The Popular Beef Cut You Might Want To Skip Buying At Costco

Costco is known as an affordable spot to get groceries, but not all of its deals are created equal. Where its filet mignon is concerned, product quality has varied enough for some customers to take note. When we listed the best and worst cuts of steak to buy at Costco, our reviewer claimed that Costco's precut filet mignons — which often clock in at over 8 ounces each — are too large to serve with hearty sides. They're also more difficult to cook and cost more per ounce than a whole tenderloin, the area from which the cut originates.

Shoppers have also spotted another problem with Costco's filet mignons. Beef tenderloin features a thin, white membrane called silverskin that attaches the section to the cow's other muscles. However, silverskin doesn't tenderize while cooking and is difficult to trim from individual steaks, so it should be removed when the tenderloin is still whole. Often, this process also removes the chain, another strip of tough, chewy beef. Unfortunately, Costco butchers don't always do this.

A glaring example came from a package of three filet mignons, which an observant Reddit user and chef noticed were almost entirely untrimmed. "They're literally selling you the outside chain and calling it filet," they wrote, pointing out that these steaks were also overloaded with sinew and other connective tissue — more excess that only serves to toughen up one of the most tender cuts of steak out there.

Shoppers have speculated on Reddit that Costco butchers might skip this crucial trimming step in a pinch — or even that the company deliberately sells poorly trimmed filet mignons because removing undesirable parts reduces weight and, therefore, profits. However, this may not be the case at your local Costco, even if its filet mignons are a bit larger than average.

Other customers claim to have found perfectly good filet mignon from the warehouse chain. "The tenderloins (filet mignon) are excellent. Nice [marbling], tender and good flavor," one commenter wrote in a Reddit thread. It's likely that the quality varies by location and butcher, as each store cuts its own filets from the larger tenderloin. This is also how you can get the best deal, albeit at a steeper initial investment: Buy the whole tenderloin from Costco and slice it yourself.

Filet mignon is one of the best steak cuts to buy according to chefs, but only if it's cut well. To spot a good package of filets, look for steaks about 3 inches thick with a rich, pinkish-red color and a mild amount of marbling that resembles thin, white veins — and no silverskin or other connective tissue. However, these quality control checks won't do anything for the Costco filets' unusually large size, so if you consider that an impediment, you may want to shop elsewhere.