Where to buy rare steaks?

[TomCat96]

There are few things I enjoy more than eating a cut of bloody rare steak.
However, I'm loathe to buy steaks from the supermarket and eat them rare at home. I honestly don't trust the quality.

Where do you obtain high quality steaks you can enjoy rare at home while minimizing the risk of getting sick?

[bds3]

1. Go to a better supermarket.

2. Stay where you go now and ask where they get their beef and how often they get shipments.

3. Go to your local butcher shop.

[JPH]

Costco. The quality is good. I buy the nice thick ones, sear them off in a cast iron skillet, and then finish them off in a hot oven using a meat thermometer.

[Kosmo]

Local butcher? I've got one now, but the shop only opened up about a year ago. Don't know how prevalent a stand alone butcher is.

Alternatively, you could ask a local restaurant you enjoy where they get their meat from.

[jbuzolich]

+1 again for Costco. Quick sear a minute or two on each side then let it rest a bit and enjoy

[Kosmo]

+1 again for Costco. Quick sear a minute or two on each side then let it rest a bit and enjoy

You guys must have better Costcos. I've given up getting steaks from there. No problems with other meats, but steaks have been extremely disappointing.

[The Wizard]

I don't get sick easy.
Cast iron tummy.
I buy steaks at my local Market Basket.
But I cook 'em to 125 internal, medium rare...

[Endgame1]

http://www.snakeriverfarms.com

Get the American Wagu. When I am going for the best, this is what we buy.

[jsapiandante]

I get mine from Costco. To be honest, all other steaks I get from the supermarket doesn't come close to what Costco offers. I have a Foodsaver vacuum seal so I just vacuum seal putany other leftover steaks for the next time I crave for it.

[badbreath]

here is were i go but its only 20 mins from home

http://www.bobsmeat.com/

they do ship

[Kenkat]

If you want a really top shelf steak, look for USDA Prime beef. Try googling "USDA Prime Beef <your city>" and see what comes up.

In Cincinnati, there are a number of local, old style butcher shops still around, perhaps a throwback to the old meat industry brought over by German immigrants.

These are typically the cuts served in high end steakhouses. Cook carefully, it ain't cheap but wow it's good.

[Kenkat]

here is were i go but its only 20 mins from home

http://www.bobsmeat.com/

they do ship

That's just the kind of place you want...here's my local place:

http://www.bridgetownfinermeats.com

[bottlecap]

There are few things I enjoy more than eating a cut of bloody rare steak.
However, I'm loathe to buy steaks from the supermarket and eat them rare at home. I honestly don't trust the quality.

Where do you obtain high quality steaks you can enjoy rare at home while minimizing the risk of getting sick?

Rare steaks won't make you sick, as long as they are NOT blade tenderized. Stay USDA approved and not blade tenderized and you will be fine.

Unlike hamburger, the bacteria is on the outside of the steak. As long as you cook the outside, you can leave the inside rare as you want.

Costco steaks, while generally quite good, are blade tenderized. The package says you need to cook to an internal temperature of 160 degrees, which ruins the steak.

I've never gotten sick from a medium rare cooked (125 degree internal) Costco steak, but I wouldn't eat them rare either.

I like my steak juicy and tender, so I cook to just barely medium rare. But, having small children that also love steak, I no longer buy from Costco to be safe.

JT

P.S. if you have a Kroger nearby, their steaks are every bit as good as Costco's and are not blade tenderized.

[heartwood]

+1 for Costco. We typically shop their Prime beef, mostly filets.

[NoGambleNoFuture]

Don't know if you're in Texas but our local HEB has dry aged steaks and they are phenomenal https://www.heb.com/static-page/article ... -aged-beef

[RoadHouseFan]

Outback

[barnaclebob]

+1 again for Costco. Quick sear a minute or two on each side then let it rest a bit and enjoy

You guys must have better Costcos. I've given up getting steaks from there. No problems with other meats, but steaks have been extremely disappointing.

Have you been getting prime steaks from costco?

