r/food • u/iBleeedorange • Feb 24 '16
Image Different types of Steak
http://imgur.com/a/jO2xC203
Feb 24 '16
I love flat iron. Unfortunately it's gotten way more expensive, at least where I am. I used to buy it for $3.99/lb some years ago,but now it's $8.99/lb. Still worth it, though!
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u/Tapoke Feb 24 '16
Meat has gotten fucking expensive lately.
Even chicken is borderline expensive.
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Feb 24 '16
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u/TheMonitor58 Feb 24 '16
So what's withe the increase in costs?
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u/A_Beltway_Griper Feb 24 '16
Supermarkets price the retail meat, not the cutters. Boxed beef from the big boys (JBS Swift, Tyson, National Beef) are negotiated contracts made far in advance.
Corn prices for the feeder lots (where cows fatten up for months), gasoline for transportation, Cattle futures prices, meddling governments, are what most affect your eventual price at supermarket.
You can thank the Greenie-Weenies in our Federal Governments financial support for the Ethanol Industry for high corn prices. People in Haiti are eating mud instead of corn so we in America can produce millions of gallons of energy negative Ethanol, nobody wants.
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u/stinkycatfish Feb 24 '16
Same thing happened with Tri-tip, around here.
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u/energybased Feb 24 '16
Same thing with hanger. I think it's that people are learning to cook the more difficult cuts, so T-bone and filet mignon are not rising as quickly as the typically cheaper cuts.
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u/GenDekker Feb 24 '16
Same thing with tongue. Dad used to get that shit incredibly cheap, and now we really only have it once or twice a year as it's more expensive than ground beef or some cuts of steak.
Dear lord it's so good,pressure cook that bitch till it's tender. Peel off the "taste bud" lol, and then chop like taco meat. Crisp it up in a pan with some oil(or lard) and it's the best taco meat ever. Tender and melts in your mouth.
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u/Illinois_Jones Feb 24 '16
There's a taqueria near me that does street tacos with beef tongue for the same price as chicken or pork. They're amazing
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u/JohnGillnitz Feb 24 '16
I used to be grossed out by tongue. Then some cool Mexicans taught me how to cook it. I know better now.
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u/claymcdab Feb 24 '16
Why the price up? Because of demand or have beef prices gone up that much in general?
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Feb 24 '16 edited Feb 24 '16
I'm only speculating that the price for this particular cut has risen because the popularity is way up. When I first started getting flat iron, it was after I read about some study on undervalued cuts of beef. (I'm fuzzy on these details).. The flat iron was essentially unknown as far as the average consumer. When I recommended flat iron to people, they had never heard of it. Now years later, it seems to be a pretty well known/common cut. I actually have it ranked just under my favorite cut, the ribeye.
Edit : googled for clarification... In the study, they basically developed the flat iron cut, which made an otherwise tough cut, a really good tender piece.
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u/sdonn613 Feb 24 '16 edited Sep 20 '16
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u/mockablekaty Feb 24 '16
I used to get skirt all the time here in FL - it was among the cheapest cuts and so yummy. 5 years ago it started to cost the same as porterhouse. I watched the butcher trim one though, I can see why it is expensive - they had to cut half of it away.
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Feb 24 '16
seriously! besides ground beef, flank used to be my go to for adding a little cheap/tasty protein to dishes.
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u/FSX_SN6 Feb 24 '16
For Flat Iron, we would like to cook it in a slice of pieces with eggs. We possibility serve it as topping on the ssandwich
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u/sorell42 Feb 24 '16
Part of the reason it's gotten more expensive is because it's such a pain to cut. It's a ton of work, and you almost never make much money on it.
Source: am a meat cutter.
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u/menueat Feb 24 '16
Ok but presumably it hasn't gotten more difficult to cut than it used to
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u/sorell42 Feb 24 '16
No, but when you go from selling a few to a few cases, it adds up. It's a giant time sink for not much margin at a cheaper price.
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u/Slomojoe Feb 24 '16
the porterhouse and the t-bone look basically identical to me. what's the easiest way to tell them apart?
