Steak
 

I posted this on another site and already I am getting the better than you responses "I only buy straight from the farmer" kind of crap. NOT what I need help with. Should've posted here in the first place

I don't cook steak very often, but I had one not too long ago that I seasoned with salt and pepper and cooked in a cast iron skillet. I can't remember what it was (maybe sirloin), but I need suggestions on a steak that will taste good prepared simply and cooked to medium-medium rare.

Also, not too expensive would also be a plus. Thanks!

Here's a good overview of the cuts.

Sirloin is often held up as the best, but I think it's too tough. I like rib eye, which has a bit of fat marbling.

Edit: I actually like filet mignon the best, but it's really expensive and tricky to cook correctly.

Thanks for the link - ribeye looks good. I think the strip looks good, too.

I really want steak now - lol. Is it bad I found the side first? Making some creamy garlic shells with it and maybe some corn on the cob

Filet filet filet.

Never settle for less.

I was at a fancy party years ago where they had some sort of fancy filet mignon appetizers, and it was simply amazing. It was a snooty enough party that you would feel guilty taking a second helping off the tray as they were walking around with them, but I did anyway. It took all my restraint to not have a third one. So I found the host and asked where they had gotten the meat and what it was. I mean, it was absolutely outstanding. Melted in your mouth. I forget what it was, some sort of Kobe filet mignon or something that they had gotten mail order from somewhere, and they had some local fancy caterer in the kitchen cooking them up. Damn, they were good.

Dry aged Filet, probably glatt. it just seeps into you like a steak flavored hug.

I like Sirloin for good lean, tasty steak. It's usually reasonably priced, and not tough like London Broil.

Also, I don't get the whole Prime Rib mania.

I really really can't stand it. It's not even 'steaky' it's like watery and raw.

I suppose that hug is for glatt and the London broil is for me?:mad:

bitch bitch bitch

that's all you ever are.

Glatt, you need to be dragged up in a rookery like me.
If it's free, take it.
Blimey, if it's not nailed down, take it.

I try to remember to take takeaway boxes to any venue where I don't expect to finish the food.
Chops on your good manners, though.

Heh! Well, they had probably counted the number of guests and ordered enough filets so each person could have one. There weren't that many. But I was near the kitchen as the tray happened to come out. I could have eaten the entire tray. Just walked along next to the server plucking them off the tray as they melted in my mouth. Did I mention they were good?

Serving hors devours at the Country Club, the trick was to sneak through the pantry and snatch one of those lovely little filet pieces of heaven and pop it into your mouth.

Same method worked when passing wine. :lol:

We worked many a night buzzed out of our gords. And that doesn't even take into consideration the nights of big parties where a bunch of us would cruise the golf course on the kitchen's golf cart: smoking and being tossed around in the back of the club car.

Good times. Good times.

:eek:

I don't know what being tossed off is, but I bet we didn't do it. ;)

Hand shandy?

I picked up my steak at lunch - Choice Boneless Ribeye Steak (at least that's what it says on the pkg) that looks similar to the strip that I liked. I actually went cheap cause this thing cost 15/per pound -the other cuts were insane!! I actually didn't even get a whole pound - it is just me after all and reheated steak never tastes as good. Will post a picture of my dinner later :D

Oh I love me some leftover steak sandwich. Slice it up and lay it out with tomato, salt and real mayo. Mmmmmm.

You've saved me half the post I had in mind for you bbro--good for you and all the other innocent bystanders--choosing the right steak. Boneless Ribeye is a great cut; I like a New York Strip the best, but the ribeye's great. Now, the important part is preparing it well.

How thick is your steak? I hope it's at least an inch thick, that's a minimum for me otherwise it's too easy to overcook. An overcooked steak is a shame and it's pretty easy to do. Don't. You already know you don't like overcooked steak, you said so above "reheated steak never tastes as good". That's twice cooked steak. Ok, so, here we go.

