How to Pick Supermarket Steaks

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If you know how to pick the best of the 'choice'-grade steaks available at your local supermarket, you can get close to the 'prime'-grade steaks sold by restaurants and gourmet vendors.

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Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Step1

Start at the loin steak area of the meat department, where you will find N.Y. strip, T-bone, porterhouse and tenderloin steaks. First, look for the steaks with the most fat marbling and streaking. Steaks with the most interstitial fat are generally more flavorful and tender.

Step2

Look for the steaks with the most even, deep red color and even thickness among your first choices. Eliminate steaks with a grayish color or light or dark color patches.

Step3

Keep your choices from Step 2 and proceed to the sirloin steak area. Look for bone-in sirloin with a very thin bone or 'pin bone'. These steaks are cut right next to the porterhouse, but cost much less. If you can't find any, ask the butcher to bring some out. Select the best steaks, using the criteria in Steps 1 and 2.

Step4

Continue to the rib steak area. Examine all the steaks, picking the ones with most fat marbling and streaking, an even deep red color and even thickness.

Step5

Check through all your choices and select your best steaks. On the best days, some of your steaks will be worthy of the 'prime' label.

Comments

kjv4thee said

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on 1/12/2008 You are right, the flavor is in the fat. Properly aged is another important question. Don't overlook the piece of meat that is a little darker in color. It would be the most tender piece. Years ago good resturants would pick out a nice 15-18 pound rib of beef and have it put aside for about three weeks, until there was mold all over it. Then they would buy it, cut off the mold and then cut up the rib into steaks. When you were served one of these steaks you would say that that was the best steak that you had ever had. For the most part the meat that we eat today is too fresh. There is a difference between properly aged and meat that has gone bad. The meat should be aged in a cold dry place.

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