SRF BOGO Sirloin — Review

HendersonTRKing · February 2018

In the last SRF BOGO sale, I bought 2 sirloins to lower the marginal per ounce cost of the tri tips and rib eye caps I also bought. Rubbed with a mix of Montreal and Fire and Flavor Coffee Rub before bed last night (late!) and pulled them from the fridge maybe 18 hrs later.

Reverse seared tonight to 115 internal (too much!!) and then let the second side of the sear get away from me while I was fooling around with a bottle of wine. Sirloin ended up *a bit* over for my taste — blame it on the human and the grape, not on SRF.

The steak? Good, not great. Could be I’m less of a sirloin guy than a rib eye or cap steak or skirt kinda guy. That’s why I eat those cuts again and again. This cut was kind of filet-looking, but with a very nice marble. Flavor was fine — steak-y but not buttery although heading toward the richer end of the spectrum. Texture was just ok — whether cut with or against the grain, there was more chew than I prefer. Could be the aggressive sear as much as the beef.

The tots effing ruled! Ore Ida never lets me down. And the wine. Kinda screwed me up on the sear, but all is forgiven.

Vanilla’s got it out of order again. But you’ll get the picture(s).

Thx for reading and looking!

Cheers!

YukonRon · February 2018

Thank you for sharing. Great write up, and, watch out for that wine....I am OCD × infiniti, I get it.

lousubcap · February 2018

As above thanks for your write-up. Great looking plate right there-regardless. Fork placement for the win.
I will say that I am with you regarding SRF steaks. I have bought various cuts and combos over the years and have declared it time to walk away. I have not found them to be such a "cut above" to justify the price. That said, I totally endorse their briskets for the $$.

saluki2007 · February 2018

Looks like a great plate. Agree with your assessment on SRF/RR, not a cut above the rest for the money if you can get quality cuts locally.

Mosca · February 2018

saluki2007 said:

Looks like a great plate. Agree with your assessment on SRF/RR, not a cut above the rest for the money if you can get quality cuts locally.

We did the Kurobota Mini Karver ham yesterday, proclaimed by The Today Show as the best piece of meat on the planet... it isn't even the best ham available in the grocery store. It's an okay ham. That's all.

gonepostal · February 2018

I think i added 3 Flat Irons with that last sale they had for the very same reason. ( BOGO Pick 6)

I grew up with Sirloin. Or less! That's all we ever had on steak night. So today...it's still in the rotation. I've ordered a few Sirloin "baseball cuts" from SNF/RR. And they have been good. Not great. In fact, the 1 "gold" grade cut that i have cooked has likely been the most disappointing. It had quite a bit of "chew." So for me...i'll just pick them up locally from now on.

With that being said, SNF is still in the rotation for other cuts. With the right discount, i average pulling the trigger 1-2 times per year.

Ozzie_Isaac · February 2018

Mosca said:

saluki2007 said:

Looks like a great plate. Agree with your assessment on SRF/RR, not a cut above the rest for the money if you can get quality cuts locally.

We did the Kurobota Mini Karver ham yesterday, proclaimed by The Today Show as the best piece of meat on the planet... it isn't even the best ham available in the grocery store. It's an okay ham. That's all.

I have had 3 of their hams, 1 carver, 2 bone-in.

1 bone-in was probably one of the best pieces of pork I have ever had. It was phenomenal.

1 bone-in was great, but a few steps down from the 1st.

The minicarver was ho hum. It was fine, but nothing to write home about.

That first one has kept me coming back, but I'm afraid its like your 1st hit. You will always chase the first one, but never achieve it.

saluki2007 · February 2018

Ozzie_Isaac said:

Mosca said:

saluki2007 said:

Looks like a great plate. Agree with your assessment on SRF/RR, not a cut above the rest for the money if you can get quality cuts locally.

We did the Kurobota Mini Karver ham yesterday, proclaimed by The Today Show as the best piece of meat on the planet... it isn't even the best ham available in the grocery store. It's an okay ham. That's all.

I have had 3 of their hams, 1 carver, 2 bone-in.

1 bone-in was probably one of the best pieces of pork I have ever had. It was phenomenal.

1 bone-in was great, but a few steps down from the 1st.

The minicarver was ho hum. It was fine, but nothing to write home about.

That first one has kept me coming back, but I'm afraid its like your 1st hit. You will always chase the first one, but never achieve it.

Wasnt that first one also free?

Ozzie_Isaac · February 2018

saluki2007 said:

Ozzie_Isaac said:

Mosca said:

saluki2007 said:

Looks like a great plate. Agree with your assessment on SRF/RR, not a cut above the rest for the money if you can get quality cuts locally.

We did the Kurobota Mini Karver ham yesterday, proclaimed by The Today Show as the best piece of meat on the planet... it isn't even the best ham available in the grocery store. It's an okay ham. That's all.

I have had 3 of their hams, 1 carver, 2 bone-in.

1 bone-in was probably one of the best pieces of pork I have ever had. It was phenomenal.

1 bone-in was great, but a few steps down from the 1st.

The minicarver was ho hum. It was fine, but nothing to write home about.

That first one has kept me coming back, but I'm afraid its like your 1st hit. You will always chase the first one, but never achieve it.

