Posted on 03/14/2008 8:46:41 AM PDT by No2much3
Prime beef is the highest-quality, tenderest, most richly marbled meat from a small percentage of cattle. Ultimately, about 2 percent of American beef makes the cut and is stamped USDA Prime. Most prime meat goes to high-end restaurants. Only a few retail sources, mostly in major cities - Philadelphia included - and online/mail-order sources sell prime beef to the public. Many butchers will custom-order it.
Prime beef and branded products of near-prime quality are available at Wegmans and Whole Foods markets. Branded beef is typically at the high end of its designated grade level. Unless labeled prime, that's Choice or, with some store brands, Select.
Although more costly, dry-aging is the surest route to tender, flavorful beef, McDonnell says: Hang beef in a climate-controlled cooler where air circulates freely around the meat. Over time, natural enzymes break down and tenderize it. As moisture evaporates, the beef shrinks, giving the meat a firm, earthy texture and intense flavor as it becomes more tender.
It's not to everyone's taste, McDonnell says, but for beef connoisseurs, it's perfection. "You can start with a cut of about 21 pounds, and three weeks later, after aging and trimming it, you have maybe 12 pounds left."
For grilling, choose tender cuts from the loin or rib. The filet, T-bone, porterhouse, rib eye, and top loin strip are best for grilling or broiling. Less expensive but somewhat less tender top boneless sirloin can be grilled or broiled if cooked rare to medium-rare or tenderized. Beyond medium, they can be tough. Chuck, top round, flank, skirt and hanger steaks are also flavorful but need tenderizing.
For stir-fries, roasts or braising, reconsider whether you want to use costly specialty meats, when choice cuts may do just as well.
(Excerpt) Read more at philly.com ...
I’ve never had the pleasure of eating dry-aged beef. Question: Would a marinade be a completely wrong-headed addition to dry-aged beef, prior to grilling?
Ping for later
The dry aging makes the meat more tender but it has to be a quality cut of beef to begin with. Marinading tenderizes by the the acids in the marinade breaking down the toughness of the meat. That is why you marinade cheaper cuts of beef. I would think if you marinaded aged beef you would ruin the steak flavour because the marinade flavour would overpower. I wouldn’t want to spend the money on dry aged filet and then ruin the taste by marinading in soy sauce. jmo
No2
Try this: Bury your steak completely in an ample amount of coarse salt, and let it sit in the refrigerator uncovered for a day or two. It will look like old shoe leather, but scrape off the salt and grill it as usual. Mmmmm!
Thanks. I suspected as much, but didn’t know for sure.
Ping
“Prime beef is the highest-quality, tenderest, most richly marbled meat from a small percentage of cattle”
How does this compare to Kobi beef?
I usually marinade London broil in; Soy sauce, Sake, Garlic, Ginger, Cracked Pepper (Black and White), Scallions.
Marinade for at least 24 hours, I usually go for 48 hours, turning the steak over 2-3 times a day. Take the steak of the marinade and let it come up to room temp. I put Hoison Sauce on the outside of the steak before putting on the grill to act as a barbeque sauce. 5-7 min. per side on a HOT grill. Let rest for 5-10 before slicing. Slice thin across the grain and at an angle. It is The best oriental steak. Even good cold the next day.
Bon Appetite
No2
So when is dinner? On my steak I put in a frying pan onions, mushrooms, yellow, red, green pepper strips, butter, salt/peer and sake and burn it down. I like to marinade for 24 hours as well but my wife generally does not let me. If the meat comes out of the freeze, marinade for as long as possible.
I watch Iron Chef and the Food Network all the time.
I am waiting for the wild rice for my garlic shrimp scampi and you just made me hungrier.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_99,00.html
Recipe Summary
Difficulty: Easy
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Yield: 1 to 2 servings
Pan Seared Rib Eye Recipe courtesy Alton Brown
Show: Good Eats
Episode: Steak Your Claim
1 boneless rib eye steak, 1 1/2-inch thick
Canola oil to coat
Kosher salt and ground black pepper
Place 10 to 12-inch cast iron skillet in oven and heat oven to 500 degrees. Bring steak(s) to room temperature.
When oven reaches temperature, remove pan and place on range over high heat. Coat steak lightly with oil and season both sides with a generous pinch of salt. Grind on black pepper to taste.
