What's the best way to prepare a steak?

treitz3

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Dec 25, 2011
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Hello, Keith. I have been reading your posts on cooking with great interest. It seems you take a great deal of care with everything you do and the outcomes you have pictured are extremely admirable. Definitely top shelf cooking as well as plating!

With that said, I was wondering if you had any insight with my favorite part of the cow. Steak in particular. Let's say that I go to the local butcher shop or well known store that offers a great cut of meat. While I may have many ways of cooking it, I'm interested in knowing if I could improve the steak prior to actually cooking it.

I've tried the tenderizers that you sprinkle on, I've tried the manual pounding of the meat with a meat tenderizing mallet and I've tried the ol' marinading trick to get a tender, juicy steak. These methods all seem to be a hit or miss for a great steak. I mean, they turn out good most all of the time but I'm talking about that great steak. I'd like to get a little bit more consistent with this.

Would you be so kind as to share what may be your best way to tenderize or prepare a steak prior to being cooked?

Tom
 

Bruce B

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I got a new infrared natural gas grill this year and it seems to be a whole new ballgame. Totally unlike on cast iron grates or charcoal bricks.
 

JackD201

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I make it a point to have the steaks close to or better yet at room temp. The juices that will come out is blood. That to me isn't a bad thing. When I have the luxury to plan out a meal in advance, I even add a few days of home (fridge) dry aging to wet aged cuts. The flavor will be less metallic. The juiciness should come from the amount and distribution of the fat/marbling inside so to me selecting the cuts is the most important part. There are variances even if the cuts are within the same USDA classification. Some will be better marbled than others. You just have to look more closely.

I don't normally oil a steak prior to grilling to lessen flare ups but when I do want a steak a bit flamed, I prefer Grape Seed oil to EVOO. Try it out. ;)
 

mep

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I've tried the tenderizers that you sprinkle on, I've tried the manual pounding of the meat with a meat tenderizing mallet and I've tried the ol' marinading trick to get a tender, juicy steak. These methods all seem to be a hit or miss for a great steak. I mean, they turn out good most all of the time but I'm talking about that great steak. I'd like to get a little bit more consistent with this.

Would you be so kind as to share what may be your best way to tenderize or prepare a steak prior to being cooked?

Tom

What the hell cuts of steak are you buying?? Are you buying USDA Select or USDA choice? I mainly cook NY Strips. I have them cut at 1.5" thick and sprinkle them with Lawry's Seasoned Salt and fresh ground pepper. I put them on my Webber charcoal grill and cook them until they are medium rare and only turn them once. As Jack said, let the steaks come up to room temperature before you season and cook them. They come out great every time. I always have a nice sear on both sides and the steaks couldn't be any more flavorful or tender unless you buy USDA Prime which are hard to find.
 

JackD201

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The best since they hit 1600 degrees F and sear the outside sealing in all the juices very fast.

I typically use a gas grill with a ceramic lower plate. Takes seconds to get grill marks in the grill's hottest zone.
 

JackD201

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I'm a bone-in rib-eye guy myself. My wife is a Tenderloin gal.
 

rrr

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To end up with a good steak you have to start with a good steak. I like this company best and I order their 2’ strip boneless sirloins. They are expensive but, after all, this is the “What’s Best” forum! : http://www.lobels.com/store/beef.aspx

Allow steak to accommodate to room temperature
Lightly brush both sides with olive oil, add salt (Himalayan Salt) and pepper (Black Tellicherry Pepper),
I use a TEC infrared two burner grill: Using one burner, sear steak on each side for 3 minutes then move the steak to the grill burner side that is off and close the grill top; remove the steak at an internal temperature of 126 degrees F. (You need to use an instant reading probe based thermometer like the Two-Channel Thermocouple Thermometer with Alarm #TW8060. http://www.thermoworks.com/products/handheld/TW8060.htm
Let the steak sit for 10 minutes or so before serving.
 

Keith_W

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Mar 31, 2012
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Hi Tom, thanks for the question :) I note that you said prior to being cooked. Here are some methods I have tried (by no means an exhaustive list):

- pre-salting (effectively a dry brine). The theory here with beef is the same as it is with chicken - the salt diffuses into the meat. Proteins in the meat retain their 3D structure by means of electrical charge - if you alter the charge, the proteins unravel producing a more tender result. What's more - the salt in the meat actually helps hold on to moisture, so there is less moisture loss during cooking. There are some sites which enthusiastically promote this - here is an example. However, I am not the only one to notice that this method does not seem to work as well with beef as it does with chicken - see this entry in the International Culinary Center's blog. I get the same result - pre-salted meat takes on a cured flavour and texture. If you attempt to sous-vide the meat it is even worse - for some reason, pre-salted beef gives up a LOT of moisture in the SV bag. My recommendation: salt at the last minute before cooking, with more salt after carving.



