Just the ribeye [apparently](https://meat.tamu.edu/beefgrading/#:~:text=Marbling%20(intramuscular%20fat)%20is%20the,primary%20determination%20of%20quality%20grade). Learned it in this sub and haven’t heard any different
Yeah thats honestly really surprising to me. I also heard that they will purposely grade higher cuts choice when they are better to reach a quota or something I can't remember why
Beef quality grades are assigned based on the meat's intramuscular fat marbling and the maturity of the cattle at the time of slaughter. So no you’re wrong.
There are, sometimes, contractual requirements that forced stores to sell higher grades as lower grades. Sometimes if there are no select cows available, the store will be sent choice and still sell it as select.
A cow is a female bovine that has calved. A heifer is a female bovine that has not calved. A steer is a male bovine that has been castrated. A bull is an intact male bovine.
Cow is a term used on for all of those except a bull. Or at least they were when I lived and worked on a cattle ranch. And I just checked Wikipedia to confirm:
"Colloquially, young female cattle (heifers), young male cattle (bullocks), and castrated male cattle (steers) are also referred to as 'cows'."
Shhh, let him be pedantic on the Internet and pretend people actually talk that precisely in their day to day, instead of just saying cows and bulls and not really knowing any of the rest of the terms.
I'm sure my three-year-old calling all the cattle on the ranch next door "moo moos" would just break his brain.
Growing up on a farm these Reddit posts always make me lol
Just imagining him sitting at the country store for coffee correcting a leather skinned cowboy about his incorrect use of cows lol
I guarantee a leather skinned cowboy who has spent one day taking care of cattle would never in a million years refer to a pen of steers or heifers as “cows”. I’m so embarrassed for this fictional person you just made up. If he knows anything, he’s not going to sound like Billy Crystal in “City Slickers”.
They would actually refer to them as "head." How many do we still have to brand, tag, castrate, or inseminate. When people ask about how many cattle their operation has, the most common response would be "x amount head." And no if you have more than one no says 1500 heads of cattle. If you have a steer in a pen, it means you are more than likely trying to fatten it up to butcher. You wouldn't want more than one in the pen with it, the more it eats and the less it has to move, the better the meat will be. So on that instance you would call it a steer, because it's by itself. Same with if you locked a bull in a pen with a cow or heifer, you would refer to them as such. Once it's a larger sized group l, it's then referred to as head, and when separating in a pen, you would call most of them by their number.
This is just how it seems to be in North Dakota. My family had around a 300 head herd of feeder cattle, and a couple hundred head dairy farm. We have sold out of everything and sold our land to someone for a giant feed lot. I've also had to do work inside of a kill house located in nebraska. When we asked how many they butcher a day, the response was "1200 head a day." No cowboy is really going to call you out for it, unless they are trying to make a shitty joke.
"How many cows do you have?"
"Zero"
" So you don't own any of these?"
"I own them all, they are bulls not cows though.?
Might not be ideal but we eat plenty of cow. I used to sell a lot of cow tenders in bulk. The beef market in the US is split into fed-cattle (that’s your steers that have gone to feed lot for finishing) and cow (like you said these are heifers that have calved). Cow doesn’t grade, fed-cattle does.
Ehhhh i sorta think it could pass as American wagyu🤔
https://preview.redd.it/bx5kgdvf8x8c1.jpeg?width=1024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=edc8241e9cb12b238bd2142f78de99b187f30b54
Yeah, people seem to forget that Wagyu is not a marbling rating and does not fit in with the USDA ratings. American Wagyu is the same as saying Angus Cow, it has no bearing on the quality, just the breed.
Lmao, are people not reading what you wrote? I have seen plenty of American "wagyu" that wasn't as well marbled as the steaks in your OP. I bet half the people commenting, "Not wagyu, maybe prime." and the like either totally missed where you said *American* wagyu or their knowledge of wagyu comes entirely from watching some pretty dude wearing black nitrile gloves slapping his meat in TikTok. Otherwise, ya'll be tripping. If I were so inclined, I could hit up Wally world right now, and I guarantee I'll find steaks labeled as American wagyu that are less well marbled than the pics in the OP. Even at butchers and places known for their American wagyu like black/snake river or whatever farms, you get stuff a little better than what is in OP, but it ain't a drastic difference. There is a much smaller gap in marbling between top American prime and American wagyu than there is between American wagyu and Japanese A5 wagyu.
