Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[bregent]

>>They had prime at $7.99/lb. but to tell the truth, these choice ones looked better, less marbling but overall better.

Yeah, their Choice is usually excellent. How much were they?

>>Note that the label indicates that they are "Blade Tenderized" and should be cooked to 160°.

From what I understand, Costco blade tenderizes all of their beef cut in house.

[hughver]

The choice were $4.79/lb. I have never noticed the "Blade Tenderized" label on any other type of Costco meat.

Update: I put each of the smoked (a little over one hour at 155°) Tri-Tips in a vacuum bag with a pat of butter, a couple of sprigs of thyme and two thinly sliced large cloves of garlic. After 24 hours I cooled in ice water and refrigerated. This morning, I thin sliced one of them against the grain on a meat slicer. As might be expected the meat was very tender with very little bite. The flavor was very very good, especially if you like garlic like I do. Next time I'll reduce the sous vide time to 12 hours and for general consumption, only use one large garlic clove. In my opinion, the texture was perfect for sandwiches.

[bregent]

The choice were $4.79/lb. I have never noticed the "Blade Tenderized" label on any other type of Costco meat.

Thanks. I never noticed until someone on another forum pointed it out. I've seen it on all of their steaks and even whole strips and brisket flats. I haven't seen it on tenderloin - thankfully.

[okie smokie]

Does this mean that a blade tenderized steaks being grilled to an internal temp of 135* is dangerous?  Or that we should avoid blade tenderized meat for grilling?   

[pmillen]

Does this mean that a blade tenderized steaks being grilled to an internal temp of 135* is dangerous?  Or that we should avoid blade tenderized meat for grilling?   

It means that a flash temperature (not sustained temperature) to135 degrees internal is dangerous.

I was looking at the label in Costco.  It says, "For your safety, USDA recommends grilling product to a minimum internal temperature of 160 degrees as measured by a food thermometer.”  That's beyond well done.  Past the temperature that I want to eat.

You can safely cook it at a lower temperature for a longer period of time to kill the bacteria (the above reference is the flash temperature for instant bacteria destruction).  Sous vide would work.

[okie smokie]

What about the usual 12-15 minutes on hot grill that most of us use to do steaks and chops?

[Bentley]

What some fear is if there is surface bacteria on the meat, blade tenderizing will push the bacteria into the center of the meat.  If that part of the meat is contaminated, and you do not cook it to X° at the depth of the bacteria to kill it you run the risk of harm!

My response to that is I may fall off my tractor, get run over by it and die tomorrow...It could happen!  I guess I will roll the dice, & cook and eat the meat the way I like!

[bregent]

Made one of the smaller TT in the pack last night. Smoked to 125, rested a bit, then seared on the gas grill. I got a bit overzealous and seared too long, overcooking the outer edges a bit, but still tasty. Will try SV with some of the others I froze.

With chimichurri and a side of polenta:

[Bentley]

Must be a live thing, as the Beef does not look overcooked.  I don't believe I have ever had Chimichurri, I should make some and see if I like it with beef!

[pmillen]

What about the usual 12-15 minutes on hot grill that most of us use to do steaks and chops?

Most of your steaks and chops probably aren't blade tenderized so they probably don't have the surface bacteria pushed into the meat's interior.  Therefore, you don't have to worry about a non-blade tenderized steak having that internal bacteria.  So continue to cook those solid pieces of meat the way you like them.

This is really the same caution we observe for ground meat.  When  meat is ground, some of the exterior meat and its bacteria end up in the middle of the hamburger loaf or patty.  As a result, the interior has to reach a temperature that will kill it.  That temperature is a momentary high temperature, like 165°F, or a lower temperature for a longer period of time, like the typical sous vide charts recommend.

[LowSlowJoe]

Blade Tenderized ?   Wow, I never noticed that.  I don't buy a lot of 'steaks' from Costco, but when I have, I certainly never cooked them to 180F.

I'm going to look a lot closer when I buy in the future.  If that's really their position on things, I will make sure I don't buy from there if they are doing that.  Although I suspect, it's a CYA sort of thing, and the risks are probably  very small.   Honestly, I really don't understand why they would do that to steaks.  If I see a label of that sort on something there, I'm going to ask someone about it for sure. It just seems odd to me that they would blade tenderize 'all' their meat. I can maybe understand some cuts might be that way, but to do it across the board , would just seem stupid.

[okie smokie]

What some fear is if there is surface bacteria on the meat, blade tenderizing will push the bacteria into the center of the meat.  If that part of the meat is contaminated, and you do not cook it to X° at the depth of the bacteria to kill it you run the risk of harm!

My response to that is I may fall off my tractor, get run over by it and die tomorrow...It could happen!  I guess I will roll the dice, & cook and eat the meat the way I like!

I'm with you on that but will try to avoid blade tenderized meat when I can.  Who asked them to do it ? Is that an admission that they are selling lesser quality meat? I think we should start a movement to stop messing with our meat. (unless requested at the counter?).

[LowSlowJoe]

I wonder if it's really all blade tenderized, or if they just mark it that way to avoid potential law suits for some stuff that might be blade tenderized.  Basically just put it on there to hedge your bets.

[LowSlowJoe]

I think , I may have ran across a Tri-tip that had been blade tenderized , from some place other than Costco ( I know , because my Costco doesn't sell Tri-Tip ).   One of my few Sous Vide cooking experiences, yielded a finished product that tasted good, was very tender, but it had a odd texture, almost like a sponge.  I now wonder if that was due to blade tenderizing.

[bregent]

>I wonder if it's really all blade tenderized, or if they just mark it that way to
>avoid potential law suits for some stuff that might be blade tenderized.

I don't think so - from what I've read they do actually blade tenderize their meat and have putting the warning on their labels before there was a labeling law that demanded it.  I've seen it on the labels for NY cut steaks and strip roasts, Ribeye steaks, cap steaks, rib roasts, flank and maybe others - but not tenderloin.