I get full boneless ribeyes and cut them into steaks myself

OP the risk of getting sick from rare steaks is very low compared to ground meat because microbes have more trouble getting into the meat where they wont be killed while cooking. Buying whole roasts and cutting themselves is even safer if you have good food safety practices at home.

[Atilla]

We have decent meat markets around here, but the best butcher is a 20 minute drive each way and it would be a shame to stock up there and freeze at home. His stuff is absolute top quality for the price-he sells boneless ribeyes cut almost 2 inches thick with marbling to die for.

Neighborhood discount grocery store meat quality is fine, but their cuts of steak leave much to be desired for the price. So - I buy whole rib roasts from them and cut streaks to my liking and then freeze them in pairs.

Seriously - if you like steak, try buying a big boneless rib roast and cutting your own to desired size and thickness.

[JoinToday]

.........
Unlike hamburger, the bacteria is on the outside of the steak. As long as you cook the outside, you can leave the inside rare as you want.

Costco steaks, while generally quite good, are blade tenderized. The package says you need to cook to an internal temperature of 160 degrees, which ruins the steak.
.......

I agree with your first statement. I always cook hamburger well done (as barnaclebob notes below).

I was surprised to read that Costco blade tenderizes their beef.... so I had to look it up. It appear like at least some of their beef is tenderized, and they say it is labeled as such. I buy about 50% - 75% of my steak from Costco (prime rib-eyes lately - $$). I never noticed any "tenderized" label or description on the beef I buy there. I will have to look closely next time I am there.

....
OP the risk of getting sick from rare steaks is very low compared to ground meat because microbes have more trouble getting into the meat where they wont be killed while cooking. Buying whole roasts and cutting themselves is even safer if you have good food safety practices at home.

[bottlecap]

I was surprised to read that Costco blade tenderizes their beef.... so I had to look it up. It appear like at least some of their beef is tenderized, and they say it is labeled as such. I buy about 50% - 75% of my steak from Costco (prime rib-eyes lately - $$).

The warning is in small, unobtrusive lettering, but it's there. I think their filets are not tenderized, but the ribeye sand strips are.

JT

[barnaclebob]

I was surprised to read that Costco blade tenderizes their beef.... so I had to look it up. It appear like at least some of their beef is tenderized, and they say it is labeled as such. I buy about 50% - 75% of my steak from Costco (prime rib-eyes lately - $$).

The warning is in small, unobtrusive lettering, but it's there. I think their filets are not tenderized, but the ribeye sand strips are.

JT

This is good to know. Another reason to buy primal cuts and make them into steaks yourself.

[pennstater2005]

Believe it or not I bought a nice steak from our local butcher and did not enjoy. Can't remember the exact cut though. Bought the same thing from Wal Mart as a trial and really enjoyed it. Maybe my palate is in decline. Easier on my wallet though

[bottlecap]

I was surprised to read that Costco blade tenderizes their beef.... so I had to look it up. It appear like at least some of their beef is tenderized, and they say it is labeled as such. I buy about 50% - 75% of my steak from Costco (prime rib-eyes lately - $$).

The warning is in small, unobtrusive lettering, but it's there. I think their filets are not tenderized, but the ribeye sand strips are.

JT

This is good to know. Another reason to buy primal cuts and make them into steaks yourself.

Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure those are blade tenderized as well.

For those that want a thicker steak than the grocery store butcher puts on display, just ask them to cut you a thicker one. You can buy a boneless rib roast and cut it up if you want, but the butcher at your grocer will also cut you a slab to your liking and wrap it up for you.

JT

[flyingbison]

Where do you obtain high quality steaks you can enjoy rare at home while minimizing the risk of getting sick?

I'm not much for steak, but we buy most of our meat at the farmers market from local producers.

[bottlecap]

Believe it or not I bought a nice steak from our local butcher and did not enjoy. Can't remember the exact cut though. Bought the same thing from Wal Mart as a trial and really enjoyed it. Maybe my palate is in decline. Easier on my wallet though

Same thing happened to me. My wife picked up a ribeye at a local butcher shop we heard was good. Almost twice the price at the grocery store.