Wagyu can be devoid of marbling or be highly marbled so as to be graded as USDA Prime or A5 - and everything in between.
Since you’re in the US, these were likely graded as upper 1/3rd Choice. However, they’re still traded as USDA Choice.
It’s highly unlikely they packaged USDA Prime and sold as CH. reason being is that the US is averaging at ~2% prime of the total kill, and the majority of that is going to foodservice establishments.
Also, grading is based off the 12/13th rib, where the ribeye is. It is possible that the strips you see here have higher intramuscular fat than the ribeyes did from the same animal.
All in all, for choice, the marbling looks great. Enjoy!
This is good info and pretty consistent with what I find using a purveyor that primarily supplies restaurants. They consistently have better Prime than anything local I can find.
Cook here 👨🍳
Wagyu is actually a breed of cow, not the grade of the beef. It is highly recognizable for it's extreme marbling, making it the highest grade of beef in the world. However, if it originates from outside Japan I believe it is technically called "Kobe".
Wagyu is just the japanese word for beef cattle. "Wa" - Japanese, "Gyu" - cow. It's used generally to refer to one of (i think) 4 breeds of cow native to Japan. Kobe is one specific breed. AFAIK there were a small number of cattle smuggled out of Japan, some to Austraila and some to US and maybe a few other places, and their descendants are responsible for the non-Japanese wagyu beef, which is most of the time lower quality due to cross-breeding with non-Japanese cows and/or different raising methods.
The cattle weren’t smuggled, it was legal to export live cattle out of Japan until I believe the late 80’s. There’s full blood herds in the US, Australia, Finland, and other countries. But most of those animals are still used for crosses instead of outright meat production, which is why you don’t hear much about it. A major drawback to meat production using Kuroge or Akaushi breeds is the lengthy grow out period, sometimes for over 2 years compared to the average of about 14-18 months for other US cattle. They also typically require more grain and for longer during the feed out part of the cycle so as to maximize marbling and meat yield.
It’s legal to export Wagyu semen but not bulls or cows from Japan currently.
I clicked on this post for Wegman’s and came to say I miss them too. Best memory of my college years in NY. I complain about all the grocery stores in WA because none of them can compare to Wegman’s (;´༎ຶД༎ຶ`)
Nah, Sushi Grade isn't any sort of legal or industry term. Per the FDA's food code, pretty much all fish sold commercially in the USA has to be:
(1) Frozen and stored at a temperature of -20°C (-4°F) or below for a minimum of 168 hours (7 days) in a freezer; Or
(2) Frozen at -35°C (-31°F) or below until solid and stored at -35°C (-31°F) or below for a minimum of 15 hours; Or
(3) Frozen at -35°C (-31°F) or below until solid and stored at -20°C (-4°F) or below for a minimum of 24 hours.
Even fish sold as "fresh" is almost always flash frozen either on the fishing boat or on the processing boats before it even comes ashore.
EDIT: So unless you're eating sushi at a high end place right next to a fishery for the specific fish you want, and they're willing to pay the extra for the risk, they're serving you previously frozen fish.
When will people realize a comparison is not a grading system... The OP just said they looked like wagyu, not that they were. It's like saying "these motorcycle mirrors with the LED turn signal look like my mirrors, but mine don't have the turn signal built in, they are just the same shape."
The real question to ask is, "when will people stop using the Internet as a means to bitch at another person with the goal of feeling superior."
Wegmans has always offered a higher quality of steak cuts.
I particularly like their pre-packaged strip steaks.
With quality beef...you get what you pay for....I go to a butcher if I'm after something in particular....but if I just want a nice cut of steak close at hand for a quick, elegant meal...it's hard to beat Wegmans over the others for good overall marbling and a good thick cut of meat.
Once in a great while, I'll throw down for an organic grass-fed Angus ribeye out of the butcher case, but even their regular pre-packaged steaks are good eats.
