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Porter Road. Im sure you have heard that name before because of the specials they have offered on SMF in the past few months and the review that
TulsaJeff
did on their product. They had also sent me a box of meats to sample. Now I have had the box for several months. I decided to try some of the products right away and then freeze others and do them at a later date as I wanted to see how good the product was after thawing. Note that all of the products came vacuum sealed and in a very nice and clearly marked package. You will see a picture of it below in the NY Strip section.Well it’s a later date so here is the review on the goods.
Let’s start out with the beef brats and beef dry aged hotdogs. Sadly I cannot find the pictures I took of both of these so the pictures below are from their website.
The brats had a great meat to fat ratio and was very rich on flavor. The beef flavor was a tad different from what I was expecting but in a very good way.
The hotdogs were a cased dog which I like because of the snap you get when you cook them right. They were very filling and the dry aged flavor was outstanding. I would say they were in the top 3 best hotdogs I have had the pleasure of consuming.
Now jumping forward a few months we now tried the Tri Tip and the NY Strip steaks.
The Tri Tip was 2-2.5lbs. It was trimmed really well. I did have to take just 1 small piece of fat off of it but all in all it was maybe 1oz. On first impression I noticed the marbling which was great and the deep red color it had. Note that the color was deep before freezing too. For this review I purchased another Tri Tip from a local store that was high quality Certified Angus Beef. Below you will see them side by side before seasoning. Notice the one on the right and how bright red it is. That is the Store bought one.
We seasoned with my rub on both of them and grilled them up. The Porter Road one was nice and uniformed in thickness more so than the store bought and it cooked up nice and even. The store bought one was also bigger (It was a sale and I couldn’t find one the same or similar size as the Porter Road one). Below are the pictures of them both done and resting. The first one of the one from Porter Road.
Below is the Porter Road Tri Tip Sliced up. Sadly I didn’t get a sliced picture of the other one. I also went slightly over on the target temp on this one.
The Results
Both of them were delicious and tender. The Porter Road had a more intense flavor to it and the texture was different. It was tender but melted in your mouth more so than the other one. You could definitely tell that they were different from each other. Also note that the CAB is a step above other ones that I can get and is usually a head above the rest. So to have the Porter Road one top it was a feat in its self.
The NY Strip was about 12oz in size. This is my wife’s favorite cut so I decided to just make it up for her to have and review. Below is an image of how it arrived. If you look you can see the incredible marbling that it has.
I seasoned with my rub just like on the Tri Tip. Grilled it up and pulled to rest.
Here it is sliced and on the Mrs. Plate for destruction.
Halfway thru dinner I hear a loud “Oh My God”. I was eating in the living room watching football and they were in the dining room. So of course I reply with “What”! My wife comes over with her fork and a piece of beef flesh. She said eat this. So I did. Holy Sweet Baby Jesus is all I can say. I have never in my life had a better piece of NY Strip (With that being said I have had some great NY’s from places like Ruth’s Chris). The flavor was so rich and beefy. The tenderness of this cut was like a good filet minion. You could cut it with a fork. It was buttery and melted in your mouth. For those with dentures you could eat it with them out. I was so surprised with NY. So my wife passed a piece to several people and the same OMG reply was heard several times.
Conclusion
To be honest with all of you I wasn’t expecting this product to be much different than some of the stuff I get from local suppliers. But the way these animals are raised and how they process them makes a world of difference. Now all of this is reflected in the price as these products do cost a premium but in the end if it was a special event and I wanted to go over the top I would have no issues shelling out the money for the products I received from them.
Thank you to Porter Road for sending me this package to try and review. I will definitely purchase from them again in the future. www.porterroad.com
