Supermarket steaks vs. Ye Olde Butcher Shoppe

[David Ross]

Speaking of "beef porn," I always thought someone should do a racy, meat-enthusiast glossy mag, filled with ... um ... juicy? photos entitled ... wait for it ... "Carniwhore."

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What is funny about this decadent term 'beef porn' is that three women in my office have all seen some of my recent steak photos-the good steaks-and they all said the same thing 'beef porn.' These are not food people, they don't know about eGullet and their cooking ability is limited to opening bags of 'Caesar' salad. They didn't know I had shared the steak photos with their officemates. But the first thing all three women said to me when I showed them the photos of the prime grade ribeye was "it's like beef porn."

In a weird sort of way, I kind of took their remarks as a compliment. All the more reason to cook more butcher shop steaks I guess.

[jsmeeker]

This may sound like a tautology, but if you don't have a lot of money to spend on food, you're not going to buy expensive food, even if you would prefer it for its quality.

I'm not sure it's that people WANT their food to be as cheap as possible.  For some, I think it's that they NEED it to be as cheap as possible.

Conversely, the producers also NEED it to be as cheap as possible in order to sell lots of it at a decent profit.

You might say the deck is stacked against quality, and you'd probably be right. Food isn't technology, thank God.

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I agree..

I would love to be able to get super high quality beef from a local merchant that is as close to home or work as the regular meg marts I shop at and spend the same money.

But that's not going to happen. can I justify the cost for day in and day out meals? no. I can't. I've already increased my food budget a great deal over the past several years as I've started to eat better at home and while out. Buying top premium beef, chicken, etc. for every meal would make matters worse.

Maybe I should just not buy beef or chicken unless I can afford the premium stuff and go out of my way to get it? I dunno. What would I eat between those times?

[MarketStEl]

I would love to be able to get super high quality beef from a local merchant that is as close to home or work as the regular meg marts I shop at and spend the same money.

But that's not going to happen.  can I justify the cost for  day in and day out meals? no. I can't. I've already increased my food budget a great deal over the past several years as I've started to eat better at home and while out.  Buying top premium beef, chicken, etc. for every meal would make matters worse.

Maybe  I should just not buy beef or chicken unless  I can afford the premium stuff and go out of my way to get it?  I dunno.  What would I eat between those times?

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Hamburger Helper?

<ducks to avoid frozen ground beef hurled at his head>

I just had a recapitulation of this thread on the sidewalk in front of the Whole Foods Market near me this past Sunday. My conversation partner is a lovely, spirited woman who posts to Phillyblog regularly and will no doubt enter this discussion once her 30-day waiting period is over.

She said much the same thing everyone here (including myself) has said about buying cuts of beef. Her choice is Harry Ochs in the Reading Terminal Market, which is without question one of the best retail butchers in the city; I tend to patronize two shops, Giunta's Prime Shop in the RTM -- mainly on the strength of a positively mind-blowing ham I bought there shortly after it opened; I figured that if they found such a good source for ham, they'd do just as well with their beef -- and Esposito's on 9th Street, which is a good-value-for-the-money butcher that supplies some of the city's better restaurants. (I think, but do not know, that what they offer the restaurants is of higher quality than what they sell at retail, but their retail meats are pretty good.)

But in trying to square a $70 weekly budget for three people and two cats, including household supplies in that figure, one finds one cannot always buy the good stuff, so supermarket beef on sale has been on our plates often enough. However, since I've seen good cuts of beef for not that much more than regular supermarket prices at the butchers I patronize, perhaps all I really need to do is shuffle my purchases around from week to week.

[jsmeeker]

Maybe it's a regional thing for the pricing? As I read through some more of the posts, I saw prices that really shocked me. Prime meats for $16 or so a pound? In the Dallas area, the premium grocery stores (Central Market and Whole Foods) are charging over $20 a pound for prime steaks.

There is one local butcher not too far from work that I should try out. Not sure if he carries prime or not. Maybe I need to start up a thread in the Texas forum about where Dallas area folks get there meat.

Still, for my "everyday" meals, going to some butcher shop that's not convenient between work and home is going to be an issue.

