Loving Wild Fork Foods!

[STEbbq]

I think this posts capture my view of WF very well. It is excellent if you want a regular meat order that you would normally get at the store but won’t compare to dry-aged meats available from Porter Road for example.

[johnec00]

I don't think Wild Fork is trying to compete with specialty suppliers like SRF, Porter Road, Creekstone, and others like my fav Double 8 Cattle. As a subsidiary of JBS USA (formerly Swift) that is in turn a subsidiary of Brazilian JBS SA, they have access to a huge worldwide supply of commodity products. Their short supply chain, only frozen product, and purely retail/mail order operation allows them to sell at prices significantly better than what you pay for similar product at grocery stores and the like.

None of this is intended to be negative, the products I've gotten from them so far have been very good.

Oh, and they have a selection that includes items not generally available . . . ground yak anybody? How about ostrich fillets?

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

I had similar shipping issues with creekstone, but I felt the product was a little better. Ultimately I HAVE to use one of these services for things like beef ribs or other cuts we just don't get here. Would be nice if they were all great all the time and I could just shop off price

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

glitchy I haven't been happy with their delivery or quality of product. I've only bought during sales, but I thought their beef sausage and british bacon was less than good. The other stuff I've got from them was ok but holes in packaging, lost in transit (not their fault but happened both times I used them), and the indifference of their customer service. Not bad enough that I would say I'm never using them again. But I'm never using them in the warm months, which leaves a 3 month window.

[glitchy]

What happened with Porter Road? I’ve had good luck with them and SRF. Been a little hit and miss with Creekstone, but they’ve always taken care of things and the meat has been great, so I’ll still use them too. Wild Fork is so much better on pricing if the product is anywhere near the same quality it will probably become my go to.

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

I have an order coming tomorrow, I hope I have better luck with them than I have with Porter Road

[glitchy]

I’ve seen enough lately to give it a try. I really liked their pricing and selection as they had a lot of things I haven’t been finding often at the store, so got some beef, pork, chicken and turkey and pretty much used up all the open space in the freezer again. Not sure what I’m going to try first, but really excited to have some wings soon. Everything arrived still frozen and looked good, so off to good start.

[johnec00]

I've never ordered from Wild Fork because I prefer to see meat items before I buy. Recently, they opened a retail store nearby, and I've tried several of their offerings. Very happy with quality and prices. Best I can recollect we've had NY strip steaks several times, a prime ribeye steak, prime tri-tip, bone in butt, pork loin (made into Canadian bacon), something they call a pork shoulder roast which is what I normally call pork collar, and chicken wings. Everything is priced equivalent or less than other local sources.

As Donw pointed out, you have to be careful about the addition of salt water to poultry products, We got the so-called "organic" wing sections (flats and drumettes only, no tips) and still $1.00 a pound less than grocery store wings.

The store is strictly a retail outlet, everything is frozen, and I'd guess that the store has everything on their web site. Its a pretty good sized store, here's a pic looking in from the front door.

[Jfrosty27]

bbqLuv Yes I use online vendors frequently for beef, pork, lamb, and veal cuts. I just don’t find what I like locally. Chicken and sausage items are plentiful here though.

[bbqLuv]

Meat looks so nice, so temp it twice.
Beef plate ribs I consider Brisket on a bone.
Jfrosty27, Do you use online vendors often?

[wrgilb]

@ Uncle Bob, Sorry, I didn't mean to steal your thunder. I'm going to keep trying them on selected items. Hopefully they get the QC figured out.

[Bob K]

A great twist on this is to add a half dozen dried chiles instead of (or in addition to) the jalapeño and spin it all up in a blender. No need to mince or chop anything. Stem and seed the dried chiles, tear into 1-2" pieces and microwave for 20 secs to toast a bit.

[Donw]

I have tried them a few times. The beef has been very good. Watch yourself and read carefully when ordering chicken. I ordered kosher thighs and found they were 20% injected and cut so I was also paying for the backbone and other undesirable areas of the chicken. After butchering out the waste I would have done better price wise just buying Perdue thighs at Food Lion.

[Uncle Bob]

You rascal, posting that up while I'm typing away on the next post. LOL

[Uncle Bob]

Okay, I'll step up and be "that guy". We've had several of this vendor posts in the past year or so, and I've been very favorable about their quality and delivery response. Their delivery response is still excellent. They, as many in the industry, have been having some inventory issues of late, but that's not a failure on their part, it's the world they work within. What is in their control though is the quality of the product they put into the box as it compares to what their listings promise. Yes, their pricing is fair compared to the rest of the market, could even be an outright bargain at times. Their selection is broad and interesting. Unfortunately they are dropping the ball on quality. Not on everything as some folks have not suffered any let down of expectations, but it's something that they are allowing to creep in. All of this preamble is an obvious prelude to a but that is cautionary, not a full on assault of their operation. Most of what I've gotten from them has been very good and in line with what their advertising promises. I'll post up a pic of a half dozen Berkshire chops I recently received. If you take the time to look carefully at them you'll see that half of them meet the promise of a 1" thick cut weighing in the vicinity of 1 lb. The other three however are very poorly cut, two of them were roughly 1" at the bone end and tapered down to a knifes edge thickness at the other. One of them only weighed half a pound, well below the promise approximately 1 lb. The one in the lower right I actually had to fold over on itself to attempt to "fix" the thickness for the sake of uniformity of cook. The trussing was also needed to the same objective. After I sent them pics to support my complaint they did credit me fully for those two. While that might seem a positive customer satisfaction solution, and I appreciate the intent, it's still a disturbing sign of poor quality control on their part. If it's just a "bad day" thing so be it. If it becomes the "new norm" as some are willing to accept, then they no longer will be a value supplier. Just a warning effort here.