Irish Beef: Delicious, Disease-Free Import Steaks

There’s a new type of beef on the menu at Tir Na Nóg, an Irish pub in New York. The sirloins, fillets, and other prime cuts come from grass-fed cows that live outdoors. They get plenty of exercise, which makes the meat leaner. It has a stronger, almost gamey flavor. Sometimes it tastes as if it’s been grilled over charcoal, even when cooked in a regular oven. At Tir Na Nóg, a rib-eye runs about $25—a little cheaper than the same cut of grass-fed U.S. beef. That’s because the meat is from Ireland. It’s the first time Irish steak has been sold in the U.S. in almost two decades. It used to be illegal. Remember mad cow disease?

Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture lifted the ban it placed on European beef in the wake of the 1996 outbreak of mad cow, which led to the infection of more than 200 people globally, the destruction of more than 4.5 million cattle, and countless steaks fearfully cooked well-done.