Steaks - anyone have a chart or list of what is #1 and so on ?

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Morning all,

I am wondering if anyone has a Top 10 kind of list of beef cuts for steak. I love my steak on the weekends, or any nice day where we can get the BBQ going, and have a nice frosty mug of beer.

Anyway, when I get over to Costco, they sell some nice cuts of meat, all Triple A, ( the best quality for Canada ), but I have no clue what I should stay away from and go for when I'm in the regular grocery store.

Does anyone have some sort of list, or know of one where it would show an amateur what to look for, i.e. what cut to buy when looking for a good quality steak.... ?

When you see meats listed in the weekly grocery store flyer, they list the actual cut of the meat and the price, but I have no clue where good steak cuts stop and where the not so good cuts begin. I know from looking at the price what good steaks are, but have trouble with the ones grocery stores try to "push" as great but they are in reality not that great.

Also......

I came across a beautiful chart for beef cuts that was posted by Chris ( the owner of our forum ) it was in the advanced section, under the topic of "Explaining brisket to a butcher",
anyway the link to the chart is here :
http://www.beef.org/documents/BME_MINI_handout.pdf
you need to have Adobe AcrobatReader installed to view it .


Thanks much in advance !, sorry for the long winded post.

Mark.
 
My preference of steaks to grill are:

Ribeye
Porterhouse
Filet Mignon
Sirloin
T-Bone
Flank Steak

These are all good for grilling. However, the Filet and Flank steak should never be grilled beyond medium. I prefer medium rare. Otherwise they can toughen up real easy. Steaks need to have fat to keep moist. Low fat meats won't make good steaks.

Other steaks can be grilled but they need to be tenderized or marinated. These are usually low fat meats like round.
 
Hi Bruce,

thanks for your TOP 10 list :-)

I am interested in your comment about tenderizing and marinating the meat.

I had some meat, not a great cut that my mom had bought last weekend, it wasn't a good cut of meat, but she bought a ton of it.

I had a piece last night which I had put Montreal Steak spice on a night before.... I had put the spice on, then wrapped it in plastic wrap.

** I was amazed.... ** the meat was WAY MORE tender than it was the last time I had it.... the only thing different, - I left it with the steak spice on overnight..... previously I had just taken the steak, put the spice on a min before it hit the grill, and it was nowhere as tender.

I thought that salt was not good for meat as it dries it out, and i"m pretty sure that Montreal Steak Spice has tons of salt....

anyway if anyone can comment on that, I would appreciate that.

The spice I am talking about is here:
http://www.ottawa5star.com/bbqpix/montrealsteakspice.jpg

Anyway thanks again for your input.

Mark.

( I just talked to a dealer in Ottawa Ontario and he's calling www.omcbbq.com for info on my WSM cooker ! - yeah ! ... about 2 weeks to get it, and it will cost me $299.99 + 15% taxes.
 
I don't see tri-tip very often here and it didn't cross my mind. Tri-tip is very good grilled and smoked.

I rarely season steaks anymore before cooking. I find that my preference for steak is to sprinkle a very coarse sea salt and cracked pepper on the meat after cooking. Sometimes I will top a steak or hamburger with a good bleu cheese or garlic butter. /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

We need an instant Graemlin that says "Yum Yum" /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif
 
Mark,

One of the best things you can do to improve your understanding of cuts of meat is to pickup a copy of The Complete Meat Cookbook by Bruce Aidells and Denis Kelly. It takes apart beef, veal, pork, and lamb section by section and explains what's tender, what's tough, how various roasts break down into steaks, and appropriate cooking methods. Plus a whole bunch of recipes. It's a great reference book.

Personally, I'm not one to try to tenderize meat. I buy a good quality cut of meat that's tender by nature. Referring to the beef cuts chart, that would be any cut from the rib section or short loin. Cuts from the sirloin will be more flavorful, but a little less tender. Tri-tip, however, is plenty tender if you can get your hands on it.

My favorites are porterhouse, ribeye, and tri-tip.

Have fun,
Chris
 
Mark.....

You can't tenderize a bad piece of meat. I have done many side-by-side tests on "bad" meats and they simply don't respond to tenderizing.

Now, having said that, there are a couple of things you can do to a "mediocre" cut of meat. I usually get burned on NY Strips, so that is what I experimented on.

2 methods seemed to work pretty good.....

In this one, you need a FoodSaver machine. Rub your steaks with olive oil, then apply a sprinkling of Adolph's Tenderizer....you should use the stuff with the b;lue label...it is their all natural product. Once this is on, sprinkle garlic powder over and then apply more olive oil.

Be sure to season like this on both sides. Once you have it seasoned up, seal the bag. You will need to "catch" the fluid before it gets into the machine.

Let this sit for 4 days in the fridge. Then open and grill.

The second method will elngthen your cooking time but it helps also...though less effective than the above method.

Season as normal, sear both sides for about 2-3 minutes...depending on the thickness. Once seared, remove from grill and set aside for 20 minutes. Then back on the grill over lower heat until it is done.

The high heat searing tightens the muscles of the meat making it tough. This "resting" period relaxes the tightenend muscles and makes for a more tender cut.

As far as favorite cuts....

Most Tender...filet(tenderloin)
Most Tasty....rib eye
Most Unpredictable...NY strip
 
Hey!
That was a great chart Chris! Do you have one for Pork? The guys in the office all wanted one so they know what to BBQ or Grill come the Holiday or Weekend. That has to be the best Chart for Beef, we got one for our local fish showing Ahi, Mahimahi, Opa, Opakapaka, Uku, Machong, and so on. Anyway a color Pork chart like the beef one would be great. Aloha, mattD
 
Hi Chris!
Yea I have been really busy these past several months but with our Company being sold, a rush of Construction jobs to bid, and a long over due quest of another State High School Wrestling Championship (Asst. Coach) which we took this year with 3 State Champions and another 5 placers it has been a very trying and busy several months.
But things have gotten much better and more relaxed so I'm gonna start Q'ing more often. In fact this coming Fathers Day...I know she is supposed to do it, but to be safe and not sorry I'll do it, Ribs and a Pork Butt.. will post more often.. Thanks for the Charts the guys said they would buy you a beer if you where here....mattD
 
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