[David Ross]

I can certainly understand that it isn't always possible for people to pay the extra money to buy a prime ribeye steak from a traditional butcher.

But if you look at the the prices of the ribeye steaks I tested, you'll see that the difference between the low-grade, poorer quality supermarket steaks vs. the prime butcher shop steak is not as much as you might think.

The prime ribeye from the butcher cost me $6.00 more than the cheapest ribeye I tasted.

Trust me, I realize and respect the fact that for many people a $6 difference is a lot of extra money just for one steak. Add on to that the time and the cost of extra gas in the car to drive out of the way to the butcher shop may not add up to being an added expense that someone can justify.

Speaking only for myself, I find the extra money worth it in order to get a good tasting steak. I don't have a family budget that I have to consider, but on the other hand I don't have a high-level of income that would allow me to buy prime grade meat every week. But my butcher also sells very good quality choice grade meat that is virtually the same cost as the select grade meat the supermarket sells-and the butcher's meat is locally raised and he cuts the steaks fresh, which results in a far better cooking and tasting steak than what I would find at the supermarket.

So for me to be able to spend more money on steak, I have to find a balance in my food budget to justify buying higher quality products that are often more expensive than the basic supermarket fare. Instead of spending that $6 on a frozen pizza and a 6-pack of Squirt, I would rather have the prime ribeye.

When I went to Egger's meats to buy the prime ribeye I tested, I also bought a pound of their hand-cut, hand-cured and home-smoked 'Maple Bacon.' It was $5.49 for a pound of this deliciously smoky, thick-sliced bacon. The cheaper bacon at my supermarket is as cheap as $2.99 a pound, but the cheap bacon is basically thin slices of pork fat with little meat, fake smoke flavor added and it shrivels up into ribbons of fat when it is fried. The more expensive bacon in my supermarket sells for up to $6.00 a pound, a bit more expensive than the butcher shop bacon.

In general I think butcher shop meat is more expensive, but it may surprise you to find out that in some cases, the butcher shop meat is not that much more expensive than supermarket meat, yet the butcher shop meat is better quality. I could buy a package of cheap Oscar Mayer Bologna in the supermarket, but if I really wanted a delicious, old-fashioned tasting bologna sandwich, I would probably drive up to the butcher and ask him to cut precisely two slices of his home-made bologna for my sandwich. While I would pay more per pound for the butcher shop bologna, I only need a couple of slices for one scrumptious sandwich.

I'd say everyone should do a test similar to the one I did, then if you do discover the butcher shop steak cooks better and tastes better than your supermarket steak, sit down with a pencil and paper to see if you can justify the cost. I'm not suggesting you buy prime ribeye and then grind it up when you are making tacos. But in the case of steak, steak, steak, I'd recommend buying it from a butcher or at the least at a market that has a reliable meat counter. Try to avoid the the pre-packaged steaks in the supermarket meat case if you can.

[Anna Friedman Herlihy]

Chappie--Carniwhore....rotfl!!! Maybe if I do drop out of academia to become a butcher, I can use my publishing connections to realize that fantasy. You can be a co--editor

David--yes, I do notice a taste difference between grass-finished and corn-finished; as most others describe it, I can also only describe it as somehow "beefier". Apparently there can be difference from one grass-finished supplier to another, so I guess that could be the next comparison taste test. Maybe I will do that one! I think the bigger difference is perhaps texture. The steaks and rare roasts seem to be firmer (not tougher, but firmer), but the ground and pot roasts/stews seem to be fluffier/more delicate.

Several posters--re: prices--I may sound like a broken record here, but if you buy whole or half or even quarter animals, even if you do not butcher them yourselves but have the packing house do it, and then freeze, you have much better quality meat for the same or less than the cost of the supermarket. Even if I ever had to move to a studio apartment, I'd find a way to have an extra upright freezer. Some numbers (keeping in mind that although there are only two in our household, we entertain weekly, and have folks drop in more often than that to share dinner, so we go through probably double the meat in a year as a normal two person household--so consider this might be what a family of four would spend). Based upon what I have bought from the farmers so far, for a calendar year I would anticipate: $600 half cow, $500 whole pig, $300 whole lamb, $200 for 20 chickens (and they are huge chickens too). This amounts to a grand total of around $31 a week. We also usually have a deer in the freezer (hubby hunts). Then I rotate in some fish, turkey, game birds, goat, rabbit, etc., for variety. Add in a one-time set-up cost for the freezer (Craig's List is a great source for cheap used ones) and the vacuum-sealer, and ongoing costs for the sealer bags and some extra electricity to run the freezer. But these small ongoing costs are easily balanced out by the fact that you don't need to drive to the store as often. Plus by buying whole/half/quarter animals, you end up doing things like making your own sausage and bacon, which saves money on not having to buy those things too.

