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Post by imec on Feb 9, 2011 18:12:49 GMT
In North America at least, steak still reigns supreme as the king of all meats. Whole restaurants - chains of them even - are devoted to it's preparation and serving. It's frequently THE choice for a celebratory meal. It's served at breakfast - Steak'n'Eggs, lunch - the Steak Sandwich and dinner - Steak! Its leftovers are wonderful sliced thin and served on fresh bread as a satisfying late night snack or a toothsome lunch the next day. There is no single "steak". Steak comes in a variety of cuts from various muscles of the steer. Cuts can be regional - and the same cut can even have different names. Popular North American cuts include the Filet, cut from the tenderloin; the Strip Loin (also known as the New York Strip, Kansas City Strip, Shell, Club or Contre Filet in France; the T-bone which includes the Filet, the Strip and the bone to which they both attach; the Porterhouse is a T-bone cut from the rear end of the short loin and contains a much larger tenderloin portion; the Sirloin; the Rib and the Rib Eye and many others. Steak may be grilled, broiled, pan fried, braised in the case of the tougher cuts such as chuck or round and cane even be chopped and served raw. So many different degrees of doneness too! Blue, black and blue, rare, medium, well and various degrees in between. The seasoning of steak is a subject of much controversy. Nothing at all? Salt and Pepper? Just Salt? Garlic - fresh, powdered, none? "Steak Spice"? Olive oil? Marinade? And we must not forget all the wonderful accompaniments - sauces, butters, mustards, relishes.... and side dishes - potatoes in all varieties; breads; salads; veggies, Mmmmmmm! Steak is a big favorite in our house - one of the few meals that pleases everyone equally. Do you eat steak? What's your favorite cut? How do you like it cooked? What do you eat with it? Let's not just celebrate with steak, let's celebrate steak itself!
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Post by imec on Feb 9, 2011 18:22:16 GMT
I enjoy most cuts of steak but I think my favorite is the Rib or the Rib Eye. I typically by a whole boneless rib and cut my own steaks, cook what I need and freeze the rest - it never stays in the freezer long though. Sometimes I'll just sprinkle with sea salt and other times I'll use a "steak spice" - the one here has a generous amount of coriander seeds which provide a welcome diversion from simple salt, pepper and garlic.
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 9, 2011 20:08:33 GMT
Meat Man is back, and he's got a mean meat thread! When I want a real meat hit, I want steak. I like braised meats, too, but don't have the same straightforward, ur-meat love for them I have for steak. Supermarket steak is problematic where I live because of the local fondness for cutting it while it's frozen -- with a laser, as far as I can determine. It's impossible to have the true steak experience with a thin piece of meat. When I do get a steak with decent heft, I tend to always cook it the same way. That is: heat a dry iron skillet that's been salted and peppered until it almost smokes and I'm strangling on the toasted pepper fumes. Put in the steak and, as it sears, put salt and pepper on the top side. Flip and finish cooking. If it's a thick enough piece, after flipping it I might put a pat of butter or some olive oil on the surface, along with some crushed garlic and maybe a sprig of parsley, cover it for a few seconds, then serve it. In a perfect world, it will have rendered enough fat to turn a quick swirl of wine in the hot, just-vacated pan into a lovely, non-obtrusive glaze.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 9, 2011 22:02:00 GMT
I eat far less steak then I used to. I don't know why, because I love it. Probably I have been unconsciously influenced by the "health warnings" even though they are so completely contradictory about the value of beef. My favorite would be a perfect, rare T-bone steak, something which is no longer available in France since the era of mad cow disease. It was basically the only reason to go to the rather pathetic 'Buffalo Grill' chain (which at last count was still the largest chain of sit-down table service restaurants in France). But they removed T-bones from their menu and they never returned. For just eating at home, I love an entrecôte, or an even fattier basses-côtes. These are generally the tenderest cuts in France. Most North Americans find French (and just about all European) beef quite tough unless they go to the super high end places. This has to do with growth hormones being forbidden in the EU -- since the animals don't bulk up as quickly, obviously they get older and less tender than in the hormone countries. Here is an entrecôte.
