If you’re like me, and have spent most of your life on one of the coasts, you might ask, “So what’s up with the Midwest?” Simple answer: carbohydrates (specifically, corn). When it comes to beef, in order to reach the level of quality that we sell, we need to source beef from producers who introduce the right amount of carbs to the cattle through their feed. Marbling is a direct effect of a cow’s diet (more carbs = more marbling = better tasting beef), but even with the right feed, there is no guarantee they’ll grade out Prime.

All cattle start out on grass in pasture, then depending on who is raising them and where, and if they want to take them up a notch; the cattle are moved to a combination of feeds other than grass. This is an expensive proposition (2-3 bucks a day per head times 30-100 days multiplied by say, 1000 head, and you have some serious lunch bills). So cattlemen will look for supplemental feed that is abundant in their local area and guess what is abundant in the Midwest …I know, I know but I’m speaking pre Ethanol.

Anyways, corn provides a supplemental feed which is a great source of carbohydrates that’s relatively inexpensive because it’s grown locally. To give an example of the impact of this, Washington State tends to supplement with hops as that is their abundant crop, but because hops provide no carbs, the incidence of true Prime beef from the Northwest is noticeably less that the Midwest.

To be perfectly honest, the difficult thing from my perspective with regards to the Midwest beef is that I don’t YET (believe me I’m working on it) have a personal contact with a grower and therefore have to rely on quality packing houses for my sourcing. With the Midwest beef, it is not unusual for me to downgrade beef (that I bought as Prime) to choice because it just isn’t up to my standards.

But rest assured, if it’s from the Midwest, and it’s from me, it is PRIME.