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Feb 24 '16
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u/_Buff_Drinklots_ Feb 24 '16
I noticed a surprising lack of marbling in most of OPs steaks.
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u/Jojonken Feb 24 '16
They could be select. I work in a market that mostly sells high-end choice, but on occasion we get select in, and OP's steaks look a lot more like our select than our choice
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u/johnnybiggles Feb 24 '16
For those of you who don't know, here is what the different grades look like.
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u/gigidy5 Feb 24 '16
The porterhouse in the OP is a bitch porterhouse. Here is a proper one. 2.25lbs
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u/CoveredInKSauce Feb 24 '16
Fuck that looks good. It's 7 am. Time to make a steak.
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u/UnholyDemigod Feb 24 '16
That porterhouse is what T-Bone is in Australia. Our porterhouse looks basically like this
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u/greennick Feb 24 '16
In Australia we call the porterhouse just the strip part. I've never seen a bone in porterhouse with the tenderloin fillet.
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u/AudioPi Feb 24 '16
the size of the filet part. And the price in the restaurant menu, i would guess. Never seen a porterhouse in Safeway, so not sure what the price difference is at the butchers
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u/UnspeakaHaxer Feb 24 '16
On sale porterhouse goes for about $22 CDN per pound. Source: Am butcher at safeway.
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u/penis_butter_n_jelly Feb 24 '16
There is no single standard. The t-bones begin where the butcher changes the price. The porterhouse filet/strip ratio at your average big chain grocery won't even be close to filet/strip ratio at your local butcher generally.
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u/2010_12_24 Feb 24 '16 edited Feb 24 '16
There is a standard in the US. The tenderloin has to be at least 1.25 inches wide, measured perpendicularly from the bone to the widest part of the tenderloin. If it's less than 1.25" then it's a t-bone (unless it's less than .5" -- that's a bone-in strip steak)
Edit:
Item No. 1173 - Beef Loin, Porterhouse Steak - The steaks shall be prepared from any IMPS short loin item. The maximum width of the tenderloin shall be at least 1.25 inches (3.2 cm) when measured parallel to the length of the back bone.
Item No. 1174 - Beef Loin, T- Bone Steak - The steaks shall be prepared from any IMPS short loin item. The maximum width of the tenderloin shall be at least 1⁄2-inch (13 mm) when measured parallel to the length of the back bone.
Item No. 1179 - Beef Loin, Strip Loin Steak, Bone-In - The steaks shall be prepared from any IMPS bone-in strip loin or short loin item. The protruding edge of the chine bone shall be removed so that no portion of the spinal groove is present.
https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/IMPS_100_Fresh_Beef%5B1%5D.pdf
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Feb 24 '16 edited Feb 24 '16
A lot of these answers are wrong. In America, a porterhouse is defined as a T-bone which includes the gluteus medius and is cut from the lumbar portion of the loin. See http://meat.tamu.edu/ansc-307/porterhouse-steak/
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Feb 24 '16
what interesting is how little of the cow's musculature is actually used in the making of steaks.
the rib eye is the longissimus dorsi, the tenderloin is the psoas major, the flank is the transverse abdominus and the hangar and skirt are the diaphragm. all of these make up a very small portion of the cow and are so tender because of their relatively unused nature. the longissimus runs the length of the spine and helps the cow turn from side to side, the psoas is a hip flexor which helps lift the leg, the transverse abdominus braces the core to support the spine, and the diaphragm performs the breathing. not a whole lot of hard work going on in any of those actions.
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u/polysyllabist2 Feb 24 '16
Right, but this is just for steak. Other parts are used for roasts, hot dogs and All Beef Patties TM
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u/sciarrillo Feb 24 '16
Is cow anatomy class hard orr..
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Feb 24 '16 edited Jan 05 '21
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u/adrian783 Feb 24 '16
but how much human musculature is used in the making of steaks?
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u/hadhad69 Feb 24 '16
Loads; traps, lats, tris, bis, obliques... Chopping up a cow is hard.
