STEAKS, I have a question (1 Viewer)

[Nick_G]

Delmonico steaks #1 (basically the same as filet WITHOUT the price tag!!) -- Porterhouse steaks #2 -- cooked medium well to well. anyone who eats steaks rare should be burned at the stake (steak??). if it ain't cooked there ain't no flavor. bleeaahhhhh!!!!!

and anyone who puts ketchup on steak should be shot with large artillery at close range. what a sacrilege!!

 

[Vlad D]

cooked medium well to well. anyone who eats steaks rare should be burned at the stake (steak??). if it ain't cooked there ain't no flavor. bleeaahhhhh!!!!!

I find it to be just the opposite. Steaks medium well to well are dry and have no flavor. I feel like I'm eating cardboard. I like my steaks medium rare. I find them very juicy and full of flavor.

 

[Bill Griffith]

While being a big fan of the Medium rare steak, I do have to say that a steak cooked medium well to well done correctly is OK to eat. It should still be juicy and tender with lots of flavor and not burnt on the outside. In most resturaunts this is hardly the case.

A well done steak and a medium to medium rare steak you should not be able to tell which is which just by looking at it.

One thing I've never tried is Marinating my steaks. This is usually because I put the steak in the fridge in the morning or the night before and its thawed by the dinner time. But if someone has some good and simple marinating recipes I'll give them a try next weekend.

And I've never heard of anyone putting Ketchup on a steak. My wife used to put A1 on hers but I haven't seen her do that in years.

And I must say the smell of a grilling steak has got to be one of the top five smells in my book.

 

[Mark Lee]

Porterhouse steaks #2 -- cooked medium well to well. anyone who eats steaks rare should be burned at the stake (steak??). if it ain't cooked there ain't no flavor. bleeaahhhhh!!!!!

Medium-well to well = juiceless, grey leather (at >$20/lb!)

But then, to each his own, I suppose....

Having moved out to the Left Coast, the thing I miss most about life in the Center-of-the-Universe (a.k.a. New York City) is the steak!!!! Peter Luger's in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, still stands as the best single steak experience I've ever had (and ever expect to have). While I could never summon up the financial fortitude to fork over the tariff necessary for Lobel's (although I lived 3 blocks away for a number of years), I now regret missing the opportunity to try their product without a cross-country trip (or a large dry-ice-packed shipment).

"I'll have the bacon appetizer, the tomato-and-onion plate, a porterhouse for two, and the German potatoes. What are you having?"

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

Marinating is easy if you get the large zip-loc bags. Throw in some cheap dry red wine and some full-fat spicy French dressing (e.g. Catalina or California dressing). Put the meat in to marinate about an hour before grilling. Shake the bag every so often. Molto Bene.

The nice thing about this is that you can put the bag back in the refer for reuse a couple of times....I often get a tri-tip at Costco and cut steaks off it. I figure the marinade should be safe to use as long as the meat itself in the refer.

 

[ChristopherG]

Put me down as another Tri-Tip fan!! Excellent flavor and inexpensive, yet hard to find on the right coast. Of course ALL other cuts are wonderful as well - filet, ribeye, NY - it's ALL good!

If you have a Wegmans near you they sell dry aged beef. Also, my wife and I just recently ate at a place called The Original Steakhouse and Sports Bar. A new chain that deals in excellent cuts of beef that are dry aged and delicious.

Damn, now I'm all hungry too....

 

[DaveF]

Interesting thread; I got my first grill last Fall, so I've been grilling more and having never developed a taste for steak, having a go at it this summer.

The recipe given back in recipe #40 looks good, but from my reading of food science, the searing does not seal in the juices. This is a long-standing misunderstanding. Rather, it carmelizes the meat, a providing a lot of flavor. A good dose of salt, however, well help retain the juiciness. As the fat comes out of the beef, it will congeal against the salt, (partially) sealing the meat and preserving flavor better than without.

