Hello Al and everyone else who might be interested,
I hope that I have answered all of your questions below!
Let me answer your first question first. You asked: “A couple of months ago I bought a large chuck roast from Sam’s. My nephew worked at Sam’s for years as a meat cutter and he tried to show me where the chuck steak roast included a large portion of "ribeye" in it. I think that's what he was trying to say. Sometimes he talks faster then a chain saw.”
Right where the chuck begins from the rib section.
There is about two inches of smaller Rib Eye still there.
Sometimes in cutting and separating the Rib portion from the Chuck portion you will find a more appealing Rib Eye in the chuck section that looks just like the Rib section. That is not always the case as the Rib Eye do tend to get smaller at the beginning of the Chuck section. Please see Beef Cuts Image diagram. The Rib Eye is often called a Delmonico Steak when it is Boneless and a Rib Steak when it has the bone still attached. You can cut out the portion of the Rib Eye and cook it as a Delmonico Steak, Leaving the rest for a roast or you can cut it up in cubes for Beef Stew. The Chuck section also makes good ground beef, providing you get rid of the excess fat.
“He said that if you know how to look at these large cuts you can basically buy higher quality cuts for the lower quality price. Can you tell me a bit more about what to look for at the meat counter to get the best cuts at the best prices?”
Things have changed since I was a Meat Cutter. In my day every thing came in on rails hanging from a meat hook. You would have your Front Section (Chuck, arm, rib and plate still connected) and your Hind Section (The Round with Shank, Sirloin tip, Sirloin, Flank and your Short Loin which consisted your Porterhouse and T-Bone Steaks. If you took off the Tenderloin from the Porterhouse you would have a Tenderloin Roast or steaks. The rest of the Porterhouse and t-bone minus the tenderloin would be called Strip Steaks) Now days every thing comes in boxes and are wrapped in Cryovac food packaging. No longer are the days where you had to know at what angle to cut out the Sirloin Tip to get the right cut for the Sirloin. It’s a good thing however the art is gone now in knowing how to separate the different cuts of meat. Now days you can find the larger sections of beef still whole. I believe this is what your nephew was speaking about. Those cuts are usually cheaper when you buy it at the bulk price and you can go from there and make it into steaks or roast. I’ve seen that they have the Sirloin Tip, Top Sirloin, Rib Eye, Brisket and boneless Chuck.
Something else he said was that the packs of ground meat in the display case are just the large chub packs run through the grinder again to bring out the nice red color. So you are buying older meat in the display packs. That's why they only leave it out for a day because it expires within 24 hours once the original seal is broken.
The large chubs of Ground meat that you see are usually ground in a course cut and then it’s wrapped in Cryovac food packaging to stop it from coming into the air. Once it’s open to the air it will begin to turn red. That’s when the meat Department would grind it into a finer cut. The meat then takes on a beautiful red color. It only stays red for so long before turning a gray- brownish color. If they take the meat again and re-grind it, the meat will be a pale looking color that’s does not look good. That’s why they grind there meat at different times of the day and only when they need it. Other wise it gets tossed! What would you buy a nice rosy color of ground meat or something that looks like you should bury it. Here is one more thing for your information and even before my time as a Meat Cutter. The Butchers at one time would sprinkle sugar over their ground meat and the different cuts of Beef to keep the red color longer. Now days that is against the law.
Thomas