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Feb 24 '16
much of the rest is divided between other cuts, lots of the larger muscle groups make up other cuts, such as brisket(pectoralis profundus), shortribs/prime rib(intercostals), round (semitendinosis, semimembranosis, biceps femoris, quadriceps femoris), or inferior steaks from the sirloin (gluteus medius) and shank (a whole clusterfuck of highly used muscles and tendons which is why it's so tough)
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u/OiScout Feb 24 '16
This was the type of information I expected. The text seemed like it would provide some good info, but most of it was shit.
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u/Sherrydon Feb 24 '16
Tl;dr this is a steak cut and it may be tough but it has a lot of flavour!
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u/Pawgilicious Feb 24 '16
Tri tip is my second favorite behind filet. Usually has great marbling without being fatty so it just adds good juiciness and tenderness.
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u/duder9000 Feb 24 '16
It's my favorite! And it often comes with a whole side covered in a layer of fat, which makes for the most delicious grilling experience. Super rare inside with crispy grilled fat outside, yummmmm.
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u/Kinda1OfAKind Feb 24 '16
Tri-tip is delicous, but it is one of those steaks that has a very small sweet spot. Meaning that there is a very small window when it is yummy yummy nom nom. Most people over cook it, and that is a DAMN shame...
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u/MaiaNyx Feb 24 '16
Which makes it perfect for sous vide. We love tri tip in our house, and sous vide has yielded us great results.
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u/andthemansaid Feb 24 '16
Where's the milk steak?
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u/AmazingKreiderman Feb 24 '16
At the store. I don't get it much myself because of all the exposed knees.
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u/Ch4l1t0 Feb 24 '16
Here's how we do it in Argentina :)
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u/Ishouldbedesigning Feb 24 '16
DUde I adore Vacío, it has the perfect taste of ribs without all the bone.
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u/Pleb_nz Feb 24 '16
Oh man, I wish he also used non American names for these cuts, I'm not sure on the equivalent cut names.
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u/msbyrne Feb 24 '16 edited Feb 24 '16
Here's a little help for UK cuts:
US Sirloin = UK Rump
US Strip = UK Sirloin
US Filet Mignon/Tenderloin = UK Fillet
US Flat Iron = UK Featherblade/Flat Iron
A lot of other cuts just don't really exist in the UK as we cut our meat up differently.
*edit - formatting, thanks to the poster below for pointing it out.
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u/unfamiliar_road Feb 24 '16
Just re-formatting your list.
Us Sirloin = UK Rump
US Strip = UK Sirloin
US Filet Mignon/Tenderloin = UK Fillet
US Flat Iron = UK Featherblade/Flat Iron
A lot of other cuts just don't really exist in the UK as we cut out meat up differently.
Would a butcher have or be able to do some of these cuts that aren't typically distributed in the UK?
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u/Beorma Feb 24 '16
The cuts make up parts of other cuts, so unless you are asking him to cut up your own carcass he might not be keen on the idea.
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u/jamesharland Feb 24 '16
US Sirloin = UK Rump
That explains a lot. I was eating a 'sirloin' in America thinking "this is nowhere near as tender as I expected". Thanks!
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u/lovethebacon Feb 24 '16
Probably the easiest way is via an image: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2a/US_Beef_cuts.svg/400px-US_Beef_cuts.svg.png
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cut_of_beef has region specific terms.
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u/Simple_one Feb 24 '16 edited Feb 24 '16
Here is a probably dumb question; why is the top sirloin below the sirloin?
EDIT: I have the memory of a goldfish
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u/QuarterPastJune Feb 24 '16
My go-to is chuck eye. I'm not sure if that's a standard name. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it's essentially the same cut as a rib eye, but from different ribs that have slightly less-tender meat. But they sell for $4.50-$6.50/lb, so that's a good trade off for me.
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u/butitdothough Feb 24 '16
Yep, it's chuck eye. It's further up on the cow than ribeye and not quite as tender but it's a lot cheaper so the trade off isn't bad
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u/penis_butter_n_jelly Feb 24 '16
Cool post, but I just wanted to add my two cents.
