When exploring butcher or the corner meat store or the supermarket to buy beef, you will notice that there are lots to choose from. When choosing beef, you have to look at the grade and the cut.

The Grade

The grade tells us about the expertise of the beef based on marbling and age. Marbling is the white flecks or streaks of fat within the lean meat. When a marbled piece of beef is in the technique of being cooked, it actually bastes itself, making the meat moist, juicy, and tender. However, when there are thick lines of fat, this means that the steak has lots of connective tissue that will make it problematical.

Quality grades are awarded determined by tenderness, juiciness, and flavor. The top three grades that the America Department of Agriculture (USDA) ranks in grading beef are:

Prime Grade

Prime grade beef is from young, well-fed cattle. It has abundant marbling and usually sold to hotels and restaurants and exported to many countries. These are excellent for dry-heat cooking such as grilling, broiling, and roasting.

Choice Grade

Choice grade is good quality beef that is available in the supermarket. It has less marbling compared with the prime grade. However, it is 15% more marbled than the Select grade. The selection meat is very tender, juicy, and flavorful and just like prime beef, it is great for dry-heat cooking. Only tender cuts such as rib, loin, and sirloin are cooked with dry heat.

Select Grade

Select grade beef is also easily obtainable in the supermarket. It has uniform quality, fairly tender, and leaner than prime and choice grades. It has the least marbling and thus, it has less juice and flavor than the higher grades. It's best marinated before cooking or braised to have tenderness and flavor.

Other grades that the USDA offers are standard, commercial, utility, cutter, and canner. Both standard and commercial grades are sold in brand-name packages while utility, cutter, and canner are used for by-products just like ground beef or hotdogs.

The Cut

Cuts are classified into three sections. From top of the back taking to the mid back, you find the rib, the short loin, and the sirloin. The rib is the least tender among the three. It is where you get the Rib-eye Roast, Rib Roast, and the back ribs. The short loin contains the T-Bone, Top Loin Steak, Porterhouse and the Tenderloin. The Sirloin creates the Sirloin Steak and the Top Sirloin.
Probably the most tender cut, but less flavorful of the beef is the tenderloin. It is where you get the filet mignon, Chateaubriand, and tournedos. The rib-eye, rib steak, and the sirloin cuts are less tender but much more flavorful than the tenderloin.

Yield Grades

Aside from the quality grade, the USDA evaluates the beef into yield grades. It refers to the amount of lean meat that can be derived from the beef carcass. It is determined by the quantity of external fat; amount of kidney, pelvic, and heart fat; the area of the rib eye muscle; and warm carcass weight. Yield grades are applied without regard to quality grade.

Realizing grading and cuts when purchasing meat is not enough to get the best beef. You should also use your senses to check for firmness and freshness of the beef. So having known these, the very next time you buy beef, you know better what is most effective for you.

At the Farmers Market Raleigh, North Carolina, you will find fresh grass-fed beef as well as pastured pork nags head and other farm produce of North Carolina. So come and visit and get yourself the best beef that fit your needs.

 

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