Rib Eye For a Newbie

[shel]

I've never had a rib eye steak - rarely eat steak. However, I'd like to try it. What should I look for in a high quality piece of meat? Would a 11/2 inch or 2-inch thick cut work pretty well? I'm leaning in that direction.

Thanks,

Shel

[Mezzaluna]

I like 1-1/2" thick, bone-in, nicely marbled eye. I wouldn't cook it past medium rare.

[shel]

Apart from thickness, what else should I look for in a good piece of meat? How do I recognize a good, well marbled piece from just a run of the mill or poorly marbled piece? Since this is going to be something special, a rare instance, I want the best possible piece of meat I can get. I'm going to pan sear it in the kitchen, BTW.

I saw a few pieces of rib eye in a self-serve meat department today, the the steaks looked to be too fatty,with big veins of fat running through them. That didn't seem right. Should I look for a prime cut or a choice cut? How about a properly aged piece of meat? Worthwhile in this instance?

Is this what Ishould be looking for?



Shel

[indianwells]

Shel, that meat looks perfect.

[Transformation]

Marbling looks good.good fat content,thickness looks about right..u might want to age a wee bit longer in your fridge,the longer the better...

[indianwells]

Originally Posted by Transformation

Marbling looks good.good fat content,thickness looks about right..u might want to age a wee bit longer in your fridge,the longer the better...

How long would you age it in the fridge after buying?

Oh, and another thing, is it true you can marinate your steak in Soy sauce to give that "restaurant" flavour?

[shel]

Originally Posted by indianwells

Oh, and another thing, is it true you can marinate your steak in Soy sauce to give that "restaurant" flavour?

I've never heard of such a thing. What constitutes "restaurant" flavor?" It would seem that soy sauce would add ... the flavor of soy sauce. Personally, I don't want any enhanced flavor. Just the taste of good meat, unadorned and unenhanced. Just some salt and pepper, thank you.

Shel

[indianwells]

Originally Posted by shel

I've never heard of such a thing. What constitutes "restaurant" flavor?" It would seem that soy sauce would add ... the flavor of soy sauce. Personally, I don't want any enhanced flavor. Just the taste of good meat, unadorned and unenhanced. Just some salt and pepper, thank you.

Shel

I don't know Shel, I saw it here from someone called "VillageVicar".

sirloin steak in The AnswerBank: Food & Drink

[bluezebra]

Ribeyes are our favorite cut. Either bone in or boneless. We prefer a thicker cut (so closer to 2") but that's because we grill our meat. It's served charred rare for me and charred med-rare for B. To me grilling is the preferrable method of cooking for ribeye because of the fat content. Much of the fat renders out during cooking making for moist, tender and oh so flavorful meat. (The piccy of your steaks is great but a little thin for us. That's exactly what you look for in ribeyes. The large clot of fat in the center called the "eye" varies in thickness depending on which end you get it from - the large end or small end. I always get confused on this cuz I've had varying info from butchers and chefs. I like the end with more "tail" meat. That is the outter band of marbled meat. I am told that is from the chuck end of the ribeye and I can't tell you if that is the large end or small end. Think it's the large end?)

Look for thin strands of marbling. Look for the eye of fat to be smaller. Look for a well developed outter band of marbled meat called the "tail". Look for nice white fat. Look for a limited amount of grisle lines (a small line is ok).

Cooking the pictured steak in a pan is tricky. You may not get as seared as you'd want prior to your desired doneness and to me it's imperative the fat be brown. So I would season your meat and chill it. We always cook from icebox cold to the fire to control how done it is inside while still getting a nice char. Then I would try to hold the outter edge to the pan to brown the outter fat first. Hold it with your hand so you don't tear the meat. Kinda roll it gently to brown it. It may take 2-3 minutes doing it that way. (I would use a cast iron skillet). Then place it down on the first side over high heat and sear it for 2 - 3 minutes. Turn it over in pan and immediately put pan in oven at 400 to 450 degrees. Cook another 2-3 minutes and remove. Test for doneness with a thermometer. Cook to desired doneness. Take out of pan and let rest for 5 minutes. Then serve.