 

[Buzz Foster]

Man, I love just about any lean cut. I rub the steak with a litle olive oil and sprinkle on a little sea salt, fresh cracked pepper, and garlic powder on both sides. I get the grill super hot, sear one side for one or two minutes, sear the other side the same, and its perfect...rare enough for a good vet to revive it!

 

[Brian Perry]

Dave is correct about searing -- the meat is not sealed, but develops better flavor from the browning.

In Howard McGee's On Food and Cooking (considered the bible of food science by many chefs), a few other commonly held beliefs are challenged. He states that flipping a steak several times promotes more even cooking, in contrast to people who claim that you should only flip once. Also, he said that it is okay to make a small cut into a steak to check doneness, as any juice loss will be localized.

I still prefer to use my Thermapen for instant temp readings. As for seasoning, it's olive oil (NOT extra virgin), kosher salt, pepper, and Lawry's seasoned salt.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

The best thing to do for a juicy steak is:

(a) Get a better cut. Ribeye, sirloin strip, filet and porterhouse (just a ribeye and filet with bone) with good marbling will be tender and juicy. Me, I prefer sirloin strips for the best combo of tender/flavor/price, but a ribeye or filet will never be turned away.

(b) LET IT REST!!!! Resting the steak under a tinfoil tent for 5 (for thin cuts) to 10 (for thick cuts) minutes allows the juices to redistribute and for gradual carryover cooking to bring the steak to the desired doneness. CUt into it right away and you'll get nothing but a bloody plate.

 

[Patrick_S]

The flipping several times is interesting. It seems when I watch the Food Network that most of the chefs there prefer the flip once method. I’ve done both and like the one flip simply because it involves less work. In the end I think both ways will produce a good steak.

As for seasoning, just my preference but a good cut of meat only needs some salt, and occasionally I'll add some pepper or olive oil but most of the time it's just salt.

I have a question for everyone concerning the grade of meat. Does anyone ever buy Prime? I use to all the time but it has gotten very hard to find over the past few year.

 

[Greg_R]

I have a question for everyone concerning the grade of meat. Does anyone ever buy Prime? I use to all the time but it has gotten very hard to find over the past few year.

Sometimes... most upscale supermarkets (Whole Foods, Wegmans, etc.) sell Prime beef and I'll treat myself every so often. I typically go to Costco and buy their Choice beef (pick over the selection for something that looks good). Besides BBQ (real BBQ) I like to cook Ribeyes (super hot grill over lump charcoal). For lump charcoal I like the Big Green Egg brand... it's a nice blend of wood flavors for general use.

As for aging, you can age the beef yourself (I believe Good Eats had an episode on this). This will save you some $$$.

 

[Ken Chan]

Why revive a four-year-old thread?

He states that flipping a steak several times promotes more even cooking, in contrast to people who claim that you should only flip once.

Is uneven cooking really a problem on steaks? Flipping just once is less work, and results in nice defined grill marks. Put on the steak, turn it 45 degrees for the diamond pattern, flip it, and serve with the diamond side up.

 

[ChristopherG]

When it is about Steaks...why not?

 

[TonyD]

yeah, why not.

if therre is already a topic why open a new one.

i'm a flipper.
every summer my mom and her husband have us down for steaks.
filet mignon.
he buys these big thick beautiful steaks and cooks them on a gas grill.

this is fine but then he nearly cuts them i half to see how far done it is.

i always have to make sure he doesnt cut mine and just let him know myself if i think it has cooked long enough.

i prefer medium rare.

 

[Yee-Ming]

Brings back memories, this thread -- I'm pretty sure I read it when it was first started, though I didn't post.

Morton's -- mmmmm...

the prime rib is simply divine. But what was sad is that some years ago, after you Yanks had a bit of the mad-cow scare, the local authorities banned US beef, so the Morton's here had to use Aussie beef, and Aussie cows are mostly grass-fed and it tasted distinctly different.

Last year the missus and I went on holiday in California. We had some great steaks in Carmel and San Francisco, but oddly enough I think the best of all was in Mammoth Lakes, a small ski-resort town.