Steaks and stuff questions (not for vegans)

Mmmm, steak....

What cut is your favorite steak? What degree of doness do you prefer, and why?

What are your thoughts about placing a dollop of butter on a finished steak to enrich it?

Steak sauce or not? And what kind?

My favorite is dry-aged ribeye, salt and pepper only, seared over a really hot grill and served medium rare. No butter needed; no sauce needed. We let it rest after cooking, so the marbled fat and the meat juices make it moist.

Niki said it - nothing finer than a ribeye, rare, no butter needed.

People look at them and think it is a fatty cut - far from the truth! In a ribeye you can SEE the fat and avoid eating it. In a sirloin etc., the fat is probably there, but integrated in the steak....

[Robin Garr]

We're not going to get much of an argument going in this thread. I agree 100 percent with you and Niki.

Ditto, ditto, ditto. My only angle is grilling it over different woods for a slightly different flavor -- mesquite, hickory, apple....

I like the rib, but I'll take mine with the bone in. So, my favorite cut of steak is a bone in rib steak, with the bone frenched off for presentation purposes.

I like it rare to medium rare, because anything beyond that negatively impacts the texture of the meat, IMO. And I do enjoy finishing the steak with a disc of compound butter. It might be gilding the lily, but I think it adds a touch of finesse.

Steak sauce? For what? Certainly not to put on the steak.........

I believe a bone in rib eye is also referred to as a Club Steak. The best steak I ever made was one of these cooked over apple wood coals that were almost burned out and it took about 20 minutes to cook med-rare.

[Jenise]

Club steak?

Must be a regional thing. Out west, 'spencer' was once an interchangeable name for a rib eye; 'delmonico' or 'club' for a New York strip.

But sign me up: rib eye's are the best, though I also love them on the bone like John. My favorite basic seasoning would be crushed garlic, salt and coarse black peppercorns pressed into the flesh. Plain or compound butters are delicious, but I usually do that only on sirloin. Steak sauce? Never.

Regional and a bit confusing. The following is from http://www.Epicurious.com

club steak
This tender, flavorful beef cut comes from the small end of the SHORT LOIN next to the rib. It has a bone along one side, but includes no portion of the tenderloin.

Delmonico steak
Another specialty made famous at Delmonico's, this tender, flavorful steak is a boneless beef cut from the SHORT LOIN. Depending on the region, butcher and so on. It's also referred to as a NEW YORK STEAK. The Delmonico steak can be broiled, grilled or fried.

New York steak
Also known as New York strip steak and shell steak , this cut of meat comes from the most tender section of beef, the SHORT LOIN. It's the boneless top loin muscle and is equivalent to a PORTERHOUSE steak minus tenderloin and bone. Depending on the region, it's also marketed as Delmonico steak, Kansas City (strip) steak, shell steak, sirloin club steak and strip steak . This tender cut may be broiled, grilled or sautéed.

What cut is your favorite steak? What degree of doness do you prefer, and why?

In the USA, New York Strip, elsewhere Sirloin, medium rare - seems more flavorsome and I don't mind it medium and steaks are more often overcooked then under

What are your thoughts about placing a dollop of butter on a finished steak to enrich it?

Dislike it intensely. The meat should be moist enough.

Steak sauce or not? And what kind?

Not for me. I like hot - English - mustard. In Argentinian restuarants chimmichurri and some have a red chili sauce. Mmmm

steaks are more often overcooked then under

No kidding.

I get tired sending steaks back when I order rare and get something without a tinge of pink inside.

I had one restaurant try twice with a rack of lamb, both times ending up with medium.

My other guests had finished when they brought the final overcooked piece of meat, so I told them to cancel it (along with their tip) and walked out hungry.

Mostly I order 'bleu' just to avoid this sort of thing.

[Jenise]

Wish I liked 'bleu' better, Bill, then I'd have a wider target area for them to shoot for. But what I like is rare--bright red/rose color, not pink, not blue. I do have better luck asking for what I want by specifiying the color, that negates the ability of my server to lecture me on what their idea of rare is (I've had results of raw and medium explained to me this way).

Aged prime ribeye. At least 1 1/2 inch think (or better).

Haven't asked for bone-on, so I'll have to try that soonly.

Salted and peppered, and onto the hardwood charcoal grill where I sear it on both sides for 2-3 minutes, then I move it to the other side of the grill (no coals underneath/near) where I finish it off for another 5-8 minutes just to worm it a smidge. So, I guess this would come out medium-rare at most (I always have it refrigerator temp before throwing on the grill).

No butter, no sauce . . . give it a couple minutes rest (usually while I'm making a cholesterol bomb out of a properly baked potato out of the grill), and off I go.

Lucky to have two or three locations to get true 'prime' beef (although one source is heads and shoulders above the other, but its hours is somewhat limited, so in a pinch, another location will do when I feel my arteries aren't properly clogged enough).

Had this very meal Saturday eve . . .

Thanks,

Mike

NY Strip or center cut sirloin. Salt, pepper, olive oil. Seared in a very hot pan, finished to rare. No butter, sauce, or other adornments, please.

Though occasionally I like giving a t-bone the Florentine treatment: garlic, lemon, and arugula.

%^)

Without a doubt ...

porterhouse !

Medium-rare ...

Butter ? Come on !

Steak sauce ? Ya gotta be kidding !

Salt and pepper on a charcoal fired Weber ...

Baked potato ? Fergitit ! Garlic mashed with the skins on only !

Clink !

%^)

Neither are always available, so we usually make do with boneless rib-eyes.

Richard