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  • If you're basically a carnivore, you can almost  begin to smell the butter melting on that juicy,  

  • perfectly cooked steak the moment you begin  to approach your grocery store's meat counter.  

  • But not everything on display deserves  to make its way to your dinner plate.  

  • Since fresh meat is expensive, making the  wrong choice can be a huge waste of money.  

  • In fact, choosing the right cut at the grocery  store can sometimes be the most difficult part  

  • about cooking meat. Your mission, should you  choose to accept it, is to find a cut that's  

  • full of flavor, and has the right balance of fat  and protein to make it perfectly tender and juicy.  

  • Yet surprisingly, some of the most popular options  fall short when it comes to texture and taste.

  • So how can you choose wisely? In  an exclusive interview with Mashed,  

  • a butcher who has worked at a large national  grocery chain since 2013 shared some intel  

  • on which meats you should never buy at the  grocery store. It turns out that some of the  

  • priciest and prettiest meats aren't actually  grill-worthy. Even if it looks good and is  

  • described with adjectives like "grass-fedor "tender," not every meat makes the cut.

  • "I call this turf and turf. It's a 16  oz. t-bone, and a 24 oz. porterhouse.”

  • Meat that comes ready to fling ongrill appeals not only to our appetites,  

  • but also to our busy schedulesHowever, ready-to-cook meat is  

  • often a huge waste of money. Insteadthe butcher we spoke with advises:

  • "Pick out your meat option (look for  something on sale!) and then ask your  

  • butcher what [their] favorite seasoning or  marinade is that they sell in the store."

  • While marinating your meat yourself may seem  like an unnecessary step, pre-marinated meat  

  • is likely over-marinated, making the meat  mushy. Similarly, skip those ready-to-grill  

  • kabobs, which don't offer a very creative  selection of produce. The butcher advises,

  • "I would recommend asking your butcher to cube  the meat for you. If you make them yourself,  

  • you can add other options like mushroomspineapple, and cherry tomatoes."

  • Not only does this allow you to customize your  kabobs with fruit and veggies you actually enjoy;  

  • it saves you from the 60 percent  mark-up on those kabob kits.

  • Shockingly, the butcher also advised  against buying filet. He told us,

  • "I know filet is typically known as an optimal  cut of meat and traditionally priced for it, too,  

  • but it's pretty overrated when compared to  other beef cuts. I would recommend purchasing  

  • a cut like teres major, which is also a lean  and tender cut, but about 1/3 of the price."

  • Not sure you can score this  cut at your supermarket?  

  • Opt for a New York strip steak instead, which  has a good balance of flavor and tenderness.

  • If you're in the market for poultrymake sure you avoid chicken labeled  

  • as "water chilled," the butcher we  spoke with said, cautioning us that,

  • "It absorbs some of the water  which evaporates when cooking,  

  • resulting in smaller and  potentially-rubbery chicken."

  • It turns out that the majority of grocery store  chicken is chilled by submerging chickens into a  

  • giant vat of chlorinated water, causing the birds  to absorb some excess water in the process. If  

  • you can't tell from a glance how the chicken was  chilled, it was likely done in water. Most grocery  

  • stores label the poultry when it is air-chilledso if you don't see those words, assume the  

  • chicken is water-chilled and avoid it. And it's  not just the taste of the chicken itself that's  

  • impacted by water-chilling. Speaking to BloombergChef Doug Psaltis of RPM Steak in Chicago said,

  • "While preparing the bird, if you do choose  to brine the bird, air-chilled will allow you  

  • to absorb great flavors and aromatics, whereas  water-chilled has already absorbed chlorine."

  • Speaking of labels, the best poultry should say  "no antibiotics" — not just the usual "no added  

  • hormones," which is required by the United States  Department of Agriculture anyway. And make sure  

  • to look for the USDA Organic label, which means  the chickens were not genetically engineered.

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If you're basically a carnivore, you can almost  begin to smell the butter melting on that juicy,  

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