There’s no substitute for a great local butcher that you can drop by on at a moment’s notice to pick up a great cut of meat. But what if you don’t have one or the selection is limited? If you’re willing to plan ahead, there are quite a few mail order meat companies that have unusual, drool-worthy and high quality selections of some of the finest meats that they’ll deliver right to your doorstep. Skip the average brands that have to throw in knives to sell steaks in favor of one of our favorite items from the best mail order meats companies.
Fossil Farms Ostrich Meat
When it comes to weird, obscure, unusual or exotic meats, Fossil Farms is the name to beat because of their selection that ranges from alligator and kangaroo to yak and rattlesnake. Our favorite mail order meat is the one that helped inspire brothers Lance and Todd Appelbaum to create the brand in the first place—ostrich. The 99% fat free bird is recommended by the American Heart Association as a healthy red meat alternative, but that’s just the icing on the cake because it looks, cooks and tastes like grass fed beef without the marbling. Plus you get to be more adventurous and grill up something other than the traditional beef, pork, poultry or fish.
$12+
Heritage Foods USA Porchetta Rolled and Seasoned Roast
Thomas Odermatt is a third-generation Swiss butcher responsible for creating one of the tastiest sandwiches in the world with his porchetta creation that put his San Francisco restaurant, Roli Roti, on the map. That slice of heaven that ends up in sandwich form is just an individual portion of what you’ll get with this porchetta rolled and seasoned roast because Odermatt handcrafts each of these roasts exclusively for Heritage Foods USA. It’s luscious, mouth-watering, juicy, melt in your mouth delicious and almost gluttonous. Weighing in at five to six pounds and carrying a pretty hefty price tag, this is one roast you’re going to want to share with friends or family.
$150
Flannery Beef Burger Builder
When Bryans Quality Meats started in San Francisco decades ago they were selecting head of cattle by look, touch and feel to insure they had the best quality meats for their clients, which included the Biltmore hotel, Alfred Hitchcock and Vincent Price. Flannery Beef grew out of the family business when one brother decided to remain focused on the original principles that had built the brand’s reputation in the first place. Which brings us to the burger builder. Twenty-six different ingredients ranging from Wagyu chuck to beef suet blend get sorted into four different selection categories that allow you to create your own custom burger beef blend. With a list of Bryan’s favorite blends and restricted choices, the process is idiot proof and is sure to result in a bucket list burger.
$24+
Pat LaFrieda Australian Rack of Lamb
For three generations, Pat LaFrieda Meat Purveyors has been the go-to source for premium meats for some of the best restaurants in the world. From Shake Shack hamburgers to Batali restaurant chops, LaFrieda has so many different meat options you could grill every day for the next two summers and still not have tried everything. While we love the burgers and steaks our favorite mail order meat is on the more unconventional side—Australian rack of lamb. 100% grass fed lamb raised specifically for LaFrieda is expertly butchered and arrives as a beautiful rack (or two) ready for the grill. It’s a great alternative to traditional ribs and will impress even those people that “don’t like lamb because it’s too gamey.”
$130
Olympia Provisions Käsekrainer Sausages
If you grew up anything like the way we did, you consumed at least one smoked sausage with cheese inside from one of the large American meat companies. The traditional Austrian Käsekrainer is the worldly, upgraded version of that childhood classic, and Olympia Provisions Käsekrainer Sausages are the best example we’ve found stateside. Plump and juicy pork sausages are stuffed with Emmenthaler cheese (a type of Swiss cheese that’s savory and mild) before being smoked over applewood. They come pre-cooked, so the only thing you have to worry about is getting them warmed and crisp on the outside for the perfect casing crunch meets cheese explosion in your mouth.
$9+
Kansas City Steak Company Filet Mignon Steak Bites
Just look at the delicious pile of tender smoked beef marinated in Crazy Good Signature BBQ Sauce and tell us you don’t want to eat the entire pile. That’s right, you can’t. But that’s okay. Pick up a few orders, cook them on the grill in a tinfoil pouch and serve them to your ravenous guests as an appetizer or part of the main course. When the meat’s this delicious you can’t go wrong with how you serve it—especially if its paired with a cool and refreshing summer beer.
$16
American West Beef Company Stuffed Tenderloin
Based in Boulder County, Colorado, American West Beef Company has been delivering steakhouse-quality aged meats to doors across the country for the better part of a decade. The steaks are delicious, but our pick is the 3lb. tenderloin roast that’s aged an average of 21 days and stuffed with vegetables or a mushroom mixture. Why anyone would get the julienne vegetable stuffing over the mushroom stuffing with bacon, red pepper and onion will always remain a mystery to us, but both of them are truly great options for a robust roast that everyone will love.
$140
Mauer’s Mountain Farm Guinea Hens
In the heart of the Catskill watershed in New York you’ll find Mauer’s Mountain Farms, New York State’s premiere heritage French Guinea Hen farm where they raise all-natural, antibiotic-free, certified humane, free range and *insert every good and sustainable animal husbandry technique here* guinea hens. Why do you want to cook up guinea fowl meat? While similar to chicken, the meat is moister, higher in protein, lower in fat and has a richer, more robust flavor than the poultry you’re used to cooking while still being able to prepared the same way.
$30
Broadleaf Rabbit
Rabbit is a sweet and lean meat that has been praised for its low calorie count and the fact it’s low in cholesterol. That’s all well and good, but the fact that it’s delicious is far more important to us. Whether roasted or grilled, braised or sautéed, rabbit is a versatile meat that, as much as we hate saying this, really does “taste like chicken” except meatier. These particular rabbits are a crossbreed of California and New Zealand whites, which makes them the most tender of all rabbit breeds. And with a slightly familiar base taste it’s easy to prepare them using grilling sauces and marinades you’d more commonly associate with poultry.
$70
Snake River Farms Wagyu Black Grade Brisket
Wagyu. Beef. Brisket. Do we really need to explain any more than that? Look at that beautiful hunk of meat. This is the type of purchase you rationalize to yourself and others by committing to have 10 people over to split the cost of this beauty. Smoke it yourself and just forget to invite all your friends. You’ll be eating great for over a week. But if you want to be a nice guy and share, this is sure to leave a smile on the face of anyone that eats it. Just tell them they’re responsible for the grilled cocktails to go with it.
$139+
