At ShopRite, naturally raised Australian beef isn't created equal

Clayton's 100% Organic Ground Beef, which is free of harmful antibiotics, is one of the two brands of naturally raised Australian beef available at ShopRite. 

Three 1-pound packages of Clayton's 100% Organic Ground Beef often go on sale for $4.99 each at the Paramus ShopRite, 224 Route 4 east.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

ShopRite supermarkets in five states, including New Jersey, New York and Connecticut, sell two brands of naturally raised Australian beef.

The cooperative probably is the biggest retailer of organic and free-range, grass-fed beef outside of Whole Foods Market.

Grass-fed Australian beef is said to be leaner and to have fewer calories than American beef.

In addition, Australian beef boasts of containing more heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids, such as those found in salmon and other fish.

The United States is the second-biggest market for beef from Australia after Japan.

Nature's Reserve beef -- which is marketed as free range and 100% grass fed -- was the first Australian brand sold at ShopRite, usually in a whole beef tenderloin for filet mignon that retails for several dollars a pound less than the same domestic cut.

Although I no longer eat beef, other members of the family enjoy this cut thinly sliced, grilled on the stove-top and eaten wrapped in red-leaf lettuce leaves, a home version of Korean cook-on-the table barbecue restaurants. 

Nature's Reserve beef once was marketed as antibiotic free.

See the Nature's Reserve Web site:

'Good for the animals, good for the land'  


New beef in town

At the end of 2012, ShopRite introduced antibiotic-free Australian beef raised on organic farms and sold under the Clayton's brand name.

Clayton's 100% Organic Beef is raised on organic grass, organic sorghum and organic corn, all of which are free of genetically modified organisms.

See the Clayton's Organic Web site:

'Beef the way it used to be'

Nature's Reserve 100% Grass Fed Beef usually sells for $4.99 a pound at the Paramus ShopRite, above and below. Nature's Reserve markets meat raised on many Australian farms.

Clayton's Organic Beef also is available as Top Round London Broil, above, and as steaks.

Nature's Reserve beef often goes on sale for as little as $5.99 a pound.

Organic Spanish rice, Australian beef, blue-fin tuna boycott

Moist, filling and delicious, and a great bread substitute: Organic brown rice with organic chicken stock, organic diced tomatoes, peeled garlic cloves and saffron.

Editor's note: Today, I discuss an easy recipe for organic Spanish rice, share an e-mail from a woman whose family raises beef in Australia, and urge you to boycott the annual blue-fin-tuna cutting demonstration at a Japanese supermarket.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Here is another easy electric rice-cooker recipe that requires you to do little more than measure, pour the ingredients into the appliance and plug it in.

I used three cups of organic brown rice, twice that in liquid (organic chicken stock or water), a can of organic diced tomatoes with their juices, a lot of peeled garlic cloves, a few ounces of extra-virgin olive oil, sea salt and a few threads of Spanish saffron.

Most of the ingredients came from Costco Wholesale.

Doubling the amount of liquid in relation to the rice results in a moist dish with creamy garlic cloves.

A few days later, after enjoying the rice for breakfast and dinner instead of bread, I prepared pretty much the same dish using organic quinoa and organic lentils, in addition to the liquid, diced tomatoes and garlic cloves.

Organic quinoa with organic diced tomatoes, organic lentils and garlic cloves, all from Costco. I served it for breakfast with a wedge of egg-white frittata made with chopped garlic, black olives and sun-dried tomatoes, and topped with Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto.

Grass-fed Nature's Reserve Australian beef pan fried with cabbage, sweet peppers, onions and garlic.

Australian beef in the U.S.

In recent years, I've noticed a subtle shift in the promotion of Australian beef that no longer mentions whether the cattle were raised without animal antibiotics, which some experts say are harmful to humans.

ShopRite Supermarkets, where I buy Nature's Reserve whole beef tenderloins for filet mignon, also has added another line of Australian beef, Clayton's Organic Beef.

Organic beef can't be raised with antibiotics, growth hormones or feed with GMOs.

Here is a note from Diane Carter, who is in the cattle business in Australia:

"Here are a few thoughts and facts about Australian beef.  

"My family have been in the cattle business in Australia for 100+ years. A lot has changed.  I won’t go into all the history but, over the last 5-10 years there has been a resurgence of grass-fed and finished beef.

"While the domestic market accounts for the largest share of Australia’s beef production, overseas markets are extremely important, often taking beef cuts that are not as popular with Australian consumers.  

"The USA is currently the biggest overseas market, having just overtaken Japan.  

"The USA takes large quantities of 'manufacturing' beef (read hamburgers), whereas Japan and South Korea, the next biggest, import a lot of prime cuts as well as steak for stir fry and hot pots.

"China is now emerging as a rapidly growing market for our beef.

"The question of antibiotics is a bit complicated.  

