Page 28 - Barbecue News June 2020 Issue

grilling perfection
Meathead, AmazingRibs.com
How do prime steakhouses cook perfect steaks every time, with a sizzling, dark, flavorful crust, evenly done from edge to edge on the inside, tender and juicy, with big, bold, beefy flavor? The keys to success are the right cuts, the right grades, the seasoning, and matching the cooking tem- perature to the thickness of the meat. Here’s how to raise your game to steak- house level and have your guests smiling with pleasure.
Try A Little Tenderness
Prime steakhouses serve the best cuts,
usually from the area along the spine of
the steer: ribeyes, rib caps, porterhouses,
T-bones, strip steaks, and cuts from the
tenderloin such as the chateaubriand and
filet mignon. They are also the most ex-
pensive cuts. You can make darn tasty meals from the sirloin, round, flank, and other cuts, but those muscles work harder and are not as tender. When money is no object, my preference is the ribeye and a subcut called the rib cap. It is the best cut for flavor and tenderness combined. Some argue in favor of the strip steak, but that is the same muscle as the eye of the ribeye, the longis- simus dorsi, so that argument is like debating which side of Abbey Road is better. A lot of folks prefer meat from the tenderloin be- cause it is more tender, but tenderloins are also leaner than ribeyes, so they don’t have the flavor that fat brings to the party. When I want big flavor at an affordable price, I go for flank steak from the belly of the beast.
Get The Best Grade You Can
I refer to the best steakhouses as prime steakhouses because USDA Prime is the grade of meat they
serve. USDA Prime beef has a lot of
marbling—thin hairline threads of
fat—and it accounts for only about 3 percent of all beef sold. You won’t find USDA Prime in those discount steakhouses in mall parking lots or in most grocery stores. But you can find it from a good butcher.
The next grade down from USDA Prime is USDA Choice. Choice is common in grocery stores, but not all Choice is the same. There are actu-
BarbecueNews.com - 28
JUNE 2020
HOW TO COOK
THE PERFECT
STEAK
ally several levels of Choice whose names never show up on the label. Don’t just grab any old steak from the meat counter. Ask your butchers for help. Explain that you have a special dinner and you want the best-looking cuts they can find. They will often look in the back room for a particu- larly nice piece of meat or custom-cut ex- actly what you want.
Wagyu is another upscale grade of beef. It comes from a special breed of cattle with roots in Japan that produces extremely marbled meat. Wagyu is even harder to find than Prime. Rarest of all is genuine Japanese Kobe, which is almost too fatty and can cost as much as a small car. Real Kobe beef comes only from Japan. If the meat comes from the U.S., it is properly
called Wagyu. Don’t be fooled by the word Kobe.
Keep Seasonings Simple
Some prime steakhouses use a secret mix of herbs and spices, the most famous being Lawry’s Seasoned Salt. But many prime steak- houses use only salt and pepper, and some use only salt. I’ve never seen a prime steakhouse marinate steak. Marinades mask the meat’s natural flavors, and a wet surface creates steam and prevents crust formation.
The only prep you need to do is dry brine by salting the steaks at least an hour or two before cooking. I salt in the morning and cook in the evening. If you want to jazz it up a bit, maybe add some garlic powder and onion powder. And if you can cook your steaks over wood, real smoke is a seasoning you just can’t get
from a jar.
Thickness Determines Cooking Temperature And Time
The best temperature for cooking thin steaks is different than it is for thick steaks. This is a crucial con- cept: match your cook temp to the food's thickness. The thinner the meat, the higher the heat. It doesn't take long for heat to reach the center of a 1/2-inch thick skirt steak. But a 2-inch thick ribeye? That kind of steak needs more time.