Look at the size of that thing. It did not even fit on my cutting board. In the package frozen it looked comically huge, but after opening I was stunned. We go through a lot of beef. We get really cheap steaks to make fake hot beef, stew, and stroganoff. I asked JR of Hollenbeck Farms for a lean cut of cheap beef and got three of these suckers.

Theresa likes simple lunches during the work week and thought beefy noodles would be quick and easy. I got to chopping that slab.

The island is coming along, but till then we have this tiny counter for all we do. It was really under lighted (lit?) and made cutting a bit scarier. We had a battery powered light, which really made no difference at all. Made our way to home depot and saw the florescent jobbies. I inquired about the halogen and well they be bright. So bright, oh man it is a ton of light.

We have tried au gratin taters a few times before, but this recipe worked well this time.

Tried some pork cutlets from Hollenbeck. Different than I thought, but good. Will bread these next time with some gravy.

Hollenbeck Farms

We are going to be at Village Point Mall in Omaha on Thursday 5:00-5:30 and at Old Cheney Center in Lincoln on Friday 5:00-5:30.

We are running the same specials as last time….get any three roasts and get $5.00 off or get any five roast and get $10.00 off. Hamburger special is $3.60/lb if you order 30 lbs, $3.50/lb for 50+ lbs.

As usual please let us know in advance what your ordering if possible and leave your cell number.

Gonna be a little close on the time for me and prob any of ya thinking of getting some stuff. I will take orders if anyone is interested. Already going to get some jerky and beef sticks for a friend.

price list here

Got a ton of meat from Hollenbeck sat. I made a pretty big order and did not realize how much I was ordering. The bill shocked me at first, but after filling the back seat with frozen meat we were giddy. Their meat is awesome, we really enjoy having quality meat and since we make meals all the time it is nice to stock up.

Cured pork chops, pork cutlets, new york strips, bacon, soup bones, roasts (beef and pork), ground beef, and not pictured huge stockpiles of jerky and beef snack sticks. The beef sticks came in one pound bags and are really good.

Had to plug in one of the fridges in the garage to hold it all.

Got some of my favorite bacon from Ideal. They know I love that applewood smoked bacon, so he threw in all the end pieces. Nust of been 1/2 pound worth.

as usual I will be stocking up

We hope everyone had a fun and safe holidays.

We are going to be at Village Point Mall in Omaha on Friday at 5:00 - 5:30 and Old Cheney Plaza in Lincoln Saturday 5:00 - 5:30.

Due to us running out of bacon, jerky and beef sticks last time some of you were not able to get all of your order. We now have bacon, jerky, and beef sticks available. We also started BBQ beef in a one pound package that we highly recommend trying. Quick and easy because its already cooked… just throw it in the microwave! Has a lightly seasoned sauce and a hickory smoke… really yummy! We are introducing it at $7.09/lb.

We are running the same special on roasts… get any three roasts and get $5.00 off or get any five roast and get $10.00 off.

Hamburger special is $3.60/lb if you order 30 lbs, $3.50/lb for 50+ lbs.

Please let us know in advance what you will be ordering if possible. Let us know if you have questions about any of your beef, pork or lamb needs.

Just a reminder there are quite a few cuts that we carry that are not updated on our website so if there is something you need that you don’t see listed please ask.

We are currently out of bacon wrapped fillets.

Thanks,

Hollenbeck Farms

Trying out the new pork line from Hollenbeck, it was really good.

It is no secret that Windsor loins from Faltiens meat in Howells NE is one of the reasons I married my wife. Delicious smoked pork loins are amazing. I usually bulk up big time every year. I have tried some other smoked chops from other sources and nothing compares, but Hollenbeck Farms smoked chops totally satisfy. Perfect smoky flavor and juicy. We used our last package of T’s grandma corn, it was a great meal.

We use a bunch of beef broth for our meals. For gravy I usually mix swansons broth and campbells condensed broth. While preparing this broth last night I looked at the ingredients in the condensed broth and was pretty bummed. They use caramel coloring in it, lame. We make out chicken stock often and well figured the beef broth would be pretty good as well.

Not a fan of onions, and I think for the first time ever one passed through the door into my abode. I took necessary precautions.

WOW. Hollenbeck Farms butcher or the butcher they are going through rules at making jerky. Not only is uber beef being used, but the jerky is amazing.

Just look at that picture. It looks tough, but you can tear it apart with ease like it was a slice of deli meat.

I am a severe jerky lover. I make my own with a very intense focus on red bell pepper and black pepper. I usually over dry it just to be sure. I have tried virtually every purchasable jerky available in Lincoln.

Jack links is good but too severely processed.
Lone star western is my fave, but it does seem severely processed as well.
Wild bills is way too processed
Super saver beef jerky used to be very variated between stores. 48th and O had the best. Large deposits of salt and pepper on dried pieces. Was tough though.
Most of the other super savers put out uber tough slightly moist pieces. It is hardly worth the effort to eat it. Seems every store is doing the same recipe now and I will not touch it.

I bought it from his trailer and it was frozen. I sat on it for a bit and then put it under the heater. Once warm enough for me to try it I grabbed and it just shredded into bits. Finally got a piece and was amazed.

Just moist enough, very little fat to work around, tender like dried beef. You can just tear it apart with little effort. Seems like the moisture level was beyond perfect. The seasoning is perfect. It has a good salt and pepper sting without going too far. You can smell the smoke, it is the perfect balanced jerky. Heard this is their first venture into the smoked / dried beef market and from what I can tell they are doing amazingly well.

I picked up a fist full and am so happy I did. I love jerky and the Hollenbeck jerky is right up there with my favorite jerky selections for darn sure. I encourage you to pick some up from them next time they swing into town. Heck I would even consider dealing their jerky.

