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GRANDMA BETTY’S BRISKET

STEAK FAJITAS

Chicken, Fish, Meat, and You

When it comes to pure protein, we’ve all got our favorite sources. This chapter is for those of you who enjoy chicken, fish, shrimp, and red meat.

Now, most of you who love animal-based proteins, I’m guessing, also love this planet and want to live in a way that respects the environment. And no doubt you’ve heard about the links between livestock raising and global warming. Well, there are two things you can do about this without giving up meat altogether. You can eat it less often (and eat smaller servings of it when you do), and you can also do your best to purchase meat that has been responsibly, sustainably, and, if possible, locally raised.

Find a good meat, poultry, and seafood market with a knowledgeable staff whom you can trust for recommendations. The prices may be a bit higher than what you’d find at the supermarket, but for good reason. You’re getting what you pay for, and this will help you make a new pledge to yourself: “Self, from now on, quality will always trump quantity when it comes to meat (and all food choices, for that matter).” And that said, small butchers tend to feature great specials on whatever they’re trying to sell quickly, so keep your eyes peeled.

HERE’S THE (GRASS-FED) BEEF

If you secretly love a few bites of a good steak but avoid it for fear that it is bad for you (or that you will be stigmatized for this weakness of character), here is some good news. Grass-fed beef can be a very clean and healthy choice, and assuming you are willing to shop carefully and spend a little more on the meat that comes from pasture-raised, grass-fed cattle, you are in for a treat. It tastes really good, and when eaten in modest amounts it can provide you with a much lower dose of both overall fat and saturated fat compared with other beef, and—surprise!—it also delivers a significant amount of healthy omega-3 fatty acids (the terrific-for-you kind found in wild salmon and flax seed) and a nice hit of vitamins A and E as well. Why does this kind of beef stack up so well? Because unlike the starchy, low-fiber corn and soybeans that are the mainstay of feedlot cattle (and are accompanied by frightening doses of antibiotics that help Bossie assimilate this otherwise indigestible-to-her stuff), grass provides a low-starch, high-protein, high-fiber diet that translates into healthier cows. They are also likely to be happier, because they get to wander around outside, rather than being cooped up for months in a tightly packed, unclean confinement. And they tend not to become afflicted with E. coli and other toxicity, because they are eating their original pre-industrial-age diet, and they stay healthier and in better balance (and better immunity) this way.

BUYING MEAT

Shop at a busy market to get the freshest product. Raw meat should be moist but not wet or sticky, and should have no off-putting odor. Avoid anything with extra liquid in the package. The meat should be bright red, with white fat on the edge and running though the meat. (Some fat running around the edge of a steak is a good thing; it helps hold the meat together and flavors it. If you don’t want to eat it, cut it off with a sharp paring knife after the meat is cooked. Marbling, the fat that runs across the interior of a cut of meat in thin lines, is also a good thing, adding juiciness, tenderness, and flavor.)

For your basic pan-cooked, broiled, or grilled steak, you want cuts that are tender and have good flavor, the best of which come from the rib and the loin. The New York strip and rib-eye are good one-person steaks. Tenderloin steaks (filet mignons) are pricy and very tender but don’t have as much flavor as a strip or rib-eye. The T-bone and porterhouse are big luxury cuts with a T-shaped bone that separates what are actually two steaks: on one side of the bone is a New York strip, on the other, a tenderloin (the porterhouse has a bigger tenderloin piece). The bone gives T-bones (and any bone-in steak or chop) more flavor during cooking.

On the