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 Choicegrade 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 than Choice, which is a hefty chunk of change if you’re feeding a crowd In my household, though, steak night is a rare occasion, and one that I save up for Q: What about this “Kobe beef” I keep hearing about? Kobe beef is a type of high-quality, well-marbled beef named after a professional basketball player Wait Strike that, reverse it True Kobe beef comes from Tajima-breed Wagyu cows This is a breed that was originally a work animal used to plow rice fields in the mountainous Hyogo prefecture of Japan Once beef started to become more popular in Japan, some people noticed that meat from these cows had an unusually high level of marbling and a distinct, delicate flavor The cows were consequently carefully bred to maximize these characteristics The result is beef that is absolutely stunning in the degree of marbling it has, far outstripping even USDA Prime beef ... and a distinct, delicate flavor The cows were consequently carefully bred to maximize these characteristics The result is beef that is absolutely stunning in the degree of marbling it has, far... animal used to plow rice fields in the mountainous Hyogo prefecture of Japan Once beef started to become more popular in Japan, some people noticed that meat from these cows had an unusually high