The cut didn't even look choice to me, but I cooked it up anyway. Meh. Back to the grocery store I was.

Unless your "local" butcher gets good cuts and is willing to share them with you, there is nothing special about the butcher. He gets USDA approved beef the same as your grocery store.

The difference is in the marbling. It varies widely even amongst your Prime, Choice, and Select categories. I think they call it low choice, choice and high choice, for example.

If your butcher gives you low choice and your grocery store happens to get some high choice, your butcher's cut will lose taste-wise, hands down.

If the butcher had handed me the piece of beef that my wife bought and told me it was choice, I'd of handed it right back to him and walked out.

You've got to be your own judge. Some weeks we pass the steaks at the butcher counter by because the store obviously got a low choice shipment.

JT

[rmelvey]

The steaks at Whole Foods are pretty good. Give it a shot

[jbuzolich]

+1 again for Costco. Quick sear a minute or two on each side then let it rest a bit and enjoy

You guys must have better Costcos. I've given up getting steaks from there. No problems with other meats, but steaks have been extremely disappointing.

Have you been getting prime steaks from costco?

I get full boneless ribeyes and cut them into steaks myself

OP the risk of getting sick from rare steaks is very low compared to ground meat because microbes have more trouble getting into the meat where they wont be killed while cooking. Buying whole roasts and cutting themselves is even safer if you have good food safety practices at home.

Prime yes. Love them. I drool looking at the full ribeye pack to cut my own but haven't done it yet.

[poker27]

Are you looking for raw steaks or pre cooked rare steaks?

I cook all my meat to rare/medium rare at home (burgers, roasts, steaks, etc) and I have never gotten sick. I also do not have a 'great' stomach. If you really have no good options around you I would order from a well known meat market that ships.

[quantAndHold]

Local farmer. We have a big freezer.

[barnaclebob]

I was surprised to read that Costco blade tenderizes their beef.... so I had to look it up. It appear like at least some of their beef is tenderized, and they say it is labeled as such. I buy about 50% - 75% of my steak from Costco (prime rib-eyes lately - $$).

The warning is in small, unobtrusive lettering, but it's there. I think their filets are not tenderized, but the ribeye sand strips are.

JT

This is good to know. Another reason to buy primal cuts and make them into steaks yourself.

Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure those are blade tenderized as well.

For those that want a thicker steak than the grocery store butcher puts on display, just ask them to cut you a thicker one. You can buy a boneless rib roast and cut it up if you want, but the butcher at your grocer will also cut you a slab to your liking and wrap it up for you.

JT

I remembered to check for this at my costco this weekend. The primal cuts were not labeled as blade tenderized and neither were the higher end steaks like ribeye, strip, or filet. The sirlion steaks were labeled as blade tenderized.

[dm200]

(Not 100% sure), but I believe the "safety" of beef is related to the surface area and how (and how long) the area may be exposed to contaminants.

Perhaps, buying (if you can) bigger uncut chunks of beef and cutting into steak thickness (as you desire) just before cooking might be safer from such contamination.

[pshonore]

I was surprised to read that Costco blade tenderizes their beef.... so I had to look it up. It appear like at least some of their beef is tenderized, and they say it is labeled as such. I buy about 50% - 75% of my steak from Costco (prime rib-eyes lately - $$).

The warning is in small, unobtrusive lettering, but it's there. I think their filets are not tenderized, but the ribeye sand strips are.

JT

This is good to know. Another reason to buy primal cuts and make them into steaks yourself.

Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure those are blade tenderized as well.

For those that want a thicker steak than the grocery store butcher puts on display, just ask them to cut you a thicker one. You can buy a boneless rib roast and cut it up if you want, but the butcher at your grocer will also cut you a slab to your liking and wrap it up for you.

JT

Bought a whole Prime Sirloin Cap at Costco last week. Still in the IBP cryovac (now owned by Tyson). Delicious. I don't believe it was blade tenderized. Whole Foods also sells Prime as well as dry Aged beef. Somewhat pricey though.

