‘Meat’ The Beef

Holy moly! It is the first of July! I wonder why time flies by so fast? It doesn’t seem to during the day but goodness, when I stop and change the calendar, I often wonder where the last 30 days went! Luke Bryan says it best in a song. “The days are slow but the years are fast” That’s no joke.

With all of this time, North Fork Beef has been changing and improving our beef. We strive to be better than we were yesterday. Here are just a few updates:

We have changed processors. Due to Wyoming’s meat rules, we are not able to ship state inspected beef across state lines. It has to be certified by USDA in order to ship. So guess what??? We found a new processor that is USDA certified and close by as well. We are so excited to have our first set of cattle processed and ready for you!
Our website is becoming more 2021 and not 2001. Building, updating, maintaining, and more is all hard to do when time is flying but now, we think we have it in a better place!
We will begin shipping meat soon. We are still working out all the kinks but to our friends who have been dying to get our meat on your table in other states, we can do it now!
We have started selling a little bit of swag too! Keep your eyes here for stock updates.

In between haying, checking cattle, prepping for fair and more, we want you to “meat the beef”. Watch for updates introducing the members of our family and what we do. We will be showing more of our cattle and what we do on our social media sites and here.

Our area, like much of the nation, is a drought. We are thankful to have irrigating water to help us out growing hay but the range is looking pretty rough. Say a prayer for rain to help, not just us, but for all of the farmers and ranchers who depend on Mother Nature.

We sincerely hope this finds your summer off to a great start. The freezer is full of beef so while you’re here, stop by the shop and see what we are offering! Have a fabulous day!

The Empty Meat Case

What a time we are living in now. I mean, truly! It is so hard to decide what is truth and what is hype. Folks, we want you to know that we are not stopping for the world crisis. Being on the ranch, we already know all to well what social distancing is. Of course we have our few grand get togethers like brandings but we are already good at staying home. We already understand what it is like to have our pantry stocked up and how to keep it stocked because you never know during calving or haying or really any time of the year when the next trip to town will be.

We have the cattle and a hand full of other critters that we have to take care of. We have fields to prepare for summer so that we can grow the feed we need. We have fences to fix and pastures that are getting ready to hold those cattle for the summer. We have pipe to move, side rolls and pivots to get in working order. Haying equipment needs to be pulled out and ready to go for another season. Ranch life doesn’t stop. And that’s why we love it. It keeps us steady and always keeps us humble.

There is some crazy information going around on all the medias. If you want the truth, call a rancher! Ask them what they are doing with their animals. Ask them how they are going to make it out of this slump again. I can tell you with every ounce of my being that ranchers and farmers are the toughest, most honest working people you will ever find. They HAVE to find a way through the chaos because there isn’t any other choice. Honestly, we are in a world of huge unknowns. When all you have is a commodity to sell, you rely heavily on market values. And when the market is in the toilet, things can really get interesting. Same is true when the market is rocking! As a rancher or farmer, you just never know until it happens. And that’s the God’s honest truth.

Friends, North Fork Beef is here. The cattle are doing really well. Calving season was good to us this year. Branding went well. The calves are growing so big and so fast and those mommas and babies will be on the green summer pastures soon. Before you know it, it will be time to be running them back to the ranch and settling in on another year’s crop. As a family, we were lucky that we only passed around a cold and that there were no emergency room visits. Looking at North Fork Beef from the ground up, we are doing well.

The local food movement has been huge amid this world pandemic. We, obviously, are hugely behind local food! But here is another spin that I really want you to consider. Ranchers, like us, raise way more cattle than we can physically process for local customers only. We need to have imports and exports. Our economy demands it. My friend, via social media, Kacy Atkinson, says it best, at this link: https://www.facebook.com/1293937374097838/posts/1568766783281561/ It’s a long read but I tell ya what! It’s worth it.

Thank you for your support. Whether it’s for North Fork Beef, or any other beef raised by the hundreds of great ranchers out there, thank you. You are supporting the BEEF industry and that’s what we need. We love selling our beef and are super proud of everything we have done to raise it. Eating it means we did our job and eating it again and again, means we are continuing to do our job and in the right way. We don’t get job performance reviews. Well, we do but that’s a whole other story! But truly, we know how we are doing by the way our cattle are selling whether it be locally to great folks like you or to large feedlots. That’s our report card. That’s how we know what we are doing right, wrong and indifferent. We appreciate the thoughtful words we hear. We take consideration to what we can be doing better. We are always learning how we can do our job better, too. Again, thank you.

Please know we are always available to answer your questions. We love to talk about cattle. And honestly, some of us need to just talk! This world keeps spinning faster. Hang on tight…this wild ride isn’t over…yet. Happy spring to you all!

What fall means…

Most people think of of that “P” word when fall rolls around. I’m talking “pumpkin” but at North Fork Ranch the “P” means preg testing and cattle work. It means fall chores and getting caught up from the crazy days of haying and irrigating. It also means getting the cattle home from summer pasture. The days are getting shorter and cooler. This is when we start cooking those extra warm and hearty meals where the family comes in to eat at the table because it’s too dark to work outside. We are sharing one of those excellent recipes with you. Admittedly, this recipe was poached off of Pinterest. What else is one supposed to do while waiting to get the hay trailer loaded? Regardless of where it came from, this is one of my family’s favorite meals and it’s a good, warm and super filling one. Warning!!! It is made to fill the boys up. It is full of good beef and hearty noodles! I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do! Thank you to http://www.wildflourskitchen.com for this recipe!

