Meadowland Farms Beef by Cargill
Picked up a fresh pack of this the other day, Meadowland Farms is a trade name of agri-giant Cargill. Their ground chuck is an 80/20, and is described as “fresh”, which I take to mean “not previously frozen,” but I am not sure there is a USDA definition of “fresh.” With Cargill, they claim the ground beef is produced regionally, allowing them to product to your supermarket faster, so it is “fresher.”
Meadowland Farms produces the range of fat ratio ground beef, from 80/20 to 93/7. Although my particular package is labeled “chuck”, the producers website states “Meadowland Farms™ ground beef’s source grinds include sirloin, round and chuck.
Not sure if that means either/or, or each pack could be a combination of the grinds.
Further online investigation seems to indicate Cargill has at least three plants producing the burger, in PA, WI, and CA. Curiously tho, the USDA sticker on my package does not include the site number. I wasn’t aware a manufacturer could exclude that.
The package further indicates that the “meat is in a protective atmosphere to prevent color change.” (This means there is a gas inside). Generally this “gas” is merely an increased level of oxygen.
My pack was approximately 2.5 pounds, at $2.78 per pound. I made 7 patties out of the pack, keeping two out for lunch today, and freezing the rest. I freeze my patties for a half hour on parchment paper, then tear or cut the parchment to size before placing in a freezer bag. This makes the patties easily accessible, and not stuck together when removed from the freezer.
The ground beef, raw, has a nice flavor. The grind is “medium”, which is to my preference.
(Several hours later). Fried up two patties in the cast iron. Gotta say, didn’t care for it all that much, didn’t live up to its hype. Meadowland Farms makes a fuss on their website about the difference between “ground beef” and “hamburger”, and for my money, this was the latter. It didn’t have any particular specific beef flavor to it, and for 80/20, there was a lot of fat both in the pan, and in the medium rare patty.
Would I buy it again? Doubtful. Living in Oregon, I have a wide variety of local beef to choose from, and as I have written about before, I have a fondness for Painted Hills brand, which I buy at Barbur Foods.