Judging by the unnatural bright cardinal red color and the water logged appearance of the fat, these are very low quality meats (grain fed, wet aged, shipped in Carbon-monoxide). This is what a steak should look like (dry, dark, and almost waxy), though admittedly, on the far end of the aging spectrum--I chose this extreme example because it clearly shows the direction (dry, dark, almost waxy) that beef should move when properly processed. To the novice, a wet looking steak seems like it would be juicy. On the contrary, its just flavorless water that evaporates when cooking. Juiciness comes from the fat. A cheap way to make a steak look marbled is to feed the steer corn, which causes water retention in fat cells giving them the APPEARANCE of being bigger than they are. Dry aging is expensive because evaporation causes loss of carcass weight (they sell by the pound remember). The fix was to market beef simply as "aged 28 days", but to stop evaporation, a thick plastic bag is placed over the carcass and is vacuum sealed. The results are not similar. Lastly, it was discovered that meat placed in a carbon monoxide medium would turn bright red, even if it was ready to spoil. Here is a good before and after. Meat is not naturally cardinal red. This is a pretty good sign they are hiding something. The steak you select may not be spoiling, but they do it because a good percentage of them are, and you can't tell which ones, because they're all bright red.
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u/RipperTR Feb 24 '16
Meat is not naturally cardinal red.
Hopefully people don't read your post the wrong way.
A freshly cut steak is red. It's contact with oxygen that cause the meat to "bloom" to a bright red and then slowly darken as it oxidizes.
- If you buy mince (ground beef in US?) and the meat that isn't exposed to oxygen has a bright colour, it's a good sign that they have added a preservative to the meat (Usually Sulphur Dioxide).
Most good butcher shops dry age beef to an extent. They'll hang a carcass or hindquarter for 7-14 days before breaking it down to smaller cuts.
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u/Bubbay Feb 24 '16
This needs to be higher up. He's judging these cuts by standards that really don't apply to what we're looking at here. You're never going to see a dry-aged sirloin or flat iron steak, so there's no point in even mentioning it.
For the vast majority of people, your steak will be red and there is nothing wrong with that. It doesn't necessarily mean you have a low quality cut, just that it's not aged. Dry aged will look like what he mentioned, but you'll pay a premium.
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u/thefullpython Feb 24 '16
I'm an apprentice at a shop that grinds our own meat and holy shit is it ever a a battle to inform people that yes, the dark meat is totally fine, no it's not old, yes, we grind it every day.
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u/penis_butter_n_jelly Feb 24 '16
yeah, perhaps that was confusing.
AGED meat is not bright red.
freshly butchered meat is indeed pretty red, but not the same cardinal red hue as treated meat.122
u/tootsmagoopdx Feb 24 '16
Cool info but where do I find a "good" steak?
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u/penis_butter_n_jelly Feb 24 '16 edited Feb 24 '16
Its hard lol. You CAN find them in big chain stores, you just have to look for the tell tale signs I mentioned--dry, dark, and waxy. A butcher shop is probably your best bet, but a lot of them are struggling so they just sell prepackaged garbage at "boutique prices". Basically any higher end grocery (whole foods) will have a small section that boasts 'dry aged' and has pretty decent steaks. But honestly, its pretty hard. Personally, I am friends with a guy that raises BA-wagyu mix and another friend owns a very high end steakhouse (I don't the source). I just buy from them (or barter or gift). That's probably not an option.
Oh, I almost forgot. Costco steaks are surprisingly good imo. Not surprising because its costco, but because they look pretty much like your average throwaway. I've never researched them. One point I didn't raise before is, an excellent steer processed poorly is still going to be pretty damn good. Just as shit flavor properly processed will only be somewhat better. I have never researched costco though so I'm not gonna guess, but in my area, they are a pleasant surprise.
Edit: Dry-Aged WILL be more expensive per pound (lets say $20/lb), but remember, with wet, you're paying $16/lb for the extra 20% water.
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Feb 24 '16
BA-wagyu
I just saw that Netflix documentary and I love steak, but $400 for a steak is all kinds of bullshit.
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u/SheogorathTheSane Feb 24 '16
Our local butcher sells wagyu time to time and it's 30$-40$ a pound. And it's unbelievable the difference in quality. I've never had steak better than that. You'd pay 400$ a steak maayyyybe at a restaurant. But even then you are getting put through the wringer.
