Dietzler Farms beef

I am thinking of springing for a 1/2 a cow and was wondering if anyone can give me some feedback in regards to this farm and their product. My MIL is picking me up some steaks in about a week as see lives in WI but thought I would ask to see if anyone has purchased from this farm previously. I did a quick search and saw a few posts about having the various cuts at Vie in Western Springs but no home consumers.

Here is a link to their website

http://www.dietzlerbeef.com/aboutus.html

TIA
Craig

I'm not a home customer either, but restaurant experience tells me that it is the best stuff in our region. Incredibly flavorful beef.

Kenny,
Thanks that's what I was hoping for.

It's featured frequently at Vie and it's outstanding.

=R=

I got to know them well this past summer as we sell at the same farmers markets (where their product was very popular-lots of repeat customers).
I feel they have a good product from what Ive tasted. They sell to a few restaurants in the area including the now defunct Isabella's in Geneva

I'm pretty sure I'm just going to go ahead and order me up a half. If you would have to guess a level of grading, what would it be?

Craig B wrote:I'm pretty sure I'm just going to go ahead and order me up a half. If you would have to guess a level of grading, what would it be?

I'd grade it "good enough to have the Hill's over"

Mel,
Cetainly! The only problem is that if I order now, it won't be available until the end of April so I hope you can wait.

hey it's great to hear you are buy from michelle. i am the sous chef at vie and help with all of the butchering. the cows are generally rated high choice. i have spent time at the processing plant and know her personal butcher, the guy is an all-star. it is dry aged for 21 days so the flavor is so rich, and nutty, if you have any questions just call the restaurant, or ill try to follow up on this post.

They will be at the Wheaton Farmers Market starting on April 25 and I believe Michelle said she would also be at the Lombard and Glen Ellyn markets. In an email, she told me she was considering Western Springs and I told her I thought that with Vie's popularity, they'd undoubtedly do well there also. I plan on visiting the Wheaton market. BTW, she also said she'd have some good introductory prices.

jawa37 wrote:hey it's great to hear you are buy from michelle. i am the sous chef at vie and help with all of the butchering. the cows are generally rated high choice. i have spent time at the processing plant and know her personal butcher, the guy is an all-star. it is dry aged for 21 days so the flavor is so rich, and nutty, if you have any questions just call the restaurant, or ill try to follow up on this post.

Are you the guy from the chicken butchering video on the ST site?
http://www.suntimes.com/lifestyles/food/1411335,FOO-News-econ04.article

If so, thanks, I picked up a few tricks from that video. Loved the tip to use the line of fat on the underside of the leg to find the proper place to cut the leg from the thigh.

yeah that's me from the video. its good to hear you learned somethings. thev fatv trick is one of my favorites.

Have any of you been to the farm itself? I am trying to figure out where on County Road A it is.

Katie wrote:Have any of you been to the farm itself? I am trying to figure out where on County Road A it is.

mapquest will point you right to it.

another beef supplier near dietzler I recommend highly:

http://www.prairiehillfarms.info/

Just to update everyone on the great beef experiment.....

I went ahead and ordered a 1/4 cow from Dietzler Farms and took delivery this past Thursday. Michelle went above and beyond and delivered the meat to my business, all 184 pounds of it. I had a hard time imagining how much beef this really would be and how much space I would actually need. I was dreading having to eat beef for 2 weeks straight (well it wouldn't be so bad). Each cut and ground beef is individually packaged so it makes it really easy to pull, thaw, cook and eat. If you have an extra frid/freezer you will be able to fit it in the freezer and have a little room extra room to boot. So far we've had bone in ribeyes, flat iron and some of the ground beef and couldn't be happier.

I am looking forward to going up to the farm and checking it out as well as continuing to buy their beef.

Craig,

We are looking at doing 1/4 cow too...About how much of each cut did you receive? Was the 184 lbs, what you received, or was that the hanging weight of the cow?

KevinT

Kevin,
184 was the total take home weight. The weight varies season to season. I guess the cattle have a lower hanging weight in the spring than say end of summer. Order your steaks bone in rather than boneless, your yield will be better (get t-bones and porterhouses instead or tenderloin and NY strips) I never really got an inventory but this is from memory

about 60#'s of Ground beef. pre-packaged in 1.1# tubes very convienent
2 porterhouse
6 t-bones
6 or 7 bone in ribeyes
2 packs short ribs
4 or 5 1# stew meat
1 brisket
1 skirt
1 flank
1 top round roast
1 sirloin tip roast
1 eye of round
4 or 5 nice big soup bones
?? sirloin steaks don't remember how many but I know they were there
6 flat irons
1 package of ox tail (Michelle threw these in fro me as someone wasn't interested in them)

Hope this helps

P.S. Let me just say that this beef is well worth the $4 a pound. It is far better than Jewel, Dominicks and some butcher shops that I have been to.

Michelle and her dad, who is one of the coolest guys I've met this year.



Pa Dietzler owns a construction company (I think his crew is working on 294 right now), has a nice family and good kids, and in his spare time he runs beef ranches in Wisconsin and Colorado. He's the sort of guy who, were he not so simpatico, would force one to conclude, "I am indeed inadequate."