USDA Choice they said...

[Packmanjim]

Those are beautiful and you did the right thing!

 

[bergenguy]

Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't the grade based off only one portion of the cow? So the carcass could be graded as choice for one part but the steaks in reality could be much higher? I always just look for the best marbling.

It's a bit more complicated than that.. but yes the marbling factor is determined by visual inspection of the ribeye crosscut at the 12 rib.

More importantly in this case is that Grading is determined by Marbling AND Maturity (determined by skeletal maturity... size and shape of bones etc..). So you could have an abundantly marbled ribeye but if the animal was older than 30-42 months... PRIME is not possible. Also. there are grades within Prime, Choice, etc... so you could have a very highly graded choice that is on the edge of Prime.

 

[THoey1963]

The above is true. But our HEB will also downgrade meat for faster sale. I have found many Primes marked down to Choice and was told they were not sold the day prior, so they marked them down to get them sold before having to toss them. Better to get some money than no money...

 

[dadsr4]

The above is true. But our HEB will also downgrade meat for faster sale. I have found many Primes marked down to Choice and was told they were not sold the day prior, so they marked them down to get them sold before having to toss them. Better to get some money than no money...

Isn't the term for beef like that "aged"?

 

[miked125]

It's a bit more complicated than that.. but yes the marbling factor is determined by visual inspection of the ribeye crosscut at the 12 rib.

More importantly in this case is that Grading is determined by Marbling AND Maturity (determined by skeletal maturity... size and shape of bones etc..). So you could have an abundantly marbled ribeye but if the animal was older than 30-42 months... PRIME is not possible. Also. there are grades within Prime, Choice, etc... so you could have a very highly graded choice that is on the edge of Prime.

Ah thanks! I knew it was something like that, couldn't find the right article though.:clap2:

 

[BillN]

All I can say is those would have been my CHOICE...

 

[Burnt at Both Endz]

Hell Yeah!

You can bet I'd have had the meat cutter look and see if they had a few more trays cut up in the locker. There had to be some more strip steaks than that cut up somewhere, unless they already sold them.

 

[gtsum]

I would of bought every one of them in the store if I ran across that. Nice!


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