I've been studying some books on butchery lately. I want to find out which cuts are naturally high in fat to be able to maintain ketosis easily.
I've been focusing on beef, since I believe that to be an extremely healthy meat. Grassfed and grass-finished beef has an excellent omega 6:3 fatty acid ratio, as well as being exceptionally high in antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals. It is a nutritionally complete food for homo sapiens!
Some books that I found very interesting were "Whole Beast Butchery", "The Gourmet Butcher's Guide to Meat", and the "The Meat Hook Meat Book".
In "The Butcher's Guide to Meat", he mentioned quite few items which I found especially of interest. For one, he explained that the cuts farthest away from the legs and head will be the most tender and fatty cuts. Another topic he mentioned was the increasing number of women studying butchery. Also, I like how he explained the various kill and stun methods, and certain procedures done in factory farming which are not typically done by small, grassfed producers such as ear implants of hormones. He also explained some of Temple Grandin's methods of reducing stress on animals during the time before slaughter.
In "Whole Beast Butchery", the author pointed out how important it is to leave fat on cuts. I appreciated how he showed photos of every step of the process. However I did notice in his photos that he cut almost all of the fat off of flank steak.
I have learned quite a lot from these books. For one, I have learned some important methods to keep the animal calm and avoid stress before the slaughtering process. Also, that there are many, many cuts which come with a nice external fat cap, but that is often cut off in the processing stage.
Also, I wanted to share a link to a Native American group that does field harvesting. They have an excellent video on their website where you can see the process, and how it reduces the stress on the animal even further than current slaughter methods:
http://sustainableharvestalliance.org/
Also, I think I found a source for some external grassfed beef fat, so soon I can go back off dairy. Thank goodness! My body will be grateful!
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Grassfed brisket with sea salt flakes
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