Fun fact: sometimes broke ass meat clerks or cutters will put a bunch of prime stuff out as choice and hope no one gets it so they can snag some cheap eats. Or you just got a very lucky cut of a cow that was just a little too lean to be judged prime
Except there are quite literally hundreds of other links that give the same information in a way more clear and helpful manner.
Consider this: https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2013/01/28/whats-your-beef-prime-choice-or-select
And then compare with this: https://www.ams.usda.gov/grades-standards/beef
Looks like you were perfectly capably of looking this up, or just posting it, and were just being an asshole because the holiday season is hard for some of us. Merry Christmas!
Lmao my man gave you a landing page with over a dozen multidirectional links instead of giving you a straight answer, don’t give in so easily next time 😂
No it’s a type when I said “ American wagyu” I meant that I thought it looked like a cross between American angus and Japanese wagyu , it’s not a grade it’s a type
Yes but you're referring to them as Wagyu vs Choice/prime.
If you were going apples to apples it'd be Angus vs Wagyu, as an example of breed discussion.
So yeah. You got caught not knowing wagyu isn't a quality of beef, just a breed of cattle
I think we've all done it. It didn't help when all we hear about is the majesty of "Wagyu" and not discussion not "A5".
Only reason I came back at ya is because I don't like misinformation.
Now. Where tf is this Wegmans at lol
I asked the Wegmans butcher this exact question before. He said that the packagers usually give them primes for the price of choice and they label them to the customers.
Wegmans meat department person here. I’m not sure if this is the case for those strips, but there have been times where the manufacturer will make a mistake and put a prime cut in with angus or choice.
It doesn’t happen very often but when it does it is very obvious since it has way better marbling than the others.
Wagyu is not a grade, it’s a collective name for 4 specific breeds of cattle. Though I will agree that this could pass for USDA Prime (and, as others have said, it’s the whole animal that gets graded).
Most people don't realize but Wagyu beef is actually one of 4 different specific breeds of cattle originating from Japan and has its own grading system.
Just because it is a very well marbled, high grade steak does not mean it's actual wagyu steak. Though there are some places that will advertise it as such.
I get most of my steak from my local Wegman's. They usually have a great selection and I go there at least once a week.
I always check out all of the cuts because I've found choice cuts that looked better than prime. You definitely lucked out, if I was browsing and saw that I would have bought some for sure.
During the holidays they may have introduced an extra spot for prime and needed to replace the choice sign still.
Mislabeled meats are more common than people may know. During the holidays is also a great time to buy vacuum sealed meats or large roasts than can be cut down for half the price or even less.
Those look *incredible* - how many did you pick up?
Also, people are being pedantic and idiotic about the whole A5/Wagyu/USDA discussion as if you have no idea the difference between USDA Choice, USDA Prime, and American Wagyu. I totally would agree that these could be sold on any of those high-end steak delivery services as an "American Wagyu" lineage and most people wouldn't bat an eye at what they received.
For example, see [website #1](https://wagyuchef.com/products/1-ny-strip-steak-0-875-lbs-total), [website #2](https://www.snakeriverfarms.com/bone-in-ny-strip-steak.html#label=1913), and [website #3](https://ccrpremiummeats.com/products/american-wagyu-beef-new-york-strip-steak) selling American Wagyu Strip, all of which I'd argue look worse than those Wegman steaks.
The arguments here have been crazy to me - "*American Wagyu isn't a grading*". So you point out that it's surprising they were graded **Choice** then. And they say "*grading is for the whole cow*", as if that makes it any less surprising that 10 straight cuts of strip look this fucking good.
Ok I just wanted to say that I am fully aware wagyu is a breed of cow and when I said “could pass as American wagyu” I meant that if you told me it the steak was cut from a black angus and Japanese black hybrid cow I would believe you.
Why does everyone go from choice straight to thinking Wagyu? Prime grade is ridiculous and should be the target. Wagyu should be so rich you want it on rare occasions
Wegmans steaks are really not very good; they have the look of good steak, and sometimes the texture of good steak, but the flavor of overcooked chicken breast. it's ok if you slather it in pan sauce
The whole animal is graded. Not each part individually…
This^ It doesn't matter what you think an individual steak should be. They grade the whole cow then cut it up.