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Post by cristina on Feb 10, 2011 3:25:35 GMT
Steak is by far my favorite, with tri-tip as my hands down best favorite. I never had a tri-tip until my first visit to the West Coast, as it seems to be more readily available on this end of the country. In looking for a picture, I found this from Wikipedia: In much of Europe the tri-tip is usually sliced into steaks, known as "triangle steaks" in the United Kingdom[citation needed]. In France the tri-tip is called aiguillette baronne and is left whole as a roast.[3] In northern Germany, it is called Bürgermeisterstück or Pastorenstück, in Austria Hüferschwanzel, and in southern Germany it is called the same name as the traditional and popular Bavarian and Austrian dish "Tafelspitz", which serves it boiled with horseradish. In Spain, it is often grilled whole and called the "rabillo de cadera". In Central America, this cut is also usually grilled in its entirety, and is known as punta de Solomo, and in South America, it is grilled as part of the Argentine asado and is known as colita de cuadril, in Chile is a popular roast called "punta de picana", in Colombian cuisine it is a popular cut for grilled steaks and is known as punta de anca, and in Brazil it is a common cut for the traditional Brazilian churrasco and is known as picanha. As the meat itself is very lean, it needs to be cooked with the layer of pure fat attached to it.This cut is very versatile in how it can be prepared. The traditional Santa Maria style of cooking is barbecuing at low heat over a red oak pit but the tri-tip can be slow-smoked, marinated or seasoned with a dry rub. It is cooked over high heat on a grill, on a rotisserie, or in an oven. After cooking, the meat is normally sliced across the grain before serving.Note: Santa Maria style refers to Santa Maria, California. I like to marinate it in a sort of terriyaki marinade and then cook it on the grill. It really does make an awesome steak. And then I always do love a filet. And a rib-eye. And a Porterhouse. I guess I just really love steak. But I almost always cook it on the grill. Superb thread topic, imec!
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Post by imec on Feb 10, 2011 3:35:13 GMT
Thanks cristina! I believe there's no such thing as "just another steak" if it's a steak that's been carefully chosen, lovingly prepared and deftly cooked. It satisfies like no other food.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Feb 10, 2011 16:40:09 GMT
Can't beat a nice bit of fillet steak, cooked on the griddle with a little butter.....sooooo expensive but soooo tasty....slurp.... ;D
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Post by Kimby on Feb 10, 2011 16:51:17 GMT
Interesting that so many like their steaks cooked on the stovetop. The steak snobs around here always grill their red meat. I would like permission to do it in the skillet, especially in winter when grilling is just plain unpleasant if you do it outdoors and unsafe if you do it indoors. ;-)
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Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2011 17:47:04 GMT
When my parents lived in northern France, we would fire up the grill while it was snowing outside to get the T-bones cooked properly. But that was the only kind of steak that ever went on the grill -- all of the others went into a pan or into an electric Téfal grill, which I must admit accomplishes a pretty good imitation of a barbecue grill, believe it or not.
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Post by Kimby on Feb 10, 2011 17:53:24 GMT
And with less health consequences from grilling meats, which produces carcinogens, I believe.
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Post by imec on Feb 10, 2011 18:25:01 GMT
Can't beat a nice bit of fillet steak, cooked on the griddle with a little butter.....sooooo expensive but soooo tasty....slurp.... ;D cheery, I was HORRIFIED at the price of beef in Britain when I was there in '09. When my relatives from the UK visit, they are always blown away by the opportunity to buy top grade beef tenderloin for as little as $7/lb.
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Post by lagatta on Feb 10, 2011 20:24:30 GMT
I have a t-fal grill too, and if one lets it heat enough, it does a remarkably good job.
I'm not a big red-meat eater, and my favourite mammalian meat remains lamb/mutton, but there is no denying the pleasure of a good steak. What are the boundaries of a "steak"? My friends from Argentina and Chile are very fond of a cross-rib cut full of bone sections - never as tender as some true steaks but a great deal of beef flavour from dem bones - and they don't find our beef "meaty" enough.
The butcher round the corner from that part of the world (El Cono sur) does those cuts, and he always has good beef at a reasonable cost.
If not, we get both the North American and French cuts. L'entrecôte is very popular.
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Post by cristina on Feb 11, 2011 4:01:06 GMT
Interesting that so many like their steaks cooked on the stovetop. The steak snobs around here always grill their red meat. I would like permission to do it in the skillet, especially in winter when grilling is just plain unpleasant if you do it outdoors and unsafe if you do it indoors. ;-) Kimby, while I definitely prefer my steaks cooked on the grill, I face a similar problem as you, but in the summer. When it is 100+ degrees outside, the grill is the last thing I want to be standing next to. Stove top or even broiler cooking of steaks keeps me from sacrificing my carnivorous side for 5 months of the year.
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Post by mockchoc on Feb 11, 2011 7:18:42 GMT
We are having very thick beef with rib bone still in. Think it is called Cote de boeuf in French.
I don't know how to do the accent sorry.
