Meat Freshness/Butcher

Lou_34544

Hey all,

Just received a delivery from a reputable and well respected local butcher in NYC. 3 dry aged boneless strip steaks, 4 (even though I only purchased 2) filet mignon. All prime.

The strip steaks look vibrantly fresh. However, the filets are somewhat brownish grey on the outside; certainly not the vibrant red of the strips. I immediately froze for later use.

I was wondering if the community could chime in. Do you think the meat is safe for sous vide? Even if it is, do you see the meat as an issueI should address with the butcher? I was expecting bright red flesh, but I'm unsure about this. I've included pictures for comparison

Brandon_Byrd_40557

It's fine. The redness of beef comes from oxygen interacting with the myoglobin in the meat. Some grocery stores use modified atmospheric packaging to pump carbon monoxide into the beef packaging, which keeps the beef looking bright red for a long period of time. Specialty shops and higher end butchers don't typically do that. Odds are the meat simply hadn't been exposed to the air before it was packaged (if the steaks were all more or less stuck together or had butcher paper between them, this is likely the case).