Actually, shark, Rick and I are in disagreement quite often and I've repeatedly expressed my disapproval of his word choice (for example). I've taken a vow thru a nationwide initiative (it's on my FB page) to never use the particular word again, but Rick knows what I'm talking about. I've given up with him on that issue. I also remember when he placed me in the Repug camp, the ultimate affront to me with my personal philosophy and family background. If you'll recall, I've repeatedly stated that my stance is that Rick understands journalism and often throws out these zingers just to drive up readership
But back to the beef: I think you misunderstood my post. I've never in my life bought Mexican beef and cooked it. I was mainly saying I prefer home-raised over commercial beef. The industry has changed significantly over the past couple decades...now you mostly get "no-roll" beef at the supermarket (Bruce will know what I mean...it's basically beef that doesn't have that blue "USDA" stamp on it. Used to be you would get USDA Choice at the store....now it's all "Select", a lower grade. I think your prime grade beef is only about 1 or 2% of the market. At the meatpackers, they make a slit in the rib cage, look at the marbling, and grade it based upon color, marbling, etc. Some also claim breed makes a difference, around here it's all Black Angus that's touted as the best. What we've found is that what grain you feed it out with, corn, wheat, etc. AND how long you hang it (there's also dry vs. wet-- the older method so you don't lose meat weight). We hang ours at least two weeks longer, dry. My main point I was trying to make was that I prefer to know the beef is not laced with growth hormones and antibiotics, the feed lot philosophy. Don't get me wrong, medium rare, T bone or Ribeye, the tenderer the better
