The following general guidelines are applicable to all cuts of pasture-finished beef, lamb, goat, and chicken.

• Freezer life:  Up to 12 months if your freezer is set below 0 degrees.  We recommend purchasing a small thermometer to place in your freezer in order to monitor the temperature.

• Temperature:  Because of their leanness, always cook these meats at a lower temperature than normal.

• Cover:  While they're cooking, we cover our roasts but not our steaks.  Roasts need to cook in their own juices to prevent drying out.  If you feel your steaks are too dry, you may want to cover them as well.

• Marinade:  If time permits, marinate the meat in your preferred sauce for a few hours, even 24 hours if you really want to impress someone with your cooking skills.  There are numerous bottled and packaged marinades available at the supermarket or health food store, such as worcestershire- or vinegar-based mixtures.  Marinades will produce the most tender and succulent steaks and roasts.

• DO NOT OVERCOOK!!!  This is the most abused rule.  Even if you like a well-done steak, you won't like one that is overcooked because it will be tough and dry.  These meats are easy to overcook because they don't contain as much internal fat to cool down the meat.  Consequently, these meats will continue to cook even after you remove them from the grill or oven, so cook them somewhat more rare than you really want.  Then they'll be just right when you get them on your plate.  Trust us when we say, "Err to the rare."  You can always put it back on the grill, but you can't "un-cook" it.