The key is to get the internal temperature up to 130 to 140 degrees, not more unless you like your meat drier and less flavorful. Also, having a nice sear, approaching a char in places on the surface of the steak is crucial. Naturally, the surface will feel more heat than 130 degrees, no problem. It is possible, though difficult to get the middle up to temp and get a nice crust on the outside with just a grill or a pan. Really difficult, because our civilian cooking equipment just can't get hot enough to cooking it fast enough. Plus, timing is everything. The meat will continue to cook even after it's off the heat, and this coasting can carry you up and irrevocably over the optimum temperature. I recently learned of a cooking method that works for my normal kitchen gear and produces, by far, the best steak ever. It's called sous vide and it means cooking in a vacuum.

Here's how. You take your steak, put it in a vacuum bag if you have one, and if you don't, put it in a ziploc bag and squeeze out all the air. Then you put the bagged steak in a large pot of water that's kept at the desired temperature (I like 130 for a rare to medium rare steak) for at least an hour. What you're trying to accomplish is to get the meat to temp through and through but not over. If the pot of water's only 130, it can't be overcooked! Then, when you're almost ready to plate the steak, take it out and sear it in a very hot cast iron skillet with oil. HOT, smoking hot, and a minute or two on each side will get that nice brown crust but not overcook the center.

I've just skimmed the process, you should really read some of the links, they talk about salting the meat, having the exhaust fans running before you get the skillet cherry red (kidding, that's a little too hot, but not kidding about the exhaust fans, turn them all on high to start), etc.

I've done this a few times now, and it's easier and more controllable and more consistent than direct grilling or pan grilling.

Here are a couple links to give you more info on sous vide preparation. I strongly urge you to give this a try, you will love it.

DIY Sous Vide

Sous-Vide 101

Useful Serious Eats link about Grilling Steaks

The Serious Eats and LifeHacker sites are gold mines, no, cornucopia for ingenious and delicious recipes and techniques. Go crazy.

As for how to finish the steak, I like mine seasoned with salt and pepper only. For a fine cut like ribeye, anything more is a distraction. Let the steak rest for about ten minutes before you cut it or eat it.

And don't forget the pictures. Dang, now I'm hungry!

Then that should be olive oil.

buffing the bishop
spanking the cheetah
rocking the little man in the canoe
clubbing the calm
polishing the pink pearl

Light olive oil.

An hour?? WTH - I am fat and hungry Dammit!! On the serious side, I wouldn't trust my stove to keep a steady temperature like that. I have heard of sous-vide before, just never attempted it.

I have eaten and it was glorious. Working on the pic now. Trying to decide on just dinner or a beefy glorious post.

I went with the beefy glorious.

Steak all wrapped up waiting to be cooked
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8118/8...21104e39d7.jpg

Steak in all it's glory
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8121/8...19e0329600.jpg

Halfway cooked
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8120/8...17d38b3898.jpg

Completely done
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8384/8...5ee3e92e21.jpg

Sliced - after resting about 7 minutes
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8386/8...046f464bc6.jpg

Dinner
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8125/8...35e8d4c994.jpg


Some detail: I heated up the pan on 6 or 7 until hot. I actually left it on longer than I usually do. I put some kosher salt and freshly ground pepper on the steak and threw it in - no oil, no butter, just beef. I didn't touch it until I turned it (Halfway cooked above). I cooked it a little longer, but since I didn't time the first cooking, I wasn't sure. Just went with my gut. It was still juicy when I took it out. I let it rest for about 7 minutes until I sliced it.

OMFG! It was so tender, it practically melted in my mouth. It took all of my will power not to go back for me.....in fact, I should probably put it away ;)

You get an A+. That looks absolutely delicious!

I don't know about your butcher though, that looks like a NY Strip steak to me, my favorite.

Looks delicious, bro.

V - Thanks. That's what I thought! Would that have made a difference in the price? I just went to a place that I thought would have the best meat. He was a bit of a dick, though. I tried to ask him if that was supposed to be a strip, but he wasn't picking up what I was putting down. I just knew I wanted it

Thanks Pete :)

Beefy glorious is always the way to go.
The more photos the better.

That looks absolutely delish.
If I hadn't had my quota of red meat for a whole year, you'd have me salivating right now.
And I don't say that to all the boys...

LOL - Thanks Sundae. Not a boy though. The only beef I have for you is what you can buy at the store ;)

I know you're not a boy bbro.
Was just trying to remove potential smut from an innocent message :)

(I do say that to all the boys in fact.)