Edited July 24, 2007 by Anna Friedman Herlihy (log)

[jsmeeker]

I'll swing by the local fancy grodery store (Central Market) that sells prime beef on the way home from work and note the prices of rib eyes and strip steaks. Then, I'll go to a mega mart near home and check their prices for their "Certified Angus" or whatever it is (pretty sure it's choice grade). I still suspect the difference in price will be very high. Then, I'll go to a local butcher shop that seems to have been around for a while and see what he has.

The buy in bulk and freeze won't work for me. Space is a major constraint, but a bigger one is the time it takes to thaw. I don't typically plan out dinners I make for myself at home too far in advance. A large number of them are things I make with something I bought on the way home from work. I'll just forget to take it out of the freezer far enough in advance to thaw. Single person. travels out of town a fair amount,. Cooks for one 99.99% of the time. etc. etc. Makes buying in large bulk not very feasible.

[MarkIsCooking]

I love this thread!

I think in terms of price, when it comes to buying the very best ingredients vs. cheaper ones, it all boils down to priorities for most people. I know tons of people who complain about money who drop $20 a week at Starbucks. Adding $20 to an average food buy makes a big difference in what you get. I'm telling everyone to switch from Starbucks to better meat, but most people have tons of examples like this where - if they really wanted to - they could make a change/upgrade. Many people would rather not and that's totally fine with me.

QUESTION FOR THE MEAT EXPERTS: I have been looking into some locally raised beef and it sounds like the beef is totally grassfed (i.e. not just grass finished and not corn finished). Who has experience on this front? Any insight to provide???

Thanks.

-Mark-

[mrsteak]

Maybe it's a regional thing for the pricing?  As I read through some more of the posts, I saw prices that really shocked me.  Prime meats for $16 or so a pound? In the Dallas area, the premium grocery stores (Central Market and Whole Foods) are charging over $20 a pound for prime steaks.

There is one local butcher not too far from work that I should try out. Not sure if he carries prime or not.  Maybe I need to start up a thread in the Texas forum about where Dallas area folks get there meat.

Still, for my "everyday" meals, going to some butcher shop that's not convenient between work and home is going to be an issue.

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I'm in the Tulsa area and, simply put, we pay less for prime cuts because we're better than Texans.

Seriously though, larger metro markets are always higher priced - the Tulsa area is only about 500,000 in population. There's only 3.5 million in the whole state. I've been to Dallas many times and have thought that many things seem higher priced there than in Oklahoma - housing, hotel rooms, etc. So the fact that meat is higher is not a surprise. I grew up in a North Shore suburb of Chicago and if I could plunk the house and land that I live in here in a suburb of Tulsa into the town I grew up in it would be worth 10 times more than what this is worth here. Just market dynamics.

I know, "Oklahoma? Who wants to live there?". Some members of my family have been giving me a hard time about my moving here for almost 30 years. And I don't mind that attitude - it keeps the crowds I grew up with away.

[mrsteak]

I love this thread!

I think in terms of price, when it comes to buying the very best ingredients vs. cheaper ones, it all boils down to priorities for most people.  I know tons of people who complain about money who drop $20 a week at Starbucks.  Adding $20 to an average food buy makes a big difference in what you get.  I'm telling everyone to switch from Starbucks to better meat, but most people have tons of examples like this where - if they really wanted to - they could make a change/upgrade.  Many people would rather not and that's totally fine with me.

QUESTION FOR THE MEAT EXPERTS:  I have been looking into some locally raised beef and it sounds like the beef is totally grassfed  (i.e. not just grass finished and not corn finished).  Who has experience on this front?  Any insight to provide???