[691175002]

I used to eat mostly grocery/costco steaks, but I recently tried a well reviewed local butcher and the difference was incredible. Slightly more expensive, but not by as much as you might expect.

[samsoes]

How about Trump Steaks? Are they still business?

[Independent George]

Yet another reason sous vide machines are worth it - 2 hours at 129 degrees will kill any bacteria without ruining your meat.

[wolf359]

+1 Costco Ribeye is our favorite cut.

If you cook it sous vide, the quality becomes consistent and you no longer have to worry about undercooking or bacteria.

I can also take a cheaper cut of meat and have it come out as tender as a quality cut. We'll get the chuck roast from Costco as well.

We tried the aged beef at Wegman's at the butcher counter. It came out pretty good, but it was expensive. Our preference is Costco.

[c078342]

The steaks at Whole Foods are pretty good. Give it a shot

Unfortunately, my local WF has pretty much stopped selling grain-finished beef in favor of grass-fed, which to me is too bland, lacks flavor, and not sufficiently marbled.

[randomguy]

How about Trump Steaks? Are they still business?

I don't think I would buy steaks from anyone who thinks well done and ketchup is the way to eat steak

Everyone has a personal preference. Just go to every grocery store in a 10 mile radius and buy steaks until you find one you like. I expect random variation to account for most of the difference. Unless you are willing to buy from some farm (controls a bit of the equation but not all), you are going to be getting pretty random steaks.

[MDfive21]

whole foods has never disappointed me.

don't buy anything that's been frozen or individually vacuum packed. both processes kill the texture.

[barnaclebob]

don't buy anything that's been frozen or individually vacuum packed. both processes kill the texture.

This is absolutely false. I don't think anyone can reliably tell the difference between properly frozen and vacuum bagged meat and seafood when the quality of the products is similar. Frozen seafood especially has a higher chance of being better quality than what a typical grocery store has on display.

[auggiedoggies]

Look around and see if you can find a local farmer selling beef. I get a quarter cow of grass fed beef and the steaks are the best I've ever had

www.eatwild.com is a great resource for finding lists of local farms

[wolf359]

How about Trump Steaks? Are they still business?

As far as I can tell, Trump steaks are no longer sold outside of the Trump restaurants.

[bostondan]

We buy steaks from Costco, our local grocery store, Trader Joes, Whole Foods, whoever else is convenient at the moment.

When cooked using the cast iron and the oven, we've found that the Costco steaks actually fare the best. They're bigger than typical grocery store steaks and maybe that helps. I was surprised by this. We usually buy rib eye and tenderloin, though they have many other options. I've tried the more and less expensive cuts and they are all good.

However, the real solution is cooking the steak sous vide. We have an Anova cooker (can get it on Amazon) that we use to sous vide cook all our steaks these days. We do it frequently. I then sear them on the cast iron, or occasionally put them in the broiler. The quality of the end result compared to standard steak cooking is like night and day. I have always been pretty good at making steak, but my sous vide steaks are absurdly delicious.

Every single steak ends up delicious when made sous vide, even the cheaper ones. I think the Costco ones are still best, but all the rest are still great and completely acceptable when made this way. My preference is a medium rare steak cooked at around 131F. My wife prefers 137F.

Lastly, you can cook your steak rare much more easily with sous vide. You end up with a uniformly rare steak rather than a raw steak. Just be careful about how long you cook it for if doing rare. When cooking at temperatures over 130F it is much more forgiving (with respect to food safety) because that kills all the bacteria.

[mudd]

I love the meat dept at Sam's Club near me. The Ribeyes are pretty good!

[schwank]

Flannery in SF. Best steaks I've ever had. Watch for periodic sales and stock up.

Flannerybeef.com

[pshonore]

We buy steaks from Costco, our local grocery store, Trader Joes, Whole Foods, whoever else is convenient at the moment.

When cooked using the cast iron and the oven, we've found that the Costco steaks actually fare the best. They're bigger than typical grocery store steaks and maybe that helps. I was surprised by this. We usually buy rib eye and tenderloin, though they have many other options. I've tried the more and less expensive cuts and they are all good.

