If the powers that be can down-size but not down-price candy bars, I don't see why I would think that beef grades could be immune. Sad, the world is changing and not for the better.
Here in the Torrance, Ca store not only do we have lots of Prime Briskets on the shelf... we have a special section/display in the meat department that offers every cut of meat in the cow as USDA Prime grade meat. Having read this article I'm going to very closely inspect their Prime meat now.
I do always inspect Costco's USDA Choice grade meat section before going over the the Prime meat section to see if they have some really marbaly Prime beef mislabeled as Choice though. Sometimes you luck out if you know what to look for.
As a born again health nut (decided I didn't want to drop dead of a heart attack in my 40s after my first child was born), I've become very proficient at reading labels, understanding grades, and in general being a lot more conscious of where my food is coming from. I think everyone can really benefit from taking time to educate themselves on such matters.
Most of the beef I consume, as well as my family, is in the "grass fed, grass finished" department and I buy my meat quarter to whole animal at a time. I interact with the rancher. Not only is the beef quite good, the Berkshire pork is unquestionably the finest pork I've ever had. When I need to get a bunch of steaks for a social gathering, I almost always just grab Costco Choice and inspect it myself.
The good news is that, in my opinion anyway, being skilled in food prep and cooking makes a much bigger difference than the grading. Since I learned to properly cook a steak, I can say that even some choice piece from Costco is superior to anything I've had in the $50 - $80 range at a steak house. I know there are some top end places here in Las Vegas, but I wager their $100+ steaks may be better than what I can churn out for like... $15, but they're probably not 6-10x better.
I can't pass through my local super market (HEB) without at least glancing at the briskets. Sometimes we get great bargains on Choice and Prime meat. For the first time that I can remember noticing (hopefully not because my Alzheimer's kicked in), yesterday the case that usually contains Selects contained briskets from Canada with no grade on the label. US meat that is not labeled is supposed to be Select.
Does anyone know about Canadian beef grading and labeling? Do they follow our grading system and conventions for meat exported to us?
gcdmd, George, I can't tell You without a little research but in General Canadian Meat Standard and Grading is Similar to the US! Both Beef and Pork flow back and forth across the Line with the Market! If anything Canadian Grading is More Stringently!
From a Backyard Cremator in Fargo ND, Dan
Large Big Green Egg, Weber Performer Deluxe, Weber Smokey Joe Silver, Fireboard Drive, 3 DigiQs, lots of Thermapens, and too much other stuff to mention.
I've shopped this way for years. Sometimes you can get CAB that is more marbled than the prime in the butcher case.
And now I know why it is so common to buy a nice looking piece of steak, bring it home and handle it properly, and still have it taste watery! Too young, maybe Holstein, whatever, that is maddening!
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