So Hollenbeck farms sent out an email about how theiy were going to sell decent pork products besides just uber beef. I inquired about bacon of course and they let me know bacon was one of the pork products they would be selling.

So I got two pounds worth. I cooked up 3 pieces for our baked potatoes. Once I opened the package I did not notice too much of a smoky aroma. Circles from the water cured method were still visable. Water cured pork is kinda of a bummer. I was a bit bummed, but I noticed the pork belly was pretty much all there. This was not trimmed bacon, it was pretty darn close to cottage bacon / shoulder bacon. I cooked up 3 pieces and after it was cooked I was really impressed.

Even though it is water cured, it is severely decent bacon. This is not uber cured and severely smoked rashers, but a very satisfying cottage type bacon. I am hooked and will get more for sure.

Cottage / shoulder bacon is a bit hard to come by in the usual areas. You must go to the sources at farmers markets or special places. It is always worth it though.

Lincoln bacon quest is done. I have a few food posts I need to work on as well as the regular crap to mix in, results to come soon.

Link to the interactive pic

Hollenbeck Farms swung into Lincoln sat night and braved the cold to sling some amazing beef and now pork. I got a bunch of stuff. 4 tenderloins, a roast, some pork chops, bacon, soup bones for stock (gonna do a post on that), and some killer beef jerky. They were in their trailer with the freezers selling while the warm truck was a few feet away. During the time I was there they had done a good amount of business. It is really cool they come around every few weeks and do this.

I will do a separate post on their jerky, which rules BTW, and on their bacon, filets, and soup bones..

Hi. This is to let everyone know we are doing another meat delivery. We are going to be in Omaha (Village Point Farmers Market Parking Lot) Friday, December 7th from 4:30 - 5:30. We will be in Lincoln (Old Cheney Farmers Market Parking Lot) Saturday, December 8th from 5:00 - 6:00. We are going to have the trailer so we don’t need to know exactly what you need but please let us know if you are coming so we don’t miss you. Also leave a cell number we can contact you in case we miss each other.

We have some new items that include beef jerky, beef sticks, T-bone, stew meat, soup bones, and common cuts of pork. The pork has the same care as our cattle. It is an “all natural” pork.

We are encouraging everyone to order any gift packages via phone or e-mail ASAP. The last shipment date will be Tuesday, December 18th.

We are running a Holiday special this weekend on our sirloin tip, rump, chuck and arm roasts. Buy three roasts get $5.00 off, or buy six roasts get $15.00 off.

We Wish You All A Very Happy and Safe Holiday Season!

JR & Marcy Hollenbeck
www.hollenbeckfarms.com

Hollenbeck farms has amazing meat. They emailed me yesterday letting me know they are going to be selling some cuts of pork (yes smoked bacon), jerkey and beef sticks. If you head to their site you can get on their email list or call them to place orders. They swing into Lincoln every couple weeks during the non farmers market season.

Why is Hollenbeck beef so good? JR let me know.

A big misconception I feel people have, especially people at farmers markets, is that beef is beef. Especially farm raised beef vs. farm raised beef.

One reason why our beef taste different is that we don’t feed corn distillers. Corn distillers are by products from ethanol plants. Commercial feedlots used to be the only people feeding them and now farmers have them to. Cd’s have low starch and corn has high starch. Starch is what makes good marbling is beef. This is a good article you may want to read http://extension.missouri.edu/gentry/NWStockTalkSept106.pdf . What cd’s do is greatly increase performance. That is how “feedlots” make there money is to get cattle in and out quick.

Probably the biggest reason that sets our cattle apart is our genetics. We artificially inseminate (ai) our cows to the best carcass bulls in the world. A breeder can ai to about what ever trait we wants to ai for, whether is be carcass, horns, color, maternal, show, size, pretty much whatever. The cattle we set up for the table are bred to bulls like this http://abs-bs.absglobal.com/beef/Simmental.asp?Codtouro=29SM0391 . All those carcass EPD’s are highly inherited to the calves. The MARB is the marbling (tender), the REA is the rib size (steak size) and the BF is the back fat (leanness). It used to be that is order to get a steak tender you had to get it overly fat. Now you can use bulls that put both traits in calves and achieve the same goal.

There are other things we do to that cause added expense but I don’t want to bore you anymore. These two things are huge expenses to us though. The only way to make it work is to get more for your product. Our goal is to put the very best steak on your plate that we possible can.

Article

I am a fan of their quality meat. www.hollenbeckfarms.com

Instead of raising only breeding stock and club cattle, J.R. decided that he wanted to breed cattle for eating as well.

The Hollenbecks’ cattle are 100 percent all natural with no hormone, steroids or antibiotics.

The only thing keeping the beef from being certified organic is that they feed the cattle conventional corn rather than organic corn, which is four times as expensive.

Marcy said she believes that the product is still healthy and that the added label of “organic” isn’t worth the price increase for the customer.

The free-range cattle also roam on the 1,000 acres of pasture that the Hollenbecks have.

J.R. said this allows the cattle to be in their natural element instead of being kept in cramped, dirty holding pins like many of the commercial feedlots use.

headed out to the Sun farmers market to pick up some steaks from Hollenbeck farms. Picked up a KC strip for T and a ribeye for me. They ruled. Was $25 for both and they were huge. neither of us made it through 1/2 of our steaks. We usually just slpit a T bone or something. Lunch is gonna rule.

It is nice to support a farmer with good prices for their quality meat. These are happy cows who are not filled with drugs and other crap. Plus packaged and froze. The amount of blood is quite strange the first time you cut the package open. i bet it was still twitching while freezing.

T’s grandparents own a farm and we got some sweet corn from them, it was nummy. Also picked up a loaf of the cheddar bread from Le Quartier at the market Sun morning as well.