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Post by mockchoc on Feb 11, 2011 7:20:00 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Feb 11, 2011 12:37:09 GMT
I love having a good steak every now and then. My favorites include a petit filet,done on the stovetop in a proper copper skillet,with shallots,and mushrooms,all done in a bit of butter,with a splash of dry sherry at the end. I prefer my steaks rare to medium rare. This has always been a power struggle with my lovely husband who prefers his steak medium,just pink. Consequently,depending on who is doing the cooking,the outcome is sometimes not worth the frustration. I love rib eye,or sirloin that is cut about two inches thick. Some butchers insist on it being cut and inch,inch and a half,and I have had to insist it be cut thicker on many an occasion. One of these,done on the grill, is one of my favorite meals. I also like to marinate a good sirloin on occasion with a variety of different concoctions, and then grill. One of my all time favorite splurges,is going to a really good steak house and sharing a Porterhouse,cooked rare to medium rare,sharing it with a friend. Heaven....
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Post by Don Cuevas on Feb 11, 2011 12:49:41 GMT
We, too, cook little steak here, due to the high price but especially, the tough, unaged, grass-fed beef hereabouts. For some reason, it doesn't faze me to eat steak in a better restaurant, even though it costs more than if I was to cook it at home. The last steak I had was on Friday, 28 January of 2011, at "El Diez", a newer branch of a popular Argentine steakhouse chain in Colonia Roma Norte, Mexico City. Although called "Bife de Chorizo", it has nothing to do with the spicy Spanish sausage called chorizo. It was very satisfying and tasty, but not as tender as I might have wished. But it was only $199 pesos Mexicanos. ($16.50 USD) picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Nm3365oh7tEMf6eJkBDl2w?feat=directlink
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Post by lagatta on Feb 11, 2011 14:12:51 GMT
Thanks Don Cuevas; I've seen these steaks (or more often the piece of beef they are cut from) at the butcher's around the corner www.asadoargentina.com/bife-de-chorizo-sirloin-strip-steak-top-loin/ Yes, it is similar to popular cuts in other countries' traditions of cutting up this part of the beast. I think that people who don't eat large quantities of red meat (me) would be better off sharing this with a friend, as it has to be thick - and hell, if I buy two, any of my Argentine or Chilean friends could easily polish off one and a half (they have no objection to slicing it crosswise and eating it cold the day after, and yes that is tasty too). Though my friend K met a Chilean VEGAN the other day. And we knew an Argentine refugee (who of course fled the dictatorship) who was a vegetarian; we used to joke that this and not political persecution was the reason behind his emigration. Southern Brazil and Uruguay also share in this meaty mindset. Chileans tend to eat slightly less meat and more fish than the other Cono Sur peoples because their long narrow country has relatively less grazing land, and the waters on the Pacific side teemed with fish, but they certainly don't leave their place at the meaty groaning board either. Chilean vegan guy managed to get an empanada place nearby to make him some spinach empanadas with no (ricotta-type) cheese, which is usually in the vegetarian empanadas - I assume those were Lenten, they are actually from the Cono Sur countries and not a wimpy northern vegetarian adaptation. Edited to add: by the way, of course the beef my neighbouring butcher sells is from the Canadian Prairies, not Argentina. I can imagine imec poring through all the cuts of beef, other meats (lots of lamb in Patagonia) sausages, offal etc served at a classic asado, on the asado argentina site.
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Post by auntieannie on Feb 11, 2011 18:13:54 GMT
oh, STEAK! I love steak! There's only one restaurant in town where I would order it, though... because I can do better at home from meat bought at the proper butcher's... When I do buy one, it is a good inch thick at least, rumpsteak, well hung. I leave it out of its packaging to breathe for a very minimum of 30 minutes to one hour prior to cooking it. sometime along the line, I usually spread a thin layer of dijon mustard on both sides and maybe a round of peppermill. The griddle pan is heated until it is smoking, then the meat added. after about 4-5 minutes, I turn it around for another two or three minutes. Which usually makes it medium rare on the continent.. or extremely rare here in the UK. Not blue, though. I can eat a fillet steak blue, I think, but not a rumpsteak. At my parents, we would eat a steak without any specific sauce, unless it is like bixa describes... a little red wine stirred into the fat and juice from the meat. just to take the meaty goodness away from the pan and enjoy it. Here in the UK, I have discovered port and stilton sauce. yum! I am not fussy about the accompaniment. I remember eating at the restaurant of the club de l'alliance francaise in Pondichery, Tamil Nadu, India all these years ago. I ordered a "pave de boeuf". It was perfect. www.atelierdeschefs.fr/fr/recettes-pave-de-boeuf.php
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Post by Deleted on Feb 11, 2011 19:04:56 GMT
Oh, I wish I had known about the Alliance Française restaurant in Pondicherry. I did bring them a huge stack of French magazines, though. Once I had divested myself of this, my baggage lost about 60% of its weight, and they were absolutely thrilled.
