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Cozy Crocks in Cozy socks

written by

Jordan Ems

posted on

October 13, 2025

Cozy Crocks in Cozy Socks

There's something about October that makes me want to pull on my thickest socks, light a fire, and let something delicious simmer away in the crock pot all day long. The air gets crisp, the leaves start their show, and suddenly all I'm craving is the kind of meal that fills the house with warmth before it ever hits the table.



My brother, Christian, has been busy prepping the farm for winter—fixing fence, checking water sources, and making sure the herd has everything they need as the temperatures drop. Meanwhile, I've been thinking about comfort food. The kind that requires almost no effort but delivers maximum coziness.

That's why we're running a special on our Crock Pot Bundle this month—30% off while supplies last.

What's in the Bundle?

This box is basically Fall, in a freezer package:

  • One beautiful Brisket (perfect for when you want to impress yourself)
  • Two Chuck Roasts (the MVPs of pot roast season)
  • Two Arm Roasts (amazing for those "set it at 8am, eat at 6pm" kind of days)
  • Two pounds of Stew Meat (because soup season is officially here)
Our beautiful arm roast

Every cut from our cattle is premium. Pastured-raised and pasture-grazed here on our Missouri farm, finished with care, and processed locally. Christian takes pride in raising beef that tastes like beef should. These slow-cooking cuts really let that flavor shine.

The Simplest Chuck Roast You'll Ever Make

If you're new to slow cooking (or just want a foolproof recipe), here's my go-to chuck roast method:

Equipment:

Crock pot or Dutch oven  

What you need:

  • 1 Parsons Creek chuck roast (3-4 lbs)
  • 1 whole onion
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 1 bag carrots
  • 4 peeled quartered potatoes 
  • Salt and pepper with your soul 

What you do:

  1. Put the chuck roast in your crock pot
  2. Add Onion, garlic, carrots, potatoes, salt & pepper  
  3. Add 1-2 cups of water (more if you're planning to make gravy) 
  4. Crockpot - Cook on low for 8 hours (or high for 4-5 hours) 
  5. Dutch oven - Cover and cook at 250 for 8 hours (or 4-5 hours at 350) 


That's it. No searing, no fancy technique. Just come home to beef so tender it falls apart with a fork, swimming in the most flavorful aju you've ever made without really trying.

Serve it over mashed potatoes, egg noodles, or with a crusty piece of bread to soak up all that goodness.

The Best Part of Slow Cooking Season

What I love most about crock pot cooking isn't just the ease—it's the way it makes the whole house smell like home. You start it in the morning, go about your day, and by evening, you've got a meal that tastes like you spent hours on it. It's the kind of cooking that feels laborious, even though it's incredibly simple (in the best way).

With beef from our farm, you're getting meat that actually tastes like something. Pasture-raised, grain-finished, no shortcuts. Just the way our family has been doing it for five generations.

Grab Your Bundle

Our Crock Pot Bundle is 30% off all October, which means now's the time to stock your freezer for the cozy months ahead. Whether you're a crockpot veteran or just getting started, these cuts will make you look like a kitchen genius with minimal effort.

Head over to our store to order yours while we still have them in stock.

And hey—if you try that chuck roast recipe, let me know how it turns out. I'm always curious what everyone's making with our beef.

Here's to sweater weather, slow cookers, and meals that taste like a hug.

— The Parsons Creek Steak Family

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From Our Pasture to Your Pan: The Case for Making Tallow at Home

