The Tips
BETTER UNDERSTANDING, BETTER APPRECIATION
Here at CHICOINE, we are passionate about meat ! Guiding you in your choices is another way to make your life easier. Here is some valuable information to help you enjoy our meats even more.
Grades, what do they mean ?
Beef is graded in terms of the marbling and age of the bovine. It’s a guide that helps you make a decision adapted to the type of meal you’re serving. Keep in mind that Chicoine only offers AA, AAA, and PRIME beef products.
The Prime
Meat from a steer with
extremely abundant marbling.
The AAA
Meat from a steer with
abundant marbling
The AA
Meat from a steer with
moderate marbling
The A
Meat from a steer with
weak marbling
WHAT DOES MARBLING TELL US?
Marbling is a characteristic that speaks to the meat’s tenderness. The more there is, the more tender and savoury the meat is. It can be spotted as fine white stripes on a piece of beef.
Cut with
abundant marbling
-
Grade AAA
Cut with
little marbling
-
Grade A
ALL ABOUT AGING
Aged meat is more tender and flavorful. All of our beef products are aged for a minimum of 28 days under a vacuum seal. Réserve Chicoine products are dry-aged for 50 days in ventilated cold storage, which concentrates the meat’s flavours, on top of improving its tenderness.
OPTIMAL THAWING
We recommend two thawing methods. You can put the meat in the refrigerator and wait three to four hours for a small piece of meat, or up to twelve hours for a bulkier piece. The fastest method is to immerse the packaged product in cold water until completely thawed, which can vary from 30 to 60 minutes for smaller pieces and up to 3 hours for more massive ones.