Thanks.

-Mark-

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Find some place that sells it and try it. It has a different flavor and texture and that can vary according to the time of year that it was finished and the region it was raised in. I have tried it a few times from a couple of different sources and it just didn't ring my bell - but I know people who love it. Just a matter of individual tastes.

[MarketStEl]

I think in terms of price, when it comes to buying the very best ingredients vs. cheaper ones, it all boils down to priorities for most people.  I know tons of people who complain about money who drop $20 a week at Starbucks.  Adding $20 to an average food buy makes a big difference in what you get.  I'm telling everyone to switch from Starbucks to better meat, but most people have tons of examples like this where - if they really wanted to - they could make a change/upgrade.  Many people would rather not and that's totally fine with me.

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Actually, I'd love to be able to convince the other members of my household that a faucet filter or filter pitcher will produce great drinking water and spend the $6 every other week on something more interesting than bottled water, but they're not buying that. Since I carry coffee I brew in a travel mug to work, I've already beat you there, but partner goes out for Charbucks on the weekend. Those four cups might make for better beef.

It also seems to me, though, that most of you are saying it's worth it to patronize a good butcher regularly so that he can get to know your preferences. Maybe I need to strike up a few more conversations with Joe Giunta.

[David Ross]

I think that our discussion about the differences between supermarket steaks and butcher shop steaks has demonstrated to all of us that the changes that have taken place in the way America eats are slowly being reversed. At least I hope so.

Somewhere over the past 40 years or so we seem to have gotten away from patronizing the old fashioned butcher shop, at least we have in the Northwest. It's been a sign of the larger problem that has befallen our food industry-consumers want cheap, they want big quantities, and they want convenience-i.e., pre-cut steaks that are wrapped and stuck in the meat case and marketed as 'Blue Ribbon.' Along the way we (as in the mass consumer market), forgot to stop and smell the roses-is that really a good steak from a good cow cut by a good butcher?

But I think our discussion has shown that there is a resurgence in getting back to nature and the way Americans used to eat-whether it's Angus cattle raised on a natural diet or a sweet carrot grown in organic soil, we seem to be experiencing a renewed growth in farmer's markets and an emphasis on seasonal, fresh, locally grown products. You see it happening across the country and on restaurant menus.

Think of this comparison in our discussion about supermarket steaks vs. butcher shop steaks. Go to a good Northwest cuisine restaurant in Seattle like the Dahlia Lounge and you might see "Painted Hills Natural Beef from Oregon" on the menu. Go to a cheap, chain steakhouse with 56 locations throughout the West and you probably won't be told where the beef came from, the breed of cattle, how it was fed, maybe not even the grade of the steak. Given that choice, wouldn't you want to spend a bit more to have a better restaurant experience? Or at least save up so you could?

I'm not so naive as to think we'll see a return to Main Street USA where the butcher shop was next door to the produce market, next door to the bakery with the fishmonger on the corner. But I do think we are slowly bringing some of those traditions back. And after the recent scares about tainted beef and rotten spinach, I think consumers will continue to demand higher standards from the producers and the government, both in terms of food safety and quality.

Maybe we should all make a sign that says "support your local butcher shop" and stick it on the neighbors lawns. Instead of a local political campaign we'll have a local 'meat' campaign.

Have you ever actually seen cattle grazing in a field? If you have, you know that it is a picture of America's cattle tradition that goes back centuries. That is the picture I think of everytime I walk into a traditional butcher shop. It isn't what I think of as I push my shopping cart past the pre-packed steaks in the supermarket.

If you've never seen cattle grazing in a fresh meadow of alfalfa in Central Oregon, I challenge you to come out West someday and do just that. The alfalfa first comes up in the Spring. The scent of fresh-cut alfalfa hay in June is unmistakeable-it smells like sweet, herbal grasses. Pair the scent of alfalfa with a panoramic scene of pure-bred black Angus and stout Herefords grazing in a lush, green, misty meadow of alfalfa as the sun comes up out West and you can visualize what I mean.