If it's free, we'll have two.

:) Don't think you removed enough smut then. But, in a post about beef, it was bound to happen.

That steak looks like the pictures you see on menus and restaurant ads, just perfect. :thumb:

Thanks Bruce!

That looks like what we call porterhouse over here, which should always be very tender.

I'd say u cooked that perfectly bbro. Couldn't have done better myself, and i have cooked a lot of steaks in my time. Good job!

Thanks Ali - I discovered that if I take it off when I think it should stay on a few more minutes, I am good - lol

Makes me want a steak. You did a great job.

To me it looks lush.
It would make Mum heave though.

I'd say horses for courses but in the light of the recent scandal I daren't!

Needless to say you're cooking when we come to visit. Yumyum.

bbro gets three NOMs up!

Thanks everyone!

I finished it for lunch today - chopped into chunks with more of the pasta and some frozen corn. I didn't even heat up the beef. It was glorious cold......why don't I eat beef often again???? I have a feeling that I didn't cook it the right way. When I was little, my mom always ordered well-done for me. I was introduced to medium in my college years, but still can't make a tasty roast to save my life. I will stick to steak :D

http://cellar.org/2013/thatswhy.jpg

That's why

You know what?
I give up.
My post wasn't amazing or insightful but I like to think it was at least readable.

These days when I post, the Cellar crashes.
Previously, I've been able to come back and yes, my post is there.
This time, not.

I am going on strike.

Maybe ur computer has performance anxiety?

That must be it UT!

Sundae - you mean the post about beef and the one after? I can see both - don't go!!! :( I don't want to be the one that started the thread to cause you to leave - there will be a coup!!

Bbro, a good rule of thumb for any roast is to cook it low and slow. For example, a leg of pork you might cook for 6 hours or more depending on the size. What happens during this slow roasting is all the sinue starts to break down, which means the flesh starts to fall apart. Literally. Thats usually what you want with a nice juicy piece of roast meat.

The Cellar at the moment is crashing more times than Lindsay Lohan.
May make poor old Ste come and have a look at it with marvellous trechy eyes.

IT Consultants are never off duty I'm afraid.

I just joined a beef club at work. Usually you buy beef in quarters but I found someone to split with so I am buying 1/8th of a cow.

The meat comes from here and is butchered here. This all happens about a 1 hour drive from my house. In my opinion this is going back to the old days when we lived closer to where your food was grown.

So I'm going to be paying for somewhere around 100 lbs of beef at about $2.50 per pound but which will end up as only about 60-70 lbs of meat after trimming and dry aging. This works out to about $4 per lb. A good portion of it will be ground beef or hamburger patties, and $4 is a bit much for that, even though it is natural beef. But I will be paying the same $4 a pound for porterhouse steaks, ribeye steaks....:yum:. I have to negotiate with my beef partners over the cutting instructions, and this is their first time doing this too. I plan on paying an extra 10 cents per pound to have the ground beef frozen and packaged as burgers. I will probably have the cheaper roasts cut into 'chip steak', which is what we Philadelphians use in our 'steak' sandwiches.

We're already clearing space in the freezer for the meat, which will be ready in May.

I have already promised Wolf and a few others a bbq invite for the summer. This was made before I went in on the beef order. You can all expect burgers and steak sandwiches at a minimum.

With a name like Smuckers... :haha:

Rich - we had a Meat Club at the Pelton Arms in Greenwich.
I didn't contribute as the portions were generally family sized, so no good to me.
It's a good way to buy meat though.

Better than a man in a heavy overcoat and a couple of carrier bags offering to sell you some.
No, really, it happens. Properly packaged and sealed. Obviously shoplifted. Our pub never bought any meat this way. I can't say that about the customers.

More common in urban areas was the Meat Raffle.
There was one at the Hazells Club (Hazell, Watson and Viney) the printers where Dad used to work. He only bought one ticket a week, but I remember winning at least once a month.

That's just the vagaries of childhood, we probably only won a prize two or three times, but they went from full roasts down to sausages and mince. So in pre-freezer days, at least in our house, I remember gorging on meat "from Daddy's work".

