Interesting Serious Eats article about beef grading

[cschaaf]

http://www.seriouseats.com/2017/05/beef-shopping-prime-high-choice-steak.html#comments-300735

[MacKenzie]

Thank you,cschaaf, that is a very interesting read. 

[billg71]

Great article, thanks for posting!

[Shuley]

That was so fascinating I had to share it with my hubby and he thanked me lol!

[tony b]

Good read. Kinda backed up my own experience over the last few years. 

Still some caution - I recently bought a couple of NY Strips from the local COOP when they were on sale ($16/lb). Locally raised, 100% grass-fed, no growth hormones/antibiotics. Nice looking piece of meat in the package. Cooked them sous vide @ 125F for 2 hours, then finished on the lower grate on the KK. Finished steaks looked perfect. Had a really nice beef flavor. Now for the big BUT, they were very chewy, not very tender at all, especially given that they were cooked sous vide, so they weren't overcooked. Won't be buying them again, even at that sale price.

Will stick to CostCo Prime for the same price. It might be lowest tier Prime, but it's better than these steaks were by a long shot. Even the local supermarket's "Angus Reserve" is better.

Or my local butcher, who's  beef is generally high Choice. Problem with his stuff is that it's pre-wrapped in white butcher paper and frozen, so you don't really get to see it until you get it home. Plus, unless I order specially, he has his steaks cut to 1" thickness. I prefer 1 1/2". 

So, as the old Latin saying goes, "Let the buyer beware!"