Riddle me this? (Meat)

bitslammer · August 2009

OK. I know in this group someone will be able to crack this puzzle for me. Just picked up some fillets at Costco. As sometimes happens on of the 4 cuts is a very different color than the other 3. What gives? :huh:

Cut from a different loin? "End piece" that got exposed to more CO? (Don't know if Costco's producer does that.) I'm at a loss.

Hopefully it shows on this photo. I just re-calibrated my monitor and set Firefox to use ICC profiles so to me it looks dead on.

**HINT** It's the one on the left.

stike · August 2009

no idea. hahaha

folks think that cutting a chunk of meat in half will yield a bright red interior. actually, raw beef is dark purple. beef exposed to air will turn red, then eventually brown as it ages and oxidizes.

the plastic on those foam-tray packages is gas permeable, so it allows a butcher to cut the filets from a primal and wrap them immediately, and because the plastic will allow air to cross the barrier, it will turn red and convince the typical buyer that it is 'good'.

the longer the beef sits out, the browner it will get.

the carbon monoxide packages aren't done on site at the grocer's. they are deep white plastic containers with a membrane across the top which actually bows OUTWARD because it has been filled with CO. they do this at a central plant. the CO allows the beef to stay red far longer, weeks longer, before ever going brownish.

long story not-so-short, your left-most piece is newest, and the others are a little older.

least that's my guess

bitslammer · August 2009

I'd concur, but I can't imagine how you'd get that much variation in a single package. Id think the cuts would have come from loins processed on the same day at least. That cut also has waaayy more marbling to so I'm inclined it did come from a different loin than the others.

Oh the mystery?!?!?!?

lowercasebill · August 2009

regardless of the age that is not filet mignon.
the two on right may be new york strips or from the loin but they are not filet mignon .. filets are roundish

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=filet+mignon&gbv=2&aq=0&oq=filet&aqi=g10

back in a bit with more pics

stike · August 2009

it's from a different primal, oh yeah.

stop buying filets, man. don't make me come over there and teach you how to buy a whole tenderloin and then slice it as you like. it's THAT easy.

just goofing. enjoy. that's more marbling than i EVER see on tenderloin.

and for what it's worth, the browner the steak, the better. tell the wife you will give her the "better" one, and that you take one for the team and eat the browner ones. hahaha

you'll get props from the wife, AND the better steak.

stike · August 2009

filets are only truly round when trimmed and wrapped in a slice of bacon to keep it in shape. those look like they might even have the chain on them, plus the fact that they are fairly crammed in there.

when i do my own filets from the whole tenderloin (i actually cut them thinner and use them in lieu of burgers when tailgating), they are far from pretty and round. the chain comes off, and that helps, but they are a little roundish-triangular, at least in my experience. and crammed four to a pack like that, they will lose all composure.

lowercasebill · August 2009

http://www.beeffoodservice.com/cuts/Info.aspx?code=69

http://www.epicurus.com/images/food/b&wcutsofbeef.jpg

http://bovine.unl.edu/bovine3D/eng/ShowSubPrimal.jsp?primal_id=966278019&subprimal_id=1056398782

lowercasebill · August 2009

http://bovine.unl.edu/bovine3D/eng/showMuscle.jsp?musID=91&muscle=null

end of links just my 2¢

stike · August 2009

take a look at the rightmost illustration in the very first link you posted.

i'm not a butcher, but i have chunked enough tenderloin to know that it ain't cute and pretty and round except in a sad 'omaha steaks' advertisement or a chain-store menu

if you cut a whole tenderloin per the instructions you posted, and don't trim off the chain before hand, then cram four in a row like his package, not one of them will be round.

i'm suspicious because of the amazing amount of marbling.

but the shape? nah. filets aren't round unless you make them round

RGBHV · August 2009

Looks to me like different cuts of meat to me. I certainly wouldn't go with tenderloin as someone said in an earlier post - maybe Costco is trying to lable it "filets from the loin".

I'm thinking:

1) cross rib steak cap off
2) sirloin
3) striploin
4) I can't see under the price tag - maybe another
strip - maybe a rib eye.

Difference in colour. Maybe costco re-packaged old with the new or difference custs of meat.

Where are the butchers out there that could pinpoint this sucker just be looking at it?

Michael

Fidel · August 2009

It says beef loin tenderloin steak - filet mignon right on the label.

