Tough "Prime" Rib Eye

Take them back, they have a no questions refund policy...

I dont know why, but We have had similar issues with a rack of ribeyes every now and then... You could grind it and make burgers(i did) or grind and make ribeye sausage!!
Cajun Ty buys the ribeye sausages and loves them!!

It gets back to how an animal is graded, and some assumptions made in terms of fat marbling, and meat appearance. At the end of the day, it is a natural product and some variation is going to exist. There is also a wide range of Prime, which can lead to some Prime beef simply not being as good as others.

Personally, I would grind it up, and get some more, as it sounds like you have had generally good luck from Costco. Last year, a couple of buddies and I were out beer crawling and decided to hit Harris Steak House in San Francisco, a reliably high quality, dry aged beef place, and my steak was tough, done perfectly, but, tough. It happens to the best.

I will attempt to guess, how the animal was handled during and prior to butchering. Prime is grade on age and appearance ( i could be wrong). For bone in primal cuts, it can be difficult to judge the tenderness because the bones provide some rigidness. This excludes any cutting issues.

Here is a link to a great resource LINKY

There is no real science behind carcass variability. There is only so much you can know. An animal is cut once, the rib cage is looked at and a grade is then calculated and assigned. There can still be tough meat, and any grading is subject to the observer.

Would it be because costco blade tenderize their steaks? I find a big difference in flavor from Costco vs Sams Club steaks.

I purchased leather ribeyes one time and they looked wonderful in the package. My guess is that some cows are just tough, despite being young and having decent marbling. Or, the cow was older than reported.

I know I have posted this before, but if you have a deep freeze I highly recommend that you buy a side or quarter beef from a local producer/processor. It is always so much better and it is cheaper in the long run. You pay hanging weight plus processing per pound, so for example, if it comes out to $3/lb that is the price of your steaks, hamburger, roasts, etc. In other words, the price per pound is the same for all cuts and they will cut it specifically how you want it, so if you want ribeyes they will cut them, or if you want to do a prime rib they will leave it whole. I have never had a bad steak this way. They are always tender and "beefier" than a store bought, probably because they aren't coming from a huge slaughter house. I will never go back to store bought if I can help it.

heres a long winded explanation..

I have costco in walking distance, and when I moved out here, as a steak eating nut, i was thrilled that i could walk 2 minutes and get a package of fresh steaks..

well... over time, my steaks.... rib eyes, tenderloins, sirloins, just wasnt appealing to me the way they used to.. they were getting grainey, tough, leathery, bland, etc... all too often.. and eventually, i wasnt eating them very often. Maybe once a month if that.

Then on a whim, i walked into one of the local cimmunity markets that expanded into a full butcher shop and it turned out the owner was an old friend of mine. He showing me around and had porterhouss on sale, 8.99 lb.. i got 2.. cooked them that night.. all the crappyness i remembered was gone.. the steak was like butter and full of flavor... So i go back to his store and get more.. same thing..

So as a test i want to see if its just me, or costco steaks suck..so I go to costco, and mind you it was probably 6 months that i stopped buying there at that point. and got a package of shell steaks.. mad ethem for the family, and holy crap, you can actualling here a "sawing' sound when cutting thru the steaks..they were stringy and tough.. all along I was buying crappy steaks and weening myself off beef... and after buying form the butcher shops, we are back to steaks a least once or twice a week, sometimes more.. we vary the cuts, sometimes full roasts, sometimees steaks, he will always cut to order anything we want. 2 inch thick porterhouses at 8.99lb(normally 12.99) on sale is not unusual. So with all this, I will NEVER, and its been at least a year now, buy steaks at costco again.. sure, I pay a buck or 2 a lb more than i would if buying costco choice, but its worth every dime... the butcher is all USDA prime, and sometimes i can get in on the aged stuff. But his prices are LESS than costcos prices on their prime stuff, which I found to be no better than their choice product.

If you grind it you will want more fat. At this point you are making really lean grind anf thats no good for burgers.

It may have been graded in error.
Cook one more only this time sprinkle it with kosher salt on both sides and let it sit for about an hour.
Then rinse the salt off, pat dry with paper towel and let it air dry for a while before cooking over super hot coals or in a very hot CI skillet.
See if that makes a difference.

Could you post a picture of the steaks for a visual assessment?

Not all Costcos buy from the same source - ours here really beats the pants off all other stores and the (unfortunately) only 3 'local' butchers within 1 hour drive.
We only get ribeye; and it's either Montreal or just S+P - killer.
You New Yawkers must get the shoe leather, I guess!

Plus the USDA grader looks at about 400 head an hour - not a real thorough exam
at 8 seconds a pop or so..

I'm starting to see a pattern here...

BBQchef33 said:

heres a long winded explanation..

I have costco in walking distance, and when I moved out here, as a steak eating nut, i was thrilled that i could walk 2 minutes and get a package of fresh steaks..

well... over time, my steaks.... rib eyes, tenderloins, sirloins, just wasnt appealing to me the way they used to.. they were getting grainey, tough, leathery, bland, etc... all too often.. and eventually, i wasnt eating them very often. Maybe once a month if that.

Then on a whim, i walked into one of the local cimmunity markets that expanded into a full butcher shop and it turned out the owner was an old friend of mine. He showing me around and had porterhouss on sale, 8.99 lb.. i got 2.. cooked them that night.. all the crappyness i remembered was gone.. the steak was like butter and full of flavor... So i go back to his store and get more.. same thing..

So as a test i want to see if its just me, or costco steaks suck..so I go to costco, and mind you it was probably 6 months that i stopped buying there at that point. and got a package of shell steaks.. mad ethem for the family, and holy crap, you can actualling here a "sawing' sound when cutting thru the steaks..they were stringy and tough.. all along I was buying crappy steaks and weening myself off beef... and after buying form the butcher shops, we are back to steaks a least once or twice a week, sometimes more.. we vary the cuts, sometimes full roasts, sometimees steaks, he will always cut to order anything we want. 2 inch thick porterhouses at 8.99lb(normally 12.99) on sale is not unusual. So with all this, I will NEVER, and its been at least a year now, buy steaks at costco again.. sure, I pay a buck or 2 a lb more than i would if buying costco choice, but its worth every dime... the butcher is all USDA prime, and sometimes i can get in on the aged stuff. But his prices are LESS than costcos prices on their prime stuff, which I found to be no better than their choice product.

Click to expand...

My dad purchased several prime rib eyes from a Costco North of L.A. and they were tough as leather. Very disappointed and embarrassed in front of his dinner company.

I purchased prime New Yorks from a Costco South of L.A. and they were tough too. I was also disappointed about paying prime prices for select if even that.

A few months back, my local Vons started to stock prime cuts and I gave them a try. I bought a thick NY strip for the wifey and I and it was one of the best steaks I've ever had.

So, I'm done with Costco. There prices aren't as good as they used be also...

What "brand" is this beef?