From Our Pasture to Your Pan: The Case for Making Tallow at Home

There's a quiet revolution happening in kitchens across the country, and it looks a lot like something your great-grandmother would recognize. People are setting aside the seed oils and reaching instead for something older, simpler, and more nourishing — beef tallow. Here at Parsons Creek Steak, we've been raising Black Angus cattle on the grasslands of northern Missouri for five generations. We know every pasture and the cattle that graze them. So when people started asking us about rendering tallow from our beef fat, we couldn't have been more thrilled. Because tallow isn't just a cooking fat — it's a way of honoring the whole animal, reducing waste, and connecting back to the kind of real-food traditions that built this country. Let me tell you why tallow deserves a permanent spot in your kitchen. What Is Tallow, Exactly? Tallow is simply rendered beef fat. "Rendering" is the process of slowly melting raw fat over low heat until the pure fat separates from any remaining tissue. What you're left with is a beautiful, creamy white cooking fat that solidifies at room temperature — shelf-stable, deeply flavorful, and incredibly versatile. That's it. One ingredient. No additives, no preservatives, no industrial processing. Just pure beef fat, rendered down to its essence. Why Tallow Is Having a Moment — and Why It Deserves One 1. This Is How People Cooked Before Processed Oils Took Over Before canola oil, before vegetable shortening, before seed oils became a supermarket staple, beef tallow was the fat American families cooked with every single day. McDonald's famously fried their original French fries in beef tallow — and food writers will tell you nothing has ever tasted quite the same since they switched. There's a reason this generation is rediscovering tallow. As people take a harder look at ultra-processed foods and unfamiliar ingredients, many are choosing to return to the foods their ancestors thrived on. 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When you render tallow from Parsons Creek Steak beef, you're not getting a commodity byproduct. You're getting the result of five generations of careful, intentional farming. 3. It's One of the Best Cooking Fats You Can Use From a pure cooking standpoint, tallow is exceptional. It has a smoke point of around 420°F — well above the temperatures needed for searing, frying, and roasting. Unlike many vegetable and seed oils, tallow remains stable at high heat and doesn't break down into harmful compounds. Want a perfect sear on a ribeye? Start with tallow. Making roasted potatoes with a crackling crust? Tallow. Frying eggs with rich, golden edges? Tallow. Wherever you'd normally reach for butter, olive oil, or vegetable oil, tallow is a worthy — and often superior — replacement. And the flavor. There's a depth and richness that tallow brings to food that's hard to put into words. It's beefy and savory without being overpowering. Once you've made potatoes roasted in tallow, you'll struggle to go back. 4. It's About Using the Whole Animal On a working family farm, waste is something we simply don't accept. When you raise an animal with care and intention, the way we do, you want every part of it to be used well. Rendering tallow is one of the most meaningful ways to do that. The fat that surrounds the kidneys — called leaf lard or suet — has historically been the most prized for rendering because it produces the purest, most neutral tallow. Rather than letting that go to waste, rendering it at home is a way of completing the circle. It's a practice that our grandparents and great-grandparents understood instinctively: respect the animal by using everything it provides. It's what we call nose-to-tail eating, and it's not just a trend — it's a philosophy of respect. 5. People Are Using It for a Lot More Than Cooking Here's something that might surprise you: tallow has become a darling of the natural skincare world. The fatty acid profile of beef tallow is remarkably similar to the oils naturally produced by human skin, which is why many people find it deeply moisturizing and gentle. A growing number of people are using it as a facial moisturizer, a lip balm base, a healing salve for dry or cracked skin, and even a hair treatment. If you're someone who reads ingredient labels on your skincare products and finds yourself overwhelmed by the list, tallow is about as simple as it gets: one ingredient, animal-derived, deeply traditional. How to Make Tallow at Home Using Parsons Creek Beef Fat Making tallow is a slow, simple process that rewards patience. 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Pour the rendered fat through a fine-mesh strainer or cheesecloth-lined colander into clean glass jars. This removes any solids that could cause the tallow to spoil more quickly. Step 4: Cool and store. Let the jars cool at room temperature. As tallow cools, it will turn from golden to a beautiful creamy white. Store at room temperature for a few weeks, in the refrigerator for several months, or in the freezer for up to a year. Pro tip: Don't discard the cracklings! Season them with a little salt and enjoy them as a snack — they're the original pork rind, except made from beef. A Fat Worth Knowing There's something genuinely meaningful about making tallow at home. It connects you to a long tradition of resourceful, whole-food cooking. It puts a nourishing, stable fat on your counter that you made with your own hands from an animal you know was raised well. That connection between the farm and your table is exactly why we do what we do. Christian and Madison returned to this land to continue a fifth-generation legacy — not just to raise cattle, but to feed families with food they can trust. Tallow is one more way we can do that. If you're ready to try rendering your own tallow, we hope to be your first stop to make that dream a reality. And as always, if you have questions about our farm, our practices, or our products, we love hearing from you. From our pasture to your kitchen — thank you for being part of the Parsons Creek family. Shop our pasture-raised Black Angus beef at parsonscreeksteak.com and follow us on Facebook and Instagram for farm updates, recipes, and specials.

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The Food Pyramid Just Got Flipped—And It All Starts in the Dirt On January 7th, Secretary Brooke Rollins and Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. unveiled the new Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025-2030. With them came something we haven't seen in over a decade: an actual food pyramid. But this one's different. It's inverted. At the very top—the foundation of healthy eating—sits protein, dairy, healthy fats, vegetables, and fruits. Real, whole, nutrient-dense food. "Eat real food," Secretary Kennedy said. "These guidelines return us to the basics." Whether you agree with the intricacies of the guidelines or not, I think we can all agree that eating real food can’t hurt.  This isn't just about what's on our plates. It's about where that food comes from. And if we're going to eat real food—truly nutrient-dense food—we need to think about what's underneath it all. We need to think about the soil. 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