I don't think Costco would intentionally sell something other than what is indicated on that label.

lowercasebill · August 2009

based on your famous wellington pic and your ability to eat hunks of meat that have been lost in the back for your fridge for months i will defer to your experience i am just going by my purchases of whole tenderloins
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=whole+tenderloin&gbv=2&aq=f&oq=&aqi=
and trimming perpendicular to the long axis . if you get a chance check out the bovine myology page for interacitve and vids,

got to go in the skeeters are killing me
bill

bitslammer · August 2009

Fidel wrote:

It says beef loin tenderloin steak - filet mignon right on the label.

I don't think Costco would intentionally sell something other than what is indicated on that label.

I'm with you Fidel. I've never had anything but top service from Costco. Bought my wife's engagement ring there and when we had it appraised for insurance at a jeweler they valued it for a lot more than I paid Costco for it. It was about a 40% increase. Costco also took back a 3 year old Dyson Vacuum cleaner that brok no questions asked. I just don't see them cheating on the meat. It's chump change to them compared to the other high $$$$ stuff they sell.

I'm with you Stike on doing a whole loin but I don't' like steak and a whole loin is a lot for the wife. I'm going to have to enlist the neighbors help to eat these fillets. I normally do a tie or bacon wrap to make these more round.

lowercasebill · August 2009

Rod, i bought ribeye tails for years at costco.. then one day they were called tri tip i posted the pix and was told they were not. later i bought a real tri tip at wegmans and posted again.. think the post was called "will the real tri tip please stand up" and i still cannot find a hanger steak with in 20 miles.
my question to all is this ,, if you ordered filet mignon in a reataurant would you accept the steak on the left?,, this is of course hypothetical since you have an egg why would you go to a reataurant? and knowing what a strip or ribeye tastes likes why would you order fillet ? never mind it was a dumb question .

RGBHV · August 2009

Rod:

Somehow I doubt that Costco would intentionally sell anything that was mis-labled - I think they have some great meat at a decent price. However, sometimes people make mistakes. Maybe this is one of those times?

In my opinion (and the great thing about opinions because everyone's got one) In my opinion I don't believe that those steaks are filet mignon.

Maybe I'm wrong and I can live with that. What I would say, was that if you were to ask me to buy those as filet mignon, I would leave my wallet in my pocket.

Again, it's my opinion!

Michael

PhilsGrill · August 2009

It all looks the same in your stomach anyway!

Fidel · August 2009

Maybe my response was poorly worded. You seem to have taken it as criticism or argument - it wasn't. I was merely posting an observation.

Those aren't pretty, and aren't my choice in steak anyway, but I would guess them to be a filet of tenderloin cut from the untrimmed butt end.

RGBHV · August 2009

Touche'...

I just thought each steak looked different. Wouldn't be the first time I was wrong!

Where are my glasses anyway - Ha! Ha!

Michael

stike · August 2009

well. i'm glad at least you two can discuss it civilly.

apparently i'm a jagweed, who can only be fed links to pictures of beef.

:laugh:

for what it's worth, rod and i are on the same page i think, if i read it correctly.

the shape of the beef in those packages tells us absolutely nothing, because it is the tight packaging which is giving them that shape.

anyone who has ever cut their wife a "pretty little filet"(and i agree, rod, not my favorite cut either) knows that it takes a little food-stylin'to make a filet look like a 'Filet' (with a capital Eff).

stike · August 2009

the decent thing about awhole tenderloin is that you can hack off three pretty looking decent filets for the wife, then a nice two-pound roast (think wellington, my friend), then chunk the rest for tips.

i honestly only buy the tenderloin to take to patriots games. i slice them maybe three quarters thick and treat them just like hamburgers. nuthin special.

but the wellington, well. that's some good stuff. of course, the durty li'l secret of wellington is that it is all about trying to flavor-up the tenderloin in the first place. tender, yes. flavorful... well. not so much. and so in comes the 'shrooms, pate, and duxelles, not to mention the cognac marinade

emilluca · August 2009

It is just NOT FROM the same muscle or steer. It is Fillet but from a different steer. The muscle color can and is different from different steers. Retail USUALLY don't mix the two in a package becaus eof the look but certainly not a problem.

Drunk at the EGG · August 2009

I see this especially in rib eyes at costco. 3 good and 1 doesn't belong.

emilluca · August 2009

It is called pride in the product you put out. It doesn't take any longer to do it correct. This is like a car that one door is painted a different shade then the rest. The door still works put gosh is it ugly.
E

Riddle me this? (Meat)

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