My first sirloin will be a winner – even raw!!!

[Ron Pratt]

I just sliced open my first attempt at dry aging a sirloin. It was a boneless butt top sirloin from SAMS and graded as choice. I aged it 45 days in a Drybag and by the ease of slicing and the color I can tell it has tenderized nicely!

Besides that what really got my motor running was I tasted several small slices of the raw meat and I swear it was as tender as any fillet that I also always taste raw! Fish tonight, but good eating tomorrow night – I KNOW!!!

BTW for those interested this sub-primal lost exactly 21.8% of its weight – which is on the nose for my other cuts also aged 45 days! Also it only cost $3.56 per pound when purchased and the end result will be 6 nice steak meals for the two of us – making it pretty darn cheap!

[Ron Pratt]

BTW this sirloin was in fact my “entry” under the VacMouse testers thread started back at this post:
http://www.drybagsteak.com/forum/17-dry-aging-with-drybags/2192-vacmouseketeers-post-here

Mine was post # 2215 in case you wanted to see my sealing process from the start. In that very vein then here are start and finish pictures of the “home from the store in a cryovac bag” to the final picture after 45 days in a Drybag which might help a newbie in knowing what change in appearance you should expect.

From this:

to this:

[Steven Almas]

Very nice, Ron. Can’t wait to see how these cook up.

[Ron Pratt]

If you had been reading yesterday I cut up a 11 pound sirloin that I had dry aged for 45 days. Some tastes of the raw meat had already convinced me this meat was going to be tender and tasty! Even though this picture with a 1 pound 4 oz steak split between Pat and I doesn’t do this cow justice please understand we were honored to call this piece a wonderful meal tonight from Sir Loin!!!

[Scott Mark]

Last night we had a successful evening of ribeye.

I’ve got room, and interest, and I want to do a side-by-side of Top Sirloin against Ribeye. Ron has suggested, and I agree, that the best test would be using the sub-primals from the same animal. I’d like to do that, but I don’t have a source at the moment.

I haven’t decided how long to go. Minimum of 30 days. 45 days might be the target. Maybe I’ll aim for Memorial Day.

I’m of the opinion that we should compare these two, because the Top Sirloin costs less than half what the ribeye costs, and the feedback for Top Sirloin indicates that (aged) it might be the better way to go, especially at 1/2 price.

[Andy Starvaski]

Wow, looks good Ron.

I am still learning names of the the sub primal cuts of meat. Ron, what type of roast did you purchase? Is it called a “Sirloin Roast”? (what should I look for in the meat case, or ask my butcher for?) I’ve done Rib eyes and New York Strips, and next would like to try a Siloin.

[Scott Mark]

Andy wrote:

quote :

Wow, looks good Ron.

I am still learning names of the the sub primal cuts of meat. Ron, what type of roast did you purchase? Is it called a “Sirloin Roast”? (what should I look for in the meat case, or ask my butcher for?) I’ve done Rib eyes and New York Strips, and next would like to try a Siloin.

Andy,

Standardization of meat names in America isn’t great. On the web I’ve got sources that say that the “tri-tip” comes from the top sirloin, and I’ve got sources that say it’s from the bottom sirloin and — I’m not sure I’ll ever know for sure if I’ve got what the people out West call a tri-tip. Bummer – they agree that it’s great, but they can’t agree what it is.

Anyway, different stores use different names. If you can tell us where you are buying, we might be able to give you better names. I buy from Sam’s Wholesale Club. It happens that some Sam’s Club stores put the Top Sirloin sub-primal out for sale, and others do not.

A top sirloin sub-primal at Sam’s runs about 12-13 pounds. I got a “top round” at a Sam’s Club – 17 pounds, that was not top sirloin. But after 30 days dry aging it is some fantastic beef.

If you are purchasing from a grocery store, I think you are even more subject to the whimsy of what-they-have and what-they-call-it. I’d expect to see names like Sirloin Roast or Sirloin Tip. And honestly I’m not sure what those mean. Although I’d expect that, dry-aged for 30 days, you’d have some beef that you’d be proud of. My best success was a 30-day roast that was called “Top Sirloin” by the local supermarket. Price stank. But even so, it was a great haunch of beef.

I continue to work at experiments for lower price for similar results. At the moment my best candidate is top sirloin, aged for 30 days or more. For two reasons, I recommend that this group experiment with top sirlioin: (1) top sirloin is CHEAPER. Cost is half of ribeye. (2) LESS WASTE. The amount of fat in a ribeye is incredible, compared to a top sirloin. (OK,. ribeye from Sam’s Wholesale Club, can’t assume that other sources are the same).

But a top sirloin is _meat_. You get to peel off the picanha / culotte / rump cover and save it for your very best friends. And then you end up with these huge muscles. Not like a Sam’s Club Ribeye that has huge amounts of fat in it.

I’ll do some digging. I’ll report what I find. Until then, get the top sirloin and age it for at least 30 days.

[Ron Pratt]

Andy wrote:

quote :

Ron, what type of roast did you purchase?

It was merely labeled as a boneless butt top sirloin. It came from from SAMS and graded as choice. Looks like toasty explained it better than I but I did want to answer your question.