You can go the purest route for seasonings: salt only. And a bit of olive oil rubbed onto the surfaces to prevent sticking. When we grill I love to do the following treatments:

#1: Crush a large clove of garlic and smear over all surfaces of the meat. Sprinkle well with kosher salt, fresh cracked pepper (even the sides!), sprinkle with Worcestershire sauce (2 dashes per side and smear in with hands), drizzle with a tsp of olive oil per side. Massage entire surfaces and sides of meat to evenly distribute everything and place in ice box to chill for an hour or two. Take out and cook immediately over a very high heat grill (we use ignite setting on our propane).

#2 Rub meat with crushed garlic and olive oil on both sides. Add chopped fresh rosemary leaves. Add fresh ginger grated on a microplane. Massage entire surfaces and sides of meat to evenly distribute everything and place in ice box to chill for an hour or two. Take out and cook immediately over a very high heat grill (we use ignite setting on our propane).

#3 Rub meat with crushed garlic and olive oil on both sides. Sprinkle liberally with Cavender's Greek Seasoning and fresh ground black pepper. Massage entire surfaces and sides of meat to evenly distribute everything and place in ice box to chill for an hour or two. Take out and cook immediately over a very high heat grill (we use ignite setting on our propane).

When seasoning for the grill, don't be afraid to "overseason". Season it liberally!!!! Because alot of the spices will cook off. When seasoning for inside cooking you have to be much more careful with it. Spices cooked in a pan over high heat have a tendency to burn before the meat is seared. It's why if I cook inside I only use salt as the seasoning on the meat. Anything else just burns first. I prefer grilling to pan fried steak. :-/

[shel]

The photo is not of my steaks. It's just something I grabbed of the web to show an example of marbling.

I won't be cooking the steak in the pan on the stove top, just searing them and finishing in the oven.

Pan Seared Rib Eye

Shel

[bluezebra]

Shel that's what I described but the reality is because of the thickness of your steak, if you don't take into account your sear time on the stove top, your oven time will overcook the meat. I'm more familiar with boneless ribeyes but at the thickness shown, that is about an 8 minute steak for us...Unless you cook it low and slow...then of course it would be a little different. I say pan fry for me on this steak but the technique is really searing on stove top and finishing in a very hot oven.

[MikeLM]

Our local Whole Foods usually has prime, dry-aged ribeyes. They will set you back in the neighborhood of $25 per pound, but for a once-in-a-lifetime experience, this may well be justified.

Mike

[Grumio]

Shel,

I'm pretty sure it's an indictable offense to cook a steak that way & not make a pan sauce.... yep, there it is: Fond, Criminal Neglect of. Can be charged as a misdemeanor or a felony.

white vermouth/mustard/green peppercorns/demi or stock/monte that beurre/maybe a little parsley.

That should keep you out of trouble.

[shakeandbake]

Whole Foods offers some great ribeye steaks, but don't rule out Trader Joes. I purchased some good ribeye from TJ's and found the flavor and quality to be perfect..and much cheaper.

I recorded that episode of Good Eats, but my recorder would not play it for some reason. Alton has it correct....s&p and some olive oil, simple and delicious.

[shel]

Originally Posted by Grumio

Shel,

I'm pretty sure it's an indictable offense to cook a steak that way & not make a pan sauce [...]

white vermouth/mustard/green peppercorns/demi or stock/monte that beurre/maybe a little parsley.

That should keep you out of trouble.

Thanks, however, I'm not interested in making a pan sauce. I just want the simple, pure taste of a great piece of meat, unadorned and straighforward.

I did a test run on a similar piece of meat this morning - there's not much in the way of fond when preparing the steak using the described technique. Perhaps it was because the piece of meat used wasn't very big ... thanks for your suggestion, though.

shel