Home-Style Beef ‘n Noodles with Mushrooms & Onions

Ingredients

3 1/2 lbs. boneless beef chuck roast, cut into LARGE chunks bigger than bite-sized
1/2 tsp. coarse ground black pepper
3 Tbl. vegetable oil
2 cups beef broth
1 medium onion, halved and cut into 1/2″ wedges and separated
half of a 1 ounce envelope French Onion Soup Mix such as Lipton’s
1/8 cup A1 Original Steak Sauce
1/2 Tbl. minced garlic ( 2 large cloves)
1/2 Tbl. horseradish
1/2 Tbl. spicy brown mustard
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1 1/2 tsp. coarse ground black pepper
2 Tbl. butter, cut up
1 (8 oz.) container fresh sliced mushrooms
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons cold water
1 (24 oz.) bag Reames Home-Style Frozen Egg Noodles, cooked and drained
1 tsp. more kosher salt or to taste

Instructions

Cut roast, trimming excess fat as you go, into LARGE bite-sized pieces because beef shrinks when it cooks. You want to end up with nice, big chunks. In a large metal roaster that you can use on the stove, lightly brown meat on all sides with 1/2 tsp. pepper over medium-high heat in a little oil. You may have to do this in a large frying pan. (Should take about 10 minutes.). When beef is lightly browned on the outside, add broth, onion, soup mix, A-1, garlic, horseradish, mustard, 1/2 tsp. kosher salt and 1 1/2 tsp. pepper. Dot with butter. Bring to a boil, cover with lid, turn down heat to Low and simmer for 1 1/2 hours. Stir occasionally. Just 2 or 3 times is all. Add mushrooms, recover, and simmer 15-20 minutes longer. Remove lid. Mix cornstarch and cold water, add, stirring. Simmer, stirring only occasionally, for a few more minutes until thickened a bit. Cover and set aside. In large pot, bring enough water to a boil, adding 2 tsp. regular salt, and cook noodles according to package directions. Drain well, and fold into pot of beef. Enjoy!

Now that you have the divine, heavenly, oh-so-yummy-get-in-my-tummy recipe, I do have a few things to let you know! I use stew meat in this ALL THE TIME. Generally, when I make a roast, there isn’t much left when the pot hits the counter. The boys are ravenous and it takes nothing for them to come by and munch it down! Stew meat can be rather chewy but after the cooking for an hour and a half, it is so, so tender and perfect for this dish! I will serve it with a green veggie and depending on my crowd, depends on what I cook! I have made peas, bacon & green beans and even had a mixed salad. Usually we just eat it on it’s own. And if there are leftovers, they do not last but to the following morning. It is gobbled up quickly!

Head on over to the shop and grab some stew meat or even some roast and get to cooking. This is an easy dish to make and I promise it will please you and your family! Happy Fall!

Stick to Your Ribs

In our house, we eat lots of beef. At least 5 nights a week. Sometimes we have to throw in a fresh trout dinner or we go out for dinner. And when we go out, generally, beef is on our plate.

It is a Monday and I made ribs! I’m sure you’re thinking “What in the hell is she thinking making ribs on a Monday night?” “They take too long.” Both are thoughts that went through my head but I have learned a couple of tricks that help make rib life so much easier!

Technology has been my friend as of recent and the Instant Pot has saved my bacon a time or two. I have found this is the best way to make ribs that are fall off the bone tender. It is super simple. Open up your package of ribs and put them in your instant pot. (There are usually 4 in a package but this one only had three, which is just fine. There is only 3 of us tonight and 1 will fill up a teenager!) Season the ribs with your choice of seasoning. Depending on the day depends on what I grab out of the cupboard. The boys around here like them seasoned with Montreal Steak Seasoning. It’s a good all purpose seasoning in my house. Dump in one cup of water, place the lid on and cook for 45 minutes.

This is where I made the rest of dinner that includes potato wedges and coleslaw. The potatoes are super simple. Wash them well, cut into wedges and place on a greased baking sheet. Stick them in the oven at 400 for about 30 minutes. Pull them and let them rest a few minutes. Then sprinkle with a little bit of shredded cheese and bacon! Bake long enough for the cheese to melt and voila! I also made cheater coleslaw. This means I bought the bagged, pre-shredded cabbage since it was on sale. I made a quick dressing with Miracle Whip, vinegar, sugar, salt & pepper. I poured the dressing over the coleslaw mix in a large bowl, mixed until the dressing was evenly distributed and stuck it in the refrigerator until it was time to eat.

When the ribs were finished in the instant pot, I chose to put a crust on them. Now don’t get me wrong! We eat them with some BBQ sauce or spicy mustard right out of the instant pot. But I was feeling fancy tonight.

After pulling them from the pot, I doused them in BBQ sauce and stuck them on the grill to get a good sear on them!

I know the neighbors could smell them! Oh so good. I wish this had smell-o-vision!

I pulled them off the grill just in time for the boys to get them and load up their plates.

We are stuffed to the brim and watching it rain. It was a truly easy, simple dinner to make and everyone was happy! I mean, who doesn’t love ribs???

There is a recipe below but please know, I roll without them generally. I love cooking and coming up with fun ways to make our beef every night. And don’t ever hesitate to ask any questions! If you get a cut from us, we will gladly help you out with how to prepare it. Make sure to check out the store and get your ribs! Your tummy will thank you!