a nice roll, we like brioche
- Tacos-We make a slow cooker taco meat that is a big favorite.
- Meat loaf
- Meatballs-We like to mix ground beef and ground pork
- Shepherds Pie
- Vietnamese fried rice
- Meat Sauce
- Farm House muffins
- Stuffed peppers
- Chili
Many of these recipes can be found on our site under the recipe tab.
Some of my other favorite cuts are chuck roasts, NY strip steaks and chip steak. Chuck roast makes a great pulled beef and the beef roast rub on our site is our favorite. The chip steak comes from the rump or sirloin tip roasts. It is chipped thin at the butcher and makes a perfect cheese steak in minutes. This is great for a busy family like ours.
If you are new to buying beef at a farmers market, it is also important to realize that we use the whole beef. It is not like shopping at a store where most of the time they have all of the items in stock. Some beef items are plentiful, such as ground beef and sirloin steak. Other items are quite limited. Each beef only yields 2 each of flank, skirt, tri-tip and petite tender steaks as well as rump roasts. And they only have 1 hanger steak.