Think of that image of cattle on the range when you stoop down to take that pre-cut supermarket steak and put it in your cart. I think you may catch yourself and put that packaged steak back in the cold case and say, "Hmm, maybe I just better go over to the butcher shop and get a really good steak."

One other example I'll give you that applies to our discussion of 'new' (supermarket steak) vs. 'old' (butcher shop) is a story I tell about my Mother and bacon.

I mentioned earlier today about the wonderful bacon I bought at the butcher shop where I bought the Prime Ribeye and how it was thick and smoky and fried up into juicy strips of pork. And I also mentioned that poor little sick streaky supermarket bacon that ended up as wisps of pork fat.

Well when I was a kid in the 60's my Mother always bought bacon from the butcher. We certainly were by no means rich, in fact we were probably on the lower edge of the middle-class scale. Even so, Mother found the pennies somewhere to buy meat from a butcher.

The 'old' way was to buy your bacon from a butcher who butchered the hog himself and smoked the bacon out back of the shop.

After Mother fried bacon she poured the grease in a 'bacon grease can.' Yes folks, we actually had a small tin can that held our luscious bacon drippings. There was a small mesh cap on the top of the can that caught the bacon bits topped off with a tin lid. You stuck your grease can on the counter and just kept adding bacon fat to it. You had a ready supply of bacon fat for other uses, both in the kitchen and the household.

I add that story about the days of bacon past because it also relates to our discussion about steaks-sometimes getting back to how we ate years ago is a good thing, whether it is properly raised cattle fed a good diet to produce a good steak or a fat little piggy that gives us good bacon-sometimes the vastness and speed of supermarket meats isn't good for us.

If we get back to the basics we are supporting locally owned butchers and farmers and ranchers and we are feeding ourselves and our families good beef.

[chappie]

Chappie--Carniwhore....rotfl!!! Maybe if I do drop out of academia to become a butcher, I can use my publishing connections to realize that fantasy. You can be a co--editor 

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Publishing connections ... now that's what I like to hear. Seriously, they have Easy Rider and basically any other interest out there combined with babes in bikinis, so why not well-cut meats?

I am already an editor and writer so it's almost a ready-made deal. Culinary venture capitalists, please send your investment checks immediately. Or food. Or rum.

[jsmeeker]

Ok... I went to Central Market on the way home. They had prime rib eye in the meat case. $23 or $24 a pound.

Ouch!

That's why I don't buy it. I suspect Whole Foods will be about the same. Will a local, independent butcher shop be a lot less? I tend to doubt it. But I'll find out in the next couple of days

anyway, I think my price sensitivity extends beyond a prime rib eye vs. a standard supermarket ribeye. I'll eat eat the standard supermarket steak. It can taste OK. Then I release I am spending over well $10 for a meal on a weekday, at home all by myself. That seems to excessive so many times. For what I spend, I could go to a decent local non chain fairly fast food joint (a seafood place, for example) and eat for less. And I don't have to cook. And I don't make a mess I will clean up.

This is really fodder for another thread, though.

For now, I'll see what I can get at the local place.

Right now, this is about STEAK. But what about other cuts of beef? What are you doing for "lesser" cuts? Maybe something that is going to be braised for a long time. Do you drop a lot of cash on those cuts? If so, doesn't that almost defeat the purpose of making dishes that use lesser cuts?

[Anna Friedman Herlihy]

QUESTION FOR THE MEAT EXPERTS:  I have been looking into some locally raised beef and it sounds like the beef is totally grassfed  (i.e. not just grass finished and not corn finished).  Who has experience on this front?  Any insight to provide???

-Mark-

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Mark,

Most reputable farmers will give you a sample or turn you on to customers who do "meat parties" (like Avon, but for samples of meat). This can be a bit tricky, however, because different states (or maybe it's national) have rules about how they have to get the meat to their customers the same day they pick it up at the slaughterhouse (our farmers say it's okay to gift cuts, here in Illinois).

All cows live most of their lives on pasture (i.e. eating grass and weeds, etc.) except in cold climates where they usually eat barley silage and the like when the grass is frozen. It's just the last couple months where the grass finished vs. corn finished comes into play. Even if a farmer primarily provides grass-finished beef, a lot of farmers can also grain/corn-finish a cow if you're buying the whole cow (or splitting it with someone with the same preferences).

