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Comment by curiousllama | Hacker News Reader

In terms of statistical preference, I'm not sure there's a actually huge difference. Some people like blue steaks, others like well done, most people are in between.

I think people who like rare steaks just talk about it more because it's the "right" way to prepare the "best" cuts. A $200 steak is just going to be most flavorful when it's on the rarer side. But its just a signaling thing if you're talking about skirt or flank.

Same question could be asked "why does everyone all the sudden love whiskey neat so much?" - they don't, its just that the whiskey folk talk about it conspicuously.

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IMO, it does not have to be a $200 cut, a $9 ribeye from Walmart cooked rare is far better than a $9 pot roast sandwich from the local fast food joint.

With at $4/lb chuck roast it's more of a trade-off. A chuck roast steak cooked rare is a little too tough for my liking. But it is far more juicy and tasteful than the same cut slow cooked and served as a pot roast

Almost any steak will be better than a pot roast sandwich from probably any fast food place (there are a few exceptions I've been to). And Walmart groceries, contrary to popular belief, are actually pretty decent. Mostly on par with any other grocer in the areas I've lived.

I think you’re overcooking your pot roast.

> its just a signaling thing

That makes a lot of sense.

Also what on earth makes a steak worth $200? I bought a 1/4 beef this fall for something like $700, and that includes all the nice steaks and roasts along with like 50 lbs of ground beef.

In addition to what others have mentioned, a $200 steak is probably -- hopefully?! -- dry-aged. Something like 1/3 of the weight is evaporated away during dry-aging, so that 16oz steak was originally 24oz. There's also loss to trimming, which is required due to both a desiccated crust and fungal and mold growth on the surface. And it is typically a high-grade beef to start with. And it's time intensive.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beef_aging#Dry-aged_beef

I know they aged the carcass for two weeks on my beef before they broke it down into cuts. I think the "dry aged" stuff is generally aged even further than that, right?

I think I read somewhere that mass-market beef is generally not left to hang after slaughter, is that correct?

Well, a nonlinear demand curve for luxury goods comes into play. Also, $200 steaks are typically prepared (at which point you're paying for restaurant ambiance and the chef's time). Raw steaks don't get up that high unless aged or pre-prepared in some way.

But more generally, steaks just scale well to the high end. They keep getting better and better as cut, livestock, and preparation improves. That's not necessarily true for other foods. E.g., most pastas (while obviously delicious) will only get so good barring a virtuoso chef.

I recommend a test. Find a friend who's really good at preparing steaks. Have them cook a good cut & a regular cut from your 1/4 beef, and you cook one of each too. You'll taste the difference from cut and preparation quality.

Where would you suggest getting a "good" steak?

In my experience direct from farmer beef is so superior to store bought beef that I avoid eating beef bought from a store.

My experience with buying quarters was 'so-so' enough that I stopped. Even when the meat was good enough, I found that I felt like I was being ripped off. There is just so much opportunity between the farmer and butcher to cheat you, and you don't have any insight. Maybe it's just me.

I can really only imagining this working out consistently if you really developed those relationships, and for a purchase I'd make a few times a year at most, it didn't seem worth it.

I guess, yea, do business with people you trust.

I've found butchers and farmers to be generally upstanding people. I'm also in the heart of farm country. I would be a lot more leery of people targeting a more urban market.

A good compromise is an actual butcher, the kind who has a relationship with farmers and breaks down primal cuts.

I live alone so a quarter beef would be a real challenge to finish off. Instead, I can go to the local butcher and get the usual cuts, and the unusual cuts, soup bones, hard fat for tallow, and so on.

Where I live, at least, it's all local, beef, lamp, goat, chicken, doesn't matter.

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