Where to get whole cuts online

[John Cintron]

I am new to dry aging. I purchased the starter kit but have not used it yet. I do not have good meat suppliers in the area and was hoping someone could suggest a good online supplier of whole cuts (ie whole boneless ribeye). There are plenty of suppliers of steaks but individual steaks are not good for dry aging. Any suggestions? Thanks.

[Ron Pratt]

Welcome to our forum, John. I understand your desire for privacy, but since this is actually an international board I don’t even know what country you live in let alone what city may be nearby if in the USA. Perhaps if you reveal that someone can chime in with a suggestion. OTOH I will tell you that I have no source of prime meat myself, but have found that when carefully inspected I can find sub-primals rated as Choice are quite acceptable when aged. Ron

[John Cintron]

Thanks Ron,

I’m in Miami, Florida. Where would you recommend going for ribeye?

[Ron Pratt]

I can’t speak for their reputation down there, nor your opinion of them, but I see you have a Sam’s Club at 8425 N W 13th Terrace in Miami. I’ve had luck at our local Sam’s and I will go when they are not busy and sort through all their cryovac packages of strip loins and rib eyes looking closely at the ends for signs of marbling plus excessive fat. Personally I would avoid any and all grocery stores. Don’t you have some butcher shops in that large of a city?

[John Cintron]

Ron,

I REALLY appreciate your quick replies. You are very helpful. Unfortunately, 90+% of people are satisfied with whatever is in the local chain supermarket (ie Publix, Winn-Dixie, etc). Butcher shops, like other specialty shops (cheeses, bakeries, etc), have all but disappeared. That is why I am looking for a meat purveyor that can cryovac and ship the meat directly.

[Ron Pratt]

Let me do some noodling, but in the meantime maybe some regulars here will chime in with names. I know some people buy directly from farmers/ranchers, but I know Miami isn’t exactly “cowtown”! :laugh: Ron

[John Cintron]

Exactly! I’m Hispanic and I can tell you that most Hispanics here are not big BBQ/Smoking types. I like smoking (have a backwoods smoker) and grilling. Most grilling done here is with pre-made supermarket frozen burger patties and packaged oscar-mayer hotdogs. I would like to “step-it-up a notch” an use better quality meats for aging, grilling, smoking, etc. I would love to be able to buy directly from a ranch or slaughterhouse (likely be less time from slaughter to me than with traditional supermarkets!). Thanks.

[Ron Pratt]

John, a few other ideas…Do you have a Costco? In some parts of the country they sell prime. Also do you have a friend or even friend of a friend in the restaurant business that might be a source or even have a business membership that would let you shop at Restaurant Depot? or the equivalent type of supplier to businesses? I’m just afraid you’ll find that shipping costs of fresh or frozen high quality meat is going to be quite expensive. Ron

[John Cintron]

I don’t know anyone in the restaurant business but I do have a Costco I can try!

[Chris Penning]

I’m with Ron on this one. Hit Costco. Much as I hate “big box” stores and would rather support the mom and pop’s when I can, this is an expensive undertaking and I might not otherwise be able to afford to do it as often as I’d like if it weren’t for the price I pay at Costco. I paid about $10.50 per lb for a prime sub-primal ribeye a couple weeks ago. At 16.71lbs an increase of $5 a pound is going be to an increase of $90. Even with the $55 membership I’m still out in front. I checked one of our upscale grocery stores (Wegmans) and they were charging $8.99 a lb for choice and I think high teens for prime. You might not see any cryovacs in the meat case at Costco but talk to the butcher and ask them if they have any and what the price per pound is. Then you can go from there.

[John Cintron]

Thanks Chris. I think I’ll hit the Costco and give it a try. It certainly sounds worth it.

[Dr. Frederick Howard]

Ok everyone has weighed in and provided some excellent advice. I find that Costco has great prices and they are most helpful. Ron pointed you in the direction on what to look for. Look in the case first as Costco keep cryovac sub-primals in the case, both Choice and Prime. If you don’t like what you see, simply ask one of the meat guys. They will either bring you out some sub-primals to look at, or even better, they will bring out a case for you to look through.

Ron, I haven’t weighed in in awhile but I have a ribeye dry bag aging as we speak. It has gone for 28 days and looks good. I found out one thing though, bag size makes a difference. Making sure that you have the correct size is important. My first one I used the wrong sized bag, the result was good but could have been better. This one adhered to the meat quickly and looks of a deeper color. My question is this: I am preparing this primal mainly to have a prime rib for Christmas as we do every year – what would you recommend as the dry aging time on this? As these cook faster than non aged, a longer time (60 days) might prove to be a disaster. Of course I will “rip”myself off a couple of steaks for my own use (selfish I know).

Doc

[Ron Pratt]

Doc, good to see you posting again – you’ve been MIA for a while. Personally I like rib eye for at least 45 days, though 60 will be fine as well. My only question is that Christmas is still nearly 9 months away…and if you believe any of the suggested food storage charts then even in a frozen state you make suffer some freezer burn or deterioration by then. Why not slab this one into steaks and age another one closer to Christmas? Ron

[Dr. Frederick Howard]

Ron,

Yes I’m back, but I’ve been logging on and reading the various posts. Again, a great earning tool. I have another question regarding your to my last. I recall a post “45 day aged prime rib meal on the horizon” that was showed snow on your BGE and a rather large steak that you pulled out of the freezer. By my calculation it was about 6 months after you froze them and they looked pretty good to me. Was there that much of a degradation in the quality of the meat? If there was, then I missed it. Looks those baby’s cooked up quite nicely and that technique of cutting them in half after cooking was quite interesting. In fact I will try that with this rib eye if I don’t keep it for Prime Rib. I almost bought another at Costco yesterday – $8.65/lb for US Prime Rib Eye.

Doc

[Ron Pratt]

Doc, actually I have some dry aged beef packages that are over a year old and I have no problem. I just wanted to point out what some sources suggest. Now I will admit though I always seal my meat before freezing in a Food Saver bag which does a better job of protecting the meat than say freezer wrap paper or Ziplock freezer bags. Boy I wish I could buy prime meat somewhere here and especially under $9. Seeing that would have tripped my trigger!

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