To be honest, most of it comes down to taste, although there have been several studies about how fully grass-fed beef has better health benefits (less saturated fat, more omega 3s, etc.). I personally like the grass-finished taste better, and given all the heart disease that runs in my family, am happy to buy into the less-saturated-fat notion for now (who knows if this will hold up in further studies however--but I'm not going to stop eating beef!).

[David Ross]

Ok... I went to Central Market on the way home.  They had prime rib eye in the meat case.  $23 or $24 a pound.

Ouch!

That's why I don't buy it.  I suspect Whole Foods will be about the same.  Will a local, independent butcher shop be a lot less? I tend to doubt it. But I'll find out in the next couple of days

anyway, I think my price sensitivity extends beyond a prime rib eye vs. a standard supermarket ribeye.  I'll eat eat the standard supermarket steak.  It can taste OK. Then I release I am spending over well $10 for a meal on a weekday, at home all by myself.  That seems to excessive so many times.  For what I spend, I could go to a decent local non chain fairly fast food joint (a seafood place, for example) and eat for less.  And I don't have to cook. And I don't make a mess I will clean up. 

This is really fodder for another thread, though.

For now, I'll see what I can get at the local place.

Right now, this is about STEAK.  But what about other cuts of beef? What are you doing for "lesser" cuts?  Maybe something that is going to be braised for a long time.  Do you drop a lot of cash on those cuts?  If so, doesn't that almost defeat the purpose of making dishes that use lesser cuts?

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You bring up a good point regarding 'lesser cuts' of beef. I don't think I would buy prime grade beef if I was doing a pot roast. But if it is mid-January and we've got a foot of snow on the ground where I live and a group of friends want a hearty, winter beef dish, I might buy prime grade beef short ribs for a slow braise just to impress my friends.

In terms of steak I don't think I will always buy prime grade from my butcher, but I will always buy steak from his shop, it may be choice, may be prime. After my taste test I just can't buy supermarket, pre-packaged steak anymore.

[saucée]

Right now, this is about STEAK.  But what about other cuts of beef? What are you doing for "lesser" cuts?  Maybe something that is going to be braised for a long time.  Do you drop a lot of cash on those cuts?  If so, doesn't that almost defeat the purpose of making dishes that use lesser cuts?

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Though I'm technically not speaking about butcher shops per se, I do know from experience that prices for lesser cuts of local beef bought from a farm that raises the animals are not that much more than the supermarket. I can get a chuck roast of grassfed highland beef for $4.25. That's more than the supermarket but I like it more and feel better eating it because I know more about it, etc.

Its not as hard to get as it might seem and if you're in a city, its even easier because a lot of different farmers will usually make deliveries or find some other way to get the meat to you. It will have to be frozen, of course, but for an individual steak, you could always defrost (very carefully) in the microwave if you forget to take it out earlier.

It takes a little more planning, but less than you might think.

[mrbigjas]

just a side note, having just read back through most of this thread: you guys know that beef doesn't have to be graded, right? i mean it has to be inspected and passed, but grading it prime, choice, select, etc is voluntary, and costs money, so some places don't do it. a lot of smaller butchers don't do it, either, because they don't want to pay for it.

[MarkIsCooking]

David - Thanks for bringing back some childhood memories with your allusion to the can with the bacon fat. [We used coffee cans in our house, back in the days when a can of coffee was actually a pound of coffee. Am I dating myself here?]

Anna - Thanks for the info re: grass fed, finishing, etc. I think I'll have to taste some stuff and see what I think.

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With all the inspiration here, I think I've decided to try out some stuff from this local meat producer (well, sort of local) in Francestown, NH. I found a great directory - perhaps because it was listed somewhere in this thread. EatLive.org

I called the farm who sells whole and quarter animals, but they also sell a 30 pound pack. It's about half ground beef and about half a variety of steaks/cuts. It's all frozen and steaks are individually vacuum sealed. No store or shop or anything as city-fied as that. They don't even have a website. How cool is that?

