OMAHA STEAKS

Seeing that their marketing is inescabable and that they have a store on North Ave/Clyborne...

They definately have disparate offerings amongst their pricings among their directed email, internet and their store for the same product. This can be frustrating and confusing.

I have my own thoughts on some of the offerings...wondering what others thought and their insights....

An old friend in LA that I have not spoken to in years put me on the corporate Omaha list and forgot about it. Yeah, thats right, every 3 months for the last 20 years a box shows up and I stash it. The quality used to be incredible, last 5 Ok. The meat I used to score from my Allen Bros connection, was quite a bit better, till the resturant went under. My dad worked his way through college as a USDA meat inspector, in the old stockyards. Before he passed it was his opinion that there was no longer a significant difference between dry/wet aged beef. The marbling fats that carried the flavor of a properly seasoned and cooked steak were the essential point, and are purely a function of grade. The 1st time I took him to Sams Club he spent 20 minute in front the meat case. I thought, here it comes now, the production beef tirade, and was stunned to silence when he picked up a tray of NY strips. "pretty good steaks, good price", guess everything mellows with time.

Patrick,

Put two 12 oz. prime NY strip steaks side by side, identical in amount of marbling, the only difference being that one steak is wet aged while the other has been dry aged. Season identically and cook both to rare/medium rare. Taste. There will be a difference , which may or may not appeal to everyone.

I believe that the dry aged will have a more concentrated, complex flavor.

If you're ever in Tampa, try Bern's Steak House, one of the few restaurants where you could conduct this experiment.

During a call in Omaha several months ago, our local host pointed out the Omaha Steaks' owner across the room.

During the ensuing discussion, he mentioned that not only were Omaha Steaks no longer USDA Prime, they were not even Choice.

Well, that leaves Select (the grade below Choice).

Both Select and Good (the grade below Select) generally taste liver-y.

Wal-Mart sells mostly Select, as do Kroger stores.

Aging Select I guess could only improve Select meat some, although whether wet or dry seems academic.

FWIW.

Steve Drucker wrote:During the ensuing discussion, he mentioned that not only were Omaha Steaks no longer USDA Prime, they were not even Choice.

Steve,

I haven't had Omaha Steaks for years, and I was surprised to hear that they may not be using even Choice meat. So I called their 800 number, and they told me that, for their filets at least, they use "a combination of Prime and Choice." That's party line; I'm not saying it's so, and although I don't think much of Omaha Steaks, I'd be shocked if it turns out they're actually using Select or (gasp!) Good. I guess it remains a (somewhat) open issue.

David

I received as a gift six boxes of Omaha steaks a few years back. Definitely not the best that I have ever had and certainly not the worst. But the price YE_OWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Steve Drucker wrote:During a call in Omaha several months ago, our local host pointed out the Omaha Steaks' owner across the room.

Fred Simon, or is it a later generation by now? Fred and I are remotely related and he provided me with some counsel a long time ago when I was working on a project to market videos of a chamber opera (how bizarre does that sound?). Later on they were actually a customer of ours, and I have run into him at one or two family events, though he clearly has no clue who I am.

they use "a combination of Prime and Choice."

Not to impugn Steve's source, but that would have to be true, IMO. Omaha is all about image/marketing and using a crappy grade, below what is available in the supermarket, would eventually catch up with them. In any case, just because it is Prime or Choice does not mean it is particularly good or tasty, only that it (mostly and probably) meets the current USDA marbling guidelines for those grades - just let me know if you would like me to launch into my USDA grading rant once again.

Omaha Steaks also has the singular distinction of being the only telemarketer to ever call me on my cell phone. Now that I think of it, after the words I shared at that moment, they seem to have been avoiding me.

David Hammond wrote:I haven't had Omaha Steaks for years, and I was surprised to hear that they may not be using even Choice meat. So I called their 800 number, and they told me that, for their filets at least, they use "a combination of Prime and Choice." That's party line

Insofar as filet goes, its my understanding that size/weight, not grade (i.e.Prime or Choice), is the key quality indicator; bigger being better.

Makes sense--never did see a filet come out of the cryovac with marbling <grin>.