On Jun 16, 9:28 am, "JoeSpareBedroom"
wrote:
"dadiOH" wrote in message

...



I started a thread last Sunday moaning about the fact that the local
supermarkets no longer got sides of beef and that I couldn't get flat bone
sirloin steaks. Lots of interesting comments, thanks.

On Monday I was browsing the web page of Publix, one of the larger local
markets. Lots of great looking photos of steaks and roasts, lots of
trumpeting about the meat quality, lots of promises of consumer
satisfaction. Also, a "contact us" link. So I did and asked how come I
couldn't get sirloin.

Yesterday, the local manager called me. He said they hadn't had sirloin
since 2007 - *2007??* - but that they would start bringing it in again.
*VICTORY!!*

I explained that I had no immediate need/desire for it but he assured me
it would keep and would be waiting for me when I did. I get the feeling
that I will be eating off the same chunk of deep frozen beef for some
years to come.

Small trend in the grocery biz: Wholesalers which cater to restaurants are
opening retail outlets to fill the gap left by supermarkets which no longer
carry high-end meat & seafood. You might check the yellow pages and make
some calls, if Publix doesn't consistently carry what you want.

Has anyone tried dry aging beef at home? Dry aging is what the top
steak houses all do with their beef, which is what you see in the pics
of meat hanging in window displays, etc. I recently got curious
about this and did a bit of googling. It actually looks to be
relatively easy and safe to do. Ideally you'd want a separate
refrigerator just for that, but plenty of people are doing it in their
regular kitchen fridge. I'm doing an experiment now. I got two
huge 3" thick rib eyes. One I'm going to cook tonight as is, the
other I'm dry aging for a week or so.

I'm also lucky to have a small specialty grocer/butcher located
here. The guy moved down from NYC, where he used to have a similar
shop. He gets his beef from the same NYC wholesalers that supply
prime to the best restaurants. What he has is very expensive, but
unbelievably good. As good as or better than steaks I've had in NYC
top rated steak houses, eg Peter Lugers and Smith & Wollensky. These
steaks just have such enormous beefy flavor that you don't get in a
wet aged steak. Expensive, but I'd rather have one of those every 2
months, than the wet aged ones from the supermarket more often. I'm
very curious to see how this dry aging experiment goes in terms of how
much difference it makes. The best steaks are both prime and dry
aged. The rib eyes I have are choice, so I'll get one data point on
the difference just dry aging can make.