I think i am finally beating the steak!

[Jason]

Ok i have been doing some looking around for marinade's and just different ways too cook steak. I'm going to be honest here i have gave steak a few try's only to be better off chewing on my shoe in the end. Soo since i love food network so much i checked out the show "good eats", sure many of you may know the show i am talking about. And i had a friend of mine tell me pretty much the same thing that i saw on there, start in a cast iron pan and finish in the oven, so far so so gooooood. ok but now i come back to all of you here on the site i enjoy so much (even though i rarely have time to get on anymore =( ) too ask the so many of you here a few questions.

1: How do you cook your steak, and how do you like it, rare, med rare, ect.

2: Does anyone have a good marinade that would not mind sharing with me?

And last but not least, 3: What kind of steak do you prefer?

I just got done cooking a petite steak and it was good yes, but it takes a lot less longer to cook then i had thought. I like sirloin but yet have never cooked one for myself, and from what i have seen of the "london broil" steak it seems to be a very tender piece of meat so i am told. I hope to hear from anyone who wants to share!

[KYHeirloomer]

Just my personal opinion, but I'm not big on sirloin. It's the most over-rated hunk of meat going.

For me, a rib-eye is the top choice.

Porterhouse is considered to be the king of steaks. What it is is a very thick T-bone (2 inches or more). A T-bone is, as the name suggests, a steak with a bone shaped like a T in it. There is a large piece and a small piece of meat flanking the bone. The small piece is the filet mignon, the large piece is the strip (or New York Strip, or Kansas City Strip, or, more recently, just New York Steak)

There are several other top cuts that are formed into steaks. But those are the most popular.

Good beef has a flavor of its own, Jason, and there's no reason to cover it up with marinades and sauces and, God-forbid, ketchup. Besides which, marinades are used to tenderize an otherwise tough piece of meat.

Most of the time, when heavy sauces and the like are used, it's because the steak was overcooked, and the sauce used to replace the lost moisture. My brother, for instance, cooks a steak until it resembles shoe leather, then douses it with ketchup because it's too dry.

Some sauces do complement the taste of the beef. But you want to be leary of getting heavy-handed with them.

How to prepare it really depends on your taste. But if you go past the medium stage you're treading on it being overcooked. Don't forget that steak, like any other meat, needs to rest, and continues cooking as it does so. Personally, I go to medium-rare. After resting it's perfect for my taste.

But I have a friend who likes his so rare it's still dripping blood. His idea of the perfectly cooked steak: Introduce it to the heat, but allow no further conversation.

London Broil is sort of an oversized flank steak. Although it can be made tender, it is a bottom cut, and inherently tough. Among other things, no matter how you prepare it, you must cut it thinly, against the grain. Same goes for flank steak, of course. These are the ones where marinades come into play.

[Mapiva]

Steak has to be my favorite edible pleasure. I'm so sorry to hear you are having a bad experience with it, especially when it is so gratifying when made properly, and there's different ways to do it.

My favorite cut is the ribeye, also referred to as Delmonico. It has great marbling (fat) so it stays tender even if you overcook it. Overcooking steak is a culinary sin just so you know and real steakhouses like Peter Luger's or Mortons will refuse to cook your steak past medium I believe. Medium rare is the perfect temperature for me.

Marinades on a good steak are unecessary. If you buy a cheap cut like sirloin then yes, you may have to submerse it in acidic gooo for a while to tenderize but a nice ribeye does not need or want it. There is no better way to eat a steak than just salt and pepper, but if you want more flavors a dry rub would work well. Sometimes I use a mesquite rub from Costco or I make my own mix of salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and oregano.

I like chargrilling my steak. I rub a little olive oil on it, salt and pepper, and then grill it simply over charcoal. The flavor shines. But recently I've been trying the stove top and that works well too. I don't have a good cast iron yet so I use my calphalon (do not use a non-stick pan). Again I rub a little olive oil on to the steak, season, and wait for the pan to get piping hot before I put the steak in. After I turn it over I put 2 tbsp of butter into the pan and just baste it continuously until it's ready. I know I know it's bad for you but the flavor is great. Let it rest for 4-5 minutes then eat up.

And don't forget that steaks cook best when you leave them alone. Which ever method you choose to cook your steak, place it in the pan or grill and leave it. Don't toss it around or keep flipping it. Leave it where it falls. And most importantly don't poke with fork while it's cooking!!!!!

[CakesBySarah]

I, too, am partial to the rib-eye. Also good is a rib steak, which is a rib-eye with the bone in. I always cook them on the grill, rubbed with a small amount of olive oil and a generous amount of Montreal steak seasoning. I use gas + lava rock and a wood chip packet for smoke. (soak hickory or other wood chips in water, wrap in foil, and perforate.) Preheat the grill and oil it lightly. Sear the steak on a direct (high) flame. Turn off the direct heat, and cook on medium-low indirect heat until medium or medium rare. Let it rest for 5 minutes before digging in.

