Costco prime beef

[Jenise]

Several of us have noted that Costco now sells prime beef--they'll actually mail it to you if you order it from their website. But some stores apparently stock the prime beef. I'm so jealous! I know better than to even look at our Costco--we don't even get hanger steak. And I'll bet whoever does is getting the prime beef, too. Are you one of the lucky ones?

There is a very long thread on this "elsewhere." It's been west of the Mississippi for years, in Chicago or Houston or L.A. or WA.

Just recently it started showing up in DC, Boston, NY and finally at my local Costco in New Jersey.

FWIW the butchers at my Costco don't cut it up, you have to plunk down $100+ for the whole cut and you can't really examine the marbling. They have NY Strip and Rib-eye. We bought NY strip and it was excellent. And cheap.

We've never gotten hanger steaks there (or "Tri-Tip", sigh!) but we get "flap meat" which is just about as good.

Frank

I've lived in New England nearly all my life, and I've never seen anything called either "hanger steak" or "tri-tip" for sale at a meat counter. I know tri-tip goes under another name here. Is that also true of hanger steak?

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

FWIW the butchers at my Costco don't cut it up, you have to plunk down $100+ for the whole cut and you can't really examine the marbling. They have NY Strip and Rib-eye. We bought NY strip and it was excellent. And cheap.

What I hear, and why I'm jealous. I never mind buying the whole thing--I always have cut up steaks in the freezer ready to go.

We've never gotten hanger steaks there (or "Tri-Tip", sigh!) but we get "flap meat" which is just about as good.

Flap meat--that's what I mean. Used to buy it in L.A. all the time. Can't buy it up here but they have tri-tips all year long, so perhaps I should consider myself lucky. ("All year long" refers to the fact that local grocers consider this a summer meat only and don't start stocking it until May-June.)

I haven't looked at Costco beef lately, but our Raley's sells prime beef. I'm betting Costco does too.

I've lived in New England nearly all my life, and I've never seen anything called either "hanger steak" or "tri-tip" for sale at a meat counter. I know tri-tip goes under another name here. Is that also true of hanger steak?

-Paul W.

Paul, you won't find very much Tri-Tip on the East Coast, it is mainly a West Coast thing. I've seen it in high end butcher shops in Manhattan (Jefferson Market, Cittarella). But nowhere else.

On the other hand hanger steak should be easy, you just need to call a few butcher shops. It's getting more popular everywhere.

FWIW a "hangar" is a place to park your airplane. The hanger steak is so called because it "hangs" from the carcass during butchering. There is a central tendon that ought to be cut out. It is generally a bit chewy but extremely beefy and flavorful. Worth some effort to find.

Frank

The 2 Costco's we use here in L.A. seem to have everything mentioned already cut up and packaged, except maybe hanger steak. can't remember if it was there last time, but they had skirt steak. and other types of prime steaks.

Our Costco stocks the individual steaks, about an inch thick. Strip, ribeye, or tenderloin. Yum. Makes you wonder why Safeway charges almost as much for ungraded beef.

Walt

I've lived in New England nearly all my life, and I've never seen anything called either "hanger steak" or "tri-tip" for sale at a meat counter. I know tri-tip goes under another name here. Is that also true of hanger steak?

-Paul W.

Paul, for the past 3-4 years I have been able to get tri-tips here in Lexington at the Kroger store. I just found that Kroger is in fact in NYC, but not in New Hampshire. So, if you get down to NYC occasionally you might check Kroger for tri-tips. check out this URL. http://maps.google.com/maps?oe=utf-8&rl ... sults&cd=1

This morning I went to the Edison NJ Costco again.

They have started cutting up the prime meat.

I bought a tray with 4 Ribeyes, 4.25 pounds. A neighbor girlled them.

Fabulous, even better than the NY strips.

And of course I could choose the best marbled meat among the cut-up steaks.

I'm loving it.

F

I just found that Kroger is in fact in NYC, but not in New Hampshire. So, if you get down to NYC occasionally you might check Kroger for tri-tips. check out this URL. http://maps.google.com/maps?oe=utf-8&rl ... sults&cd=1

Please forgive my ignorance regarding acronyms. What does "NYC" mean?

-Paul W.

I just found that Kroger is in fact in NYC, but not in New Hampshire. So, if you get down to NYC occasionally you might check Kroger for tri-tips. check out this URL. http://maps.google.com/maps?oe=utf-8&rl ... sults&cd=1

Please forgive my ignorance regarding acronyms. What does "NYC" mean?

-Paul W.

My guess "New York City"

F

PS not a Yankee fan, Paul?

I love Costco and buy a lot of stuff there.

That being said, Hallmark/Westland in addition to being the largest supplier of beef to school lunch programs also supplied beef to Costco. I don't think they still do, though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaM7Hpu47FY

Please forgive my ignorance regarding acronyms. What does "NYC" mean?

-Paul W.