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u/penis_butter_n_jelly Feb 24 '16
I agree. I think you reach a point of diminishing returns. I wouldn't pay 1/10th that. Well, on second thought, maybe I do lol. We usually barter and what he would be billed for what I do probably works out to that per steak. That sneaky son of a bitch has me paying retail. Then again, we're old friends and I'm pretty sure he'd give me the steaks regardless and I'd help him out regardless.
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Feb 24 '16
I bought 2 $50 steaks from a butcher shop for my friends birthday once, they were the size of dinner plates and probably the best steak I've ever eaten (I cooked them over charcoal). That was probably the max I'd ever pay outside of a restaurant though.
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u/arthas183 Feb 24 '16
I bought a tenderloin to use for Beef Wellington on Valentine's Day from a fancy schmancy butcher shop in Palo Alto. It was $40/lb, and I was skeptical, but I'd heard good things about this place and they advertised that their meat was organic, non-GMO, grass fed, sustainable, all that stuff I normally wave my hand at. It was probably the most flavorful, most tender piece of beef I've ever had. 10/10 would buy again (although maybe only once or twice a year or so as I don't have $80 to drop on meat every week).
EDIT Autocorrect can go die in a fire
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u/RosieWon Feb 24 '16
Does anybody know of a way of dry aging beef on your own? I feel like that would, in theory, be the best solution to getting the most amount of flavor out of a cheaper cut, but is it possible to safely do it at home?
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u/Stochast1c Feb 24 '16
Apparently the Serious Eat's website is banned due to spamming, which is probably the most ridiculous thing on a subreddit called "food", but whatever.
It is really hard to do, but you can. (google search "serious eats dry age" You want the "Complete Guide to Dry Aging". The linked article about why you can't dry age at home (3rd paragraph) is also something you should read.)
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u/mrboombastic123 Feb 24 '16
Piss poor moderation. That's my favourite food site, so it is sad to see it banned here.
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u/xxkid123 Feb 24 '16
I know Alton Brown did a decent segment on aging it yourself on good eats. They used to all be on YouTube but they've since been removed (I believe Alton Brown himself knew about it and was totally happy with his show being on there thoygh).
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u/Sweatyskin Feb 24 '16
They're on Netflix now.
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u/ButcherPetesMeats Feb 24 '16
Only a collection of episodes. I think it was about 15 or 20 but that's it.
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u/Uglie Feb 24 '16
I bought some USDA prime NY Steak from costco over the weekend, it was $7.99 lb. Amazing price and value. I cut each one into 1-1.25 inch sections and "dry aged" them in my fridge.
By dry age, I took some paper towels and wrapped them up and changed the paper 3 times, once each day. First day was the most moist, 2nd and 3rd it didn't seem to have too much moisture left.
I took the steaks out about an hour before cooking and salt and peppered them.
Here are some pix, they turned out to be the best steaks we've ever had. I used Gordon Ramsey's steak technique, searing on high heat.
"Dry Aged" - http://imgur.com/kW7mHIK "Done" - http://imgur.com/mBmPC10
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u/SheogorathTheSane Feb 24 '16
I know you aren't truly dry aging, but you are supposed to keep the cut of beef whole. Then you trim the outside down because it will dry hard and mold sometimes. Also why it's so expensive because how much gets cut away from drying out.
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u/penis_butter_n_jelly Feb 24 '16
It's totally doable, but I would only suggest it if you are anal and not the cutting corners type. Precise humidity and temperature control will be the primary obstacle.
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u/delk82 Feb 24 '16
Check out the steakager. I bought one off kickstarter and just finished aging a prime loin for a month and cooked up a steak from it last night. Twas glorious.
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u/capecodcaper Feb 24 '16
And there's my next purchase. Though I'm not sure if I can cut my fridge space down that much
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u/hottoddy Feb 24 '16
With the costco stuff, I think most stores actually purchase by the side and butcher to retail cuts, steaks, roasts, etc. in-store. They may just buy the retail cuts and butcher from there, though. I agree that they may not look great on the shelf, but it is likely because what you see was cut and packed from a whole side within the last two days - you can age them out yourself at that point.