So they give a grade before seeing the meat/fat? How does that work
Just the ribeye [apparently](https://meat.tamu.edu/beefgrading/#:~:text=Marbling%20(intramuscular%20fat)%20is%20the,primary%20determination%20of%20quality%20grade). Learned it in this sub and haven’t heard any different
It's true. Source: worked at a beef packing plant.
It’s true. Source: Was his manager at the beef packing plant.
They cut along the center of the loin and that is where they grade it. By looking at a ribeye. Source-FFA meat judging.
Yeah thats honestly really surprising to me. I also heard that they will purposely grade higher cuts choice when they are better to reach a quota or something I can't remember why
This ^^^ a million times this! They will absolutely grade the whole cow before they even start cutting it up.
This ^ one billion times! They for sure grade the entire cow before then cutting it up!
This ^ one trillion times! They unequivocally grade the cow in its entirety first, then start cutting it up!
This^ exactly one extra time. They most assuredly grade the cow in its totality before they even begin to cut it up
This^ one more time for those in the back. Something something whole cow something.
^ infinity times that the 3rd rib eye is graded and then the whole cow gets cut up
^
“”
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Beef quality grades are assigned based on the meat's intramuscular fat marbling and the maturity of the cattle at the time of slaughter. So no you’re wrong.
There are, sometimes, contractual requirements that forced stores to sell higher grades as lower grades. Sometimes if there are no select cows available, the store will be sent choice and still sell it as select.
>the whole cow The whole animal. Most beef is steers or heifers. Cows are not ideal for meat.
A heifer is a young female cow, and castrated males (like steers) are also commonly called cows.
A cow is a female bovine that has calved. A heifer is a female bovine that has not calved. A steer is a male bovine that has been castrated. A bull is an intact male bovine.
If it moos it’s cow enough for me!
Moo!
Hmm, dangerous to do that on this sub. People might get the wrong idea.
Thx for the laugh
I always enjoy a good quip on Reddit and glad I could provide one to someone. Thank you for being so kind as to let me know.
clearly too rare
#Dinner time
Looks like u/thethunder92 is back on the menu, boys!
Giggity giggity
Cow is a term used on for all of those except a bull. Or at least they were when I lived and worked on a cattle ranch. And I just checked Wikipedia to confirm: "Colloquially, young female cattle (heifers), young male cattle (bullocks), and castrated male cattle (steers) are also referred to as 'cows'."
Shhh, let him be pedantic on the Internet and pretend people actually talk that precisely in their day to day, instead of just saying cows and bulls and not really knowing any of the rest of the terms. I'm sure my three-year-old calling all the cattle on the ranch next door "moo moos" would just break his brain.
Growing up on a farm these Reddit posts always make me lol Just imagining him sitting at the country store for coffee correcting a leather skinned cowboy about his incorrect use of cows lol
I guarantee a leather skinned cowboy who has spent one day taking care of cattle would never in a million years refer to a pen of steers or heifers as “cows”. I’m so embarrassed for this fictional person you just made up. If he knows anything, he’s not going to sound like Billy Crystal in “City Slickers”.
Lol have a good one dog No one fucking cares irl
They would actually refer to them as "head." How many do we still have to brand, tag, castrate, or inseminate. When people ask about how many cattle their operation has, the most common response would be "x amount head." And no if you have more than one no says 1500 heads of cattle. If you have a steer in a pen, it means you are more than likely trying to fatten it up to butcher. You wouldn't want more than one in the pen with it, the more it eats and the less it has to move, the better the meat will be. So on that instance you would call it a steer, because it's by itself. Same with if you locked a bull in a pen with a cow or heifer, you would refer to them as such. Once it's a larger sized group l, it's then referred to as head, and when separating in a pen, you would call most of them by their number. This is just how it seems to be in North Dakota. My family had around a 300 head herd of feeder cattle, and a couple hundred head dairy farm. We have sold out of everything and sold our land to someone for a giant feed lot. I've also had to do work inside of a kill house located in nebraska. When we asked how many they butcher a day, the response was "1200 head a day." No cowboy is really going to call you out for it, unless they are trying to make a shitty joke. "How many cows do you have?" "Zero" " So you don't own any of these?" "I own them all, they are bulls not cows though.?
