On this week's episode of Slate's Table to Farm (listen above), Laura and I talk to Chris Leonard of the New America Foundation about the life cycle of the typical American cow, how changes in the beef industry have changed the meat that ends up on your plate, and why cows aren't what you think they are.

Then we go to Staubitz Market, a butcher shop that's been in the same location for nearly a century, to get some tips on buying beef and to learn about the changes the butcher has seen in the industry and neighborhood over the years. And I ask him what he'd do if his kid became a vegetarian.

Subscribe to the Table to Farm podcast in iTunes or via RSS, or stream the episode above. You can also find my tri-tip recipe and read more about the episode on Slate.

The glorious picture of steak that you see above is not downloaded from the web, and no food stylists were involved in its creation. That is an actual steak that I actually cooked. If I sound proud of myself, I am. I cook lots of burgers, but truth be told, I don't cook many steaks, and I had never done one this way -- seared in a cast iron pan then put into the oven. This one came out amazingly well.

Here are some more pictures of the steak and of Staubitz Market in Brooklyn: