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Mail Order/Online Steak

Rexedgar

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We have tried Omaha Steaks once or twice and they are ok. The missus has found a very good selection at the local supermarket, so that is where we get our butcher meat.

A family member sent us a selection from the Kansas City Steak Company. The box included chicken, steak and pork chops. The chicken was ok. The steaks were a disappointment with too much gristle and very little marbling. The pork chops were about 1 1/2” thick and pretty much inedible when the meat reached the recommended internal temperature for pork. The giver is a muckety-muck at an elite marketing company and I think these boxes go out to her business clients and associates. Do I clue her in that maybe she should find another source of Christmas gifts or let it be?
 

mrjurrs

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We have tried Omaha Steaks once or twice and they are ok. The missus has found a very good selection at the local supermarket, so that is where we get our butcher meat.

A family member sent us a selection from the Kansas City Steak Company. The box included chicken, steak and pork chops. The chicken was ok. The steaks were a disappointment with too much gristle and very little marbling. The pork chops were about 1 1/2” thick and pretty much inedible when the meat reached the recommended internal temperature for pork. The giver is a muckety-muck at an elite marketing company and I think these boxes go out to her business clients and associates. Do I clue her in that maybe she should find another source of Christmas gifts or let it be?
Are you a competitor? If not, I think saying thank you and telling your experience would be a positive.
 

EdwinWillers

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We have tried Omaha Steaks once or twice and they are ok. The missus has found a very good selection at the local supermarket, so that is where we get our butcher meat.

A family member sent us a selection from the Kansas City Steak Company. The box included chicken, steak and pork chops. The chicken was ok. The steaks were a disappointment with too much gristle and very little marbling. The pork chops were about 1 1/2” thick and pretty much inedible when the meat reached the recommended internal temperature for pork. The giver is a muckety-muck at an elite marketing company and I think these boxes go out to her business clients and associates. Do I clue her in that maybe she should find another source of Christmas gifts or let it be?
You say she's a family member? Probably not best to tell someone who isn't "family" to find another source - even though they probably should.

I guess it depends on how good your relationship is with her.

I went to their website and checked out their offerings. Given the photographs and selections, I was impressed - and even salivated a tad as I love a good steak myself. But being a steak lover, and one who has cooked over 10,000 of them myself (working as a steak chef at a high-end steak house through college), I'm also pretty finicky about steak quality - knowing fully well the difference between "good" and "marginal" steaks. That said, pricing for their gift boxes was not inexpensive. I imagine if she gave multiple such gifts out it set her company back a tad - which goes to her/their desire to give something of quality - which is saying something.

Giving perishable items as gifts is ever the gamble - and imho even more so for something like steak; so if you have that sort of relationship with her that is open and frank, I'd maybe open with the bold above and take it from there, being tactfully honest in a genuine desire to help. I don't know though - tough call. The other option is to just leave it, be genuinely thankful and no one's the wiser.
 

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We have tried Omaha Steaks once or twice and they are ok. The missus has found a very good selection at the local supermarket, so that is where we get our butcher meat.

A family member sent us a selection from the Kansas City Steak Company. The box included chicken, steak and pork chops. The chicken was ok. The steaks were a disappointment with too much gristle and very little marbling. The pork chops were about 1 1/2” thick and pretty much inedible when the meat reached the recommended internal temperature for pork. The giver is a muckety-muck at an elite marketing company and I think these boxes go out to her business clients and associates. Do I clue her in that maybe she should find another source of Christmas gifts or let it be?

One Christmas I bought a prime rib roast from Kansas City Steaks and one from Walmart and the Walmart one was so much better.
 

PirateMk1

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We have tried Omaha Steaks once or twice and they are ok. The missus has found a very good selection at the local supermarket, so that is where we get our butcher meat.

A family member sent us a selection from the Kansas City Steak Company. The box included chicken, steak and pork chops. The chicken was ok. The steaks were a disappointment with too much gristle and very little marbling. The pork chops were about 1 1/2” thick and pretty much inedible when the meat reached the recommended internal temperature for pork. The giver is a muckety-muck at an elite marketing company and I think these boxes go out to her business clients and associates. Do I clue her in that maybe she should find another source of Christmas gifts or let it be?
Yes. I give similar gifts to clients and believe me I would want to know if my clients were being screwed with substandard product. Companies get away with crap because people are polite. I provide top notch service I expect the same from my venders. Emphatic yes.
 

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We have tried Omaha Steaks once or twice and they are ok. The missus has found a very good selection at the local supermarket, so that is where we get our butcher meat.

