Fresh vs. Frozen

[Jgraham]

I've read in a number of places that it's always better to buy fresh, as opposed to frozen meat, which at first read made sense to me. But some of those same sources (such as Franklin's book) also recommend buying meat from places like Snake River Farm and Creekstone Farm that I assume ship the meat to you frozen.

Can anyone explain that discrepancy to me? Should I stick to my local butchers, some of whom have high-quality stuff, or is it worth trying some of these online sources and get it shipped frozen?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts.

[_John_]

Personally I can't tell the difference, cooking to the tenderness we do I doubt many if any could. Fish is different, I can tell a pre-frozen fish anywhere.

[Jerod Broussard]

It's all good, especially with meat that is cooked above 190 degrees.

[Jgraham]

Thanks, guys. And in your experience is it worth it to order from places online (e.g., Snake River or Creekstone) or is it tough to tell any difference in quality between them and a good local butcher?

[Jerod Broussard]

If you have a local butcher with products you are happy with, no reason to order online.

[gardenfish]

As long as its frozen properly I cannot tell the difference either. Every year at thanksgiving and christmas the stores here sell whole 7 bone prime ribs for $4.50-5.00 a lb. So we buy 3 or four or 5 and I cut of some nice meaty ribs then cut a couple of nice 5# prime ribs and then cut the rest into ribeye steaks.

I vacuum seal and date all, and we have two large freezers to store them and we usually make it through the year for steaks and more. I just had ribeye's the other day dated 12-31. You could not tell the difference from when we first bought them.

I do tomatoes pureed and lots of blanched veges from the garden and with the vacuum pack they are just as fresh as the day we did them. I have vacuum sealed from every shoulder smoke I have done so far as we do 2-3 pieces at a time, and even the 4 chickens we did the other day they are all vacuum sealed and in the freezer. I would bet on a blind test of a fresh or vacuum frozen shoulder pulled pork sand you wouldn't know which was which.

But as Jerod said if you have a good local butcher.........

Rick

[Jgraham]

Thanks, Rick. Wow - $4.50-5.00/lb. is tough to beat.