What You Need To Know About Buying Beef....Save Money...Better Meat!

I find that people today seem to know little about buying beef....or at least are misinformed by advertising and a misunderstanding of meat safety.  I want to share some information with you which will help you save money and get far better cuts of beef, no matter what cuts you are buying today.  None of this information is really special, but things we have always known in the past.  Sadly, the push today is for the meat industry to save expense by pushing lower quality meat through the market and our expense.

I come from a long line of cattle people....my great grandfather having owned the first butcher shop in Tucson, Arizona...back when it was still Arizona Territory.  My grandfather was also  a cattleman, specializing in show and breeding stock cattle.  I grew up on a ranch, back in the 1940's and 50's where we raised beef cattle, as well.  While we raised and sold commercial beef, we always butchered our own, as well and took the time to have the best.

I walk into the meat section in a grocery store today and look over the selection.  It's just not the quality of meat in those neatly packaged little plastic packages I remember.  Bright red, tough cuts of meat being pushed onto consumers and prices far above what it's really worth.  It's all "fresh" beef...and you don't see a word about "aged" beef, unless you want to go to a specialty shop and pay three or four times the price of the grocery store.  If you do, you won't see that bright red stuff in the package, either.  Same if you're dining out.  Go to an expensive, top quality steak house and order "aged beef."  You'll pay the price and you'll see the difference!

So, what's the difference, you may ask.  Well, this "fresh" meat you find advertised is straight from the slaughterhouse to the market.  It's artificially processed to have that nice bright red color you've been told to seek.  And it's so fresh, I always say, "they haven't even notified the next of kin yet."  It's not good meat!!!  It's tough and it lacks flavor.

"Aged beef," on the other hand, is tender, flavorful and a dark brown in color...not bright red.  Why don't we get aged beef?  It's expensive for the processing plants and grocery stores.  Their profit lies in slaughtering the animal and selling the meat as quickly as possible.  Properly aged beef has to be hung in a cool room for about 42 days before it's really at it's best and time is money.  A poor quality cut of beef, properly aged...can be better than the best fresh Kansas City Strip Steak you can buy...if you know the secret to aging.

When I was a kid, we would slaughter one of our cattle for our own use.  Lacking cold storage space at home, we would take the freshly slaughtered carcass to the butcher shop in town, which rented locker space for customers.  The carcass was hung in a cool room....sawdust on the floor...for 42 days...then be cut up and packaged for our use.  The carcass was not frozen but just kept cool.  The meat would darken in color and often you would even see a coating of "fuzz" build up on the meat which was removed before being cut into steaks, roasts and other cuts for our use.  Contrary to what you may have been led to believe, this is not harmful in the least!!

So, what does this all mean for you?  Well, armed with knowledge, you can take advantage of advertising and misinformation to save money and dine on quality beef.  I love going to the grocery store and looking at packages of fresh beef, all with little, "Use By" dates on the package.  Generally, packages within a day or two of the code date are marked down...sometimes by up to half....and state it must be "used or frozen within a day or two."  Often, you''ll note that the bright red color of the meat is fading to a darker tone.  That's the beef you're looking to buy!!  You're going to take it home, but you're not going to use it that day, nor are you going to freeze it!  You're going to prepare quality aged beef to serve your family and once you try it, that's all you're going to want to have!

All you need is some spare space in the refrigerator....and once you get the hang of this, you may even want to pick up an old used refrigerator for the garage, just for aging beef, if you eat a lot of it.  Oh, and salt!  You're going to need a lot of salt!!  Rock salt, pink Himalaya salt, whichever you prefer.  And I'll be sharing another tip for tender beef, so you'll want a lot of coarse Kosher salt, as well.  I promise you won't regret it!

First, let's get to the aging process.  Bring your "soon to be out of date" beef home and fill a shallow dish with the rock salt or pink Himalayan salt.  Set the meat on a rack, just above the level of the salt...the salt helps remove the moisture from the air around the beef.  "Cool rooms" in commercial aging plants often have "salt walls" to help with this process and no, it won't make your cut of meat dry.  Now, all you need is patience!!!  Let that beef rest in the refrigerator for 42 days....time for it to properly age completely.  That, "Use By" date is a joke!  Don't take my word alone for it.  Here's a great YouTube video which explains the entire process so you can see for yourself how it works.  You're going to end up with very tender, high quality and flavorful meat to serve and enjoy.  This is a process called, "dry aging," and there is another called "wet aging," but dry aging is easy to do.
Dry Aging Beef At Home

Now, here's another great tip for beef, if you want to quickly turn a tough cut of fresh beef into a tender and flavorful meal.  Here's you're going to use the coarse Kosher salt and you'll only need about one hour for each inch of thickness of the beef you're using.  You won't believe the difference!  And no, the beef will not be salty when you finish...the salt stays on the surface of the meat and you wash it off before cooking.  The salt merely seals the meat and breaks down the fibers of the meat, making it very tender.  Forget about buying meat tenderizer....this works way better!!!  Here's a short video giving you a comparison between a plain fresh cut of cheap beef and a the same piece of meat which has been through the salting process.  Trust me, my kitchen is well stocked with salt!
Tenderize A Cheap Cut Of Beef In One Hour!

I really hope you will enjoy this information and give it a try.  You can save a lot of money when buying beef at the high prices today and actually end up enjoying the beef you serve.  It's a process used for many, many years in the industry before profit became the key motivation.  Back when people demanded quality.

If you have questions, please feel free to email me at: stan.kain@gmail.com  You may also follow my recipe blog here.  Please share your experiences with my recipes and tips, if you enjoy the result.  And, feel free to share with family and friends!!!