your butcher, make sure to thank him.- Choice-Grade Beef has less marbling and tenderness than
Prime beef. If cooked right, though, it’ll still be plenty
juicy and flavorful. For low-fat cuts like tenderloin or
certain sirloin steaks, you can expect the meat quality to
be nearly indistinguishable from that of Prime beef. This is
the standard option at high-end supermarkets. - Select-Grade Beef is much leaner than Prime or Choice
but still tender and high in quality. Its main drawback is its
relative lack of marbling, so it will not be as juicy or
flavorful as higher grades. - Standard- and Commercial-Grade Beef can be found in
some supermarkets but will be sold as “ungraded.” It’s
often the choice for generic store-brand beef, and it shows
very little marbling and is markedly tougher than other
grades. Avoid it. - Utility, Cutter, and Canner are almost never sold retail.
You can get them in the form of beef sticks, jerky, or
preformed burgers, or in the fillings of things like frozen
burritos or sausages.
Q: Prime-grade beef is so expensive and difficult to find.
Is it really worth seeking out?
Good question. I held a blind beef tasting pitting Choice-
grade beef against Prime, cooking both in the exact same
manner and to the same temperature (oh, the horrors I put
up with in the name of science!). Of the eight tasters present,
there was an overwhelming and unanimous preference for
the Prime-grade beef, though the Choice was still quite tasty.
Prime generally costs about 25 percent more per pound