Chicken Fried Steak

Beef cutlets as chicken fried steaks

2-3 eggs whisked in a bowl

Dry seasoning mixture:
1/2 -3/4 cup of bread crumbs (I use plain bread crumbs)
2-3 Tbsp Parmesan cheese
1 Tbsp Onion powder
1 Tbsp Garlic Powder
2 Tbsp Tony Chachere’s Original Creole Seasoning 
1 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp  pepper 

2-3 Tbsp Olive Oil
2-3 Tbsp Unsalted Butter

After thawing cutlets, tenderize with a neat hammer until about 1/8 inch thick.

Dip each cutlet in the beaten eggs.

Mix all dry ingredients together. Then dip egg soaked cutlets in dry seasoning mix.

In a cast iron skillet (my preference) warm up oil on low-Med. Add butter and and see temp to medium.

Fry each cutlet for about 2-3 minutes a side.
Place in oven on top of paper towels to keep warm while cooking the other cutlets.

Great served with a white cream gravy!

Taco Soup

Taco Soup

For each pound of ground beef used, add:

• 1 10oz can original rotel
• 1 15.25oz can of whole kernel corn
• 1 15oz can of black beans
• 1 6oz can tomato paste
• 1 1.25oz pkg ranch dressing mix

Cook ground beef. Place beef and all ingredients, UN-drained in crock pot. Mix well and cook on LOW for 3-5 hours. The longer it cooks together the richer the taste. Serve over corn chips and top with cheese and sour cream.

Round Steak Recipe

Round Steak

1. Tenderize steak before cooking
   
   
   
2. Marinade:
• 3-4 cloves of garlic
• 2 Tbl spoons of Worcestershire Sauce
• 1/4 cup red wine
  
  
  
3. After tenderizing place all ingredients in a bag and marinade for at least 2 hours.
   
   
   
4. Sear steak in a cast iron pan, then grill on medium high for 6-8 minutes a side.

Roast Recipe

Roast Recipe

(I cook this in a cast iron pot)

Heel of Round Roast

“The Salt Lick” dry garlic rub seasoning

3 cloves of garlic

1 onion

1 Cup red wine

2 Cup onion soup or just water

•Sauté onion and garlic in about 3 tablespoons of olive oil or vegetable oil in cast iron pot on top of stove.

•Rub your roast with a little bit of oil and then rub on “The Salt Lick” dry garlic rub seasoning.

•Sear roast on all sides in the pot you have cooked the garlic and onions in.

•Add 1 cup red wine and 2cups water. You may also add mushrooms and carrots and potatoes if you would like.

•Now place in oven at 300 degrees for 3 hours. Roast should fall apart!

Who is Aitken Farm & Ranch??

We are a small family farm raising beef cattle as close to natural as possible. Our cows are handled daily in a calm manner to keep them tame and with the least amount of stress as possible.

A little background story: Aitken Farm & Ranch is home to a couple different families (The Aitken's and The Laughter's). We began buying a single steer to put in the freezer for everyone on the farm and sold some excess cuts to friends and neighbors in 2010. The owner of the neighboring raw goat milk dairy approached us about buying beef from us to sell in her store, so we decided to purchase a couple extra young calves to raise up as grassfed for the neighbor. This went well for a number of years, until the neighbor sold the farm due to family health issues. The new owner kept our deal going for a couple of years until he sold a portion of the farm and his partners had their own beef cattle and no longer needed our extra cows. We slowly used the beef we had and pondered what to do next. While our neighbors moved to selling only ground beef and bulk orders, we decided we would give selling beef to the public a try! We worked with our butcher and obtained state approved labeling for our cuts. We priced our ground beef the same as the neighbor's so as not to compete and then price checked other area grass fed producers and priced our cuts for sale. This was January 2017 and we have been steadily growing. We started adding heifers or young cows to our purchases to allow for rebreeding. Unfortunately, buying cattle from the auction doesn't always work out, some were a bit skittish, some were fence jumpers, and some were just plain mean! With customers and children around we couldn't take the risk, so we have slowly cycled those cattle out and now have a small herd of 3 Angus heifers, 1 Angus bull, and a Charolais/Jersey cross cow that was born here and bottle raised. We currently purchase our beef cows from a friend who raises them on grass only (just as we do our own) and takes them to the butcher for us when we are ready to restock the freezers or have a bulk order, but our end goal is for the majority of the beef  sell beef born and raised here on the farm. If all goes as planned, our heifers and bull should be having their first calves Spring 2019 and those first freezer camp calves should be ready to go around 2022. Our Charolais/Jersey cross calved June 23rd, 2018, and started us on our way to having beef that has been grass fed here at the ranch from birth to butcher!