Jeff TRIES to cook things!

[Slyfox696]

Originally Posted by Gelgarin

If blood doesn't come out then you're doing it wrong. Good advice for many things in life, including steak.

I don't mind steak being more rare, but I like steak warm. Medium is usually where I go.

I'm also super not down with marinades for decent cuts. If you've got something lower quality, or been saddled with medallions by a sociopathic butcher then it's all good, though personally I favour a dry spice rub instead (salt, pepper, paprika and whatever takes your fancy), but if I've got a quality cut then I want to to taste like steak, not sauce.

Totally understandable. I've never really found a good blend of seasonings that knocks my socks off for steak, but the teriyaki marinade makes the ribeye tender and juicy.

Originally Posted by Ty Burna

Fillet is overrated. Give me a ribeye, T-Bone, or Porterhouse any day of the week over fillet.

I literally have T-Bones frozen in my freezer and I still buy ribeyes.

Of course that says far more about my laziness than it does anything about t-bones.

Originally Posted by Gelgarin

I like it when it can still moo.

T-bone and Porterhouse are much less of a thing over here. You'll generally only see them if you go to a speciality butcher. I think it all gets sliced up for Sirloin. Ribeye is far and away my favourite cut though. I avoided it for years because it looks like shit, but I got one of those dry ice crates with half a cow in it for a birthday a few years back and was quickly made a convert.

Where is "over here"? It's always kind of been my impression thick cuts of steak are not as popular in Europe as it is in America, but I admit complete ignorance on the subject.

Originally Posted by Ty Burna

We actually butcher the cow ourselves. My wife's aunt and uncle raise cattle so every year around January or so we head out to the middle of nowhere (and considering my state is nothing but middle of nowhere, that's saying something), and we cut up an entire beef.

We do the same thing in January, only with pigs. The family (aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.) purchase a number of pigs (this year we had 3) and the first pig we slaughter is the community hog for the weekend. So we kill it, skin it, cut it and within a couple of hours, begin eating it. The other two pigs get split amongst those who want/purchased them. This year my wife and I ended with a few packages of bacon, several packages of sausage, some ham steak, pork steak and pork chops.

It's a great way to do it if you have the time, space and equipment.

[Rainbow Yaz]

The occasional marinated steak is alright, but like Gelg said it is usually best when they are well done. My girlfriend's mom invites us over for dinner two or three times a month and they usually have steak those nights. They cook it to hell, takes all the natural flavor away, so the marinade she uses helps. She had never actually had a medium rare steak until we met. Her mom's boyfriend is like super afraid of eating anything but well done meat. On her 21st, they took us out to dinner and since I was getting free food and drinks I ordered a burger, medium rare, to keep their cost down. He was like "You are gonna get sick from that not being cooked all the way." Like okay Rick, you sit over there with your blackened steak and your Miller Lite and let me enjoy this in peace.

[Slyfox696]

Originally Posted by Rainbow Yaz

The occasional marinated steak is alright, but like Gelg said it is usually best when they are well done. My girlfriend's mom invites us over for dinner two or three times a month and they usually have steak those nights. They cook it to hell, takes all the natural flavor away, so the marinade she uses helps. She had never actually had a medium rare steak until we met. Her mom's boyfriend is like super afraid of eating anything but well done meat. On her 21st, they took us out to dinner and since I was getting free food and drinks I ordered a burger, medium rare, to keep their cost down. He was like "You are gonna get sick from that not being cooked all the way." Like okay Rick, you sit over there with your blackened steak and your Miller Lite and let me enjoy this in peace.

In fairness, you should be very careful if you eat hamburger medium rare.

But, while I don't drink, my understanding is that anyone who drinks Miller Lite has very little room to insult others...

[Rainbow Yaz]

Originally Posted by Slyfox696

In fairness, you should be very careful if you eat hamburger medium rare.

But, while I don't drink, my understanding is that anyone who drinks Miller Lite has very little room to insult others...

