Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Food, Cooking, and Game Preparation Beef ??? 's

The local grass fed thing is big down here and I did have some grass fed beef as a kid and it sucked. I did buy some grass fed beef about a year ago from a local producer. Ribeyes dry aged for 21 days at $19.99/lbs. Best beef I have had in years. Couldn't help but think of how good it would have been had it been grain finished. The local grass fed dude is part of a movement to get the USDA standards reduced so more grass fed beef can make USDA Choice and Prime. Or so he says. But I can say I'll take the dry aged grass fed over wet aged any day of the week. Any way we don't eat beef but about once every week or two any more. It is chicken, fish, seafood, or wild game most days of the week with pork thrown in sometimes. Steaks or lamb on Saturdays at those one/two week intervals and sometimes a chuck roast on Sundays.

I have been buying Choice whole loins from Sams for years. Last couple of years the quality dropped off. Last 4 I have bought have been Prime. They cost more but they have been excellent.

CWT, boy you hit the nail on the head. First off we had a local so called cattleman go out of business when his grandfather didn't have anymore money, so he went to dental school and opened up a dentistry, then a grass fed beef store beside it. Well we all laughed because we figured he was trying to drum up business for him when everybody broke their teeth on grass fed beef, but as you pointed out even a piece of garbage beef can be good if it hangs(ages) long enough. Problem is getting meat inspectors to allow them to hang that long. I know this sounds terrible but if I go to town and even though I have my own beef(which steaks don't last long, why they cost $) I will look at the meat counter and if I see some 30-50% off stuff I always take a look. No red, flipped in package, or just look like [bleep], I take them home and cook em up. Worst I ever saw was some ribeye's that were almost green looking(no [bleep]) and they smelled musty. Cooked them well past my usual rare to me safe and they might have been the best steaks I've ever ate. There are a few high end steak houses in this country and some price the meat to how many days of age. The more they age the more they shrink so the higher per pound but if you get those old nasty things you always pay the most.

I might add that the poorer cuts of meat are worse cooked more, so people that like rare steaks can eat the same meat as those that like well done and be happier than the guy with well done. Flat iron steaks are a perfect example, cook em in lots of butter to no more than medium rare there good, cook them to medium well, might as well feed the dog.

Prime is something that you dream of when you sell cattle and hang(grade for premium) them at the packer, they pay a premium out the azz. The problem for me is I've probably sold 20,000 head to the packers over the years and I don't guess I've had 100 grade prime.

Bought 6 of these a while back for $5.99/lbs. Were labeled as Choice.

Obviously the above is not Choice but our normal Choice steaks look like this. I can buy Prime from a store called Fresh Market and do when they go on sale. But I still miss dry aged beef.

There is getting to be some real high quality grass finished/fat beef out there. Grass "fed" is just marketing.

Proper grass finished is some excellent beef.



They bred the flavor out of pork..........

Buying CAB is a good way to know what your buying is US produced beef. CAB won't always be all Angus beef but should always be US raised beef. Sam's club and Walmart has really stepped up their beef quality. Kroger runs specials on choice beef loin and we've never got a bad one. Here's a trick when it comes to picking out a good strip loin. Buy the one with the softer fat side and it will always be more tender, reason being a cow always lays on the same side and that fat will always be harder and the beef tougher. All beef is good, some is just be than others.
I smoke a beef loin or two for special occasions and it's by far the best beef that anyone has ever tasted. I dry marinate for a day, sear each side, smoke for 4 - 6 hours till internal temperature reaches 110 - 115 and cut the heat, serve in 30 - 45 minutes.