Did you know we carry bones? These raw beef bones and marrow bones are sold in our freezer case. They can be roasted for their marrow or boiled to make bone broth or beef stock. (Recipes here.) They are on sale for $0.99/lb.
We buy beef from Mills Family Farm in Mooresville, NC. The Mills family has run this farm since 1935; originally it was three farms owned by brothers, and since the 1970s has been a cattle farm. Bradley Mills is a veterinarian; his wife, Nicole, has a masters degree in agriculture; Bradley’s brother and sister-in-law, Brian and Julie, also help run the farm, as well as friends and neighbors. Because of their backgrounds, the Mills family approaches cattle raising with a scientific perspective; they place an emphasis on animal welfare and comfort and food safety. The 200 acres of land are an Iredell County Farmland Preservation District.
The Angus cattle are raised on pasture, with year-round grass and supplemental feed in the winter, as well as a vitamin and mineral mix created on the farm. They receive no antibiotics or added hormones. They are processed and USDA inspected locally at Mays Meats in Taylorsville. The meat is dry-aged in a cooler for ten days to enhance the quality: moisture evaporates from the meat, which concentrates its flavor, and enzymes break down the tissue, increasing its tenderness. (Dry aging only works with higher grades of meat because the process requires large, evenly distributed fat content.)
We buy the entire animal instead of only the popular cuts of meat. We stock our case with everything from roasts to steaks to ground beef. But we end up with a lot of bones! If you’ve never tried bone broth or bone marrow, now’s your chance: beef bones are on sale. Look for them in our freezer case.