Ron

[Ron Pratt]

toasty wrote:

quote :

[ On the web I’ve got sources that say that the “tri-tip” comes from the top sirloin, and I’ve got sources that say it’s from the bottom sirloin and — I’m not sure I’ll ever know for sure if I’ve got what the people out West call a tri-tip. Bummer – they agree that it’s great, but they can’t agree what it is.

Scott,
I’m surprised you can’t find a tri-tip up there – granted you won’t find them in a grocery store because as it has been explained to me there is only one tri-tip per cow! I can buy them at two different local butcher shops where they never put them in the display case, but just keep them for people who specifically ask for them by name. I always cook one in my advanced cooking classes just to introduce more people to their versatile use let alone wonderful beefy taste much like a sirloin. Thing is they are truly a triangular piece of meat in shape and range in thickness from a thin side to a thick side…so if you have a family who likes steak, but some like their meat rare and some like it more well done then the tri-tip is your choice! It can be cooked as one piece and then divided after cooking!BTW they always weigh between 2.25 and 2.75 pounds.
Ron

[Scott Mark]

I thought that there was one tri-tip per SIDE of cow – meaning two per animal.

And I’ve heard some folks say that this is the same as the picanha, which is the culotte in french, sometimes called the rump cover when it comes off the top sirloin subprimal.

I’m in the greater Milwaukee area – there must be a butcher store somewhere around here, but I haven’t managed to visit one.

When you say triangular with thin side to thick side it sounds so much like the picanha, which is a greatly flavorful piece of beef… sort of the cornerstone of the Brasilian steakhouse.

Andy – for sure you should expect that what you buy comes in a bag that probably doesn’t have the name of the store on it. It’s the sub-primal that the store buys, then cuts into steaks and sells as sirloin steak.

Ron – I’m curious about the price, because it happens that the last top sirloin I got from Sam’s club was labeled “Beef Round Sirloin Tip Roast Cov” and they charged $2.78 / lb. I can’t tell you much about the meat, because that was the one that “got away” although I’d say that the aged “Beef Round Top Round” was $2.76/lb and _excellent_.

So I’m curious why your club charged $3.56. I’m sure they have some leeway based on transportation costs and stuff I’m not aware of – but that’s a big difference.

I did a ribeye. Costs twice as much per pound, and has a huge amount of fat. As soon as I get a chance I’m going to load a top sirloin and a ribeye and let them hang out for a month.

[Andy Starvaski]

I did a quick google and it looks like I want to try and find a “Top Sirloin”.

My favorite butcher recentgly went out of business 🙁 but luckly there’s another not too far away who has helped me score some nice prime rib and NY strips. I’ll talk to him and see what cut he suggests. thanks guys. 🙂

[Ron Pratt]

Scott,

I don’t have a clue why the higher cost, other than mine was choice – could yours have been select or even discounted due to “expiration date”? Given the opportunity I will buy the manager specials – after all I’m planning to age it anyway!

One of these days for kicks and giggles I just might go to Sam’s and jot down their various meat prices and post them here so you and others can tell me if the prices are higher. Within the next 18 months we will have our first Costco so maybe that might level the playing field.

Ron

[Scott Mark]

Mine was listed as USDA Choice. A separate marking read “Black Canyon Cattle Company – Angus Beef – Premium Reserve – Grain Fed, USDA Certified”

NONE of that separate marking means anything.

Angus is a breed.

The phrase “Certified Angus Beef” has legal status, I think, and means that the beef is not only Angus by breed (51% Angus, anyway) but also meets certain requirements about marbling and so on. (Though I don’t know if those requirements are the same as the requirements for any beef to be labeled “choice”).

So — the whole Angus thing might be a racket. And it might not. But for sure it had nothing to do with the difference in price from $2.76 to $3.56.

It had nothing to do with expiration date — this particular club has a bunch of top sirloins displayed all the time, and they’ve got plenty of time left.

There is a CostCo “In the area” but it’s about an hour away. Normal life takes me near Sam’s Club on a regular basis, so that’s where I shop.

[Ron Pratt]

Then the only difference might be the source as mine was processed by Excel in KS though it is owned by Cargill. BTW I was aware of the Angus marketing hype. Only thing worst is the highly touted Copper River Salmon that is good, but at $22 a pound you know the marketing organization is getting their $hare of the profit$!

[Anonymous]

I bought a prime grade top sirloin from Costco a couple months ago at $3.89 a pound, 13.6 pounds, and dry aged it for 42 days. It’s quite good, but not as good as my ribeyes. It’s not quite as tender as the ribeye, but I believe that is to be expected. It does have a profoundly rich beefy flavor.

I find I prefer to use the aged top sirloin as a marinated meat for shish kabobs or in fajita-like applications. That helps me mask the poor results I get when I try to carve one into steaks. I don’t understand how to cut it properly, so I wind up with some slices that have grain going in different directions in different parts of the steak. I’ve watched videos on how to cut a top sirloin into roast section and steak sections, but I can’t seem to figure out how to apply it to my dry-aged top sirloins because the visual cues that delineate the different sections get lost when you age it.

I think I’ll stick with choice grade top sirloin from now on, because I can’t really tell any difference in texture and flavor between the choice and prime grade meat. The choice grade saves me money, and makes it definitely worth while for aged shish kabob meat.

[Author]

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