About USDA Prime Beef
Beef grades help predict the eating quality of beef and denote levels determined by the USDA Grading Service. For any serious steak connoisseur, the only grade that will be of interest is the top grade: USDA Prime. The grades lower than Prime are: USDA Choice & USDA Select.
USDA Prime description
This is the top quality beef produced in the USA. It is required to have come from younger aged cattle so that the meat will be more tender, and it must have the highest levels of fat marbling. Fat marbling is the small flecks of fat embedded inside the meat. This marbling melts when cooked, which adds taste and juiciness without adding cholesterol. Generally you will only find Prime meat served at the very finest hotels and restaurants, and in recent years only roughly 1% of all the beef produced in the USA qualified as Prime.
Properly Aged Beef
Beef should be aged before you eat it in order to further increase taste and tenderness. This gives the natural enzymes in the meat time to tenderize it. In modern times this is accomplished by "wet aging" the meat, which simply means letting the beef stay in its vacuum-packed bag for at least 21 days. Both our Prime and other kinds of beef are aged this way for at least 21 days. Many supermarkets skip this step, which is another reason their meat is often rather tough to chew. Ask your meat supplier how long their beef is aged!