Immediately place steak in the middle of hot, dry pan. Cook 30 seconds without moving. Turn with tongs and cook another 30 seconds, then put the pan straight into the oven for 2 minutes. Flip steak and cook for another 2 minutes. (This time is for medium rare steaks. If you prefer medium, add a minute to both of the oven turns.)
Remove steak from pan, cover loosely with foil, and rest for 2 minutes. Serve whole or slice thin and fan onto plate.
In Baltimore the only place I know to get prime beef filet is Wegmans. You're not supposed to grill a prime beef.
Here is how I do filet, it's a fantastic meal. I only sear 1 1/2 minutes because the 20 minute rest period will over cook it otherwise. I may finish it in the oven if the temp is too low and if so I use a polder thermometer, get the temp to 127 degrees and rest for 10 minutes after reaching that temp.
Rub room temperature filets on all sides with olive oil. Heat iron skillet, bottom covered with olive oil, to screaming hot.
Place filets in the skillet and sear 2 minutes on each side (time yourself so you don't overcook)
Remove skillet from heat but leave steaks in. Put a pat of butter on each steak. Let steaks sit in the skillet for 20-30 minutes under a foil tent.
Place entire skillet with steaks into a preheated 475 degree oven for 3-6 minutes depending on thickness of steaks. After baking is completed, remove steak from skillet and let it stand for 10 minutes so it can reclaim its juices.
[edit] Tips
Soften butter and add fresh garlic before placing on steaks.
Open all the windows and doors in your house. It will get smoky.
Use an iron skillet. It heats evenly and is oven safe.
Use extra virgin olive oil over other oils. If used sparingly, it won't overpower any of the tastes and actually adds more flavor.
Check meat by touch, not by cutting open, it will retain more flavor.
[edit] Warnings
The iron skillet will be really hot. Watch out!
Your house will get smoky, so ventilate.
You can eat raw steak. Ensure that the bacteria is killed by pan frying it for 20-30 seconds, there is no harmful bacteria on the inside.
Time your cooking or you will overcook the filet.
If you cut into the steak and find it too rare, return it to the hot skillet and cover with foil for one to five minutes without returning the pan to any heat source.
What does the salt do to the beef? It seems like it would draw all the water out of the cut.
Oooo, we live near a Wegmans.....
I’ve got to check this out, for special occasions, that is.
I don’t doubt this is normally way beyond what the mm budget allows for meat.
Pingy-dingy
I would think so, too.
A light seasoning on the outside like garlic, S&P might not be out of line. But that’s me and I’m not a professional chef.
With steaks we usually just do a scant dry rub rather than a marinade. Usually some chopped garlic and a bit of black pepper and sea salt. With the roasts, or other cuts, I will use a marinade but not with the steaks. I had Kobi beef (steak) in a restaurant and I couldn't tell much difference between the Kobi and our home raised, three week dry aged beef.
Apples and oranges. The impulse to bbq a brisket is qualitatively different than the impulse to grill a porterhouse or some other prime cut of beef.
Both have their place, but I confess that if I’m gonna spend the time to do it low and slow, I’m going with a pork shoulder.
I have never heard of cooking a steak in an iron skillet.
I am going to try it!
I heat the skillet on high for a full five minutes before the room temp filet goes on. It's very important that the steak rest for 10 minutes before eating. Before eating, reheat the pan and scrape all the lovely juice and tidbits over the top.
A light seasoning on the outside like garlic, S&P might not be out of line. But that’s me and I’m not a professional chef.
______
You are doing it right. That’s why you get the good cut of beef, for its inherent flavor. You are just bringing it more into focus with a little light seasoning.
As others have said, a marinade with some acid in it is for tougher cuts, not the good stuff.
Venison also ages like beef.
Ouch!
Meat cutters these days don’t have a clue on how to bust down a hind with a 12 inch knife and a hand saw.
______
And meat cutters before that had to use their teeth and bare hands.
Technology has helped in a lot of different areas, I guess.
Yep. It almost makes sense to eat at Ruth Chris as I think their 12oz filet is $42.
I’ll tell you though, it’s worth it. Sometimes when I eat it I break out laughing or tear up. Beautiful meat.