However, the real solution is cooking the steak sous vide. We have an Anova cooker (can get it on Amazon) that we use to sous vide cook all our steaks these days. We do it frequently. I then sear them on the cast iron, or occasionally put them in the broiler. The quality of the end result compared to standard steak cooking is like night and day. I have always been pretty good at making steak, but my sous vide steaks are absurdly delicious.

Every single steak ends up delicious when made sous vide, even the cheaper ones. I think the Costco ones are still best, but all the rest are still great and completely acceptable when made this way. My preference is a medium rare steak cooked at around 131F. My wife prefers 137F.

Lastly, you can cook your steak rare much more easily with sous vide. You end up with a uniformly rare steak rather than a raw steak. Just be careful about how long you cook it for if doing rare. When cooking at temperatures over 130F it is much more forgiving (with respect to food safety) because that kills all the bacteria.

So how long would you cook a 1 lb steak at 131 (or at 137). And if you are cooking three, it would be the same time, correct? How do you seal your bags?

[pshonore]

don't buy anything that's been frozen or individually vacuum packed. both processes kill the texture.

This is absolutely false. I don't think anyone can reliably tell the difference between properly frozen and vacuum bagged meat and seafood when the quality of the products is similar. Frozen seafood especially has a higher chance of being better quality than what a typical grocery store has on display.

Agreed, I had a frozen dry aged Prime strip steak last night. They come vacuum sealed and fresh for immediate use or you can freeze them at your choice. Last night's was no different than the one I ate the day the shipment arrived a few months back.

[bostondan]

Every single steak ends up delicious when made sous vide, even the cheaper ones. I think the Costco ones are still best, but all the rest are still great and completely acceptable when made this way. My preference is a medium rare steak cooked at around 131F. My wife prefers 137F.

Lastly, you can cook your steak rare much more easily with sous vide. You end up with a uniformly rare steak rather than a raw steak. Just be careful about how long you cook it for if doing rare. When cooking at temperatures over 130F it is much more forgiving (with respect to food safety) because that kills all the bacteria.

So how long would you cook a 1 lb steak at 131 (or at 137). And if you are cooking three, it would be the same time, correct? How do you seal your bags?

I would cook a rib eye or tenderloin for at least one hour (some say 45 minutes), but you can cook it up to 4 hours with no significant change. After that time it becomes more tender and falls apart a bit more when you eat it, which some people like and others don't. Generally people agree that for a steak the sweet spot is 1-4 hours.

There are good tables for temperature and time for sous vide cooking that you can find quickly with Google. It varies depending on the type of meat. For example you can do a medium rare short rib, which is an amazing thing you can't do with any other method of cooking, but it takes 48-72 hours of cooking to make it perfect. Basic steaks are much faster, with none of them requiring more than an hour or two.

I also cook straight from frozen and it comes out identical to fresh steaks. I go to Costco once per month and buy a bunch of steaks. I then season them with a little bit of salt/pepper/herbs and vacuum seal them using a FoodSaver. Then they go in the chest freezer until I am ready to cook. When I'm ready to eat them I just heat up the sous vide and throw them in. Since they're frozen, generally people say to add anywhere from 30 minutes to 1 hour extra to the cook time to ensure it gets adequately defrosted and then cooks for the proper amount of time.

Some people say salting them in advance changes the texture, but it hasn't done so in a way that I mind at all or even notice. You can also just vacuum seal them plain and season them right before searing them. I've tried that and it seems good too. I only do it beforehand because it seems fine to me and it makes it that much less work when it comes time to cook them.

For sealing I only use the FoodSaver vacuum sealer now. You can buy cheap rolls of bags on Amazon (make sure they're the kind that fit in the machine). You can also just use a Ziploc bag using the immersion method (Google it). I use the Foodsaver because I freeze them and vacuum sealing before freezing is a much better way to store steak than in a Ziploc bag (no freezer burn).

[LadyGeek]

This thread is now in the Personal Consumer Issues forum (steak).

[freebeer]

There are few things I enjoy more than eating a cut of bloody rare steak. ...

Political discourse is off-limits on this forum