Why USDA Prime Aged Steaks Are So Special

Of all the beef produced in the US, less than 2% is certified as USDA Prime. As a result you’re typically not going to find USDA Prime in your local grocery store because of its limited supply, and the fact that it is gobbled up by fine meat purveyors and the upscale hospitality industry.

All steaks are USDA inspected, but it is important you pay attention to the grade. If you’re shopping for prime-graded beef you want to see the full description “USDA Prime” associated with your cut of beef, otherwise you might be tricked by a cleverly worded “in-house” rating system using words like “USDA Top Grade Meat” that makes you think you are buying a prime grade of beef (with the accompanying high price) when in fact you’re not. In order of quality, there is the coveted USDA Prime, followed by USDA Choice which you’ll find available in grocery stores, and finally USDA Select, the lowest priced offering. 

Your next decision comes when deciding on your preferred aging process. Aging beef is simply a process to naturally tenderize the meat. Done well it concentrates the beef flavor resulting in a taste profile that will make you wonder why you’ve been satisfied with the wan, watery flavors of beef your local grocery options have helped you grow accustomed to.

Wet-Aged or Dry-Aged Steak?

Beef is either wet or dry aged. Wet aged beef takes advantage of vacuum-sealed packaging. Once sealed, the beef ages from 5 to 28 days in its own juices in a refrigerated environment. This allows the beef’s natural enzymes to tenderize the beef.

If you are buying (okay, investing) in a USDA Prime cut of beef, dry aging is what you want. First, only the highest grades of meat can be dry aged because the process requires meat derived from younger cattle with a large, evenly distributed fat content known as marbling.

The dry aging process involves hanging beef to dry in a humidity-controlled room with a temperature held at just slightly above freezing usually for 21 to 28 days. But now top chefs are demanding even longer aging times, some stretching into months.

During this process, the beef shrinks as it loses moisture, while its natural enzymes get busy breaking down the connective tissue. This controlled decomposition both tenderizes the beef and intensifies its flavor. By the time the beef has been properly aged, it has developed a beef jerky like outer crust that will be trimmed away before cooking. And therein lies the expense.

As Bon Appétit explains, “It takes almost twice the original amount of meat to ‘make’ a dry-aged steak. Add up the cost of labor, rent, and energy it takes to age the beef, and a $7-per-pound piece of wet-aged beef now costs $15 per; double or triple that after a retail or restaurant markup.”

So when you are paying $30 to $50 per pound for a cut of dry aged beef, remember, you’re paying for time and expertise, for an intensified flavor, for the “like buttuh!” texture and tenderness of every bite, and for a special dining experience. Here is where you can buy that experience online:

Chicago Steak Company, Chicago, Illinois

You can’t talk about the Chicago Steak Company without first considering their supply partner, Meats by Linz. Founded as a small, family-run, neighborhood butcher shop in 1963, Meats by Linz has grown to now run the Heritage Angus Program dedicated to producing the most consistently marbled Angus beef in the world.

With quality sourcing like that it comes as no surprise that the Chicago Steak Company has the largest dry aging facility in the world, with master butchers who have generations of experience selecting and hand cutting beef.

The online steak gift selection is comprehensive. Choose your favorite cuts among the wet aged, dry aged, Wagyu and Angus selections. They have also established a Chicago Steak Company storefront on Amazon which makes ordering even easier.

Steak Gift Certificates: Yes

Steak and Beef Gift Packages: Yes

Corporate Gifts: Yes

Promo Codes:  They run them often, listed right on their home page

Shipping: Ships frozen, arrives partially thawed. Standard shipping, express delivery, and USPS standard overnight available. 

Order steak gifts online at Chicago Steak Company. Yes, they now have Surf & Turf gift options too!

Snake River Farms, Boise, Idaho

“Tastes the way beef used to taste.”

What does a Black Grade mean when it comes to beef? According to Snake River Farms, Black Grade is a higher grade than USDA Prime because it considers the BMS or “beef marble score,” a grading system used by the Japanese to grade Wagyu beef. Generously marbled, Black Grade beef is what you get when Wagyu is crossed with a high quality Angus.

Based in Idaho, SRF is a family owned and operated business that oversees every step of the Wagyu/Angus life cycle from ranching, feeding, beef processing, marketing and sales. They specialize in wet-aged, beautifully marbled American Wagyu beef. Hormone-free, antibiotic-free, the beef is described by their older customers as “tasting the way beef used to taste.”

Pricing: $25 and up. Best feature: they run frequent specials and promo codes are right on the website, so no need to hunt around.

Steak Gift Certificates: Yes, and egift cards for last-minute gifts

Steak Gift Packages: Yes

Shipping: Products ship frozen and arrive frozen or partially thawed. UPS and FedEx, Watch for free shipping promotions, otherwise choose from ground, 2-day air, or 1-day air. No international orders at this time.

Order steak gifts online at Snake River Farms.

Pat LaFrieda Steaks, Brooklyn, New York

Free Shipping to Northeastern States

Famous for their hamburger blend specially made for Shake Shake Burgers, Pat LaFrieda Meat Purveyors, a Brooklyn-based family-owned company, has been producing savory, prime-aged steaks since 1922. LaFrieda supplies beef to the finest restaurants in the country, and now you can have the same restaurant-quality, 100% hormone and antibiotic-free beef delivered to your front door.

