You’ve heard it here before. The secret to cooking like top chefs do is using the best ingredients. Larry Olmsted, the NY Times bestselling author of Real Food, Fake Food,  wrote a whole article for Forbes about choosing the highest quality meat for the best BBQ results. We’re proud he mentioned many of our products in the piece. Read on for the highlights, with his recommendations for your outdoor cooking this season.

It’s All About the Ingredients

… While there are lots of reviews of hardware … plus tons of press devoted to the science of cooking and techniques, surprisingly little consideration is given to the most important part of the process, the ingredients. I see articles like “5 Tips to Cook a Better Steak” all the time but rarely anything about buying better steak. Yet a $10,000 grill and sous vide bath won’t fix a bad steak, and conversely, I could make a fantastic meal in my fireplace with pointed sticks if I chose the right meat.

Make Mine Drug-Free Beef

Finding popular BBQ cuts of top quality in the supermarket is a challenge, but our website offers plenty of beef cuts that Olmsted found to be really good.

I prefer meat that is drug-free, responsibly raised and appropriately fed … So, on top of truly natural meat, I want meat that tastes better. In this vein, I set to elevate the backyard cookout from top to bottom. When I say from top to bottom I’m not talking appetizers or sides or desserts, I’m talking about meat, the star of just about every backyard dinner.

Berkshire Pork Makes the Best BBQ

Our Berkshire pork is available in many cuts that are ideal for slow cooking, smoking,  and grilling.

Pork shoulder? Forget dry bland pork, they use much better tasting heritage-breed Berkshire hogs that are raised humanely with traditional methods on family farms. Best pulled pork I ever made!

Ditto for the ribs – these tasted so good I did just a dry rubbed version, served sauce on the side, and no one wanted any sauce. Guests kept asking how I made the ribs taste so good. I didn’t, D’Artagnan and their farmers did (and my Memphis Pro Elite smoker!).

A Happy Chicken is a Tasty Chicken

I put a lemon inside a whole one (Green Circle Chicken), cooked it on a rotisserie over lump charcoal, and my guests asked how I got it so juicy and delicious. Again, I’d like to take credit, but it came tasting that way.

Read the full article at Forbes and shop dartagnan.com for all your summer meals.