Yeah, it can be iffy. Most places I've been to will check the temp and make sure it hits that magic 155.

I'm not a big beer drinker myself, but yeah. It isn't like you are going to go in some biker bar and see the Miller Lite tap flowing all night.

[Gelgarin]

Where is "over here"? It's always kind of been my impression thick cuts of steak are not as popular in Europe as it is in America, but I admit complete ignorance on the subject.

UK these days.

I'm not sure it's a case of thickness. If I had to guess, I'd say it might be an aversion to buying beef on the bone dating back to our BSE days (You still don't see boned beef in supermarkets) but since I was like, 4, when that happened I wasn't paying too much attention to the meat industry, so its only a theory.

The popular cuts of steak in the UK and rump, sirloin (by a massive margin) and shit like frying steak or medallions. 90% of what you see outside of butchers will be those cuts. Fillet is less popular due to the price, and ribeye is less popular for reasons I don't understand, probably starting with it looking like ass, but both still have a presence.

T-bone and Porterhouse you're only likely to come across in a restaurant, or if you go out of your way to look for them.

[Ty Burna]

Originally Posted by Gelgarin

UK these days.

I'm not sure it's a case of thickness. If I had to guess, I'd say it might be an aversion to buying beef on the bone dating back to our BSE days (You still don't see boned beef in supermarkets) but since I was like, 4, when that happened I wasn't paying too much attention to the meat industry, so its only a theory.

The popular cuts of steak in the UK and rump, sirloin (by a massive margin) and shit like frying steak or medallions. 90% of what you see outside of butchers will be those cuts. Fillet is less popular due to the price, and ribeye is less popular for reasons I don't understand, probably starting with it looking like ass, but both still have a presence.

T-bone and Porterhouse you're only likely to come across in a restaurant, or if you go out of your way to look for them.

Sirloin is fine I guess. To me it's always been the fallback when ribeye is too expensive at a restaurant, and that's the only time I ever really order it. Really depends on the place, some restaurants I've been to can grill up a fantastic sirloin, and others it's way too tough even when I request medium rare.

[Ty Burna]

Since I'm going down this route, apparently cuts of meat are a bit different between the UK and the US. What we consider a T-Bone or Porterhouse isn't the same cut as in the UK.



T-Bones in the US are cut from the Tender Loin and Short loin from ours whereas UK it's just from what they consider the sirloin. Right around the same area but it looks like the US has a bit more precise cutting areas for the T-Bones.

If what I'm reading is right, and I understand it, our T-Bones/Porterhouses have essentially the fillet mignon side and strip steak on the other. In the UK it has the strip steak (or UK sirloin) without the fillet mignon portion. So that might be why T-Bones here are more valued compared to their UK counterpart.

Edit: And some UK cooking sites mention the fillet part of the T-Bone so we can axe that whole part above.

I've done way too much research on this at 12:30 AM.

[Rainbow Yaz]

Originally Posted by Ty Burna

Sirloin is fine I guess. To me it's always been the fallback when ribeye is too expensive at a restaurant, and that's the only time I ever really order it. Really depends on the place, some restaurants I've been to can grill up a fantastic sirloin, and others it's way too tough even when I request medium rare.

In my experience the chain restaurants in my area, TGI Fridays, Texas Roadhouse, and O'Charleys, tend to fuck up sirloin, but the locally owned restaurants where you have to pay a few dollars more usually do a passable job. Still prefer my dad to do it. I never could pick up the art of grilling a good sirloin.

Not that I have much practice, but I do better with smaller cuts at this point.

[Ty Burna]

And I may get shit for this, but am I the only one that doesn't care for brisket? Like at all? Maybe it's the few times I've had it that it wasn't done well, but I just don't care for it. Like it's too dry for me.

[Rainbow Yaz]

You have to cook it correctly to soften it up. When cooked properly, it is fine, not my first choice, but fine. The problem is that there is so much connective tissue and the cow uses that muscle so often it is crazy tough and often people cook it too long and dry it out. They try to amend that by covering it in BBQ.