Cows and salad

I am re-evaluating my relationship with cows. Don't get me wrong. They are very friendly creatures. As long as I'm not in the same field as they are. We moo happily to each other as I go out for country walks. One of the nice things about living here is that it's a two minute walk to get to the “country”, or at least a field with a cow in it.

It's more about eating cows. I like beef, no question. There are one or two beef recipes on this blog. And there's nothing nicer than a proper Cornish pasty with the beef and veg sealed raw in the pastry and slow cooked to perfection. I have known for a long time that the environmental cost of a cow is proportionately more than the cost of the same amount of meat from a pig or a chicken, but I have reconciled myself to that by thinking of all the other savings I make.

But a new report shows just how big the difference is. “Land, irrigation water, greenhouse gas, and reactive nitrogen burdens of meat, eggs, and dairy production in the United States” measures the relative burdens of beef cattle, dairy, poultry, pork and eggs. (There is a potted version here.)  Dairy, poultry, pork and eggs all have roughly similar impacts. Beef takes 28 times as much land, 11 times as much water, produces 5 times as much greenhouse gas, and 6 times as much reactive nitrogen as each of those other forms. That is a heck of an impact. For me that means less beef is going to be an important future choice. (I assume that the differential between beef and dairy cows is not that dairy cows consume less, but that you get a lot more milk from the lifetime of a dairy cow than you get beef from the lifetime of a beef cow. But I haven't studied the research report in enough detail to get any more information about that.)

At the same time, we hear that the fabled Mediterranean diet is good for the brain. Research confirms Mediterranean diet is good for the mind: “The first systematic review of related research confirms a positive impact on cognitive function, but an inconsistent effect on mild cognitive impairment.” This is not a single piece of research but a research review, so the conclusion is quite robust. So I guess it's less beef, more olive oil and veg. One of the interesting things about the Mediterranean diet is that they seem to be unable to separate out whether any parts of it are more effective than other parts. It may be that the combinations of different foods matter. So, oil and salad, here I come. I'm not sure I could take all that fish though.

Belgrade beef stew

750 g stewing beef, cut in 3cm cubes

250 g onions, chopped

1 clove(s) garlic, mashed

1 red bell pepper, diced

4 tomatoes, diced

2 carrots, sliced

salt and freshly ground black pepper

paprika powder

1 glass(es) red wine

5 tbsp freshly grated Parmesan cheese

2 tbsp butter

Method

Heat the butter and fry the beef over medium heat all around until browned. Stir in the garlic and onions and fry for two more minutes. Season with salt, pepper and paprika powder. Pour in the wine, cover and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes.

Add the tomatoes, bell peppers and carrots. Cover and simmer for another 20-25 minutes or until the beef is tender. Check seasoning and correct, if necessary.

Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and serve with rice and lettuce salad.

This is economical cooking – does in one pot on the hob. I used oil instead of butter. I left out the red wine, adding a little water to compensate.

For localness 7/10; rice is always a problem from that point of view. The meat, the veg and most of the spices were local.

Beef and vegetable casserole

1 onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 leek, diced
2 celery  sticks, diced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
75g mushrooms, sliced
500g braising steaks, cubed
2 tbsp plain flour
3 sprigs of  thyme
750ml stock


Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large pan then add the onion, carrot, leek, celery and garlic, and cook gently for 5 minutes, do not brown. Add the mushrooms and cook everything for a further 5 minutes then remove from the pan. Heat a little more oil in the pan, add the beef (in batches if necessary) and brown all over then stir the flour in well.

Return the veg to the pan and add the thyme and stock. Season and mix well. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook covered for 1 1/2 hours until tender, stirring occasionally. Serve with jacket potatoes, rice, pasta or mash.

I don't usually do the vegetables first, but it seemed to work very well in this case.

I served this with mash, which did very nicely. All the vegetables were locally sourced, as was the beef. The thyme came from our garden. The flour is from elsewhere in the UK. I used organic vegetable stock; I can't verify where that or the oil came from, so I gave it 8/10 for local purchasing.