The meat we cannot see.

[btbyrd]

Given my general preference for pastured beef, I buy a lot of meat online and directly from local farmers. And I have a problem buying my meat online and buying directly from local farmers: you usually can't see what you're getting.

 

Often, this actually isn't a problem. For many cuts, I'm not going to be too picky; I can't say that I've ever been disappointed by a beef cheek, oxtail, or shank that showed up on my door (or into my totebag at the market). The same goes for chuck roasts or anything else that I'd braise, grind, or slow-roast. But when it comes to steaks and other tender cuts, I have a huge problem with the meat we cannot see.

 

To illustrate the problem, consider these two steaks I received from a large-ish online purveyor of (what they describe as) the best 100% grass-fed pastured beef you can get:

 

 

To the left is a great looking ribeye with pretty incredible marbling for a non-grain-fed steer. I'd buy this happily if I saw it in the butcher's case at the supermarket. To the right is one of the leanest, least attractive NY Strip steaks I've seen. It looks more like sirloin than strip (and I never buy sirloin). This, I'd pass up without a second thought. But I paid money for it. I won't be buying from there again.

 

When you buy online, you can't see what you're getting. This isn't a problem if you're buying graded beef from a reputable purveyor. If I buy A5 Wagyu from Debgragga or D'artagnan, I pretty much know what to expect. The same goes for USDA Prime steaks.  But buying ungraded beef online? It's a total crapshoot. And, sadly, 100% grass-fed beef is seldom graded (given its typically poor marbling scores) and isn't readily available online.

"So buy local!", you say. "You can see what you get!"

 

But can you?

 

Regardless of whether I buy directly from a farmer at their own farm, or if I buy from a farmer at the market... everything that I get is invariably wrapped in mystery by the opaque plague known as butcher's paper. This is true of literally every farmer I've gotten meat from directly. Ifthey instead packaged their products in transparent vac-bags like those pictured above, there'd be no doubt about the meat you're getting. But they don't sell it like that. They sell you a white brick for $30+, and you have no idea what's inside. And I have to bring the brick home and pray while I unwrap it. I'm not normally a praying man, but that butcher paper got me begging the meat gods for quality product.

 

So what's a person to do? One thing I'm doing is asking farmers for transparency with respect to their product. Literal transparency. I will tell my farmers, in a friendly way while buying braising cuts, that if I cannot see their steaks, I will not be buying them. I don't think that's unreasonable, especially since farmer's market prices in my area are close to ridiculous. I urge you, my fellow eGulleters, to urge your farmers for that same transparency (if it's not there already).

 

The more practical thing that I'll be doing from now on is simply buying Step 4 (or higher) steaks from Whole Foods. That way, I can see what I'm getting and it has the added bonus of never having been frozen. It's also locally sourced, so I'm supporting nearby farmers indirectly. And it tends to be cheaper than getting it frozen at the farm (or farmer's market). The only problem I have with this is logistical; I live in a small market, and Whole Foods only gets one Step 4 steer in per week. If I don't get there early on Saturday morning, I can miss out on everything good.

 

I'm okay with that though. Missing out on the good stuff is better than paying good money for the bad stuff.

[boilsover]

Hi, btbyrd:

 

  Having worked both ends of the "custom kill" operation, and having raised my own beef for others, I understand your frustration as a consumer.  But you have covered an awful lot of ground in your OP.  Hopefully my graze will help.  Excuse all puns...

 

  First off,

58 minutes ago, btbyrd said:

the best 100% grass-fed pastured beef you can get:

 

No one should believe this.  It's unprovable hype and tripe. It is possible to find Prime beef that never saw a grain, but it's rare.  It's more common in grain-fed and grain-finished animals, yet only then around 2-10% (depending on where the beef lived).  A small operator has to sell what she has--she probably doesn't see enough Prime to regularly put "tender cuts" on her own plate.  Do you know that a single cut--between the 12th & 13th ribs--determines the grade of the whole animal?  People who buy a quarter-share or half a beef are dismayed both by how little meat there is (about 250 pounds for a half) and how little of that can be cut and wrapped into better steaks and roasts.

 

Second, your second steak looks like it was thawed and refrozen, and the seal looks defective.  Either that, or it was cryovac'd without dry aging.  And the "good" photo looks suspiciously bright red with snow-white fat--suspicious enough to wonder about Devil Corn.  The point here being that there is a huge element of trust involved, even when you can see the meat.

 

Third, your OP is silent on what breeds of animal you select.  Do you ask before you buy?  If not, can you complain if you got a Jersey instead of a Kumamoto?  IMO, breed makes more quality difference in the final product than does grass-vs-grain.

 

1 hour ago, btbyrd said:

So what's a person to do? One thing I'm doing is asking farmers for transparency with respect to their product. Literal transparency. I will tell my farmers, in a friendly way while buying braising cuts, that if I cannot see their steaks, I will not be buying them.

 

Good luck with that one.  Good commercial vacuum sealers can cost several thousand dollars, money that could have been used to feed several animals another year hoping one could grade Prime.  And bending to your wishes also brings downsides, like UV ageing, customers pawing through bins, breaking seals and cherrypicking, leaving the spoiled, the old, the small and mispackaged behind.  Frankly, from a freezer storage perspective, I prefer the classic double wrap with paper.

 

What I suggest you do is find one or a small group of providers whom you trust, based on quality.  Don't buy again from providers who break that trust, or at least contact them with your disappointment (take photos).

 

Next, look at the calendar.  We are so accustomed to having anything we want, the instant we want it, we lose sight of things like grass not growing as much in the winter.  I always slaughtered in the late fall, after the forage and fresh green chop petered out, and after a short grain finish.  IMO, timing the kill like this is one of the best reasons to prebuy an animal and then freeze it.

 

In Seattle, we have turned the corner a bit on bespoke (read: old-fashioned) butchers.  There are more now than at any time I can remember.  Their prices can be high, but usually not a lot higher than at the farmers' markets.  I'd go this route ahead of Whole Paycheck.

 

A final hint, if this is even possible for you:  If you have a nearby 4H program, consider buying a prize animal.  You may have to do this at auction, and cattlemen can bid these animals up like Tokyo fishmongers bid up prize bluefin.  This can be the ultimate assurance that the animal is a particular breed and age, was raised in a particular way, and you can see it on the hoof.

 

Cheers!       

 

[rotuts]

interesting

 

Trader Joe's has some grass fed NY strips.   they are affordable as for  especial occation

 

they are frozen and vac-packed

 

unfortunately each side had a large sticker on it :  one the price / eight    the other some sort of contents label

 

no way I can see the meat.

 

I have not mentioned this to the friends I have there

 

but id get one from time to time if I could see the meat.

 

they would smile and literally say to me  :  try one , not so good ? bring the wrapper back

 

and they would do this from over and over again.

 

but i don't like to waist food .

 

its a shame.

[Paul Fink]

I'm just skeptical but the one steak doesn't look to be grass fed. 

Of course I would be shocked if an online supplier wasn't completely honest.