I’m beginning to wonder if certain cuts of Beef are regional

Forums: Cooking, Food, Beef, Prime Rib, Regional Meats
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In California at most steak houses you could order a Prime Rib dinner any night of the week. Most steak houses here in Florida have it on the menu one day out of the week. For instance Fleming’s, one of the finer steak houses in our area but they only serve it on Sundays.

I never cooked a prime rib before but its one of my favorites so while out shopping yesterday I stopped in three different stores and they don’t carry it. I even made the mistake of going to Sam’s club to see if they had it, they don’t carry it either. I guess if I want to make a Prime Rib dinner I may have to order one online from a butcher in Texas. Sigh!

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It is extremely difficult to cook a prime rib, and it will be tender a juicy for a very short period of time. I suspect that that is what motivates the restaurants. The store probably don't carry it because few people attempt to cook a prime rib. It may well be that where you lived in California there was enough call for prime ribe to justify those restaurants running it as a daily menu item.

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@Setanta,

Setanta wrote:

It is extremely difficult to cook a prime rib, and it will be tender a juicy for a very short period of time. I suspect that that is what motivates the restaurants.

I’ve been finding that out. I have been looking at different recipes for Prime Rib. One I found said it took five hours to cook! Almost like cooking a turkey.

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I’m beginning to wonder if certain cuts of Beef are regional

you're right, here's a map of where the different cuts come from Razz

http://www.tomfridaysmarket.com/images/CUTS%20OF%20BEEF/Beef%20Cuts%20Color.gif

1 Reply

@djjd62,

Looks like the rear end gets shipped to Florida! Razz

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@jcboy,

Find a butcher shop or a meat market; grocery stores won't carry that kind of cut.

You cook prime rib as a BIG hunk of meat, and cut the steaks off after it's cooked. That big hunk of meat is expensive, so you won't find it at a grocery store.

Furthermore, if you want it aged, then you will really need to find a specialty shop.

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@Setanta,

I'm agreeing with Set, re the cooking.
The original Lawry's restaurant, on La Cienega Blvd. in Los Angeles, was wildly popular for it's prime rib dinners. I think it's still there. I remember thinking it was a wonderful place - I've no doubt they made prime rib popular in southern California. Lawry's sells a seasoning salt, at least in the CA area, maybe nationally, which people may recognize, but I don't know about the popularity of prime rib in the rest of the country. I'll am almost positive they served it at the stockyard adjacent inns I've been to in the past, Chicago's Stockyard Inn and Omaha's Johnny's, and there was probably a similar one in Sioux City and Denver too.

Just saw DD's post - I bet he's right. I don't remember prime rib being at my butcher shop here. It might have to be a special order.

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@jcboy,

I live in central Florida, and I don't often see prime rib roasts. Publix did have a special on it during the holidays, when people tend to have company and make dinner for quite a few people.

A prime rib is a large, expensive cut of meat. If it were not sold, it would cost the store quite bit, as opposed to a couple of rib steaks. I think that if you asked the butcher, he could cut you a prime rib roast, from meat that he would otherwise cut into steaks.

It seems to me that I saw rib steaks in Costco, so you could probably get a roast there.

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@jcboy,

You're not going to find anything labeled "prime rib" in most stores since most "prime" meat never makes it to the retail market. They can't label meat as prime if it isn't prime.

"Prime" is a grade of beef, the highest grade, followed by "choice" and "select". (Stay away from select.)

What you want to ask for is a rib roast. You can get them bone in (preferred) or without bones. If you get one with bones ask the butcher to cut them off and tie them back on.

"Prime rib" really refers to a certain technique of cooking a rib roast, in most cases.

I cook them all the time. I cooked one for Christmas and I have one ready to go for this Sunday that I'm cutting into steaks for opening night of our family's 4 day celebration where Mo gets all of his favorite foods.

Cooking them really isn't hard. If you want to know how I do it I'll be happy to pass it along.