There's a meat delivery company in the states called Omaha Steaks. Always wanted to participate, but never had the money or the need for that much beef for one person - lol. Maybe if I had a better freezer.....

Omaha is a good outfit, I've bought gifts for people from them many times. The shipping will kill you if you don't buy quantity, though. You'd be better off to try to find a local butcher that has locally sourced beef. There's probably some hippie groups around that will help you find local sources.

omg...from Omaha's website.

WANT!

I gotta stop coming to this thread.

IM, stop posting meat porn.


This is for Sundae

:D
There was a question on QI the other night (well, I was watching on Dave, so the programme may have been years old - I tend to date it by Stephen Fry's fluctuating weight) where a Yeoman of the Guard was shown.

The contestants were asked what his title was.
Poor old Alan Davies did say Beefeater.
And was of course immediately docked points; officially the Beefeaters are only the Yeomen Warders. How can you tell? From what I remember the only difference is a sash.
But QI trades on pedantry.

When you come to the UK I can take you on a Haunted Walk of the Tower of London. I'm properly read up on it and have a guidebook and all. Well, except it's bloody expensive to get in nowadays, and I'm not just talking about the Bloody Tower...

PS - yes Shawnee. Beef porn it is. Bad girl.
I'm having chicken tonight in an otherwise meat-free week.
If it wasn't planned I'd be eating soft, succulent, squishy, bleeding steak.
Bought a reduced cut on Tuesday. Just one sirloin. In freezer. Not the best treatment for good steak (and Morrisons do look after their meat) but convenient for me.

When I'm in the mood I'm gonna hit that steak like a barbarian.
But I will not be pressured into it by porn!

And when you come to the U.S. I'll take you to South Philadelphia for steak sandwiches from Geno's Steaks and Pat's King of Steaks, two rivals situated a stones throw away from each other and maintaining a feud that makes the Motangues and the Capulets look like kissing cousins.

The Philadelphia Cheesesteak is to Philadelphia what Fish and Chips is to London. It is our street food. A piece of our history and culture wrapped in greasy paper and ready for a quick bite.

For the record, Geno's and Pat's use different cuts of meat sliced differently. They both, however, serve up Cheez Whiz as a topping, something you must try. You should try them both, but do not declare a favorite until you are safely back across the Atlantic;).


http://matadornetwork.com/nights/ame...y-cheesesteak/

LJ promised me a real cheesesteak when I hit Philly. So you'll have to fight over it.
Wow, what a prospect! Two erudite men vying to buy me American street-food.

Hang on, this is a dream right?

Well, I once read somewhere that 'A true gentleman will always give another the honor of paying the bill'. Of course, this was from a book on etiquette I picked up at %90 off from the discount table, so there might be a bias.:p:

The beef order proceeds. It is at the butcher and my partners have submitted the work order. I'm already trying to decide if I start with a steak, or make burgers or steak sandwiches. Pan fry in cast iron skillet or put on the grill....... Bear in mind that this is half of what they consider a normal order. At 1/8th of a cow, I only expect a few short ribs, and maybe 3 of each type of steak.

This approximates how I feel, although for "Wells Fargo wagon" substitute "meat wagon"....and then spend 30 minutes erasing the negative connotations of the phrase;).

Well, sundae...you go have one of those south street messes with Rich first, and then I will take you someplace good. Those guys may have ' invented' it, but there are plenty of places that do it better. The white house in AC, Chicks, Pudge's, just to name a few.

You know I'm kinda writing a bucket list.
With a little more urgency than before.

I'ma gonna get to Philly.
So youse are both on notice.

(Not the same as being on report)

Well la-de-da. The next thing you know you'll be extolling the virtues of Swiss cheese:eek:.

I'll admit to the touristy nature of these two. However, to me a cheesesteak isn't a cheesesteak unless it's on an Amoroso's italian roll or something very very close to it. And American cheese is ok, but Cheez Whiz might as well as have been invented for the cheesesteak.

Jim's Steaks, maybe. The number one draw for Pudges is that it's the alternative to driving 45 minutes into the city for a real cheesesteak.

Well, when she comes, we will all go together. Ill drive.