A family member sent us a selection from the Kansas City Steak Company. The box included chicken, steak and pork chops. The chicken was ok. The steaks were a disappointment with too much gristle and very little marbling. The pork chops were about 1 1/2” thick and pretty much inedible when the meat reached the recommended internal temperature for pork. The giver is a muckety-muck at an elite marketing company and I think these boxes go out to her business clients and associates. Do I clue her in that maybe she should find another source of Christmas gifts or let it be?
Personally because it is a gift, I vote for saying nothing unless you have a close relationship where honesty is truly valued
 

Rexedgar

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Personally because it is a gift, I vote for saying nothing unless you have a close relationship where honesty is truly valued
See George Carlin’s quote in my signature. She is from the missus’ side of the family and we have a frosty relationship.
 

Credence

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See George Carlin’s quote in my signature. She is from the missus’ side of the family and we have a frosty relationship.
I have cooked some of the worse cuts for meats that turn out pretty good. My first tip is to use a good meat tenderizing tool and/or marinating the meat before cooking
 

Rexedgar

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I have cooked some of the worse cuts for meats that turn out pretty good. My first tip is to use a good meat tenderizing tool and/or marinating the meat before cooking
I had never heard of Kansas City Steaks before, they advertise themselves that their offerings don’t need such modifications.
 

Credence

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I had never heard of Kansas City Steaks before, they advertise themselves that their offerings don’t need such modifications.
Part of marketing. LOL On a side note - I don't see any signatures

In a search they seem to come up a lot. I have only used Omaha Steaks but I don't follow their cooking instructions

Kansas City Steaks, Chicago Steaks as well as Omaha Steaks do come up for the best online steak companies ..... I still say it is the way they are cooked

 
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Gaius46

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Personally because it is a gift, I vote for saying nothing unless you have a close relationship where honesty is truly valued
Normally I’d agree. But because it’s not a commodity kind of gift and so quality can vary widely from vendor to vendor and because the giver may well send the same thing as a gift to someone else I think it makes sense to tell them.
 

Credence

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Normally I’d agree. But because it’s not a commodity kind of gift and so quality can vary widely from vendor to vendor and because the giver may well send the same thing as a gift to someone else I think it makes sense to tell them.
To each his own. Kansas City Steaks are in the top 5 companies but I've never tried them so can't give an informed opinion. I still believe, however, it is the way a meat is cooked
 

jamesrage

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We have tried Omaha Steaks once or twice and they are ok. The missus has found a very good selection at the local supermarket, so that is where we get our butcher meat.

A family member sent us a selection from the Kansas City Steak Company. The box included chicken, steak and pork chops. The chicken was ok. The steaks were a disappointment with too much gristle and very little marbling. The pork chops were about 1 1/2” thick and pretty much inedible when the meat reached the recommended internal temperature for pork. The giver is a muckety-muck at an elite marketing company and I think these boxes go out to her business clients and associates. Do I clue her in that maybe she should find another source of Christmas gifts or let it be?

When it comes to certain things I do not trust mail order or curbside pick up. Won't order wood, meat, produce, and easily breakable stuff. I know anytime I go to the store I make the stuff I am buying is good. I make sure the wood I buy isn't warped or cracked and doesn't have wane, pitch pockets,checks and knots in the wrong spot. When I go to the grocery store I make the meat doesn't have too much grissle, and isn't too fatty and the produce is not wilted, not bruised and looks good. I can't imagine someone making barely above minimum wage who has a quota to fulfill going through the same trouble I go through for as little money they make. Plus weather could delay your shipment and those trailers going back and forth between different hubs are not refrigerated. So if a certain area is flooded, iced over then you are not getting your stuff in a timely manner.
 

Rexedgar

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When it comes to certain things I do not trust mail order or curbside pick up. Won't order wood, meat, produce, and easily breakable stuff. I know anytime I go to the store I make the stuff I am buying is good. I make sure the wood I buy isn't warped or cracked and doesn't have wane, pitch pockets,checks and knots in the wrong spot. When I go to the grocery store I make the meat doesn't have too much grissle, and isn't too fatty and the produce is not wilted, not bruised and looks good. I can't imagine someone making barely above minimum wage who has a quota to fulfill going through the same trouble I go through for as little money they make. Plus weather could delay your shipment and those trailers going back and forth between different hubs are not refrigerated. So if a certain area is flooded, iced over then you are not getting your stuff in a timely manner.
It was a Christmas gift.
 

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Snake River Farms for me.
 
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