I just tried OMAHA STEAKS for the first time...

[thefed]

My last/only prior experience with Omaha Steaks was 15 years ago, as a child. My grandmother used to order them all the time and bring them to our house when she'd come to town. Always bacon wrapped filets.


Fast forward 15 years. I try different cuts of meat all the time. I experiment with marinades, cooking times, different butchers, freezing methods (it' very important to me that I can freeze the steaks. I'm not running to the store every time I get the urge!) etc. I can NEVER nail it down 100%. Too dry, too rare, too tough, REALLY tough, etc.


Enter Omaha Steaks. I orderd $100 worth of steaks with a gift card I got from my credit card company's reward program. My friend told me to cook these 1" thick, 7 oz sirloins for exactly 5 minutes per side on the grill, with the temp hovering at 400 degress.


Baaaaaaaaam! Nailed it right on the head....very flavorful, perfect texture, perfect color, PERFECT!! If the next batch goes as well, I'm ordering more.

I wish they were a touch cheaper, but I'm willing to pay for these properly frozen cuts of meat. Unless someone else can steer me tward another quality source, I'm stickin with Omaha!

 

[BigMoneyJim]

Unless someone else can steer me . . .

<sophomoric giggling>

 

[OAG]

Go to the Butcher behind the Meat Counter at almost ANY decent Grocery Store (Kroger, Winn Dixie, etc.). They can tell you what they can cut for you for about 1/2 the price if not less.

 

[Goonie]

Go to the Butcher behind the Meat Counter at almost ANY decent Grocery Store (Kroger, Winn Dixie, etc.). They can tell you what they can cut for you for about 1/2 the price if not less.

Yup, you got that right! I go to the butcher shop a few blocks from home, and he cuts whatever I want for WAY less than Omaha! He's not quite as cheap as the local grocery store butcher, but he buys better meat than the grocery store, and he trims off the excess fat before he weighs & prices it. He also throws in some nice 'taters for baking, and once in a while he'll throw in something else with a "Here, try this and see how ya like it!"

It's also nice to know that I'm helping support him and his family, and not just some greedy corporation. And he always shows appreciation for my business!

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Got them twice and they were just fair to middling, at a hideous per pound price.

Americas test kitchen did a whole taste test involving everything from the expensive Wagyu beef to mail order steaks to supermarket brands.

Excepting Lobels (at something like $80 a pound), supermarket steaks equaled the quality of the mail order steaks.

I do appreciate the convenience factor of a nice variety of omaha stuff when theres one of those fun fatwallet deals where you click funny links and swindle in a couple of coupon codes and get it for half price with free shipping.

And the thick foam cooler it comes in is the bomb. I still use the last one we got for beach trips.

Any fun uses for the dry ice other than putting it in a bucket of water and letting the fog freak out the dogs?

I like to get a full filet at Costco for $9.99/lb and trim/slice it at home myself. Its really not that much trouble.

 

[OAG]

CFB-It is fun with the dry ice -- I used to throw them into the pond behind the house down in FL. Second childhood stuff?

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I think i'm on my third, maybe fourth. The first one sucked.

I'll keep practicing until I get it perfect.

Actually on the cooler...I remember my old girlfriends mom bought us a huge Omaha package and it came in a humongous foam cooler with walls about 3" thick and a tight fitting lid. That was the best party cooler ever...it'd hold about 3 cases of beer + ice.

 

[thefed]

i prefer to take a piece and throw it in a 2 liter bottle with a little water in it. cap it fast, set it down, then throw 5 gal. bucket on top, opening down of course. then run! youtube has some vids of the results


my personal best is about 125 feet high

 

[bright eyed]

And the thick foam cooler it comes in is the bomb.

fo shizzle?



it's da' bomb

 

[bssc]

OK steaks. If you check on FW, they list Omaha Steak's sales.

 

[kramer]

Omaha steaks are the best steaks that you can ship -- but not the best steaks by far. Some friends and I once had a barbeque and we grilled half Omaha steaks and half Safeway steaks (just bought in the meat section, not specially cut) and had a taste test. Everyone preferred the Safeway steaks by far.

Kramer

 

[haha]

Omaha steaks are the best steaks that you can ship -- but not the best steaks by far. Some friends and I once had a barbeque and we grilled half Omaha steaks and half Safeway steaks (just bought in the meat section, not specially cut) and had a taste test. Everyone preferred the Safeway steaks by far.

In Seattle some QFCs in good neighborhoods have a special on site cooler with a glass front where they hang whole loins for varying times. A boneless trimmed rib-eye or strip steak costs $20-$22/pound, but both are unbelievably good for that special occasion. (Such as husband is retiring, or even better wifey is going back to a high paying job because she loves it. )

Ha

 

[Bigritchie]

Kobe Beef from Japan. 200 bucks for a steak, but amazing.