3 Replies

@boomerang,

I used this recipe once, and it turned out great:

http://americanfood.about.com/od/meatsandpoultry/r/primerib.htm

1 Reply

@boomerang,

Glad to know I was off about the cooking difficulty.

0 Replies

@boomerang,

boomerang wrote:

You're not going to find anything labeled "prime rib" in most stores since most "prime" meat never makes it to the retail market. They can't label meat as prime if it isn't prime.

"Prime" is a grade of beef, the highest grade, followed by "choice" and "select". (Stay away from select.)

I do think that 'prime rib' is just the name for this kind of rib, not for the grade:

Quote:

A standing rib roast, if sliced when uncooked, would yield a number of rib steaks. Rib eye steaks result from removing the bones and most of the fat and lesser muscles (tail).
A colloquial and popular term for this cut is “prime rib”. Historically, this name stands out regardless of the grade. In addition, the USDA acknowledges this historical note by not requiring the cut "to be derived from USDA Prime grade beef".

Quote:

Source

1 Reply

@DrewDad,

I've used similar recipes before I discovered the one that works best for me. I quit using the high heat for the first part of cooking the roast after reading a lot about searing -- searing really dries meat out so it's best to start any meat out at a low temperature then just sear briefly for color at the end of cooking.

What made a HUGE difference in the outcome of my rib roasts was learning to dry age the meat. Since I don't have a commercial refrigerator I only dry age my roasts for a maximum of three days (cooking it on the forth day).

The difference is really amazing and worth planning ahead for.

1 Reply

@Walter Hinteler,

I also said:

Quote:

"Prime rib" really refers to a certain technique of cooking a rib roast, in most cases.

What I've found is that most butchers won't label a rib roast as prime.

1 Reply

Well, i'm impressed. I've known a lot of chefs in my day, and many of them have said it is very difficult to get it just right. One chef i knew, for whom i moonlighted on weekends, bought two standing rib roasts out of his own pocket. The first one he screwed up so badly, in his opinion, that we ate the center cuts and he threw the rest away. The second one turned out pretty well, although he complained that it had not been aged as the distributor advertised. After that, he would only cook them on special order, but he learned the knack of getting them just right--hot, juicy and so tender it just melted in your mouth. (The chef and the sous chef have to test these things, you know.)

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@boomerang,

Boomer- You are right about the term, prime. In terms of a rib roast, I always used the term "prime rib" as a generic for a standing rib roast, even though the meat might not actually be "prime".

BTW, Costco carries some prime meat in their warehouses.

As far as "select" is concerned, most supermarkets don't carry it, but Wal-Mart does. I don't usually shop there, but one day I needed something for dinner, and they had something called a "chuck tender roast". It was a plain hunk of meat, with very little fat on it.

I braised the hell out of it, and it was actually very good.

1 Reply

@Phoenix32890,

I usually buy my choice rib roasts at Costco because the price beats Whole Foods. And Costco's are really good! I didn't know they carried prime. That could be dangerous information for me to have.

Braising the hell out of anything makes it taste good. I braised some pork ribs the other day and finished them on the grill. It's my new favorite way to cook them.

Actually, I braise my rib roasts. I cook them in my dutch oven with the lid cracked just a tiny bit, at 225 for a couple of hours. I just leave the searing until the end so it isn't quite braising in the traditional sense.

1 Reply

@boomerang,

Yeah, I've read that about searing too. Not sure where, maybe the cooking chemistry whiz, Harold McGee, but I've read that more than once. When I sear my pork for adobo or what I'm starting later today, pork chile verde, I just give it a quick kiss and a promise - do not try to brown it all, at all - and the rest of it is a very slow and low braise (it's stew meat). Maybe I'll graduate to no half-assed searing. (Stay tuned)

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@boomerang,

This is a good thread jcboy started - I'm learning a lot.

2 Replies

@ossobuco,

On Harold McGee, I think I love him, and I haven't even read one of his books.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_McGee

0 Replies

I’m beginning to wonder if certain cuts of Beef are regional

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