The Pat LaFrieda website allows you to select your desired cut of steak as well as your preferred aging options: Fresh, 30, 45 or 60 day dry aging. It is a true luxury to be able to purchase expertly aged beef online. You’ll know you are enjoying the best steak house quality beef from your very first bite.

Steak Gift package selections: Yes

Gift certificate: Yes

Shipping: Meat is never frozen, and is therefore shipped Next Day Air with packaging designed for at least 48 hours of transit in case of delays. Shipping is free for residents of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Hampshire.

Order steak online at Pat LaFrieda

Good Chop, Subscription Meats & Seafood

1. You choose your favorite meat and seafood options
2. Your order is delivered to your door every 4 weeks
3. You enjoy
4. Repeat!

You can change your order at any time, pause for a month or two, or cancel. It’s as if Good Chop understands and wants to accommodate customers’  changing wants and needs. What a concept!

You’ll choose from a wide variety of quality meats from American family farms, independent ranchers and domestic wild caught and farmed fisheries. No added hormones or antibiotics ever. The quality is markedly better than what you’ll find at most grocers. Your selection is delivered flash frozen on dry ice in an insulated, 100% recyclable box.

All good. But the taste? Our experience was consistently excellent. The convenience, selection and quality had us tempted, but it was their pricing that sealed the deal. This is a subscription butcher box service done right.

Pricing: Delivery options come in two options: Medium Box ($149 – 36 portions) or Large ($269.00 – 72 portions). The website often offers a generous incentive to get started. With the summer grilling season happening, this is the place to start!

Shipping:  Products ship frozen on dry ice in a 100% recyclable box.

Join GoodChop.com today to get $100 OFF high-quality American meat and seafood.

DeBragga Steaks and Meat Online, Jersey City, New Jersey

With nearly a century of dry-aging know-how behind them, DeBragga’s prime dry aged beef cuts are aged 30 days or more in one of the largest dry-aging facilities in the country. Beef from DeBragga is simply among the finest you can buy. The online selection is excellent—Filet Mignon, Ribeye, T-Bone, Porterhouse, Rib Steaks, New York Strip, standing prime rib roasts and more.

Still not sure what you want? Browse the grassfed, grain fed, Wagyu or Angus options. You won’t leave the website without finding exactly what you’re craving for.

Gift certificate: Yes

Shipping: FedEx standard overnight

Order steak gifts online at DeBragga

Allen Brothers, Chicago, Illinois

Best-sellers range from USDA dry-aged prime boneless sirloin strip steaks to USDA Prime boneless ribeye steaks, richly marbled and wet-aged for a mellow, yet flavorful taste experience. Lamb and pork chops and game meats of bison and elk are available too.

The website often runs specials, so it’s worth a click to view their latest promotions.

Gift Cards: Yes

Steak Gift Packages: Yes

Shipping: Delivery costs are based on the number of items purchased and being sent to a single address as well as the service needed to meet your requested delivery date. The cost of shipping increases with each product you add to your cart. Costs range from one item at $24.95, to 5+ items at $44.95. Overnight shipping is an additional $25.

Order Steak Gifts Online from Allen Brothers

Creekstone Farms, Arkansas City, Kansas

Founded by John and Carol Stewart in 1995, Creekstone offers a 100% satisfaction guarantee. Their prime-grade filet mignon steaks, hand-cut from the tenderloin and aged to perfection are among their customer favorites. Non-GMO options include their juicy rib eye steaks starting at just $109.00.

Gift Cards: Yes

Steak Gift Packages: Yes

Shipping: Standard shipping – free over $100 or $14.99 for less than $100. Expedited shipping – $49.99 per order.

Order steaks online from Creekstone Farms or shop the Creekstone Farms Amazon Storefront.

Meat the Butchers, Vernon, California

44 Farms, Cameron, Texas

Offering USDA Prime and Choice beef cuts, the website doesn’t offer aged options, which is reflected in the more affordable pricing. For example the USDA Choice Bone-in Pack that includes nicely marbled 2 20 oz Ribeyes and 2 18 oz New York Strip steaks is priced at $120.00. Or Choose from the most popular Prime grade cuts of beef including filets, ribeye, top sirloin and New York Strip.

Gift Cards: Yes

Gift Packages: Yes

Shipping: Unless otherwise stated, there’s a flat rate of $17.95 for each shipping address. Items offered with free shipping go FedEx Ground or USPS Priority. Overnight shipping via FedEx available.

Order steaks online at 44 Farms

Lobels, New York, New York

Lobel’s butcher shop is an institution in New York City, serving a devoted clientele of well-heeled upper East siders, and other deep-pocketed meat-loving folks in the know. There’s a good reason they have fans: Lobels offers USDA prime beef. But within the prime beef category, Lobels takes only the finest cuts, paying up to a 10% premium to get the best. They then dry age the beef for four to six weeks, a process that can mean the difference between a good and a great tasting piece of meat.

The steaks from Lobel’s prompted a Wall Street Journal writer to note, “It was so perfect—in looks, taste, and texture—that we were tempted to eat it raw. The buttery flavor was beyond comparison.”

Our pick—for research purposes only, of course: Five (20 oz.) Wagyu Aged Porterhouse Steaks. Price: $800.00. If you know, you know.

To ensure optimum flavor and freshness, each order is hand-cut, individually vacuum-sealed, securely packed, and delivered overnight from Lobels to your door.

Pricey? You betcha! But it’s a gift the giver will know is the best of the best.

Steak Gift set selections: Yes

Gift certificates: Yes

Shipping: Fed Ex overnight

Order steak gifts online at Lobels