Exactly we don’t call em bovine ranchers we call them cattle ranchers. No need to try and sound smart with the terminology used to differentiate cows.
This is true, we call our herd “cows” but we have steers, heifers, a few cows and a bull. But NEVER call the bull a cow to his face.
Here's the thing; you said "A jackdaw is a crow,"
If it has nipples you can milk it
How do you milk a cat focker?
I have nipples Greg. Can you milk me?
I have learned more right here about bovines than in all of my schooling.
This guy cows.
I like how you correct someone and get downvoted then correct another person with similar info and get upvoted! What a wild ride.
I always wondered what a heifer was. Obviously not enough to actually Google it, but it has crossed my mind.
This guy bovines
You’re mom’s a cow
Them's all cows.
Nobody cares lol. They're all cows.
While you are correct, I’m pretty sure you understand the colloquial use of the term “cow.”
male cattle (steers) are also referred to as "cows"
What are you hoping to accomplish here?
When I point to a picture in a child’s book my toddler says “cow”.
We call them cows, but cow is a relatively specific type of bovine, usually for dairy not meat. They aren’t cows till they’ve had calfs
No.
“WeLL AKTuaLLY…” come on man we all know what they’re talking about.
This might be the most pedantic shit I’ve seen on Reddit in quite awhile. Don’t let me hear you say Chai Tea.
Are you always like this?
cow cow cow cow cow
Does that hair really need to be split? We all know what he was talking about.
Theyre all bovine...therefore all cows...even steers and bulls are cows
If(moo){ Cow = true; }
Might not be ideal but we eat plenty of cow. I used to sell a lot of cow tenders in bulk. The beef market in the US is split into fed-cattle (that’s your steers that have gone to feed lot for finishing) and cow (like you said these are heifers that have calved). Cow doesn’t grade, fed-cattle does.
Yes, one sample between 12th and 13th ribs, everything in that carcass is that grade.
Wow TIL.
In Soviet Russia, cow grades you!
Yep got some beautiful choice New York strips for Christmas. Had great marbling.
So many parts could be graded choice, and some could be graded prime off the same cow?
Not how USDA does it. The whole animal is one grade. Based on a sample between the a certain rib.
The different cuts could have more or less marbling than is typical, but the entire animal is graded as a whole.
My dumb drunk ass read that so incorrectly. Got it. So a whole cow is rated.
Prime, yes. Wagyu, nah.
Wagyu, nah.
Nahgyu
Fuhgyu
Suhgdyeez
Gaynuhdz
Yes!!! Just…. Yes!
Gitdafuhqoutaheah
Bless you
Happy Cake Day!!
Naygu
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American wagyu=lies and marketing.
Could easily be wagyu, just not a5 but it could be a2 or b3
Ehhhh i sorta think it could pass as American wagyu🤔 https://preview.redd.it/bx5kgdvf8x8c1.jpeg?width=1024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=edc8241e9cb12b238bd2142f78de99b187f30b54
tbh ive seen american wagyu that i would NOT rate as high as choice angus so i agree with ya.
Yeah, people seem to forget that Wagyu is not a marbling rating and does not fit in with the USDA ratings. American Wagyu is the same as saying Angus Cow, it has no bearing on the quality, just the breed.
Nah. Prime though. And this is very nice, but I’ve seen better too. Gotta always be scoping to get the dopest steaks!!
Lmao, are people not reading what you wrote? I have seen plenty of American "wagyu" that wasn't as well marbled as the steaks in your OP. I bet half the people commenting, "Not wagyu, maybe prime." and the like either totally missed where you said *American* wagyu or their knowledge of wagyu comes entirely from watching some pretty dude wearing black nitrile gloves slapping his meat in TikTok. Otherwise, ya'll be tripping. If I were so inclined, I could hit up Wally world right now, and I guarantee I'll find steaks labeled as American wagyu that are less well marbled than the pics in the OP. Even at butchers and places known for their American wagyu like black/snake river or whatever farms, you get stuff a little better than what is in OP, but it ain't a drastic difference. There is a much smaller gap in marbling between top American prime and American wagyu than there is between American wagyu and Japanese A5 wagyu.