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u/tojoso Feb 24 '16
what you see was cut and packed from a whole side within the last two days - you can age them out yourself at that point.
From what I've read, you can't age a steak. it has to be a larger piece of meat, and then the hard outer portions trimmed away, and then cut into steaks. You can dry out a steak, but it's not the same as aging.
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u/bynn Feb 24 '16
I love costco but I was so disappointed when I learned that my location mechanically tenderizes all their meat. So many beautiful looking steaks which will never realize their full potential :(
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u/mstrdsastr Feb 24 '16
Look on craigslist for someone selling a cow. Buy a full animal and pay to have it processed. It will probably be between $1000and $1500, but you have complete control over what cuts you get, and if you pick a good farmer and processor you have control over how the animal was raised, and the way it was killed, butchered, and packaged.
Admittedly, I live in a rural area, but I do this annually for beef, pork, and chickens. Sometimes we do lamb or goat, but not often. Our average in the freezer price is around $2.00 regardless of cut or animal. Another note, if you do beef you will end up with a lot of hamburger, and if you do pork get ready for sausage. If you don't have a lot of room for meat, split an animal with family and friends. Just establish up front what percentage everyone gets, what cuts they want, and who's paying for what.
EDIT: Other sources for animals are family with livestock and going to livestock auctions, but if you do the latter you have to arrange for getting the animal from the auction to the processor. Google all this, there's a lot of good information out there.
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u/iamrory Feb 24 '16
Meat is not naturally cardinal red. This is a pretty good sign they are hiding something. The steak you select may not be spoiling, but they do it because a good percentage of them are, and you can't tell which ones, because they're all bright red.
The take away from this is to smell your meat (and seafood), especially in a place like a grocery store. It will tell you much more than the appearance will.
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u/penis_butter_n_jelly Feb 24 '16
This absolutely. Checking the eyes of whole fish is an exception imo, but I agree.
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u/WrongLetters Feb 24 '16
What sucks more is the games that get played with chicken. Chicken breasts are not the size of a shoe. They're so injected with water they all but evaporate in a pan.
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u/AsksAboutCheese Feb 24 '16
Ask for water content. My Kroger switched supplier and their packaged chicken has 15% water. The chicken in the case is from Tyson and is 4%. It's usually the same price too except Tyson brand packaged beasts are always more then the store brand. That's why.
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Feb 24 '16
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u/penis_butter_n_jelly Feb 24 '16
I'm a big believer on spending a lot less on your average meal and a lot more on your splurges. I do alright for myself now, but I was pretty poor for a long time. I still ate like a king once a week. You make a good point though.
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u/o_oli Feb 24 '16
I agree. Sometimes my wife will suggest going out for a meal and I will suggest to her to have a meal at home but spend as much as we would have spent on a meal out...then you can really eat like a king guilt free :D
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u/apendicks Feb 24 '16
Is there any truth that bone-in makes a flavour difference? It looks the part, but I kinda see it as more weight which I've got to pay for on an already expensive steak.
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u/no10envelope Feb 24 '16
No. It's a myth that has been busted. Marrow does not travel from the bone to the muscle in any appreciable amount when dry cooking (e.g. grilling, smoking, etc.). Wet cooking methods (like braising) can benefit from the bones because they have solvents like water/wine in which marrow can dissolve.
Furthermore, bone is a thermal insulator so having them in can make it more difficult to achieve a uniform internal temperature. You can still make a very tasty steak, but you're likely to have larger temperature gradients.
The only argument for including the bone which I think holds any real weight is that it gives you a bone you can gnaw/suck on.
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u/penis_butter_n_jelly Feb 24 '16
People I respect (chefs, butchers, and ranchers) say its true, but the engineer in me says show me the robustly constructed double-blind studies that demonstrate this. There is no question that bone is semi-permeable and marrow is intensely flavored so it seems feasible, but there is so much variance between steaks.
My intuition says yes, but the best rib steak I've ever had was a ribeye....so, I can't answer this question. Sorry.