(Always bring magazines to give away if you go to the ends of the earth.)
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 11, 2011 20:11:36 GMT
Ha ~~ true! I once gave a woman in an adjacent hotel room in Pátzcuaro the fiction issue of the New Yorker and I thought she was going to wet herself.
I totally agree with Casimira about rare/medium rare. Medium is just too well done. And as much as I love raw ground beef, for some reason "blue" in a steak doesn't seem to deliver the meat taste as intensely as rare does.
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Post by lagatta on Feb 11, 2011 23:35:10 GMT
Ha! This thread made me buy a wee steak. Supermarché PA, a small Greek supermarket with good bargains on produce and cheeses, and a serious little butcher department, had a weekly promotion on "contre-filet" steaks AAA Angus beef, for $11 a kilo.
Somebody is going to be allowed a little treat. I suppose I'm spoiling my cat, but confess I like observing their mad joy to be eating a bit of real, raw meat. Oh, just a taste for him - he's already eaten his dry, supposedly premium, catfood.
I like steak a wee bit more done than Casimira and bixa - somewhere between medium-rare and medium. One thing I can't abide is raw fat. Not squeamishness about blood - I love tartare. Just a matter of texture.
I haven't had one of those shoe-leather ultra-overdone steaks (or other red meat) inflicted on me in many years, but still have unkind memories of those "burnt offerings". Trying even to remember where that food abomination was served.
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Post by imec on Feb 16, 2011 13:44:11 GMT
Filet - just the way I like it...
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Post by mich64 on Feb 16, 2011 18:41:18 GMT
Mmmmmm. Me too! I like how the rareness of the meat is the same color as the some of the trim on the plate. The temperature is about 0C today, this picture is wondering if I should uncover the BBQ. Thanks Imec! Cheers, Mich
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Post by imec on Feb 16, 2011 22:04:41 GMT
The temperature is about 0C today, this picture is wondering if I should uncover the BBQ. Mich, you "southerners" gotta toughen up! On the prairies, we uncover no matter what the temp. I think this pic was taken at colder than -20c.
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Post by mich64 on Feb 16, 2011 22:26:15 GMT
Imec, you are right! However, I take offense to being called a Southener, we take pride in being Northerner's!!!!! That is what we consider us to be way up here in Northern Ontario.
However, we can never claim to be in your class, Winnipeg people are some of the strongest Canadian's!!
Is that a Napoleon by the way? Cheers! ;D Mich
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Post by imec on Feb 16, 2011 23:56:36 GMT
Imec, you are right! However, I take offense to being called a Southener, we take pride in being Northerner's!!!!! That is what we consider us to be way up here in Northern Ontario. However, we can never claim to be in your class, Winnipeg people are some of the strongest Canadian's!! Is that a Napoleon by the way? Cheers! ;D Mich My apologies Mich! I somehow had it in my head you were in SWO (don't ask me why ). Yes it is a Napoleon - a PT750RBI. It was the family's gift to me last summer for an accumulation of birthdays and father's days. I LOVE it!
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Post by mich64 on Feb 17, 2011 0:08:58 GMT
That is okay Imec parts of my family are from SWO. Nice Napoleon! We got our first one last summer too. My sister works for them in Payroll and got us a discount! So nice we decided to go back down (south ha ha!) and purchase their airconditioner system for electric heat. The Napoleon plant is in Barrie. Your steak looked amazing, we are still trying to master that, we do well with chicken and pork, but it is so hard to BBQ a good steak. Cheers! Mich
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Post by imec on Feb 17, 2011 0:28:34 GMT
Does your model have the infrared burner? It's the cat's ass for steak! Without it I would just crank the heat of a standard burner up to as high as I could get it - sear for a couple minutes, turn 90 degrees, 2 minutes again, flip, 2 minutes, turn 90 degrees, 2 minutes again -remove from heat and let rest 4 or 5 minutes. I cut my steaks 2-2 1/2 inches thick.
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Post by mich64 on Feb 17, 2011 1:23:01 GMT
Yes, our model does have the infrared heat. Thank you for the instruction, I will be trying it on our first BBQ of the season! Cheers! Mich
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