4 ms·

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

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.

war1025 6y ago
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.
- Afton 6y ago
  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.
  - war1025 6y ago
    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.
- samatman 6y ago
  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.

war1025 6y ago

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.

Afton 6y ago
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.
- war1025 6y ago
  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.
samatman 6y ago
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.