A quality grade estimate is performed by a Federal Grader as part of the USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service. A Grader assesses the Quality and Yield grade of a full or half carcass. The Quality grade is the USDA designation that can be found on most meat you buy - Prime, Choice, Select, etc - and is primarily determined by the maturity (age) and degree of marbling. The Yield grade is essentially how much lean is in the carcass, it is an estimate of how much sellable retail product there is available, and how much fat and bone is going to need to be thrown away. The wholesaler is pretty much the only person that looks at the Yield grade.

Just about the entire Quality and Yield grade is done by looking at the cross-section (the ribeye) between the 12th and 13th ribs. All this is done in the span of 10-12 seconds per full or half carcass.

Maturity is determined by looking at the color of the meat and the chine buttons. As the animal gets older, the meat goes from a cherry red to a darker red color. The chine buttons are the white, soft, cartilage tissue right along the end of the backbone. As the animal get older, the cartilage hardens into bone in a process known as ossification.

Marbling is determined by the flecks of fat that are evident on that exposed ribeye.

The yield grade is then determined by the thickness of fat surrounding the ribeye, and comparing that to how the fat looks around the Chuck, Brisket, and Round.

Cooking times and methods among cuts vary (Check out the Tips & Recipes section for more info!), but two of the simplest (and most often overlooked) ways in which to improve the flavor and juiciness of pretty much any steak is to allow the steak to reach room temperature before cooking, and to let the steak rest for at least 5 minutes after cooking. Letting your steak reach room temperature (usually takes 30-60 minutes) before cooking will NOT make the meat go bad, but will allow the steak to reach the same temperature all the way through. This will result in a more evenly cooked piece of meat. It will also let you reach your desired temperature quicker.

After cooking, allow the steak to rest for at least 5 minutes. By cutting in immediately (or worse on the grill), a substantial amount of juice and steam will escape. By letting the steak rest, the juices will disseminate throughout the meat, and less will run off when cutting.

Cooking a cut that includes a bone will change the flavor profile of the meat. Some believe that it improves the overall flavor. But like eating and cooking in general, it comes down to a personal preference. While there is a difference, to determine which is better is a personal opinion that you will make.

A primal is one of the eight basic large cuts of meat that is separated from the carcass during butchering. They include the following: chuck, shank, brisket, rib, plate, loin, flank, and round.

Aging allows natural enzymes to break down the hard connective tissue in meats and for water to evaporate away. The result is a more tender and flavorful piece of beef.

The traditional method of aging, dry aging, is very rare today. Less than 1% of beef is dry aged. It's done by hanging a whole primal in a controlled, closely watched, refrigerated environment, without any sort of covering over it. The meat undergoes dehydration during this process, where moisture evaporates from the outer surface, concentrating the meat's flavor inside. A thin layer of mold develops on the outside and must be carefully trimmed before cutting the primal into steaks. Dry aged beef is more expensive than wet aged beef, because of the greater yield loss and cost of maintaining a dedicated dry aging cooler.

Wet aging is the same process, however the whole primal remains in the vacuum sealed package it was placed in by the ranch to age. This process does impact the tenderness equally to dry aging, however it does not have the same impact on the flavor profile.

Many traditionalists believe that dry aging is the ONLY way to age beef. We disagree. Dry aging does provide for a more improved flavor profile, but we believe that wet aging makes the meat every bit as tender. There is no right or wrong in wet or dry aging, it's a personal preference on both taste and price - we want you to make that decision, so we offer both - rather than making that decision for you.

Angus refers to a specific breed of cattle that is more consistently marbled and flavorful. You may have seen the words, 'Certified Angus Beef,' on products at your local butcher or supermarket. Certified Angus means the cattle in which the beef has come from is at least 51% Angus breed and meets various look and feel specifications involving marbling, muscling and carcass weight. The ranch must pay a fee to be labeled Certified Angus Beef. Our beef meets a higher standard. Our cattle are 100% Angus. The ranches we partner with can trace blood lines back to pure bred Angus cattle.

Marbling refers to the amount of fat in a steak. It is the sections that appear white on a raw cut of meat. In general, the more marbling a cut possesses, the better the taste.

Spinalis is the cap of a Ribeye. It is the super tender, heavily marbled muscle running around the outside of the eye of a whole Rib primal. It's virtually never offered as a whole steak, because once the Spinalis is cut away from the rest of the primal, the remaining meat is difficult to sell, and often goes to waste. Lucky for you, we have several relationships that allow us to sell both pieces separately. We recommend cooking it on a grill, just as you would a steak. However it is a very versatile cut and has great potential - check out our tips and recipes section for some ideas!

Beef is graded as a whole carcass for tenderness, juiciness, and flavor.

Prime grade beef has abundant marbling and is the highest designation a grader will award. Approximately 3% of all graded beef is Prime. Choice grade is high quality, and is the next step down from Prime. Choice cuts still possess a fair amount of marbling. Approximately 65% of all graded beef is Choice. Select grade is a step down from Choice. It is very uniform in quality and is leaner than the higher grades. It is fairly tender, but, because it has less marbling, may lack some of the juiciness and flavor of Prime and Choice. Approximately 30% of all graded beef is Select.

Within each grade there is a plus (+), neutral (o), and negative (-) designation awarded. Rare Cuts only sells Prime+, Prime°, Prime- and Choice+. The grades below Select are Standard, Commercial, Utility, Cutter, and Canner.

Wagyu is a breed of cattle the Japanese have made famous under the commonly referred to term, Kobe. Wagyu that comes from a specific region in Japan is called Kobe (like Champagne in France). It's a larger breed that possesses extraordinary marbling that far surpasses the highest USDA Prime grade.

Limited quantities and shipping costs make it more expensive (our Wagyu is pure bred and comes from Australia. Japan does not export to the U.S. so if you've ever been told that you've had Kobe or Japanese Wagyu in the United States- sorry, but it was false).

These are two of the simplest (and most often overlooked) ways in which to improve the flavor and juiciness of your steak. Letting your steak reach room temperature (usually 30-60 minutes) before cooking will NOT make the meat go bad, but will allow the steak to reach the same temperature all the way through. This will result in a more evenly cooked piece of meat. It will also let you reach your desired temperature quicker.After cooking, allow the steak to rest for at least 5 minutes. By cutting in immediately, a substantial amount of juice and steam will escape. By letting the steak cool a bit, the juices will disseminate throughout the meat, and less will run off when cutting.

We provide you with consistent cuts of Filets, Ribeyes, Strips and Porterhouses. By doing this, we've taken the guesswork out of cooking. For example, if you figure out that you like an 8 ounce filet cooked 3 minutes on each side, on the back left corner of your grill, you can be confident that our filet will taste exactly the same every single time you cook it that way. This is how a 5 star steakhouse operates. They know precisely how long to cook each specific cut for the temperature that the customer requested, because the steaks are consistently cut. They don't even need a termometer!

When a piece of beef is frozen, the water contained within the meat is transformed into ice crystals. Ice crystals can severely damage the cells of meat on a microscopic level, and in turn, negatively affect the taste, juiciness and texture of the meat.