Why Omaha Steaks Beef is Better
- by Omaha Steaks
- Last updated Nov 29, 2024
A century of steak.
Omaha Steaks was founded in 1917 by father and son J.J. and B.A. Simon in Omaha, Neb., the heartland of the beef industry. The fifth generation of the Simon family still runs Omaha Steaks today, building a company rich in history and over 100 years of butcher experience. That heritage is why we’re called Omaha Steaks – America’s Original Butcher, but that’s not why everyone loves our steaks. Here are the biggest differences between Omaha Steaks and the rest.
Heartland Quality®
It’s a fact: There are more cattle than people in Nebraska, and it’s some of the highest quality beef in the world. The Simon family started a butcher shop in Omaha, Nebraska for that very reason, and it’s why we’re still based here today.
For over 100 years, the Simons have built deep, long-lasting relationships with the country’s highest quality beef suppliers. Our meat purchasers are trained in the Simon family tradition to ensure that all our beef continues to meet the industry’s highest standards as our founders helped build over a century ago. When we say Heartland Quality®, we’re talking about a tradition of excellence that you’ll only find right here in Nebraska.
The Selection
Omaha Steaks are carefully selected by beef experts trained with decades of experience. Not all beef is good enough for Omaha Steaks; it must meet our exacting standards. We often get asked about USDA grading and we explain it is only one small factor in our beef selection. Omaha Steaks and the Simon family have been grading and selecting beef using proprietary processes since 1917, decades before the Agricultural Marketing Service of the USDA became responsible for beef grading, in 1939. We are America’s Original Butcher. No one has been “grading” steak longer than Omaha Steaks and no one knows beef better than we do. The USDA grade of beef depends on really just one factor: marbling.
Our founders knew there was so much more to a great steak than just marbling and includes the skill of a master butcher achieving the perfect cut, the importance of exacting standards around aging and flash-freezing, immediate vacuum sealing in oxygen permeable films, along with more than 100 years of sourcing relationships that ensure a level of quality and consistency in the raw material that otherwise would be very difficult to achieve. So, if you are looking for a basic grade on our steak, you won’t find it, because we consider at least 5 different variables (of which marbling is one) when determining if an Omaha Steak is to become a Gourmet, Butcher’s Cut™ or a Private Reserve® steak. One thing is for certain with our decades of experience and team of master butchers all Omaha Steaks have been hand-chosen for integrity, color, consistency, tenderness, and marbling.
Grain-Finished
We’re steak lovers, too. That’s why Omaha Steaks are carved from the best in grass-fed, grain-finished beef. Raising cattle on grasses and finishing them with highly nutritive grains creates the signature rich flavor of our beef and is well known for richness, exceptional marbling, and melt-in-your-mouth tenderness.
It’s a fact: grain-finished beef has more marbling than grass-finished beef. That marbling, or fine flecks of fat, is where the richness, incredible juiciness, and intense beef flavor come from. We love this beef, and so have our customers for over 100 years.
Proprietary Aging Process
Our aging process is an art we’ve perfected with years of experience and naturally results in a more tender and flavorful steak. Omaha Steaks beef is aged at proprietary and precise temperature and humidity levels for at least 28 days. Other steak purveyors may age their beef 14-21 days if they age it at all because our aging process is expensive and takes longer. When buying steaks from your local grocery, they are barely or never aged, resulting in tough, bland beef with very little retained juices. Each cut will be placed in the counter with a guess at when you might buy it, but you’ll never know exactly when your food was cut or when it’ll taste best.
At Omaha Steaks, we believe the investment in our proprietary aging process is worth it to deliver the best steaks in the world to your doorstep. We know that rich beef flavor and elevated tenderness is the result of careful selection and a meticulous wet-aging process. Our steak experience has proven 28 days to be the optimal moment of tenderness and flavor. Not 14 days, not 21 days, but at least 28 days of aging. We guarantee all Omaha Steaks are aged at least 28 days using our proprietary aging process and then flash-frozen to maintain that perfection until delivery.
Consistency
Our staff of 80 butchers with over 900 years of collective experience ensures that we continue to deliver the best quality day-in and day-out right to your door. It takes deep knowledge and experience to deliver exceptional results and consistency every time. Think cutting a perfect steak is easy? Our master butchers are individually trained for years using traditional Simon Family techniques to ensure the perfect Omaha Steak, every time.
Flash-Frozen Perfection
When Omaha Steaks says “frozen”, we don’t mean frozen food, like TV dinners. We mean, our steaks have been flash-frozen by such an intensely cold temperature it stops the aging process. This super-fast and super-cold freezing technique ensures the meat isn’t damaged when frozen because the water inside the cells doesn’t have time to expand. Those grocery store steaks, on the other hand, are losing flavor and tenderness minute they stay displayed behind the counter. So, our flash-frozen steaks delivered in our vacuum-seal technology are actually fresher, tastier, and more tender than anything you can find at your local grocery store.
With flash-freezing at very cold temperatures, our steaks are essentially frozen in time – capturing peak flavor, tenderness, and juiciness as our master butcher intended. It’s like a pause button for nature’s perfect process.
Individually Vacuum Sealed
Omaha Steaks’ individually portioned packaging and easy-to-open, oxygen permeable, vacuum-sealed films mean that your steak looks and tastes exactly as it should. Our vacuum-seal technology includes easy-open seals and is specially certified for use in sous vide cooking. This reduces food waste because you’ll only need to thaw what you’re going to cook at that moment, leaving the rest of your Omaha Steaks order frozen in time and lying perfectly in wait. We’re saying that every steak we deliver has been aged to perfection, instantly flash-frozen to preserve that perfect moment, and vacuum-sealed to make certain it arrives exactly as you expect from America’s Original Butcher.
A passion built into a company. A company built into an icon. One thing at the center: THE BEST STEAKS IN THE WORLD.
Experience over a century of steak.
Steaks for Everyone
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