Understand what you’re saying, but my experience is otherwise.
Best steak I ever had was at a local steakhouse off I-29 in Rock Port MO. Stopped for lunch, place looked like Bob’s bar in the Blues Brothers. I was about to order a burger when I noticed the menu credited the local butcher who hand cut their steaks so I ordered the tenderloin and got the best beef you could ever imagine.
I’ve had similar experiences at restaurants in Nebraska and Wyoming, really good quality meat at prices that are ridiculously low to anyone from the urban coasts. So to me that indicates there are local butchers who source their livestock locally and you can get good quality at a good price.
Might not be as easy closer into the urban areas, means more legwork and maybe not as tremendous scores. OTOH anybody raising beef in NJ isn’t likely to be working on a scale that fast food restaurant supply chain will spend time on. May work, may not, seems worth a try.
FYI I just within the past week found and bought meat from a small direct farm to consumer market and from a local butcher within an hour of downtown DC, and know of one other direct to market operation that’s on the other side of the city. So I know they do exist.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cowboyupbbq
Its pretty hard to find high end beef at a local farm. I've lived in the country the past 20 years, and before that I helped out on a large farming/cattle operation on the weekends. I've come to know a lot of farmers and ranchers, and have run into a couple issues:
1. The majority of the cattle end up in fast food restaurants.
2. In the rare case that you can find a boutique farm with CAB or higher, the local packing plant will likely cut the briskets into pieces, so it will fit in their small cryovac machine.
I do love the idea and recommend getting some CAB briskets from Sams or Costco and have fun with your son. Also, you could throw some chicken quarters/halves/whole on the menu to improve your product mix and profits.
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