Sorry Paul, Frank has it right, NYC is shorthand for New York City. Actually you might be able to find a Kroger store closer to you than NYC, but you would know that better than I. Also, just because they carry tri-tips here doesn't mean they do there.

[Jenise]

This morning I went to the Edison NJ Costco again.

They have started cutting up the prime meat.

I bought a tray with 4 Ribeyes, 4.25 pounds. A neighbor girlled them.

Fabulous, even better than the NY strips.

And of course I could choose the best marbled meat among the cut-up steaks.

I'm loving it.

F

I hate you.

This morning I went to the Edison NJ Costco again.
They have started cutting up the prime meat. I bought a tray with 4 Ribeyes, 4.25 pounds. A neighbor girlled them. Fabulous, even better than the NY strips. And of course I could choose the best marbled meat among the cut-up steaks.

I'm loving it.

F

There is no Costco store in Lexington, and I wish there was. We do have a Sam's Club, and I do buy nearly all my meat there, or at least all that I do not buy from a local meat distributor. (larger packages) Sam's doesn't sell or claim to sell USDA prime beef, but ALL the meat they sell is USDA choice, which is very very good. (best in town) I recently purchased a whole USDA choice Black Angus ribeye and had it sliced into 1.5 inch thick steaks. The price per pound on it was $5.44, however this was before trimming making the cost per pound a bit higher than that. All told I got 11 steaks that weighed approximately 1.5 pounds each which comes out to about $5.85 per pound. I went on the Costco web page and priced the prime ribeye and they run in the neighborhood of $27 per pound. Prime is better than choice, but choice "ain't" bad. Understand that I am not making any statement about what anyone other than me pays for beef, but I can get a good steak and a pretty darn good bottle wine for the difference.

And I always thought that all Costco's were "created equal", or nearly so...guess not huh!

And I always thought that all Costco's were "created equal", or nearly so...guess not huh!

I've never shopped in a Costco, but I do know that Sam's are not totally equal price wise. Sam's being owned by Wal-Mart has a corporate attitude that I think of as "if we don't have it, then you don't need it". I find that to be especially true of the Wal-Mart superstores. Still, many of the Wal-Mart Great Value and Sam's Choice products are extremely good. A case in point is the Sam's Choice plastic wrap is made by Stretch Tite, which Jenise will attest to being the best on the market. I have even done some price comparison between two (in town) Wal-Mart superstores and found that prices vary from store to store.

[Jenise]

Our Costco stocks the individual steaks, about an inch thick. Strip, ribeye, or tenderloin. Yum. Makes you wonder why Safeway charges almost as much for ungraded beef.

Walt

Safeway has the worst beef, don't they? No marble, no flavor.

I've lived in New England nearly all my life, and I've never seen anything called either "hanger steak" or "tri-tip" for sale at a meat counter. I know tri-tip goes under another name here. Is that also true of hanger steak?

-Paul W.

Paul, we spend a month every summer in MA. Hubby is from there. A few years ago I went on a mad quest for Tri-tip because we enjoy it so much in CA. I finally found a butcher in a Roche Bros grocery store in Natick who knew what cut I was talking about and immediately asked if I was from California. He said they get it, but there is only one of these per cow, and it never sells as an intact piece (because no one there knows what it is!) so they always cut it up as "steak tips."

And, for what it's worth, I started a "flap meat" thread earlier this year--here's a link viewtopic.php?f=5&t=18389&p=157104&hilit=flap+meat#p157104. It's about when I was in New England and how I found out true "steak tips" are Flap Meat. I was trying desperately to find that cut in CA! This bi-coastal thing can be quite trying. I just made some from Costco, and it was excellent, however, I'm a little disappointed they cut it differently here. In New England they are larger, thick chunks. Here, they slice it the long way even thinner than a flank steak is naturally.

Jenise, we are some of the lucky ones. They are precut in packages of thee or four steaks, but vary cut-wise. Sometimes they are NY Strips, sometimes Ribeyes. They are both FANTASTIC.

[Jenise]

In La Quinta? I should hope so! Up here we should probably consider ourselves lucky to get something besides salmon heads.

We can get tri-tips at will here in Cincinnati. Both Costco and the local butcher carry them. Have never checked Kroger or biggs.

Just served tri-tip at our Final Four party.....very tasty!

I haven't checked for prime at Costco but will soon. We had some nice ribeyes from there Saturday night. Also picked up some racks of lamb. Ribs are usually pretty good there. Have had some very nice wild salmon for $9 or $10 per pound. Pork shoulder is very cheap. A neighbor lady, Italian originally from Brooklyn, says Costco has the best calamari.

OTOH, we cannot get the full cut of beef brisket here in Cincinnati......the one that weighs 10-15 pounds is just not available.

A friend of mine in San Francisco told me that she's found unbelievably good Australian lamb at Costco recently. Better than the stuff she was getting here IN Australia - buttery and melt-in-the-mouth tender.