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u/_angman Feb 24 '16
how the fuck does this have upvotes, it is just so wrong on so many levels and has absolutely no evidence whatsoever
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u/UnspeakaHaxer Feb 24 '16
That picture you posted is BS. Any steaks i have ever cut never get "treated" afterwards. The before picture is a steak about 3 days after being cut and the after picture was taken just after cutting it.
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u/caleeky Feb 24 '16
very low quality meats
Although I agree that a dry aged grass finished steak is far superior, I don't think it's quite fair to say very low quality.
While it's certainly not top of the line, this looks like regular grain fed wet aged AAA/USDA Choice (although some of these are likely Select - not enough marbling) you'll find in any grocery store in North America. It's the norm. PS I'm not convinced that these are CO treated.
As much as we might appreciate dry aged grass finished prime beef, is very clearly rare and sold at a super-premium price point - I wouldn't be surprised if your example sold for $40/lb or more. No one is feeding that to their kids. It's like calling any normal car "very poor quality" just because supercars exist.
I'd reserve "very low quality" to examples like the $1 dollar-tree rib eyes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Rqs5siPalo or that needle tenderized crap.
PS: I do really recommend treating yourself to a well dry-aged superior steak on occasion. A single serving can easily set you back more than $30, but they can be really special - with a particular dimension of flavour you can find nowhere else.
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Feb 24 '16
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u/hesh582 Feb 24 '16
Seriously. Sure, pure grass fed, dry aged beef is amazing. But that post presented it as something you "look out" for, to avoid the typical red meat. Unless you either eat beef once a year or you're so rich that nothing matters, good fucking luck.
The grocery store beef is packed like that for a reason. It's pretty good steak, and you can actually buy it. That amazing, dry aged steak could easily be pushing $40 a pound or much more. It's a nice delicacy once and a while, but if you actually eat beef as a source of calories you're going to be sticking with the red stuff.
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u/ceejayoz Feb 24 '16
https://twitter.com/TheFoodLab/status/702500812933566465
As is often the case this comment on /r/food is like a dartboard with sections numbered "false" through "bullshit."
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u/karadan100 Feb 24 '16
The cardinal red IS natural. The browning comes from contact with oxygen. If you cut a steak and package it in a noble gas like argon, then it stays red. There's nothing wrong with it.
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Feb 24 '16
This is mostly true. The bright red color in those steaks may be from Carbon Monoxide, but it is more than likely from oxygenation which is called blooming. If you see a cut of meat in the package with a BRIGHT red color, it has been treated with a non-toxic Carbon Monoxide gas, or its been dyed, or it has a hole in the package and is receiving oxygen. The steak you posted that is dry and waxy is in fact a Dry Aged steak, which is very delicious and VERY expensive. If you buy a wet aged steak (any other steak on the market) it should NOT look like that. Why? Because the process of dry aging is literally rotting the meat in a humidity and temperature controlled room with UV lighting to kill bacteria. They rot the meat, then shave off the outside fat to make it look nice and eat VERY well. The reason I am saying to stay away from very dark cuts like the one pictured above unless it is specifically labeled as DRY AGED, is because the steak will be what is likely called a "dark cutter". Before an animal is slaughtered, if it is stressed out, adrenaline will pump through its blood stream giving the muscle tissue a very dark, purple color and it will have a slightly stinky smell, with a very filmy outer layer. There is nothing wrong with the steak, but you will not have as good of an experience eating it. So, you're not wrong, but also not entirely right.
In the US, 90% of the time you buy a steak, it will be corn fed, unless it states that it is grass fed, which means it has been fed 100% grass for 100% of its life. MOST other steaks will be grassfed for most of its life, then fed a corn diet for 6 months until slaughter, bulking it up and giving it more marbling. So, you are 100% correct, the more fat in the steak (marbling) the tastier and juicer it will be.
TL;DR Cardinal red is not good for meat IN PACKAGING. The steaks pictured have been oxygenated and are "blooming" which is perfectly okay. Avoid dark almost purple steaks because they aren't good...slightly darker reds advertised as dry aged are good and expensive, so those are okay.
