Some of Hawai'i's home-grown beef is kickin' grass

By Wanda A. Adams
Advertiser Food Editor

Kamuela Pride ribeye steak from grass-fed stock, right, and a USDA Choice ribeye steak from grain-fed stock. Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser Honed, honed on the range An annual event that began touting the goodness of meat from forage-raised animals eight years ago is the Taste of Hawaiian Range festival, which this year will be held 6 to 8 p.m. Sept. 26 on the Paniolo Grounds at the Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel. Island chefs will prepare recipes using range-fed meats and locally raised fruits and vegetables. Signature item: Kohala Mountain Oysters. Tickets are $25 in advance; $35 at the door. Information: gfukumoto@hawaii.edu, (808) 322-4892.

Recently, students in Leeward Community College's culinary program got to taste the grass-feed beef of three producers: Kamuela Pride from the Big Island, the Maui Cattle Co. on the Valley Isle and O'ahu's own North Shore Cattle Co. Samples of very simply prepared grilled cuts were examined and tasted side-by-side with Mainland feedlot beef. None of these ranchers uses hormone implants or routinely feeds antibiotics to the cattle.

The range of textures, flavors and colors in the beef was striking. The Maui Cattle Co. fillet was a light bubble-gum pink, exceptionally juicy and very mild-flavored; chef George Mavrothalassitis, one of the tasters, compared it to veal. The Kamuela Pride fillet had a distinct grain but was not at all tough; the flavor was beefy and almost smoky and the color was a deep red to purple. The beef from the North Shore Cattle Co. was similarly flavorful and a bit chewy.

The chefs' trained noses could detect the bouquet of grass; my somewhat less sensitive palate merely noted that I'd all but forgotten the taste of beef. Much of supermarket beef is so marbled with fat, and we're so likely to highly caramelize beef and sauce it that we rarely experience the true flavor.

The lean, grass-fed beef does require different handling than fattier styles: Grilled meats are meant to be seared quickly and served rare to medium-rare; low-heat, moist cooking methods are recommended for roasts. The density of the beef is greater without the marbling, so there is little shrinkage.

None of the beef was the tough, stringy stuff we've heard about with regard to grass-fed beef, making it clear that feed, handling and aging do make a difference in a product that most home cooks have come to regard as generic — beef is beef, isn't it?

Well, no. Beef, like any other food, is a product of its environment. In the old, old days, cattle ate what came naturally (grass), and were raised to an appropriate size with the aid of some medications and nutritional supplements (salt, for example) to keep them healthy and encourage growth.

But in the early and middle years of the 20th century, America became more affluent and our appetite grew for fork-tender, mild-flavored beef. Cattle ranchers became commodity producers, raising larger numbers of cattle in smaller spaces, routinely dosing herds with antibiotics and growth hormones. Feed lots, where cattle filled up on fat-building grain, became the common last stop for the herds.

In Hawai'i, the economics of cattle-rearing caught up with the ranches: Land rose steeply in value and the price of feed did, too. By the 1970s and '80s, it had become cheaper to ship young cattle off to the Mainland than to ship in feed, explained rancher and retired state veterinarian Calvin Lum of North Shore Cattle Co. in Hale'iwa. Also, as food safety became an increasingly sophisticated matter, slaughterhouses closed one by one, unable to afford costly renovations to meet modern safety standards, he said.

For some years, there wasn't a single large-scale slaughterhouse operation in Hawai'i. The only local beef available was sold privately, in small lots, by ranchers to their neighbors — home freezer beef.

But in the late '90s, with sugar lands becoming available and a new interest across America in healthier, more natural foods, a small number of ranchers began re-acquiring lands and going back to the grass.

The first here to begin raising and marketing grass-fed beef on the commercial level were Rick and Jessica Habein of Waimea. Rick Habein, who fell in love with the cowboy life as a child and studied ranching at California Polytechnic University, worked at ranches on the Big Island and Maui before he and Jessica began Habein Livestock Co. with 60 acres in 1990. They now ranch 1,200 acres with both cattle and sheep. In 1997, the Habeins formed Hawaii Natural Meats, negotiated the laborious USDA process to allow labeling as a "natural" product and built a plant that processes and markets natural grain-fed meats from more than 55 ranches on the Big Island. Their market extends to the Northwest, California and New York.

Jessica Habein explained to the LCC students that recent research has found that grass-fed beef is leaner, with a lower percentage of saturated fat, more omega-3 fatty acids (which help keep the heart healthy) and conjugated linoleic acids, which are anti-carcinogens, and an abundance of healthful vitamin E.

Pound for pound, grass-fed beef does cost more to produce, Lum said. But the Habeins went into the business in part because their market research showed that health-conscious people were willing to return to eating beef, and even to pay a little more for it, if the product is "chemically clean."

Use this rub, even without branding irons

Jessica L. Owens Habein, president and chief executive officer of Hawaii Natural Meats. Inc., producers of Kamuela Pride grass-fed beef and lamb, says this rub is a favorite at branding time. That's the first roundup of the season's calves — today, more likely to be a time when the calves are given ear tags (the modern version of the burned-on marking), vaccinated and checked out for any problems.

After work, it's time to barbecue. Habein likes to apply the rub and let it marinate until time to cook it over the branding fire.

Jessica's Branding-fire Rub

• 2-3 teaspoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• 4 teaspoons Hawaiian salt
• 2 teaspoons cracked black pepper
• 1 to 2 teaspoons crushed red pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon dry oregano

Combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly. Rub into steak or roast and allow to sit for at least five minutes — longer for stronger flavor. Grill, sear or roast as desired.

Store in airtight container. Rub will stay fresh longer if stored in freezer.

Grass-fed beef from Hawai'i

Maui Cattle Co.: Partnership of seven Maui ranches, grass-fed with a diet supplemented by pineapple and sugar-cane products. 530 Kealaloa Ave., Makawao, HI 96768. (808) 572-2326. Available on Maui only.

Kamuela Pride/Hawaii Natural Meats: From 55 Big Island ranchers, pasture-raised. Available widely on Big Island, also other islands. On O'ahu: Kokua Market and Source Natural Foods. (808) 887-6900; (877) 302-6328, toll-free. www.hawaiinaturalmeats.com.

North Shore Cattle Co.: Specializing in ground beef with just 10 percent fat, plus other home cuts, quarters, sides and whole carcasses. Direct sales online, by phone, by fax, by e-mail or at North Shore Country Market each Saturday (7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.). Phone: 864-5079. Fax: (877) 784-5687. E-mail: nscattle@gte.net. Web site: www.beefhawaii.com.