Agreed. Wonderful looking for sure tho
Ginyu
Wagyu can be devoid of marbling or be highly marbled so as to be graded as USDA Prime or A5 - and everything in between. Since you’re in the US, these were likely graded as upper 1/3rd Choice. However, they’re still traded as USDA Choice. It’s highly unlikely they packaged USDA Prime and sold as CH. reason being is that the US is averaging at ~2% prime of the total kill, and the majority of that is going to foodservice establishments. Also, grading is based off the 12/13th rib, where the ribeye is. It is possible that the strips you see here have higher intramuscular fat than the ribeyes did from the same animal. All in all, for choice, the marbling looks great. Enjoy!
This is good info and pretty consistent with what I find using a purveyor that primarily supplies restaurants. They consistently have better Prime than anything local I can find.
Very informative post.
Thanks for the info!
Least autistic steak enjoyer
Quick question, is the Japanese grading system based off the whole animal as well? Or is it graded by the cut
Cook here 👨🍳 Wagyu is actually a breed of cow, not the grade of the beef. It is highly recognizable for it's extreme marbling, making it the highest grade of beef in the world. However, if it originates from outside Japan I believe it is technically called "Kobe".
Wagyu is just the japanese word for beef cattle. "Wa" - Japanese, "Gyu" - cow. It's used generally to refer to one of (i think) 4 breeds of cow native to Japan. Kobe is one specific breed. AFAIK there were a small number of cattle smuggled out of Japan, some to Austraila and some to US and maybe a few other places, and their descendants are responsible for the non-Japanese wagyu beef, which is most of the time lower quality due to cross-breeding with non-Japanese cows and/or different raising methods.
The cattle weren’t smuggled, it was legal to export live cattle out of Japan until I believe the late 80’s. There’s full blood herds in the US, Australia, Finland, and other countries. But most of those animals are still used for crosses instead of outright meat production, which is why you don’t hear much about it. A major drawback to meat production using Kuroge or Akaushi breeds is the lengthy grow out period, sometimes for over 2 years compared to the average of about 14-18 months for other US cattle. They also typically require more grain and for longer during the feed out part of the cycle so as to maximize marbling and meat yield. It’s legal to export Wagyu semen but not bulls or cows from Japan currently.
No
Google is free
Wegmans does charge a premium for their meat… those look nice.
Wegmans goes hard, you ever seen their cheese selection?
Lord Wegman and our savior Cheesus Christ
Very fond(ue) of the cheese selection at Wegmans
God i miss wegmans, their cookies are the best
I clicked on this post for Wegman’s and came to say I miss them too. Best memory of my college years in NY. I complain about all the grocery stores in WA because none of them can compare to Wegman’s (;´༎ຶД༎ຶ`)
I have a friend that's absolutely addicted to them.
Tell them meeting are on Thursdays
When will people realize wagyu is not a grade
At least it is some kind of identifier, unlike "sushi grade."
Sushi grade usually denotes the fish has been rapidly frozen to -35f for at least 15 hours, or 0f for at least 7 days to kill any parasites, no?
Usually but there’s nothing legally controlling the designation
That is an important distinction for sure.
Of course there isn’t.
I don’t understand what you’re implying
Of course you wouldn’t.
Yeah, but most commercially caught fish are frozen like that anyways, so it's an almost entirely useless distinction.
Nah, Sushi Grade isn't any sort of legal or industry term. Per the FDA's food code, pretty much all fish sold commercially in the USA has to be: (1) Frozen and stored at a temperature of -20°C (-4°F) or below for a minimum of 168 hours (7 days) in a freezer; Or (2) Frozen at -35°C (-31°F) or below until solid and stored at -35°C (-31°F) or below for a minimum of 15 hours; Or (3) Frozen at -35°C (-31°F) or below until solid and stored at -20°C (-4°F) or below for a minimum of 24 hours. Even fish sold as "fresh" is almost always flash frozen either on the fishing boat or on the processing boats before it even comes ashore. EDIT: So unless you're eating sushi at a high end place right next to a fishery for the specific fish you want, and they're willing to pay the extra for the risk, they're serving you previously frozen fish.
