Wahine occasionally uses ground turkey for filling in lettuce wraps, tacos and stuffed peppers. I find there’s not much flavor aside from the seasoning, but hey…
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Yeah the subscription price is something like $50. Occasionally I buy other items but not often at all.
I will check Aldis. Thanks!
I brown up equal parts of ground turkey and chicken with black beans for the dog.
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Ha. On a thread called “Upgrade Syndrome”, that definitely sounds like an Upgrade for your dog.
OTOH, I nearly always have scrap beef/pork leftovers, often from making broths in the IP, that I mince up and keep in a baggie called “Dog Bribes” (and sometimes, “Canine Catnip”). One of our 2 is a slow starter eating, and a tablespoon of meat scraps under their dog food (lamb-based, one is def allergic to chicken) gets him going and gets him to finish as well.
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I agree with not much flavor besides seasoning. Also agree with you that ground dark meat turkey mixed with a starch such as stuffed peppers you mentioned, meat loaf, or cabbage rolls all work pretty darn well. Even ground turkey breast works well in these applications.
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I don’t know about the needling. I’ve heard this before but I never remember it. The beef doesn’t look altered so it doesn’t stay in the forefront of my mind.
I’ll check the ribeye cap label next time I’m there to see about the needling. Of note, this cut is only sold in prime grade. I would hope they don’t mechanically tenderize prime grade cuts.
About hanger steak, it’s my favorite among what i consider it’s cousins (skirt steak, flap meat). I like to pick the thickest one I can find but usually they only have a few hanger steaks in the case.
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What a nice photo, the dog almost seems to go into one with the pillows 
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I am right there with you on hanger steak and also getting the thickest possible. It is so dense that a thick one can develop and extremely fine crust while remaining truly rare in the middle. The flavor of hanger is so wonderfully rich. Some describe it as having a pronounced liver note. I do love the flavor, but a thick ribeye or a Wagyu sirloin lights me up, too. Mainly because of availability and price I usually go with skirt, again as thick as possible. Rare skirt is amazingly tender, and its flavor is almost as good as hanger. I find hanger and skirt both to pair beautifully with a simple red wine reduction, well seasoned.
Hanger is definitely an upgrade worth splurging on from time to time.
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I hope they don’t get the ribeye cap needled. Unfortunately they do needle even prime, but at least it’ll have some mention on the label (I can’t remember exact phrase). But all of their NY Strips and Tenderloins my in-laws get are labeled as “prime”, but are mechanically tenderized.
Someone on CH told me that there are various levels even within the prime, choice (or even select) designations and that what you’ll get in a high-end steakhouse is often different/better meat than the prime (or choice, etc.) one gets in a grocery or Costco. IIRC these are based on age at slaughter designations A-B-C-D etc.
I looked this up and want to correct a wrong impression I may have given from “A-B-C-D” in the quoted matter above.
From this chart (provided by UWisc., written at Colo state U), you can see that Prime and Choice only go to A-B ages. A is up to 2.5 years old and B is up to 3.5 years old. And my guess from the diagonal bisection line on Prime across the B box it that maybe Prime cuts off at 3 years.
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Hi CCE,
When I worked at the Cornell Univ. School of Hotel Administration, a colleague explained the importance of aging steaks, and showed me his home facilities.
It was almost like aging wine . . .
That was when I realized I’d never be able to find such steaks at any commercial outlet and replicate the best experience at home–and always enjoyed great steaks at specialty restaurants.
I know it falls short of serious aging techniques, but by far the best steaks at our local grocer are the ribeyes on the last day in the 50% off bin.
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Only 30% off bins here in the grocers I have went to 
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Hi Vecchiouomo,
The first–and only–steak I ever cooked at home was my ribeye experiment steak project with my deba knife (with a grocery store steak)–which turned out well.
I enjoy steaks so seldom there’s unlikely to be a repeat performance. Maybe the next experience will be back at a steakhouse for some celebration or other.
Unfortunately I rarely see discounted cut steaks; haven’t in years - maybe they all sell too quickly.
And my grocer won’t[1] discount a cryovac packed piece of beef that is still out on there on/over its sell-by. This happens most often with tenderloins because they’re binned with larger subprimals and tend to get buried. I’d happily use up a discounted cryovac’d piece of beef even several days after its date, as long as my nose still liked it.
[1] They tell me they cannot due to company policy. I’ve pulled out a couple of such tenderloins and asked but two different guys said the same thing each time - they have to send them back and they have no mechanism to discount.
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This sounds ideal since it’s better meat at a discounted price, but it hasn’t been my experience. Steak marked for discount at my store looks rather brown and tends to be dripping in unappetizing juices. Whenever I’ve bought one it smells after opening, and even after washing and drying.
Properly dry-aged steaks from the Japanese grocery looks super dry, dark, and old, but after they cut off the superficial layers with their band saw, what they sell me looks and tastes delicious. It does come at a premium cost though, usually circa $50/lb for bone-in ribeye. I have only treated myself to this once when my wife and kids were away and I was by myself all week.
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Hi Ray, in two sentences or less can you summarize how he aged it?
Have you considered buying direct from a private butcher? With some they will source according to your specs… grass v corn, aging, and cuts as you direct. Plus you have some assurance their facilities are tested and safe.
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Hi RD, He had a special temperature/humidity controlled cellar where he could dry age meat–and store some wine.
If I wanted to, I could get good dry aged beef from Bristol Farm high end grocery store. They are my go to place for fresh seafood. I don’t buy much beef.
Thanks. Sounds sketchy hanging a carcass in a cellar with wine. Either it’s too cold for the wine or too warm for the carcass. He’s eating it though. 
I’m familiar with Bristol Farms. I shop there when in the desert.
Hi RD,
Not a carcass–smaller hunks, subdivided temperature controlled sections.
