A character in a 1957 episode of Perry Mason complains, ‘You bought steak, at a dollar thirty-four a pound?’
I’m not sure what I pay for steak. I pick out the best-looking rib-eyes (and they all look good) from the corner market and pay whatever they cost. ISTM they’re usually about $10, and they’re usually around a pound for excellent meat. I’m guessing ‘a steak’ from the supermarket costs around $7 or $8 per pound.
Is that a reasonable markup after (almost) 60 years? It seems to me that, as a percentage of income, steaks are cheaper now than they were then. (I also seem to recall that chicken was more expensive than beef many decades ago.)
On the other hand, “trash” meats like liver and flank steak that a butcher would nearly give away in the 50s are fairly expensive now. I just read an article about how delis are abandoning navel meat for pastrami because the price of beef has rocketed upward. It was never cheap, but now it’s ridiculous, so most everybody makes pastrami from brisket.
Somewhat off topic: I have read a lot of Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers, so I found this currency converter which goes back a long way and converts guineas to dollars should you need it .
I just looked at the on-line flyer from a local supermarket (Central Indiana) and aged Ribeye is $12.78 per pound with their discount card. Their steaks are ok and will do if I can’t make it to my butcher.
My wife and daughter insist on Filet which is usually closer to $20/lb.
Heck, and even brisket has gone up quite a bit in price. I was paying just around $2.50/lb about 5 years ago. It’s around $5/lb from the same supplier now.
Reminds me of a story my dad used to tell about when he was in his residency and not making a ton of money. He was going past the meat counter and the butcher was just about ready to toss a whole beef tenderloin into the grinder. Dad asked if he could buy it before it was ground and the butcher thought for a second and then said “sure… but I’ll have to charge you the same as hamburger.” This would have been the late 50’s as well.