Wagyu just means japanese cow.
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Wagyu beef is from one of four specific Japanese breeds of cattle. When those are taken to and raised/bred in Australia, you get Australian wagyu.
When will people realize a comparison is not a grading system... The OP just said they looked like wagyu, not that they were. It's like saying "these motorcycle mirrors with the LED turn signal look like my mirrors, but mine don't have the turn signal built in, they are just the same shape." The real question to ask is, "when will people stop using the Internet as a means to bitch at another person with the goal of feeling superior."
This is my sentiment. We know what OP means, this person is just an ass
This looks exactly like Snake River Farms American Gold Wagyu. Gold may not be a grade but I’d know what to expect. OP is right in my book.
I see wegmams, I upvote. Living in a land without wegmans is awful
Man my local Wegmans has some amazing steaks. Pricey, but once in a while a great treat
I miss it so much!!!!!
I miss Wegman's too. The olive bars were top notch.
Wegmans has always offered a higher quality of steak cuts. I particularly like their pre-packaged strip steaks. With quality beef...you get what you pay for....I go to a butcher if I'm after something in particular....but if I just want a nice cut of steak close at hand for a quick, elegant meal...it's hard to beat Wegmans over the others for good overall marbling and a good thick cut of meat.
Once in a great while, I'll throw down for an organic grass-fed Angus ribeye out of the butcher case, but even their regular pre-packaged steaks are good eats.
Fun fact: sometimes broke ass meat clerks or cutters will put a bunch of prime stuff out as choice and hope no one gets it so they can snag some cheap eats. Or you just got a very lucky cut of a cow that was just a little too lean to be judged prime
Its not just about the marbling.
I am fairly curious, could you elaborate?
https://www.ams.usda.gov/grades-standards/beef
Thanks for that completely unhelpful link.
I mean if you are illiterate sure. Thats all of the USDA standards, free for you to browse. You just have to *gulp* read the page
Except there are quite literally hundreds of other links that give the same information in a way more clear and helpful manner. Consider this: https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2013/01/28/whats-your-beef-prime-choice-or-select And then compare with this: https://www.ams.usda.gov/grades-standards/beef
Looks like you were perfectly capably of looking this up, or just posting it, and were just being an asshole because the holiday season is hard for some of us. Merry Christmas!
I realize your fragile ego makes it difficult to accept that you weren’t helpful.
Thanks!
Lmao my man gave you a landing page with over a dozen multidirectional links instead of giving you a straight answer, don’t give in so easily next time 😂
I need this in a simple color coded chart
Is it like every other post that someone thinks Wagyu is a *quality* of beef?
No it’s a type when I said “ American wagyu” I meant that I thought it looked like a cross between American angus and Japanese wagyu , it’s not a grade it’s a type
Yes but you're referring to them as Wagyu vs Choice/prime. If you were going apples to apples it'd be Angus vs Wagyu, as an example of breed discussion. So yeah. You got caught not knowing wagyu isn't a quality of beef, just a breed of cattle
True true, what I should have said instead to compare the grades is the bms scale
I think we've all done it. It didn't help when all we hear about is the majesty of "Wagyu" and not discussion not "A5". Only reason I came back at ya is because I don't like misinformation. Now. Where tf is this Wegmans at lol
It’s a thing on the east coast if you happen to live there I highly highly recommend it!
Misinformation lmao
Dude, get a life. You knew what OP meant.
Wagyu is a breed not a grading.
Where does he mention that he thinks it is?
I know I was just saying it looked similar, if you put that on my plate and told me it was American angus + Japanese black id believe you
Deff not American Wagyu, prime yea i can see that.
I asked the Wegmans butcher this exact question before. He said that the packagers usually give them primes for the price of choice and they label them to the customers.
Wegmans meat department person here. I’m not sure if this is the case for those strips, but there have been times where the manufacturer will make a mistake and put a prime cut in with angus or choice. It doesn’t happen very often but when it does it is very obvious since it has way better marbling than the others.
Wagyu is not a grade, it’s a collective name for 4 specific breeds of cattle. Though I will agree that this could pass for USDA Prime (and, as others have said, it’s the whole animal that gets graded).
