Butchers share their secrets, tips, and what's in your meat.
By Michelle Crouch
From Reader's Digest 
1. Don’t be fooled by supermarket brand names like Butcher’s Brand, Rancher’s Reserve, and Blue Ribbon. The label to look for is USDA Quality Grade. Prime is the best (and most expensive), followed by choice, select, then standard.
2. A big part of our job is window dressing. We flip brown meat over, cut off fat, and dab away blood that might turn you off.
3. Your beef may get ground in Iowa, stuffed in a long tube of plastic, and trucked to our store, where we regrind and package it.
4. Some companies pump carbon monoxide into packaging to keep the meat from turning brown.
5. Make sure you check the price per pound or per serving. The regular size is often cheaper than the family pack.
6. Why are you so wedded to the cut of beef your recipe calls for? We can suggest cheaper options.
7. My favorite cut? The hanging tender. Also known as a hanger steak or a bistro steak, it’s got great flavor at a good price.
8. Take the meat tray at the bottom of the stack or the farthest in back. Just like milk, it tends to be fresher.
9. Save $1.50 to $2 a pound on boneless pork chops. Buy a whole boneless pork loin roast and slice it into chops an inch thick.
10. Yes, that 92/8 ground beef is lean, but if you make burgers with it, you might be disappointed. Your favorite burger joint probably uses beef that’s much fattier.
11. Even if those chicken breasts say “100 percent natural,” they may still be injected with sodium-laden broth, salt water, or seaweed extract. Always check the label.
12. Some of the best tasting cuts are the ugliest ones, like the flap meat on the belly part of beef.
13. Ask me to help. Even if it’s already on a tray wrapped in cellophane, I can cut the fat off a roast, trim a flank steak into stir-fry strips, or grind up a chuck roast. Then I’ll neatly wrap it back up for you. All for no extra charge.
Sources: Butchers in New York City; Charlotte, North Carolina; San Francisco; Kingston, New York; and Timberville, Virginia; Lee O’Hara, author of Beef Secrets Straight from the Butcher; and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.
1. If you throw your meat straight into the freezer in the packaging it came in, freezer burn is a virtual certainty. Instead, take the meat off the tray, rewrap it with plastic food wrap or aluminum foil, then put it in a Ziploc freezer bag and squeeze out as much air as possible.
2. Want to save a few bucks per pound at a butcher shop? Try buying a whole top sirloin and asking me to cut it into steaks. Or get a whole chuck and ask me to make you some chuck roasts, beef stew cubes, and ground meat out of it. The bigger the cut, the more money you’ll save.
3. London Broil is a cooking method, not a cut of meat. A package labeled that way is probably a top round roast, a very tough steak that otherwise wouldn’t be worth much. But if we label it as a London Broil – which means you should cook it medium rare with lots of seasonings, then slice it real thin against the grain – it’s at least edible.
© Noel Hendrickson/Digital Vision/Thinkstock
Don't throw your meat straight into the freezer in the packaging it came in or it will get freezer burn.
5. Despite all the hype, most of us think “Certified Angus Beef” is a marketing gimmick that doesn’t necessarily indicate the meat is any better than other beef with the same USDA grade. Though I have to admit, it does look spiffy on that black tray.
6. I know grass-fed beef is the hot thing, and it’s supposed to be healthier, but it sure doesn’t taste as good.
7. Like your steak well done? That’s your call, but don’t bother buying an expensive cut. Once you cook it that much, it all tastes pretty much the same… kind of like shoe leather
8. Want fresh meat? Check the pack date. Ideally you want to get packages dated that day or the day before.
9. Your mother had good intentions, but a little pink inside your pork is fine. In fact, it’s preferable. Pork that’s white all the way through is likely to be dry and tasteless. Just make sure its internal temperature is at least 160 degrees.
Sources: Butchers in New York City; Charlotte, North Carolina; San Francisco; Kingston, New York; and Timberville, Virginia; Lee O’Hara, author of Beef Secrets Straight from the Butcher; and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.
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