Make sure though, as alot of places sell "kobe Beef" but it isnt.

If you ever go to Japan try it out!

 

[chinaco]

counterfeit Kobe? Why not, there are knock-offs for everything else!

 

[ladelfina]

tie-in to the Chinese boycott / food distribution thread
http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/care-to-join-my-little-protest-28547.html

Who's paying to get rid of all of these massive styrofoam coolers
(I assume only a fraction get 'recycled' in one way or another..)




The dry ice?: put it in your fridge or freezer to save energy and $$!

 

[FinanceDude]

They're ok, but overrated..........

At least that's what my friend who used to be a USDA meat inspector tells me...........

However, based on what she told me, stay away from chicken.........

 

[HFWR]

I've been happy with the quality and price of meat from Costco.

 

[Goonie]

Who's paying to get rid of all of these massive styrofoam coolers
(I assume only a fraction get 'recycled' in one way or another..)

My Mom used to get some of her prescription meds shipped to her in those large styro coolers like what Omaha uses. I used them for planting containers for flowers and herbs. Just poked a couple of holes in the bottom, filled them with potting mix, and planted the seeds....they worked great and didn't dry out as fast as most other containers. I still have a couple inside some nice wooden planters with perennials in them. They keep the wood from getting water marked, keep the root zone cooler, and don't need much attention or watering.

She doesn't get those meds anymore, so there's no more styro boxes for me. And I won't order steaks in order to get one!

 

[CuppaJoe]

Yeah, I too, ordered them on one of those "special" deals and did very much enjoy the tiny products but haven't ordered again.

I'll give a different viewpoint on the styro containers delivered to my work address. It looked to me like both an environmental disaster and was too big to take home on public transit. No doubt the janitor enjoyed it and the dry ice; I was pleased to see he took it, they don't usually take large unflattened boxes. It was easy to carry those small frozen bags home in a briefcase.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Good thing you didnt have your briefcase checked by the TSA.

"Code red...code red...we have a guy with frozen meat in his briefcase!"

 

[W2R]

Good thing you didnt have your briefcase checked by the TSA.

"Code red...code red...we have a guy with frozen meat in his briefcase!"

ROFL!!!
"And here we thought nail clippers and hand lotion were the most dangerous items we might find!!! Whew, that was close! We could have been...er...OMG, we could have been SATIATED!!"

 

[laurence]

Honestly, they just taste different to me. DW doesn't like them. I have about 4 in the freezer from the 10 steak "sample pack" I bought. They seem less juicy, but need less seasoning. Costco all the way for me. Their Sirloins are great weekly steaks, and the NY for special occasions.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Top sirloin...definitely the best meat deal out there. They look a little funny in the package at the store but they cook up gorgeous, good beefy flavor, nice and tender. This is what you usually get when you eat out at a steak house and get the generic 'steak' or 'sirloin" dishes.

Other thing my Costco started carrying which I've never seen outside a custom butcher shop is Flap Meat Steak. Butchers usually take this home or sell it to their buddies. This is a cut from the loin and looks like a cross between flank steak and skirt. Taste is similar but its a good bit more tender. Like Skirt I marinate it for about 2 hours in lime juice, cumin and a bit of olive oil, cook rare-medium-rare and slice on the bias against the grain. My wife really likes it.

 

[thefed]

Top sirloin...definitely the best meat deal out there. They look a little funny in the package at the store but they cook up gorgeous, good beefy flavor, nice and tender. This is what you usually get when you eat out at a steak house and get the generic 'steak' or 'sirloin" dishes.

Other thing my Costco started carrying which I've never seen outside a custom butcher shop is Flap Meat Steak. Butchers usually take this home or sell it to their buddies. This is a cut from the loin and looks like a cross between flank steak and skirt. Taste is similar but its a good bit more tender. Like Skirt I marinate it for about 2 hours in lime juice, cumin and a bit of olive oil, cook rare-medium-rare and slice on the bias against the grain. My wife really likes it.

top sirloin, huh? i bought a center cut sirloin, which i assumed would be better than top sirloin, for a taste test vs omaha....side by side....and omaha won, although the center cut sirloin form the local grocer had a better texture

 

[CyclingInvestor]

Anyone have any recs for a good butcher shop in Los Angeles (preferably Long
Beach area). While I have found some decent select and once in a while choice cuts,
sometimes I want some prime beef. Bristol Farms has some premium cuts (for $25+
a pound), but I wouldn't mind finding a retail butcher to support. I had thought about
trying mail order, but from the comments so far it does not sound like a solution.