I want to make a slew of steaks for some family to come over and grill. Strip is the usual steak. Since I’m making about 10+lbs, I thought it may be advantageous to get a whole loin. I have access to a restaurant supply store, so I stopped in and now I’ve confused myself.
I was planning on getting a prime grade strip steak from a local meat market (on sale at $14/lb for the loin), but visiting the restaurant supply store, for loins they have regular choice for $12.77/lb but then also Angus “upper choice” $13.18/lb. I’m not very familiar with angus meat. But also I’ve never had prime and choice side by side. If it were you, what would you do!?
is it even a good idea to get a loin, or am I better off getting individual steaks? I can’t see the individual steaks, so is it a crap shoot if I get decent steak?
Thanks for any input!
by digi2k
4 Comments
not the second one from the left.
better to take the cross section of the loin, as it’s easier to look at the marbling
the prime will be lightyears better than anything at restaurant depot. all that meat is super low quality.
WHOS MONEY AM I SPENDING cuz by weights n fats id buy 3 of those
The USDA meat grading system really sucks. They have like 5 tiers of dog food quality beef and then 3 consumer grade tiers. Where BMS has 12 different scores to cover the same range as our 3 highest grades. Which means you can get a lot of variation within the same grade, especially with choice. This has led a lot of meat suppliers to make their own unofficial grades like “premium choice” or what I’m assuming “upper choice” means. Theres a world of difference between choice that is almost select and a choice that is almost prime.
Thats my rant on the grading system. If you didn’t share the prices I would probably steer you towards the upper choice, but its an 80 cents a pound difference for prime, its a negligible amount imo. So just play it safe and get the highest grade with the prime.