Not all meat is treated equally.

Not all meat is created equally.

It’s a tossed salad of food terminology out there. “Organic”, “pastured”, “grass fed”, “free range”, “dry aged”, “wet aged” — what does it all mean? What’s the difference? How do you know which is best?

You’ve got enough to worry about. And besides, you’re not a farmer nor a butcher! How could you possibly know?

That’s why we’re here — to ease your mind and help you decipher how your meat is made. Your best bet for a straight answer is to talk to the farmer making your food.

We want you to feel good about your food choices. After all, when you eat meat. . . You. Deserve. To. Eat. Really. Good. Meat.

Here at the farm, people ask us all the time what we do that makes a difference in the tenderness and flavor of the meat. It’s not rocket science, it’s good ‘ol fashioned farming and wisdom gained from four generations of farming experience.

It’s the little things, really.

Here’s what we know:

Diet Makes a Difference.

What the animals eat affects the flavor of the meat. We feed our animals high quality, locally grown grains and grasses. We also feed a 100% vegetable protein diet — no animal byproducts like bone meal, blood meal, feather meal or fish meal, just grains and greens.

Work with Nature.

We take a little longer to raise our animals to market weight, giving them plenty of room to roam and exhibit their natural behaviors, with free access the outdoors, food and water. It’s about quality over quantity, every time.

We don’t administer growth promoting medications or hormones so we really need to work with Nature to finish these animals well.

Dry Age the Beef.

We dry age our beef for 14-21 days for maximum flavour and tenderness. As the beef hangs, gravity does its work and the muscle fibers stretch to make them more tender. Water evaporates out of the meat and healthy microbes do their work to break down protein fibers and naturally tenderize the meat. The end result? Rich, flavourful beef — with less moisture in the meat. 100% of what you buy is 100% of what you get.

[Note: when buying steaks, always check the fine print on the label to see if the meat has been mechanically tenderized (i.e. needled or injected). By law, meat must be labeled if it’s been altered from its natural state.  If so, be sure to cook your meat to well done to reduce your risk of e. coli. contamination.]

Don’t Pump the Meat.

Sometimes called “injecting”, “pumping” or to gentrify it, “plumping”, some poultry processors add a saline solution to their chicken breasts in order to tenderize and improve the cooking traits of the meat.  You’ll know your meat has been “plumped” if there’s water in the pan after cooking. It should be labelled too.

At Pine View Farms, we don’t own an injector. We naturally tenderize our chicken by aging the chicken breast on the bone overnight in the cooler. As rigor sets in to the meat, keeping the meat attached to the bone prevents shrinkage and keeps the muscle fibers long. The next day, we de-bone the breasts and have meaty, tender fillets with no need to mechanically tenderize the meat. You get 100% protein in every pack of meat.

Keep it Simple.

All our sausage and deli recipes are crafted in-house using pure spices, without phosphates and other ingredients whose name you can’t pronounce — we only use ingredients your Grandma would know. We cure our meat with sea salt and keep our recipes clean — nitrite free, gluten free and sugar free.

Pack with flavour.

At the end of the day, we can have all the fancy terms and certifications for our meat like “All Natural”, pasture raised”, “hormone free” or “antibiotic free”, but if the meat doesn’t “wow” your tastebuds with flavour and texture, it means nothing.

Our goal is to make meat better every day with care and attention to the animals, how we cut your meat, and in the end, to the taste on your plate.

We believe that passion is an ingredient and details have flavour.

We’re so convinced you’ll be able to taste the difference that we guarantee our meat 100%. If you’re not happy with your purchase, let us know and we’ll refund or replace your meat. That’s our promise to you.

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Have comments or suggestions? Please leave us a comment or call the farm at 306.239.4763.