If you like that price how about some Wagu beef filet at around $10/oz?
My bro-in-law routinely photos the meat he buys, just to show us all the marbling. He’s a bit out there. And I say that as a guy who cannot eat cheap steak (sorry Outback).
Absolutely correct..the heat’s the key..and that is why, IMHO, it is a waste of money to spend the bug $$ to try and cook the best cuts at home. You just can’t get the heat in the oven/broiler, or your grill, that the best steak houses get..the temp in their grills is often at or above 1000 degrees. At home, where it’s half that, you can’t thus get the quick initial sear..which seals the flavor/juices in..
I used to live near a small independent grocery store that sold prime meats
We used to buy prime chicken and liver.
Wow, the liver was delicious. Very tender. I was never a liver lover be that stuff changed me. At least for prime.
I usually grill steaks Sunday evening.
Start w/ ribeyes, either choice or select. Marinate in soy, a little liquid smoke,maybe some tenderizer ( depends on my judgment), Marinate for about 3-4 hrs. Sometimes use crushed garlic, Emeril’s ‘BAM’.
My wife loves fresh pineapple and I use the juice occasionally. But you have to be really careful w/ the juice or it will turn the meat to mush. Very powerful. Dilute and 15 min. tops.
Grill as hot as I can which is not that hot unfortunately.
They turn out excellent. Everyone raves about them.
That sounds delicious. You are an artist. :)
One word....ummmmmm
Proud mother-in-law.
I moved in to an apartment and don’t have access to a grill now. I have switched to a cast iron skillet and, if done properly, it’s almost as good as grilling.
A couple of years ago at Christmas I managed to pick up some 14 day matured leg of lamb. As it was Christmas Eve it had been reduced from about 45 dollars to about 30 dollars.
Boy was it great, tender and full flavour, there is nothing like naturally matured or hung meat.
It seems nowadays it only just finished squarking or mooing or bahbahing and it is on your plate.
Long gone are days when local butchers used to hung the meat in view of their customers.
Yes heath and safety maybe did need to be tightened worldwide but we have gone crazy to the point meat does not taste like meat anymore.
Real meat we have lost so much with our plastic wrapped square lump of meat that you can no longer distinquish what the origin animal was.
It is has almost got to the stage in Britain where people do not want to be reminded of the animal it came from and people shy from buying meat on the bone because it shows it is from an animal.
I think Disney has in some ways created this problem humanising animals.
I know someone who has to call fish chicken because her son will not eat fish after watching catching Nemo. He has yet to connect chicken with a cartoon character
The supermarkets I think are part of the reason with their butcher's section or counter and the youngster behind who they call a butcher. I doubt unless the various bits of meat were labeled half the time the lad would know what was what bit of the animal probably would not even know what animal.
Same goes for the fishmonger. It was painful when I was served last Saturday the young lad had to keep looking at the labels when I asked for various type of fish.
Yummy liver and bacon and thick thick gravy made with juices and oninon.
“I am waiting for the wild rice for my garlic shrimp scampi and you just made me hungrier.”
I’m jealous! I was so busy at work today that I had time to scarf down ONE piece of cold pizza, LOL!
But...I brought home some Fingerling potatoes...gonna steam them and eat them with gobs of butter and a sprinkling of herbs. Some diet, Eh? That’s the way it’ll be for a while.
Other than that, I can no longer eat beef. I haven’t had it in so long that I don’t have the enzyme in my gut to break it down. We eat so much venison, I haven’t bought beef on purpose in probably ten years. Nothing against it; we just have such a plentiful supply of venison that we don’t need it.
Did you see this thread?
question......how long does it take to get good beef from a steer?....1 yr?...more?
You left out an important step...
Step #1) Disconnect your smoke detector!
I saw that episode too, and it makes an awesome steak!
Mark
Thank You.
My family and friends all enjoy my cooking, or so they tell me. LOL
Made crepes for dessert last night with enough batter for this morning’s breakfast.
May you enjoy new and different foods.
No2
HungarianGypsy has the FR food ping list.
Good Eats,
No2
Speaking of salt, some restaurants are now cooking pieces of meat in pans of super-heated rock salt. I've never tried that but it seems to be rather trendy now.
-ccm
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