Holiday Gifts More Meaningful in Economic Crisis
With the holidays approaching and the economy sliding into a fearful unknown, many question what they will do both personally and corporately for holiday gifts this season. Now more than ever, American’s need comfort, reasurrance and acknowledgement of genuine appreciation. More and more people may turn to gifts that are personal and give a genuine feeling of warmth to the recipient. It is my opinion that trinket type gifts and other such non-personal ”things” will be far less this holiday season. Instead, we’ll see less overall in the number of gifts, but higher quality both peronsally and in business. When seeking these types of gifts many may turn to mail order gourmet foods which range from fine wines to 5-star steaks.
Why USDA Prime
Have ever wondered what quality of steaks you were really buying? There are so many names out there….Premium, Prime, Choice, Private Reserve, Select. What do they mean? Well, many names are not actual “grades” given by the USDA, but merely marketing names. Many times these names attached to steaks are geared to give the appearance of a high quality steak, when in fact, they are merely fancy descriptions. The USDA (United States Dept of Agriculture) sets the standards for inspectors on how to “grade” beef. When talking in terms of grading steaks, there are 3 basic quality levels of Graded beef.
The HIGHEST quality Grade issued by the USDA is “USDA Prime“. USDA Prime makes up less than 2% of all graded beef. USDA Prime has abundant marbling and is generally only sold to high end hotels and restaurants. There are also some high end mail order steak companies who also offer USDA Prime. More tha likely, you won’t find USDA Prime in your local grocery store.
The next quality grade given is USDA Choice. This grade of beef is a nice quality, but has less marbling than USDA Prime. Marbling is what give your steaks succulent flavor and tenderness.
USDA Select is the final and lowest quality grade given by the USDA. This grade is described as fairly tender with less marbling than the higher grades. It may also lack flavor and juiciness than higher grades.
So, as you can see, it really matters what’s in a name!! Don’t be fooled if you see a steak marketed as ”prime”. If you are looking for the best and highest quaity graded steak, make sure it says “USDA Prime“. Then you can be assured that you will be dining on the finest graded steak available.
