What Happens to Rest of Prime Beef?

First, let me say I love the flexibility of this board. Thanks so much for creating it! Abraus' steak question reminded me of a question I have had for a long time. Prime as I understand it refers to the grade of beef. In the butcher shops and high end stores I see plenty of prime steaks, but what happens to the rest of the cow? Where do the other cuts i.e. brisket, rump roast, pot roast, eye of round, ribs, ox tails etc. go? Has anyone ever cooked with prime 'other than steak' parts of the cow? Were you able to tell a difference in meat tenderness/ quality/ flavor? Where do you go to buy the other cuts? Just curious but in an 'I'd really like to try cooking these way.'

There's no real point, I don't think, to using prime for most of those cuts. Also, many are turned into ground beef, and since ground beef has a custom fat/muscle mixture anyway, grades don't matter.

generally you go with prime meat because you're going to cook it as a steak or a roast, and in those cases you need to derive the flavor and juiciness from the meat itself. for braises, smokes, and whatever else, you don't really need to rely on the meat.

so i'd say:

steaks and roasts: prime is the best, dry aged preferably.

stews, ground meat, etc: don't worry as much about grade. with ground beef you can't anyway.

so yeah.

-ed

Gleam and Mr. T,

After the rib, tenderloin, and short loin are broken down into steaks, the remainder is sold off as choice.