Steaks

[Rusty Heap]

great thread.

burp

[Justin@Athens]

I am a butcher by trade, and am glad to see there are at least a few people left on earth who know how to cook a steak!

You guys would be dumbfounded at how many times I have to tell people how to cook their food. I mean, if you are 50 years old, you should know what cut of meat you like, and how long to cook it by now.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Justin, so glad you posted. I never freeze meat, ever, because I have always assumed it ruins it.

As an expert, does freezing meat ruin it?

[Justin@Athens]

No, not really. However the way it is stored is important.
In general, your freezer is probably not the optimal environment for storage, but it can be fine. Double wrapped in some kind of freezer bag, in the back bottom of the freezer.

People don't think about what happens every time they open their freezer door, it is like a little mini defrost. As a rule, I try to avoid freezing, because it is not really the storage that degrades the quality, but the thawing. Don't ever thaw good cuts in the sink, always in a dish in the fridge. Even when doing so, you will lose some moisture content as the meat thaws.

@DanielDudley, Good question! I have never had horse meat, but I did see it for sale when I was in Italy It depends on how you are cooking really. If you want to pan sear something in a skillet, a flat iron steak (as the name suggests) is a great cut and reasonably priced. It is part of the shoulder and is also known as top blade steak.
If you want to grill, there are 4 main steaks that we always recommend to yield excellent results;
Ribeye
T-bone/Porterhouse
New York Strip
Top Sirloin

***(Beef tenderloin aka Fillet Mignon is an outlier. It is a holding muscle, only 1 of 3 in an entire animal, and a superb cut that is worth a whole discussion thread on its own, but you all know it is good so I am not going to talk about it.)

That is the order which I prefer them. It is also, from the top, the most to the least marbled. Generally speaking the more fat the better. Some people don't like a lot of fat, and that is ok--different strokes and all. But allow me to also spell out an important classification scale used for all beef;
Prime
Choice
Select
Other (canned meats, dried beef, etc)

As a rule, Prime beef will be harder to find and considerably more expensive than Choice beef. It is heavily marbled and to the untrained eye looks really fatty and not desireable. However, it will in fact provide the best eating experience. On the opposite side of the spectrum is Select grade beef, which has very little internal fat and looks like you imagine a steak should. It is still ok quality, buy you should spend a few bucks more if you are going to buy a steak.

In the middle, and what I sell is Choice grade beef. It provides a great experience virtually every time, and as someone who cuts hundreds of steaks a week I can say with certainty, that the primals are very uniform in terms of quality. One steak is virtually identical to the next.

With that said, where each steak comes from off the rib/loin is not equal.

Here is what I like:
The rib deckle, in my mind, is the best part of any cow. Better than any fillet, strip, shoulder medallion, delmonico/cowboy rib steak, etc

Here is a cut from the opposite end of the rib (same steak, different experience)



And here is a Prime steak, as opposed to the other two, which I am labeling as Choice without further info.



And that is about all the work I want to do on my day off. But feel free to ask any more specific questions you may have.

[Rusty Heap]

Chuck Eye is my favorite cut, Mary my skinny blonde butcher loves to feed me her meat.

Chuck Eye, Affordable at $4.99, and rich in Beef flavor.


rib eye, can't go wrong.

New yorks are boring and tough IMHO.

T-bone is just that, one good steak on the premium side and sirloin on the other. Porter House is just the big end of the roast of T-bone cuts.


Spencer steak, yummy cut.


A well marbled Prime grade Top Sirloin > crappy "select or choice" cut of more expensive steaks.

I hate cheap meat. I bought delish steaks the other night for $4.99 a pound. Ground beef was $3.99 a pound............For $1 more, your whole meal is 8,000% better.

if you do buy ground beef, get at least 80/20 or 90/10 beef/fat........buffalo blend even better.

[Joe Bob]

Crank the Weber to max, Season salt with garlic, three minutes a side. Boom, Bob's yer uncle....

[berettafan]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

Cast iron pan.

Get it hot. It's not hot till it starts to smoke.

Season the steak, Kosher salt and pepper.

Steaks should be sitting out for 20-30 minutes so they are not cold.

Toss in some buttah then toss the steak in right on top.

Use tongs, max 1 minute per side then put the whole pan into a 350 oven.

Time is dependent on thickness of steak.

no other posts necessary.

it is this simple. key is getting steak to room temp which is dependent on thickness.