organic bones

[datgnat]

Don't know if this response (full of induction based on opinion) is much help, but we went to drop off our housekeeper one evening and got a tour of her family's place outside of town. They keep cattle (I saw probably 30 head or so), and when a need comes up (a fiesta on the schedule, or the need for extra pesos), they sell one or more off to slaughter. The cattle eat grass in the rainy season, and dry grass supplemented with hay in the dry season. There're no grain subsidies (as far as I know) here as there are in the states, so your local rancher isn't going to spend his few pesos on grain mash for cattle. And, if you go down to the local carniceria and look at the cuts there, you won't see nearly as much marbling on the beef cuts as you'd see in the US. Most of the meat there is fresh (that is, neither dry nor wet aged, like you'd see north of the border), and with much leaner muscle than you're used to. I think this might also account in part for the way folks here like to shave every part of the beef into thin sheets. Meat is very dear for most, but tough meat is much easier to bear sliced thin and seared is a bit easier to chew than a thicker chunk (it's also cheaper to cook!). Likewise, as the cattle aren't crowded into a lot to be 'finished', there's no need for expensive antibiotics to deal with diseases that are common to over-crowded livestock, and I doubt anybody on the local level is spending money for hormones. Thus I believe if you go to the local butcher (and maybe just ask where he gets his res from), you might find that the beef here is just what you're looking for, minus the extra cost of a large commercial ranch's (possibly dubious) certification. I invite anyone here who's looked into this to further enlighten me--like I said, I'm kind of punching in the dark based on what I've seen so far...