Also worth noting...

Grilled asparagus goes exceptionally well with steak. I like to coat mine generously with white truffle and porcini infused olive oil (they have it at our local organic market, and I'm addicted now!) and balsamic vinegar. From there, you can either grill it as-is, or wrap little bundles of 3 or 4 in pancetta. If you're grilling it without the pancetta, cook til it's tender and grill-marked on the outside, with a little crispiness left inside. If you're wrapping it in pancetta, grill til the pancetta is done. When finished, sprinkle with salt and pepper.

[GhettoRacingKid]

im nto a fan of steak so much but...

med rare always....

I enjoy the tenderloin/ filet when I do.

[phatch]

Rib eye medium rare, flank between rare and medium rare. Steak is best cooked simply. salt pepper and garlic. No fancy marinades and so on.

But steak is largely over-rated. Beef is at it's best with roasts in my opinion.

Phil

[teamfat]

The Good Eats episodes 'Raising the steaks' and 'Steaking your claim' are both pretty good, and available on youtube, as I recall. Good cuts like ribeye and strip need very little supporting cast to make them the star, just good production. Tenderloin being as lean as it is sometimes needs a bit of extra help, which is why it is often served wrapped in bacon or with a rich sauce like bearnaise to counteract any dryness from cooking.

Sirloin I usually reserve for such dishes like stir fry or stroganoff type things where it can be sliced thinly and cooked in some sort of sauce. Flank, skirt, london broil, chuck, tritip and such are all flavorful cuts, but tend to be on the tough side. They respond well to a good marinade and being served thinly sliced across the grain for sandwiches, fajitas, etc. Chuck roasts (really big chuck steaks ) can be smoked in the manner of brisket for a change of pace.


Anyone who would go to a steakhouse and order a dry aged ribeye well done has no business being allowed on this planet.

mjb.

[teamfat]

Another thing - a good, simple, easy marinade for beef is just a bottle of your typical Italian dressing, or one of the dry dressing mix packets where you add your own vinegar, oil and some water. Start from there, and after that head off on your own with extra garlic, herbs, red pepper flakes, onion powder, flavored vinegars and such.

mjb.

[Jason]

Wow i had no idea i was going to get so many answers in only a days time! I guess my thing about steak is i just like one big piece of meat, no bones and such. But i have not thought about the ribeye actually, and well tomorrow is my payday so i will heading back out to the store now lol! But again i had no idea that steak did not a marinade either, at one point i was one of those people who simply could not eat steak if it was less then well done. Yes yes i know shoe leather in the making as i soon found out, now i like mine anywhere from med rare to rare, oh and KYHeirloomer want you said about your friend and his steak , my grandpa was the same way. I'm sorry i would rather my steak not moo at me when i try to eat haha. But i will try some good dry rubs and a ribeye tomorrow and let everyone know how it is goes! Thank each of you for the answer's!

[Blueicus]

I think a really nice minimalist accompaniment for steaks for those who want a little bit of sauciness on a plain steak is a good slice of compound butter, such as maitre d' butter or a taragon butter. Just get a stick of softened butter, add your seasoning ingredients (like herbs, spices, a dash of flavoured liquids), blend until mixed well, roll it up into a log using saran wrap then chill in the fridge until firm.

[Ninja_59]

Rib steak for me, just add a rub in of Mc Cormick steak spices , awesome

[OregonYeti]

Originally Posted by Blueicus

I think a really nice minimalist accompaniment for steaks for those who want a little bit of sauciness on a plain steak is a good slice of compound butter, such as maitre d' butter or a taragon butter. Just get a stick of softened butter, add your seasoning ingredients (like herbs, spices, a dash of flavoured liquids), blend until mixed well, roll it up into a log using saran wrap then chill in the fridge until firm.

Or saffron butter

[CakesBySarah]

Originally Posted by OregonYeti

Or saffron butter

Do tell...

[MaryB]

Rib eye or sirloin, has to be grass fed and aged. Salt pepper, white hot pan and a quick sear then into the oven until rare. Same technique on the grill, just move the steak to a cool spot to finish. Maybe top with some garlic herb butter but thats not often.

[OregonYeti]

Originally Posted by CakesBySarah

Do tell...

I have no recipe for saffron butter. It's just saffron and regular butter, and my proportions are intuitive, but I would guess 30-40 stamens per quarter cup of butter. I melt the butter, put in the saffron, keep it hot for at least 10 minutes or so, and then it's ready to use. If you store it in the fridge, stir it a bit when it's getting solid.

I put it on meat only after the meat has started to brown, and I brush it on a few times as it's cooking. I've used it mostly for kebabs. It's delicious and not intrusive.