Wasnt that first one also free?

Good memory. Yes 1st one was free (SRF sent some out for reviews) next two were full price. Got a carver as a present for my dad too. He said it was mediocre, but I didn't try it so cannot compare to mine.

saluki2007 · February 2018

Ozzie_Isaac said:

saluki2007 said:

Ozzie_Isaac said:

Mosca said:

saluki2007 said:

Looks like a great plate. Agree with your assessment on SRF/RR, not a cut above the rest for the money if you can get quality cuts locally.

We did the Kurobota Mini Karver ham yesterday, proclaimed by The Today Show as the best piece of meat on the planet... it isn't even the best ham available in the grocery store. It's an okay ham. That's all.

I have had 3 of their hams, 1 carver, 2 bone-in.

1 bone-in was probably one of the best pieces of pork I have ever had. It was phenomenal.

1 bone-in was great, but a few steps down from the 1st.

The minicarver was ho hum. It was fine, but nothing to write home about.

That first one has kept me coming back, but I'm afraid its like your 1st hit. You will always chase the first one, but never achieve it.

Wasnt that first one also free?

Good memory. Yes 1st one was free (SRF sent some out for reviews) next two were full price. Got a carver as a present for my dad too. He said it was mediocre, but I didn't try it so cannot compare to mine.

Free is always better.

HendersonTRKing · February 2018

saluki2007 said:

Ozzie_Isaac said:

saluki2007 said:

Ozzie_Isaac said:

Mosca said:

saluki2007 said:

Looks like a great plate. Agree with your assessment on SRF/RR, not a cut above the rest for the money if you can get quality cuts locally.

We did the Kurobota Mini Karver ham yesterday, proclaimed by The Today Show as the best piece of meat on the planet... it isn't even the best ham available in the grocery store. It's an okay ham. That's all.

I have had 3 of their hams, 1 carver, 2 bone-in.

1 bone-in was probably one of the best pieces of pork I have ever had. It was phenomenal.

1 bone-in was great, but a few steps down from the 1st.

The minicarver was ho hum. It was fine, but nothing to write home about.

That first one has kept me coming back, but I'm afraid its like your 1st hit. You will always chase the first one, but never achieve it.

Wasnt that first one also free?

Good memory. Yes 1st one was free (SRF sent some out for reviews) next two were full price. Got a carver as a present for my dad too. He said it was mediocre, but I didn't try it so cannot compare to mine.

Free is always better.

If it's free, it's for me!

I never received any "promotional consideration" from SRF, but as a forum-watcher/participator, I was around when they kind of caught fire out here a few years back. With so many people singing their praises, and some decent sales/discounts on what otherwise would be VERY expensive meat (bringing down the cost to merely "overpriced"), I decided to give them a try. And I went back to the well multiple times, typically when there were good sales, but sometimes ***horror!!!*** even when there were not. Gave some SRF meat as gifts and I'm sure the recipients who reverse-engineered the price were surprised that a cheapskate like me spent that much on them. Maybe they even picked up a few customers through my spreading the gospel.

Overall, I was happy with pretty much everything I bought -- briskets, especially -- hard to screw up their brisket. Cap Steaks, too -- probably the best steak I've grilled (even if you can get the cut elsewhere at a fraction of the price). The price was another matter and when the promotions started coming fast and furious and, honestly, not so terrific, I got turned off.

I think they very shrewdly marketed their fine, expensive product here on the forum. It was @SRFShane, I think , who did such a good job getting the word out and promoting the brand. I seem to vaguely recall a thread that said he left SRF, or maybe he was a contract guy brought in to boost sales, find buyers, extend the brand's reach to a target audience who for obvious reasons would be receptive. I dunno. And maybe there were "influencers" they identified who promoted for them? Again, I dunno. What I do know is I got hooked in, bought their stuff, cooked it, served it up, and there generally were no leftovers, so no complaints here. I'm just much more discriminating now -- I'll buy ONLY when there are very good sales and I'm not blown away by everything they sell -- for instance, the sirloin I reviewed in this thread. It was a good steak, not a great steak and there are plenty of good steaks available to me at that price, and far less (even at BOGO). Now, if it were a FREE steak, that's another story entirely. Although I'd surely tell people what I paid for it (like I did in this thread), because I think that's an important piece of the puzzle, and it's good to be transparent.

Carry on.

Ozzie_Isaac · February 2018

@HendersonTRKing excellent write-up, and your summary of SRF above fits my take. Transparency in who paid for item being reviewed is very important. I hope you don't think I was hiding the fact 1 of the hams I had was sent to me free of charge.

HendersonTRKing · February 2018

Ozzie_Isaac said:

@HendersonTRKing excellent write-up, and your summary of SRF above fits my take. Transparency in who paid for item being reviewed is very important. I hope you don't think I was hiding the fact 1 of the hams I had was sent to me free of charge.

Absolutely NOT . . . I wasn't stirring the pot or sending hidden messages at all. And I'm not on a soapbox or wagging a finger or shaking a fist or any other body part. Just trying to give my honest assessment re SRF. I ran with the herd on this one and am a little bit wiser (and fatter) (and poorer) for it.

SRF BOGO Sirloin — Review

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