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Low prices for prime beef are a boon for home cooks, who can load up for grilling season. These include strip steaks: USDA Choice, top left; Dry-Aged, bottom left; American Kobe, top right; and Prime.

MCT photo

For steak-lovers, it’s like stumbling upon a hidden treasure. You’re in a warehouse club, and there, at the far end of the meat selection, is a stash of beef labeled “USDA Prime.”
Not only that: The rib-eye, for example, is selling for less than $11 a pound, only a few dollars more than the USDA Choice rib-eyes a few yards away.
“The price of Prime earlier this year was lower than it had been since before the millennium,” says Lou Rook III, chef at Annie Gunn’s restaurant in Chesterfield, Mo.
If you take advantage of those prices, your grilling-season dinner can contain the same grade of beef served in high-end steakhouses and restaurants.
Those restaurants used to snap up a huge portion of the Prime beef sold.
But the recession has hit special-occasion and expense-account restaurants particularly hard. Revenues for Morton’s Restaurant Group, parent of Morton’s The Steakhouse, are down 17 percent this year; Ruth’s Chris steakhouses have seen comparable restaurant sales in its most recent quarter drop 23 percent. As steakhouses buy less prime beef, more finds its way to retail shelves.
The more “marbling” — the amount of fat distributed evenly among the muscle — the higher the grade from the United States Department of Agriculture. According to USDA statistics, prime accounted for just 2.9 percent of the 21 billion pounds graded in 2008. By far the largest amount, 77.6 percent, fell into the next category down, Choice; 12.9 percent received the Select grade. The small remaining amount of beef was graded Standard, Commercial, Utility or Cutter.
Two of the signature steaks at Annie Gunn’s are a Prime strip steak and a Prime rib-eye. At the restaurant, Rook serves those steaks with a compound butter, but he makes them even more simply at home.
“Just salt and pepper and some whole butter — there’s nothing better,” Rook says. Before seasoning the steaks at home or at the restaurant, he brushes them with extra-virgin olive oil, although he says that regular olive oil, clarified butter or even canola oil will work for the home griller.
One thing most people can’t reproduce at home is the grilling temperature — 1,800 degrees — achieved in steakhouse kitchens. But Rook grills at between 700 and 800 degrees at Annie Gunn’s and at about 600 degrees on his home gas grill.
“I think that too high of a heat can char it and alter the flavor of the meat,” Rook says.
“Some people like that, and the steakhouses even boast that their steaks are charred.”
However, Rook says home cooks should get their grills as hot as possible.
“What you’re trying to do is caramelize the natural sugars to form that great crust,” Rook says. “That, in turn, will give the meat its optimum texture.”
If you want a great side dish for your great steak, try good old-fashioned green beans.

SAUTEED GARLIC

GREEN BEANS

Yield: 4 servings
Salt
1 pound slender green beans
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon finely chopped shallot
1 tablespoon minced garlic
Ground white pepper
1. Set a large bowl filled with water and ice cubes near the stove.
In a large pot partly filled with salted boiling water, cook beans for 2 to 3 minutes, until bright green. Drain and plunge into ice water.
Drain thoroughly. (If making ahead, pat dry, cover and refrigerate up to 1 day.)
2. In a large saute pan, melt butter over medium heat until bubbling. Add shallot and garlic and cook for about 30 seconds, just until softened.
3. Add beans, toss a few times and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Saute for about 2 minutes or until heated through. Serve immediately.
Per serving: 120 calories; 9g fat; 6g saturated fat; 25mg cholesterol; 2g protein; 10g carbohydrate; 2g sugar; 4g fiber; 3mg sodium; 60mg calcium.
Adapted from “Morton’s The Cookbook” by Klaus Fritsch (Clarkson Potter, 2009)

BEEF TERMINOLOGY

American Kobe: Beef produced in America from hybrids of the Wagyu breed, which is the source of Japan’s Kobe beef. American Kobe producers claim their beef can have more than 10 times the marbling required for the USDA Prime grade.

Certified Angus beef: A brand name for beef from Angus cattle; can be Choice or Prime grade. In addition, the beef meets specifications for marbling, maturity, uniformity, appearance and tenderness.

Choice: The second-highest grade given by the USDA, below Prime. Grades are based on the amount of marbling in the beef.

Dry-aged: Beef that is hung in a refrigerated cooler at a specific temperature and humidity for at least 10 days before being cut. The aging evaporates moisture from the muscle, concentrating the flavor, and allows the beef’s natural enzymes to tenderize the beef. This method reduces the weight of the beef by about 20 percent.

Grass-fed: Beef from cattle raised on an all-grass diet, rather than the more common practice of feeding them grain toward the end of their lives. Grass-fed beef has a more complex — and some say milder — flavor than grain-fed beef, less marbling, more omega-3 fatty acids and less saturated fat.

Prime: The highest grade given by the USDA, signifying the most-marbled beef. (Prime rib is a specific cut of beef. Its name has no relation to USDA grading.)

Select: The lowest USDA grade, below Choice.

Wet-aged: Beef that is vacuum-packed in plastic and aged at temperatures of 34 to 38 degrees for at least 7 days. Wet-aging is used for about 90 percent of aged beef because it doesn’t cause loss of saleable product, as does dry-aging.