I'm eating the 100% grass-fed beef that I got from the Farmer's Market today.
The taste and smell are SOOOOO much different than what I'm used to, the meat that gets sent to me.
This meat I'm eating now has a flavor that is so... robust! It's so strong.
I don't even know if I like it or not!
What might be the reason for this drastically different flavor?
Grassfed beef (GFB) can taste different depending on the source. My ranchers, John and Wendy Taggert, at Burgundy Pasture Beef (BPB), give me more insight into cattle raising every time I place an order (and I should write everything they tell me down as I can forget tid bits). And really, there are so many factors like age of animal, aging of hanged beef, grasses consumed (and weather conditions, etc.), stress for cows at slaughter, you name it. They have said cows can be skinny and tough, or fat and tender (and I have seen and tasted differences from local farms). In the past, I have had GFB that tastes vaguely of fish, and I didn't care for it. Of course, it was cooked somewhat, so the flavor was probably more pronounced than it would have been tasting it raw now. When I tried BPB meat a few years ago (cooked rare), it was complex and earthy, like you could taste the land and care that went into it, if that makes sense. It was as similar to the differences between wines, or how the playing of Beethoven's 7th is different by performance.
I don't know what to tell you, but ask your farmers everything. If they are knowledgeable and caring, they will want to share with you why they raise their beef the way they do, and can probably tell you why it tastes like it does. You are becoming the fine beef connessieur, what can you say?
It is really green here in N TX since late august. I have 2 whole lambs on order from another farm who are chowing down on some super lush local grasses now. I can't wait to sink my teeth and camera into it next month!