WHERE'S THE BEEF? BUTCHERS KNOW BEST

One of the biggest cost items in the food budgets of most families is meat. But in buying meat, the lowest price isn't always the criteria to use when looking for the best value and taste.

To get the best meat available, consumers need to develop an understanding that just because a cut of meat looks big or lean, doesn't necessarily mean it is the best quality.

Rob Osborn, who, along with his father Bob, owns The Meat Shop on South Kingshighway, and Rodger Rice, meat manager at Schnucks Food Store, both agree that generally meat shoppers tend to rank quality and service ahead of price.

In shopping for meat, you usually get what you pay for. "The cheapest price won't always draw customers," said Rice. "We offer the very best quality and service, which is what customers want."

Osborn explained, "If you go to a reputable meat shop, I feel the best quality comes from a meat shop." He pointed out that many grocery stores buy their meat from the same wholesalers, and because of that there is very little difference in quality between stores.

At meat speciality shops, Osborn said the owners usually grade the meat themselves rather than taking the word of the wholesaler.

Rice explained that Schnucks has a custom meat counter in its store to give people the same kind of service and quality they would get at a store specializing in meat. Customers can have meat cut to fit their needs.

"When I go someplace, I don't deal with anybody for a product or service unless I know they are good at what they do," said Osborn. "If they are good at it, I tell them what I want and they give it to me. When you want good meat, you come to me."

Beef is given one of several grades that include USDA Prime, USDA Choice, USDA Select, commercial, cutlery and canner. After the grade, meat is given a yield of one to five, with a one having the less fat cover.

Osborn said at his shop they only cut choice or higher grades of meat.

In looking at meat, Osborn advises looking for the amount of trim, to see if meat is trimmed the way a consumer likes it.

When buying beef, Osborn said it is important to see that there is a little fat to ensure good taste. "If you don't have a little fat on it, it has not been fed out right," he said.

Osborn said pork is graded by size. "The bigger they get, the older the animal is and the tougher they will be. Pork in bigger sizes is cheaper, but is tougher.

"When you get a hold of a tough pork chop, do you remember how cheap it was? You normally will remember how bad it was longer than how cheap it was."

Osborn added that the best beef usually comes from steers.

Rice said Schnucks only handles USDA Choice beef with a yield of two, and sells small pork to ensure top quality.

Like most other products, the cost of meat products are driven by supply and demand, Rice explained. In the summer, when consumers are inclined to barbecue, prices of items like steaks and shoulders tend to be up. Around holidays in the summer, prices are often higher yet.

"Usually holidays force the markets up because of supply and demand," said Rice.

One exception is turkey, because some stores prior to Thanksgiving and Christmas offer specials on turkeys and sell them at or below cost as a way of drawing customers.

Poultry prices tend to be higher in the summertime because of the danger of poultry dying due to the heat, Rice said.

"Poultry sells very good year round," said Rice. "In recent years, sales of turkey have built up and are now high year round. At one time, turkey was sold mainly around the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

In cooler weather, meat like roasts generally sell well, though because of the increased demand, prices are higher than in the summer.

Osborn said one of his beef preferences is a brisket. "I think briskets are underrated. It has a tremendously good taste and as long as you cook it a long time at low heat, it becomes tender," he said.

For pork, Osborn noted that a lot of people in this area buy shoulders to cook, but his preference is to cook a fresh ham on a grill.

"I think ham is one of the best buys as far as leanness and the way it is done up on a grill," said Osborn.

The Meat Shop recently developed a new turkey filet, made out of turkey tenderloin. They butterfly them and wrap them with beef bacon at six ounce sizes. The product can be cooked fast on a grill in about 14 minutes.

In cooking meat, Osborn recommends cooking pork slowly and beef fast. "Pork will be a lot more tender if you give it more time, and you have a lot better beef buying it thicker and cooking it quicker. It will have more taste," he said.

When buying meat, purchasing the large cuts is the cheapest way, but the price value declines quickly if some of the meat isn't used or spoils in the bottom of the freezer. The trend now, with smaller families, is to purchase meat in smaller quantities.

Schnucks, for example, sells single cuts of meat in packages to appeal to households with just one or two people.

"At the store, we will cut meat to whatever specifications a customer has," said Rice.