Fancy A Steak -What Are The Best Cuts Of Steak?

Let’s talk about steak baby, you and me, Let’s talk about all the good things

And the bad things that may be,

Let’s talk about steak.

Nothing like a bit of Salt & Pepper and even English Mustard to boot.

 

Let’s Talk Steak.

As a kid a piece of steak was a bit of a treat. It was usually a piece of sirloin, served with mashed potatoes, garden peas and my mums homemade onion gravy.

Times have changed now, pubs are selling millions of steaks per year, restaurants are being more and more creative with dishes involving steaks. The rise in popularity of farm shops means the meat is as fresh as possible, grazing in the field one day, on the butchers block the next, in some cases. Supermarkets have upped their game in terms of quality while driving down the prices. Local butchers still on the high street are able to offer good deals and that friendly touch. As with a lot of things, it’s a buyers market. Going back to around 2005, we used to use Costco and there you could pick up some amazing deals on Aberdeen Angus beef and steaks. There was also a wholesale catering butcher near Halifax, who would let you buy direct from them. One Christmas I bought half a stone of boneless pork shoulder and paid £15 ( going back a few years, but it was half the price of Tesco ).

 

So What Are The Best Cuts Of Steak – Here’s My Top 3

 

1. Tenderloin

This is the dogs’ bollocks (but obviously not the actual body part nor from a dog ). Depending on the restaurant menu it’s also called Filet Mignon, Châteaubriand, Fillet Steak.

Sold at the butchers boneless, this is a lean and tender piece of meat. The price you’ll pay reflects that. I used to go to a farm shop and buy this cut straight from the strip. Cooked with a beautiful pepper sauce for a great Fillet au Poivre.

 

2. Ribeye

This cut comes from the rib area of the animal and contains incredible marbling. Entrecôte, Delmonico, are often names used on the menu in restaurants. Buying from the butchers, this steak is available with either the bone left in or can be sold boneless.

Want to know the best way to cook a boneless ribeye steak so it will be juicy, tender and perfectly medium rare? Well, for this we cook it on a cast iron skillet and bring into play the 4-3-2 method.

Step 1 is you cook for 4 minutes on a hot, dry skillet. Next, you turn the steak over and cook a further 3 minutes. Finally, we remove from the heat, place on a chopping board and allow to rest.

 

3. T-Bone

A popular cut which is named due to the shape of the bone in the cut. This particular favourite a tenderloin on one side and a strip steak on the other means you get double the texture and double the flavour. Cooked right, this is a tasty steak.

Best Way To Cook Steaks

The longer you cook a steak, then the tougher and drier it becomes. Nothing worse than spending £30 on a couple of small piece of fillet steak then cremating it. Rare where the meat is still red in the middle, really isn’t my thing at all. Medium-rare steak gives you, it’s been reported,  the maximum amount of tenderness and juiciness. Medium is seen as a compromise, it’s still got a tiny amount of pink in the middle, but its appearance is that it’s actually cooked through. It’s often said that  ‘well done’ is a waste of a steak, as it makes it as tough as old boots. I always prefer my meat cooked through, rare is of no interest to me. I’ll see what other peoples meals are looking like, in a restaurant. If they’ve been turned out too quickly and look rather underdone, I’m more likely to order a medium or ( if it’s served with a sauce ) a medium-well done steak.