You call them. Let them know what you want and you make plans to come to the farm at a mutually agreeable time. It'll probably be a few weeks before I can get there, but if I do it, I'll post some info on how the whole thing goes.

-Mark-

[mrsteak]

"Maybe we should all make a sign that says "support your local butcher shop" and stick it on the neighbors lawns. Instead of a local political campaign we'll have a local 'meat' campaign."

Hee-hee! That would be fun - our next door neighbors on one side of our house are rabid vegetarians! So is my brother, so I'll mail him one for his front lawn!

We get bacon from our butcher and it's better quality and less expensive than the higher end (Oscar Meyer) brands of packaged bacon. We usually only cook it for our dogs (we make them bacon and eggs on Sundays - I know, weird - but it's a tradition). But we still have a can in the fridge for the bacon grease. Sometimes will slather it on baking potatoes and use it to re-season cast iron skillets. If it gets too old we just toss it out with the trash because you sure can't put it down your drain.

Back to steak - tonight I have a beautiful sirloin waiting for me to give it a soothing bath in Merlot, rosemary and garlic for a while before giving it a heat treatment on some hot coals.

[MarketStEl]

just a side note, having just read back through most of this thread: you guys know that beef doesn't have to be graded, right?  i mean it has to be inspected and passed, but grading it prime, choice, select, etc is voluntary, and costs money, so some places don't do it.  a lot of smaller butchers don't do it, either, because they don't want to pay for it.

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That I didn't know, James.

I've no problem with that, as long as the retailer doesn't try to pass off ungraded beef as a certain grade level.

Which gets us into a terminological thicket. The word "Prime" itself is not a trademark, and AFAIK, there is nothing that prevents a merchant from using this word -- or, for that matter, "Choice" or "Select" or even "Good" -- to describe what he sells, just as long as the letters "USDA" don't appear in front of the word unless the beef sold bears that grade.

Unfortunately, what this also means is that Joe's Prime Quality Meats may sell beef that lacks the marbling required for a grade of USDA Prime. That may not be that big a deal, especially if the flavor and freshness of the beef live up to the "Quality" part of the shop's name, but it still gives one slight pause.

[David Ross]

While I knew that beef had to be inspected, I thought it was a given that meat had to also show the grade.

I am lucky in that regard because the butcher shop where I bought the Prime Ribeye I used in the taste test gives his customers 'full disclosure' with nothing to hide-thus, my 'USDA Prime' Ribeye. Too bad that the loophole exists that gives some vendors the ability to not honestly report the grade of meat to the customer.

[saucée]

While I knew that beef had to be inspected, I thought it was a given that meat had to also show the grade. 

I am lucky in that regard because the butcher shop where I bought the Prime Ribeye I used in the taste test gives his customers 'full disclosure' with nothing to hide-thus, my 'USDA Prime' Ribeye.  Too bad that the loophole exists that gives some vendors the ability to not honestly report the grade of meat to the customer.

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It might not be such a bad thing for grassfed pastured beef producers though. As mentioned above, their operations are sometimes a bit small and don't need grading added to their overhead. Also, I wonder if this kind of beef would fare as well under a grading system that is based on marbling, which really good grassfed beef might not have enough of to match up even to an insipid piece of supermarket beef.

I don't know whether the grading system is that great of an indicator of the quality of a piece of meat. I'm also not that knowledgeable about it--what goes into the grading besides marbling?

[MarketStEl]

I don't know whether the grading system is that great of an indicator of the quality of a piece of meat.  I'm also not that knowledgeable about it--what goes into the grading besides marbling?

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Nothing else, really, as far as the quality grade is concerned. The carcasses are also classified according to maturity.

Within the quality grades, there are degrees of marbling, as the table on this Web site explains. You will note that all the quality grades have a high, middle and low range, though these are usually not disclosed to retail consumers.

[jsmeeker]

another data point..

Didn't make it to the local butcher today. they close at 6:00 PM and I didn't leave work in time to get over there.

But I did stop by the fancy grocery store again. I swung by the meat counter and they had prime strip steaks today. Over $30 a pound.

That's a lot of dough, IMHO. Their non-prime (Choice, I assume) was about $17 a pound.