Ongoing Whole Animal — Magruder Beef
Whole Animal at Oliveto
Even after the Whole Hog dinners, whole animal butchering is always going on at Oliveto, and Magruder Beef is always hanging in the locker.
Whole animal has long been central to Oliveto. We hang up a new steer in the locker about every three weeks. Chef Jonah has perfected a system of slowly utilizing cuts when they’re at their best, immediately serving up the cuts exposed to air like the flank and skirt steaks, and letting those cuts deeper in the animal, protected by fat caps, to age for sometimes 4-5 weeks until the flavor is at its peak. This week, we’re moving from flank steaks to tenderloin. The careful butchering and low-waste methodology is really a tribute to the quality of the animals that we get from Magruder Ranch in Potter Valley, CA.
The Magruder Family is one that we feel particularly close to.
See an old video we made about them below.
What we learn with every food that we prepare, is that the quality of the food is largely determined by the farmer, or in this case rancher. When you come in and see Magruder on the menu, its from a remarkable family. They raise an animal with superior genetics, well fed and finished. Normally grass fed animals are being fed silage for much of the year, but Magruder has irrigated pasture and finishes them on what he calls “ice cream”. This is the grass when its just turning brown at its peak nutrition and bioavailability. This type of grass management creates better tasting beef, and some marbling that you don’t expect from grass fed.