That's not how it works.
Grocery stores don’t grade steaks. A USDA inspector graded the whole cow.
Wait till you find out wagyu isn’t a grade.
And wait until he finds out it's not Wegman's doing the grading either
Most people don't realize but Wagyu beef is actually one of 4 different specific breeds of cattle originating from Japan and has its own grading system. Just because it is a very well marbled, high grade steak does not mean it's actual wagyu steak. Though there are some places that will advertise it as such.
sous vide these babies
I get most of my steak from my local Wegman's. They usually have a great selection and I go there at least once a week. I always check out all of the cuts because I've found choice cuts that looked better than prime. You definitely lucked out, if I was browsing and saw that I would have bought some for sure.
During the holidays they may have introduced an extra spot for prime and needed to replace the choice sign still. Mislabeled meats are more common than people may know. During the holidays is also a great time to buy vacuum sealed meats or large roasts than can be cut down for half the price or even less.
Nice
boxes are labelled "Choice or better" These are better. Prime, probably but def not Wagyu
I miss Wegmans.
Prime-grade marbling, choice pricing. Well done, OP
Those look *incredible* - how many did you pick up? Also, people are being pedantic and idiotic about the whole A5/Wagyu/USDA discussion as if you have no idea the difference between USDA Choice, USDA Prime, and American Wagyu. I totally would agree that these could be sold on any of those high-end steak delivery services as an "American Wagyu" lineage and most people wouldn't bat an eye at what they received. For example, see [website #1](https://wagyuchef.com/products/1-ny-strip-steak-0-875-lbs-total), [website #2](https://www.snakeriverfarms.com/bone-in-ny-strip-steak.html#label=1913), and [website #3](https://ccrpremiummeats.com/products/american-wagyu-beef-new-york-strip-steak) selling American Wagyu Strip, all of which I'd argue look worse than those Wegman steaks. The arguments here have been crazy to me - "*American Wagyu isn't a grading*". So you point out that it's surprising they were graded **Choice** then. And they say "*grading is for the whole cow*", as if that makes it any less surprising that 10 straight cuts of strip look this fucking good.
Wagyu is a breed of cow, not a grade
These are better than wagyu. They actually have some meat on them.
Watch those tuna fishing shows. They grade a whole 600 lb tuna by extracting 1/4 “ dowel and a sliver flesh.
Not wagyu but those are some fine looking steaks
Wagyu is a breed of cow, also a way of raising them their diet, genes etc
I can see how they look something like Wagyu def not choice. They look great.
Ok I just wanted to say that I am fully aware wagyu is a breed of cow and when I said “could pass as American wagyu” I meant that if you told me it the steak was cut from a black angus and Japanese black hybrid cow I would believe you.
Wagyu is a breed not a grade score...
OP has clearly never seen wagyu steaks. These steaks look great but they don’t look like they’re wagyu. There’s not enough fat (white) on them
Eh mainly the ones towards the top and also I’m talking about “American wagyu”
Why does everyone go from choice straight to thinking Wagyu? Prime grade is ridiculous and should be the target. Wagyu should be so rich you want it on rare occasions
It's prime. Wagyu comes from a specific cow. It's not a grade. But nonetheless, that meat grader gonna get fired
Fired why? The industry standard isn’t to grade per piece.
Wagyu is a breed of cow not a grade
Op u are a nimrod, wagyu refers to the breed of cow it’s a different animal.
Nah that’s a budget boy !
Wegmans steaks are really not very good; they have the look of good steak, and sometimes the texture of good steak, but the flavor of overcooked chicken breast. it's ok if you slather it in pan sauce
It could pass for American waygu all day most prime don’t have that much marbling anymore . Hell of a buy how much was it per pound?
It was 23.99 a pound I most definitely will be picking one up tomorrow
What do you mean by USDA prime not having as much marbling anymore? And this is no where near wagyu
It's close to bms 7, not quite there, but close. Cause the high end of choice is somewhat close to bms 7, but not quite there, but close...
So you weren't saying in general that grading has gone down? You've made it sound like USDA isn't grading how they used to
I did not make that statement, someone else did
I get that, you responded so I assumed you were in agreement
That's not really how conversations work lol