What are the best steaks that can be delivered by mail?!
What are the best steaks that can be delivered by mail?
I'd like to order steaks for a male friend of mine who recieved some difficult personal news. I thought he would really enjoy recieve steaks which he could barbeuqe, but I've never ordered meat through the mail. I've heard of Omaha Steaks, but a quick web search also turned up www.AllenBrothers.com and www.LaCenseBeef.com. Has anyone tried steaks from any of these outfits and can then make any suggestions? Thanks!
Answers:
Here's the taste test results from Cook's Illustrated. Look's like Lobel's is the leader with Niman and Coleman closely following at a more reasonable price...
Mail-Order Steaks
Can you buy a better steak through the mail?
To connoisseurs, steaks are the stars of the beef world, and strip steaks are the divas. Long and lean, with a heartier chew and a lot more flavor, strip steaks put their more popular brethren, filets mignons, to shame. Beef is a tricky business, however, and too often you can find your steak more dud than stud. To guarantee quality, more and more people are looking beyond the confines of their local supermarket butcher case and buying their steaks through mail-order sources. These outlets promise all-star beef with a price tag to match. But do the mail-order steaks really outshine the ones you can get around the corner?
We gathered seven widely available mail-order strip steaks and two from local supermarkets (Coleman Natural, which is hormone- and antibiotic-free, from our local Whole Foods Market, and choice steak from the regular market). The mail-order steaks included candidates from Niman Ranch, a high-end, all-natural, restaurant favorite; Peter Luger, a New York steakhouse that many consider to be the best in the country; Omaha, probably the best-known mail-order steak company, with two steaks in the running (its "private reserve" as well as its standard steak); Allen Brothers, a Chicago-based company that supplies many of this country's steakhouses; and Lobel's, a New York butcher shop. In addition to Lobel's boneless strip steak, we included Lobel's Wagyu steak from Oakleigh Ranch in Australia. Wagyu steak comes from cattle raised according to the specifications dictated in Kobe, Japan, for its Kobe beef. Considered the foie gras of beef, Kobe steak is extremely well-marbled, tender, and rich. Wagyu is the more generic name for the same type of beef, although it is not raised in Japan. Though few of us could afford the hefty $68 per pound price tag for Wagyu beef, we wanted to see if the beef was indeed worth the cost.
It was. After pan-searing three dozen steaks (four of each type for perhaps the largest tasting turnout in America's Test Kitchen), we found that money can buy you happiness, if happiness for you is the best steak you ever ate.
"Wow," wrote one happy taster of our first-place Wagyu steak. "This is unlike any strip that I've had." Others deemed the Wagyu steak "tender like a filet" and "very rich and meaty." The overwhelming richness, however, which one taster likened to "foie gras-infused beef," was not everyone's cup of tea. A minority of tasters agreed with the one who wrote, "This doesn't taste like beef at all."
Three steaks shared the spot for second place: Niman Ranch, praised for its "good flavor" and "nice texture"; Coleman Natural, deemed "very robust"; and Peter Luger, which had "strong beef flavor" and "great juiciness."
The brand most people turn to when ordering steak through the mail -- Omaha -- took the last two spots in our tasting. The Omaha strip steak had "off flavors" and was described as "grainy tasting," while the Omaha Private Reserve (at almost twice the price; see chart) finished last, with tasters finding it "a little chewy,"and "very dry."
The good news is that you don't have to spend a small fortune (or pay for shipping) to get a great steak. Coleman Natural steak, available at natural food supermarkets, tied for second place and was a comparative bargain at $14/lb. (just four dollars more than the low-ranked Stop & Shop beef). For true steak greatness, however, we recommend splurging on Wagyu beef . . . at least once.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
LOBEL'S WAGYU (KOBE-STYLE) BONELESS STRIP STEAK (FROM OAKLEIGH RANCH, AUSTRALIA) $68/lb
"Incredibly tender," "awesome."
NIMAN RANCH NEW YORK STEAK $22/lb
"Good flavor," "very tender."
COLEMAN NATURAL BONELESS STRIP STEAK $14/lb
"Great flavor," "rich, meaty."
PETER LUGER STRIP STEAK $29/lb
"Extremely tender," "mild."
RECOMMENDED
LOBEL'S BONELESS STRIP STEAK $34/lb
"Juicy," "chewy."
ALLEN BROTHERS DRY-AGED BONELESS SIRLOIN STRIP STEAK $35/lb
"Very tender," "kind of bland."
STOP & SHOP CHOICE BONELESS STRIP STEAK $10/lb
"Very juicy," "not much flavor."
NOT RECOMMENDED
OMAHA BONELESS STRIP STEAK $25/lb
"Beefy but generic," "too thin."
OMAHA PRIVATE RESERVE BONELESS STRIP STEAK $45/lb
"A little chewy," "tough and stringy."
Source(s):
Cook's Illustrated
try ohama steakcompany there great yummy
I have used Omaha Steaks on multiple occasions, a few times for myself and sometimes I order them for new clients to say thanks. The meat is always perfect as far as marbling, tasty and tender.Sometimes they offer the Buffalo steaks which I would highly recommend. They are really low in fat and it absolutely the best flavored steak you can imagine. They often make follow-up phone calls to see that the product arrived on time and was in good condition, which it always has. One time I mentioned in passing that one of the toothpicks holding the bacon on the fillet had fallen out, mostly half-*** kidding. 3 days later there were 6 bacon wrapped file ts waiting on my front porch when I got home. That one little bit of customer service will make it very difficult for me to choose any other provider, EVER!
www.omahasteaks.com , it will take a big mistake on their part to send me looking elsewhere.
Lobels of New York, www.lobels.com ,a little pricey but makes ohama steaks look like ground spam.
www.nonamesteaks.com