Fun Facts About Cattle and Beef Recipes
After thirteen chapters of practical cattle farming information, Pezza wraps things up with some fun stuff. Interesting cattle facts from history and a bunch of recipes you can make with your own beef and dairy products. This chapter is basically the dessert course of the book.
Fun Facts That Are Actually Interesting
The Masai Gift After 9/11
This one is genuinely touching. After the September 11 attacks, Masai tribespeople in Kenya donated 14 cows to the United States. For the Masai, cattle are the most valuable thing you can own. This wasn’t a symbolic gesture to them. It was giving away real wealth.
The cows were earmarked with a twin tower symbol. It’s one of those stories that reminds you how universally cattle are valued across cultures.
Mrs. O’Leary’s Cow
You probably know this one. The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 was supposedly started by Mrs. O’Leary’s cow kicking over a lantern in a barn. Whether that actually happened is debated. But the legend has stuck around for over 150 years. That’s one famous cow.
Big Bertha: The Record Holder
Big Bertha was an Irish cow who lived to be nearly 50 years old. That’s extraordinary for any cow, let alone one that also produced 39 calves during her lifetime. She was also used to raise over 75,000 dollars for charity. A genuinely remarkable animal by any measure.
J.R. the Longhorn
J.R. was a Texas Longhorn with horns measuring 9 feet from tip to tip. Just imagine that for a second. Nine feet. That’s wider than most cars. Longhorns are known for impressive horns, but J.R. took it to another level.
Recipes from the Farm
Pezza includes a solid collection of recipes in the book. These aren’t fancy restaurant dishes. They’re practical recipes for people who have their own beef and dairy products and want to use them well.
BBQ Brisket
The star of the recipe section. This is a proper smoked brisket that takes about 16 hours. Yes, sixteen hours. Low and slow is the whole point. You’re not rushing this.
If you’ve ever had real smoked brisket, you know why people are willing to tend a smoker overnight. If you haven’t, this recipe is a good reason to try. The book pairs it with a Carolina Vinegar Sauce that cuts through the richness of the meat.
Beef Fajitas
A straightforward fajita recipe. Nothing fancy. Slice your beef thin, season it well, cook it hot and fast. Good for using up steaks that maybe aren’t quite tender enough for grilling on their own.
Stir-Fry
Another good option for using thinner cuts. Quick cooking, lots of vegetables, simple flavors. A weeknight dinner that comes together fast.
Chipotle Sliders
Small burgers with chipotle seasoning. These are fun for gatherings. And when you’re grinding your own beef from cattle you raised, even a simple burger tastes different. Better.
Mincemeat
Old school recipe that most people under 40 have never made. Traditional mincemeat actually contains meat (the name isn’t lying). It’s a preservation method that goes way back. Worth trying at least once if you’re interested in traditional food preparation.
Basic Yogurt
Simple homemade yogurt. Heat milk, cool it to the right temperature, add culture, keep it warm for several hours. That’s basically it. The hardest part is getting the temperature right. Once you’ve done it a couple times, it becomes routine.
Farm Cheese
This is the easiest cheese you can make. You need milk, salt, and vinegar. That’s the ingredient list. Heat the milk, add vinegar to curdle it, strain out the whey, add salt. Done. You have cheese.
It’s not cheddar or gouda. It’s a simple fresh cheese similar to paneer or queso fresco. But it’s cheese you made yourself from milk you produced. And it takes maybe 30 minutes.
Home Cheese Making Overview
Beyond the simple farm cheese, Pezza gives an overview of more serious cheese making. The full process involves about ten stages, from pasteurizing the milk through aging the final product. It gets into cultures, rennet, pressing, and all the steps that turn milk into the kinds of cheese you’d recognize from a store.
This section is more of an introduction than a full tutorial. If cheese making interests you, you’ll want a dedicated cheese making book. But it’s enough to understand the process and decide if it’s something you want to pursue.
Worth the Read
This chapter is lighter than the rest of the book, but it’s a nice way to end. The fun facts give you some conversation starters. And the recipes are genuinely useful if you’re going to be producing your own beef and dairy. No point raising your own food if you don’t know what to do with it.
This post is part of a series retelling and reviewing Backyard Farming: Raising Cattle by Kim Pezza (ISBN: 978-1-57826-495-7).