IMHO, high quality beef, chicken or pork products do not need to be processed by needling, plumping & factory brining. Its usually a sign of trying to make up for something that is missing, specifically, attributes that signify high quality.
Fat is much firmer than lean and when you press down on a well marbled steak from a good butcher you can actually feel more resistance under your finger where the marbling is.
Some of the club stores sell individually cryovaced steaks that are nicely marbled at a premium price yet when I give a little squeeze there is no resistance almost to the point of being mushy. That is not natural & there is something going on there.
This week in the Phila/Jersey area ShopRite has their âChoice gradeâ bone in prime rib roasts for $5.79 lb. (limit one) with an additional purchase of $10.00 or more. Have not been there yet but in the past they had a whole refrigerated case full of them to pick from.
This time last year I got a whole rib subprimal @ S/R and the butcher boned it out. I then gave it some dry age and cut it into steaks and they were very good. I smoked the beef ribs.
I like Farmer focus chicken, which Streetâs Market and Dawsonâs Market both carry. I hear that the Arlington costco has Farmer Focus too.
Stachowskiâs in Georgetown, Springfield Butcher, and the Organic butcher of Mclean are all good for meat. There are also two meat/chicken vendors and a couple of egg vendors (one carries duck eggs) at the Dupont farmers mkt, and a bison vendor (Cibola) at the Courthouse (Arlington) farmerâs market.
I like Great Range ground bison, which WF carries.