"Nature’s Reserve is not a single source supplier. They buy their meat from a large number of producers.  It is all grass fed and finished but they cannot always get enough supply to meet their demands by insisting on antibiotic-free meat.  

"Their suppliers generally will not be using antibiotics as growth promotants, but will treat individual animals when necessary.  

"You would have to go organic to be sure of being completely antibiotic free. Clayton’s, being organic, can make this claim.  

"As for kosher and halal, their meats would be like all others, i.e., if they are lot fed they will almost certainly have had antibiotics, grass fed may or may not, organic will not.

"I hope this sheds some light on the subject for you and your readers."

Time to boycott Mitsua tuna cutting

The giant blue-fin tuna is one of the most magnificent creatures in the sea, but it has been over-exploited for sushi and shashimi.

A few years ago, Mitsuwa Marketplace, the big Japanese supermarket in Edgewater was selling the prized belly meat for $60 a pound.

This fast-swimming fish is even being farmed to meet the demand from Japan and other countries.

Every year, Mitsuwa stages a two-day tuna cutting demonstration, where a small army of workers reduce previously frozen blue-fin tunas weighing hundreds of pounds into thousands of packages of raw fish.

The heads of the fish are usually put on display.

I have been boycotting the demonstration since 2010, and urge you to do the same this weekend.

Blue-fin tuna may be delicious, but the red flesh also contains an unusually large amount of harmful mercury.

Consumption by children and women of child-bearing age isn't recommended. 

Fish eater v. meat eaters

Fresh organic beef from Australia at ShopRite in Rochelle Park.

Organic beef is on sale through Saturday for $5.99 a pound to $17.99 a pound.

Even though I'm the one who brings home the bacon -- and filet mignon, ground beef and lamb chops -- I eat only seafood. 

I can't think of a better or healthier meal than whole fish, jumbo shrimp or pasta with sardines, and all the other permutations of a seafood-based diet.

Fresh wild Pacific cod coated with bread crumbs and chili spices. Side dishes are boiled and mashed sweet potatoes with extra-virgin olive oil, and sauteed Brussels sprouts.

Dried and salted cod sauteed with cabbage, and served with fried breadfruit.

But when it comes to preparing meals at home, we co-exist nicely.

This week, I picked up fresh organic ground beef and London broil for the three meat eaters in the family ($5.99 a pound and $6.99 a pound).

Clayton's Organic Beef from Australia was introduced this week at ShopRite supermarkets.

My wife made three hamburgers from a 1-pound package of 85% lean ground beef, and she said everyone loved them.

I had leftover Pacific cod with bread crumbs and chili spices.

Fresh or dried and salted cod are two of my favorites. 

When boiled to eliminate some of the sodium and then cooked, the fish breaks apart in big, meaty flakes.

Atlantic cod is the fish that fed America for centuries before it was almost wiped out.

The fresh wild cod sold at Costco Wholesale is labeled "Pacific True Cod," and the salted cod or salt fish we've been buying lately is from Canada. 

At Corrado's, I found salted-cod packages underneath the pollock, left.

Prices for baccala are listed, but not for sea salt, a common problem at Corrado's.

We tried Alaskan salted pollock for about a year before my wife said she wanted to return to using salted cod, which is more expensive.

Corrado's in Clifton sells a 1-pound package of Canadian salted cod for $6.99, the lowest price I've found in North Jersey. Fairway Market in Paramus charges $8.99.

Today, at Corrado's, I was able to find only six packages of Atlantic Pearl salted cod, which we freeze (1578 Main Ave., Clifton; 973-340-0628).

Then, I drove a short distance and picked up 2 dozen cans of Moroccan sardines for 99 cents each at Fattal's Bakery in Paterson (975-77 Main St.; 973-742-7125).

Ackee and salt fish with organic brown rice was made in an electric cooker.

On Wednesday night, my wife used an electric cooker to prepare an unsual version of the Jamaican national dish -- ackee and salt fish -- with organic brown rice. 

Salted cod also can be boiled, flaked and used in pasta sauce, much as we do with drained cans of sardines.

ShopRite supermarkets raise the bar on natural beef from Australia

This week's sales flier from ShopRite.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

For years, ShopRite supermarkets have been offering free-range, grass-fed beef from Australia under the Nature's Reserve label -- at a lower price than U.S. beef raised on antibiotics and growth hormones.

Now, ShopRite has introduced organic beef from Australia that is a cut above Nature's Reserve.

This week's sales flier says Clayton's Organic Beef is "raised exclusively for ShopRite."

The organic product is available in a bottom round roast, London broil and 85% lean ground beef for $5.99 a pound to $6.99 a pound with a store card.

The beef, from Australia's oldest Certified Organic Farm, is "leaner than conventional beef, with less fat, cholesterol and calories," according to ShopRite.