- Jaccard meat tenderizer. (Link). This contraption (pictured above) holds an array of angled knives that cuts some muscle fibres and leaving others alone when you push it through your steak. How does it work? All of us have seen what happens when we expose meat to heat - it contracts. The amount of contraction depends on the length of the muscle fibre. The more the meat contracts, the more juices will be squeezed out, and the denser the texture of the meat. The Jaccard tenderizes meat by chopping the long muscle fibres into shorter ones, lessening the contraction and keeping the meat juicy. This is conceptually similar to pounding the meat with a mallet, but I do not like doing that because non-even pounding can turn part of the meat into mush.

- Enzyme meat tenderizers (e.g. papaya or pineapple juice) are sometimes used but I do not like them. They work by digesting the proteins of the meat. Unfortunately, they work in an indiscriminate fashion and make the texture of the meat mealy.

Ultimately the best way to get a great steak on the plate is to buy a great steak from the butcher in the first place. Here are some observations on steaks from butchers:

- marbling - everybody agrees that more marbling = more flavour and more tenderness. Unless you are on a health drive, go for the steak which has the best marbling. I don't eat steak too often (less than once a month) so I don't worry too much if it has some fat in it. A bit of fat is OK on occasion, just don't make a habit of it.

- grass fed vs. feedlot. Grass fed means that the cows were allowed to roam and graze, meaning they got more exercise. More exercise means more flavour. Unfortunately, it sometimes means less marbling - but marbling depends on other factors as well, e.g. the type of feed and the breed of cow.

- Slaughter - it has been proven that quick, humane slaughter produces superior meat to other forms of slaughter (e.g. halal and kosher methods). Both halal and kosher slaughter may not involve stunning the animal prior to the neck arteries being severed, so there is a greater risk of suffering to the animal, irrespective of what their clerics may tell you. The reason why quick slaughter produces superior meat - when an animal is panicked, it increases blood supply to the muscles and tells the muscles to use energy (in the form of ATP) in preparation of the "fight or flight" response. When the animal is slaughtered, the depleted energy supply causes rigor mortis to occur earlier and produces a more rigid form of rigor mortis, such that muscle fibres might be torn. The residual lactic acid also has deleterious effects on meat quality. All butchers will tell you that their meat was humanely slaughtered, but you want to make sure you do not buy halal or kosher meat. Unless you have to.

- Aging. It is essential for beef cuts to be aged, so that they go past rigor mortis and start becoming tender. There are two ways to age meat - in a vacuum bag (cryovac) or dry aging in a humidity and temperature controlled cellar. The advantage of Cryovac is that there is minimum moisture loss, so the meat is heavier and can be sold with more profits. Dry aging actually dries out the surface of the meat, which needs to be cut off and discarded producing more wastage - so the meat is more expensive to sell. But the results are well worth it - see this article.

- Cut. Different cuts of meat produce different results, but that is the subject of another topic.
 

mauidan

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Aug 2, 2010
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I don't normally oil a steak prior to grilling to lessen flare ups but when I do want a steak a bit flamed, I prefer Grape Seed oil to EVOO. Try it out. ;)

Since I'm grilling some rib eyes tonight, I checked with the chief and jumped in the truck to see if I could score some GSO at the Upcountry market.

No luck, so I'll need to make the drive down the hill and see if our Whole Foods has GSO next week.
 

GaryProtein

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Jul 25, 2012
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I like ribeyes...my standard rub is salt, fresh ground pepper, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder.

I'm with you. That's the best cut and seasoning.

I'm also partial to chateau briand medium rare. I like it better than cutting the tenderloin into filet mignon. With less surface area on the heat, the meat stays juicier which is important with that cut because there is minimal fat in the tenderloin.

An IR burner is great for searing, but if you start with a steak greater than 1.25" or up to 2" the sear burner will incinerate your steaks unless you like them "Black and blue." If you like them medium rare, you must take them off the sear burner and lower the heat to finish them.
 

NorthStar

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Feb 8, 2011
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Wow, a new website! ...On food, steaks and all!

Montreal steak houses, ya baby. Filet mignon with baked potato and the best (dry) red wine ever.

My Dad was a mouse killer (moose hunter), and we have a lot of that when kids.
Then I hate beaver, bear, and other type of meat better not mentioning.
An acquaintance eat raw meat; always!

Me, I like all my meat (steaks) well done (killing all unwanted species). ...But always tender inside.
And fat has to vanished completely (before and after) while my meat is being cooked to perfection.
 

GaryProtein

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. . . . Me, I like all my meat (steaks) well done (killing all unwanted species). ...But always tender inside.
And fat has to vanished completely (before and after) while my meat is being cooked to perfection.

That sounds like a series of oxymorons.
 

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