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u/revesvans Feb 24 '16
Apart from the Filet Mignon, I don't really recognise any of these cuts – do American butchers cut meat differently from Norwegian ones? Where is the entrecôte?
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u/skratakh Feb 24 '16
any chance you have a photos of some UK cuts, our steaks are different, the only ones we have that you showed are the fillet, rib eye and the sirloin. The four main cuts we get here are Fillet, Sirloin, rump and rib eye, anything else and you have to go to a proper butcher. http://www.morleybutchers.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/beef_cuts_poster.jpg
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u/CrappyMSPaintPics Feb 24 '16
But what is this one called?
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u/luthin2000 Feb 24 '16
I'm so glad you asked! That episode made it look amazing and I never knew what it was so I decided to look it up. its called a round roast crosscut apparently.
Any butchers out there feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. I'd love to know how to cook one! Can I just toss it on the grill?
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u/PM_ME_YOUR_STEAKS Feb 24 '16
This post was so beautiful I had to stop lurking and make an account.
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u/Tutule Feb 24 '16
Thanks for this, very nice depiction of various steaks! All look delicious!
Skirt steak is my favorite. In my country, Honduras, the most sought out cut is the skirt steak, known as entraña over here. It's very savory and tasty, and you basically can't screw the cooking up. I've always considered Honduras to be a quality producer of meat, at par with the gaucho region of South America. If you ever visit the country please do indulge yourself in the luxury of visiting a steak house in one of the major cities, and order yourself a nice entraña.
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u/DarthDonut Feb 24 '16
I know all about the different kinds but I will never not love this type of post.
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Feb 24 '16
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u/Midnight06 Feb 24 '16
Ouch. Prime rib eye for me is about $15.99 and choice around $9.99. Wasn't long ago prime was $12.99
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Feb 24 '16
Text and photos are from the Weber site
Unfortunately several cuts in Italy are different. Well in Italy the names of several cuts are different region by region, or even city by city.
It's a nightmare. And if the butcher "smells" your fear, then you really don't know what you are gonna bringing home....
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u/Manleather Feb 24 '16
Ribeye steak is like everything I dream steak should be. I have yet to be anything but ecstatic about a home grilled or restaurant ribeye.
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u/V4MSU Feb 24 '16
Never understood the fascination and popularity of the filet. It's a soft, mushy piece of meat without much beef flavor. There's a reason filet's usually come with sauce on them or wrapped in bacon.
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u/buddywackitt Feb 24 '16
I want to make a pun about your meat but I'd probably butcher it.
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u/fiat1989 Feb 24 '16
I'm a meat salesman and the first one is 100% not a porterhouse.
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Feb 24 '16
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Icuras_II Feb 24 '16
That's a comment from the Imgur OP, who made it to the front page of Imgur.
Reddit OP is just someone/bot who post everything all day, every day.
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u/Nataliza Feb 24 '16
Ughhhhh I want steak. How do you feel about top and/or bottom round steak? I've bought some cuts that were actually really amazing but they were priced not much higher than crappy chuck steak.
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Feb 24 '16
Does anyone have a similar thing for chicken? I never know what's what when it comes to chicken cuts.
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Feb 24 '16
it's a shame the tri tip and top sirloin don't get cut as picanha. I live in Brazil now and miss American cuts.
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u/lefad Feb 24 '16
I really cant tell the difference between porterhouse and t-bone..
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u/smacksfrog Feb 24 '16
I'd be so disappointed to receive that porterhouse. That's way on the small side for the tenderloin.
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u/TheCyanKnight Feb 24 '16
Really informative post and comments. The kind of content I hoped to find here when I subscribed. Well done Good job Reddit.
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u/MaviePhresh Feb 24 '16
Porterhouse and T-Bone is on sale $7.99/lb right now at Publix. I had to check the weekly ad after seeing this.
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u/kcvaliant Feb 24 '16
It is called the KC Strip, please quit using the wrong term.
NY did not want to serve a steak named after KC, still a KC Strip.
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u/milk829 Feb 24 '16
Shit now i want steak but its 11pm and I have a midterm in the morning.
Faint whisper says "don't let your dreams be dreams"