For about six months now, I’ve been doing most of the grocery shopping at the regular grocery store, then making a special trip to Whole Foods to get steaks. Yes, I paid a premium, but I could taste where that extra money was going.
The recent Whole Foods recall has me a bit spooked, though. I’ve personally never had any issues with the beef I’ve bought there, but for what I was paying I had always assumed they had a higher degree of quality control than what apparently existed.
So I’m looking for a new place to get steaks. Where do you all get yours?
I don’t know if anyplace near you carries it, but I buy Certified Angus Beef top sirloin. My local grocery store cuts them like a fillet – quite small and very thick. I don’t care for fillet mignon. Very tender but not enough flavor. Rib eye (my parents’ choice) has too much fat. The CAB top sirloin is very flavorful, tender, and lean – and the perfect portion size.
I’m fortunate to have a meat market within walking distance (and right next door to the liquor store to boot!) Check around for a butcher shop in your area, the ones I’ve dealt with are very knowledgeable and helpful.
I drive right past Omaha Steaks on my way to work, but I get my steaks at a little butcher shop a couple of blocks from there called “Just Good Meat.” I get some of my meat at another small place called “Stoysich House of Sausage”
LIving in Omaha, even the grocery stores here sell pretty good meat, but the small butcher shops are much better.
I also like Costco for steaks. I think the main problem with super markets is that they cut their meat to thin. This makes it hard to get them medium rare which is how I prefer mine. The main issue with Costco is that you need to buy so much meat so I also go to a local meat market depending on how much beef I want to eat that week.
Have been primarily buying all my Ribeyes, Porterhouse & NY Strips at Sam’s Club for the past 3-4 years. I find the quality vastly superior to what’s available at Krogers, Randalls or HEB. I’ll admit I’ve been lured in by their special sale prices, but the quality is never there.
We just had a couple of Sam’s Club ribeyes last night. Melt in your mouth goodness.
When I just want an any old day sort of think I go to the local higher end grocery store. However when I want a STEAK I go to my local butcher shop where they have the most sublime meat and their bacon burgers are fabo.
I had bought steaks at Costco many years ago, and swore never to do so again. The steak was so tough that it was literally crunchy, like a piece of rubber. Recently, I decided to give it another go, and found that the beef there nowadays was quite excellent. I’ve been buying ribeyes there for the last few months.
The tipoff came when I decided to follow Alton Brown’s advice and buy a whole beef tenderloin and trim and carve it myself into several filet mignons, a roast, and trimmings suitable for stir-fry or fajitas. I was leery of paying $50 for a whole tenderloin when I couldn’t be sure of the quality, but I’m glad I did. For that $50 and I got five dinners’ worth of steaks for two people, a 1.5 pound roast, and a pound of trimmings. Good deal, and good quality beef.
The local fresh market for the most part, but for military homecomings or fathers day or just because I’m a red meat glutton I buy the top notch stuff from Allen Brothers. I consider my usual steaks as practice for when I get to actually cook the best meat you can get your hands on.
Do they really? I’m with you on the lamb chops - I won’t buy them anywhere else. I’ve been eyeing the pork chops recently and wondering about them. If you vouch that they’re good quality, Chefguy, I think I’ll venture.
I live a little south of Charlotte, among a mix of suburban neighborhoods and farms. We have a little butcher 20 minutes away, in the middle of nowhere, that has the best meat. And cheap. We buy a whole filet mignon for about $70 and cut it ourselves. We get about 12 2"-thick filets. All of their meat is excellent quality.
One of those thick cut loin chops can feed two people. I like to slice one up very thin and marinate in teriyaki, then make stir-fry. But I’ve also braised them, used them for pork tacos, and stuffed/baked them. I just wish Costco carried ground lamb.
Well, you could always buy a boneless leg and grind it, no? I think the boneless lamb legs were what finally swayed me toward getting a Costco membership.