Ribeye covered in gold, Philly cheesesteak rivals, and the tomahawk cut – if you're
a meat lover, here's everything you need to know about the ribeye steak.
As the name would suggest, ribeye steaks are cut from the rib section of a steer.
Omaha Steaks notes that this section of the animal is right behind the shoulder, also
known as the chuck.
Specifically, ribeyes are cut from the meat that lies between the 6th and 12th rib of
the steer.
Ribeyes are prized for their tender texture, beefy taste, and high level of marbling.
The rib primal is particularly well-suited for cutting into steaks because it's fattier
than many other areas of the animal.
You might not think you like fatty meat, but the fat in a ribeye is key to this cut's buttery
taste and melt-in-your-mouth texture.
The fat moistens and bastes the meat during cooking, giving you crave-worthy end results.
But ribeyes aren't just fatty in all the right ways — the meat is also naturally tender.
This is because the ribcage muscles that make up a ribeye don't get much exercise while
the cow is alive.
Since these muscles don't do much work, they end up being very tender.
This combination of tenderness and delicious fat can't be equaled by many other steaks
– if any at all – so there's a good reason why you have to shell out top dollar for a
good ribeye.
"C'mon, do I look like a steak to you?"
"Yeah."
Prime rib is another cut from the rib primal.
In fact, it's basically the same piece of meat as a ribeye, except it's usually left
as one large roast instead of being sliced into steaks.
The size is the main difference between prime rib and ribeye.
Confusingly, the word "prime" in prime rib does not mean it must be USDA Prime-grade
meat.
Prime rib is really just a casual term for a standing rib roast of any grade.
Although both cuts consist of the same meat, their different form factors mean they're
usually treated differently.
Prime rib is great when it's slow-roasted, while ribeyes can generally be cooked hot
and fast like a porterhouse or New York strip.
If you want to serve ribeye steaks to a crowd and aren't afraid of doing your own butchering,
you can save a few bucks by buying a whole standing rib roast and cutting it into ribeye
steaks yourself.
The Bearded Butchers have a tutorial on how to do this if you feel confident in your slicing
skills.
In addition to the monetary savings, cutting your own steaks has other advantages: You
can choose how much fat to rim off, how thick to cut your steaks, and whether you want bone-in
or boneless ribeyes.
Although it's sold as one piece of meat, a ribeye isn't just a slice of one muscle like
a filet mignon.
Instead, ribeyes are two – or sometimes even three – muscles stuck together, according
to Omaha Steaks.
The bulk of a ribeye steak is the meaty, marbled muscle in the middle of the steak.
It's flanked on either side by large chunks of fat that separate it from the other two
muscles.
At one end of the steak – the ribeye cap – curves around the eye.
This is the most tender part of the steak, and it also has a coarsely-grained texture
that's somewhat reminiscent of skirt steak, per Complete Carnivore.
At the opposite end of the steak from the cap is a muscle called the complexus.
Not all ribeyes have a piece of this muscle; it depends on how the steaks were butchered
and what part of the rib primal they were cut from.
You can buy ribeyes either boneless or with a piece of the rib bone still attached.
Which one is better is the subject of fierce debate.
There are many myths associated with bone-in steaks.
Bone partisans argue that bones are filled with flavorful marrow that seasons the steak
during cooking.
There is also a layer of connective tissue holding the bone to the meat that could, in
theory, melt and baste the meat.
Sadly, the high-heat, brief cooking methods you're likely to use when preparing a ribeye
are ill-suited to extracting flavor from bones, marrow, and connective tissue.
For that, you need low, slow, long cooking in liquid.
That's not to say that bones do nothing to help out a steak.
Their mass and porous structure insulate the meat they're attached to, protecting it from
the heat.
This helps the steak cook slower and guards against overcooking.
Bone-in meat will be more tender.
However, Steak School argues that the bone may prevent you from achieving even browning.
Ultimately, it's up to what you prefer.
If you like bone-in ribeyes and want to go full caveman, then tomahawk steaks will be
right up your alley.
Normally, the bone in a ribeye is trimmed pretty short, but a tomahawk is served attached
to a long piece of bone — at least a few inches long, and up to over a foot.
If you order this at a steakhouse, the whole dining room is going to be staring at the
plate as it's delivered to the table; it really looks impressive.
The rib bone on a tomahawk steak is Frenched.
This means any stray meat, fat, and connective tissue is peeled off, leaving behind a bare
bone.
This makes a tomahawk steak look something like a giant meat lollipop – though the
sorts of establishments that serve them would probably frown on you picking up the steak
by the bone and taking a big chomp.
"Bon appetit!"
Aesthetics aside, not much separates a tomahawk steak from any other bone-in ribeye.
Compared to a boneless ribeye, it's likely to be thicker.
A tomahawk can't be cut any thinner than the bone it's attached to, so it's usually going
to be a couple of inches thick and weigh at least a couple of pounds.
As we alluded to previously, the different muscles in a ribeye steak have different properties.
While they all taste great, the rib cap is the most highly prized part of the steak.
Depending on which rib the steak was cut from, the ratio between the eye and cap will be
different.
The most desirable ribeyes come from the front of the rib primal.
Here, the eye is quite small and the cap is relatively large.
A large cap isn't the only thing to look for when selecting a ribeye.
According to Hungry Cravings, you want the kernels of fat in between the muscles to be
as small as possible.
This doesn't mean you want a lean ribeye, though — far from it.
You want the muscles themselves to be streaked with a ton of marbling.
A good amount of marbling will make your steak better in every possible way: It'll be juicier,
more flavorful, and more tender.
Marbling is one of the main factors the USDA takes into consideration when grading meat,
so look for Prime ribeyes if you want to maximize fat.
However, the higher the grade, the higher the price tag.
We already know that ribeye is a special cut of beef because of its high level of marbling
and tender texture.
If you want maximum marbling and the softest beef, you can seek out USDA Prime ribeyes.
But what if money is no object and you want something even more over-the-top than Prime?
In that case, wagyu beef is the answer.
Wagyu is a term for beef sourced from Japanese cattle breeds.
It tends to be intensely marbled and extremely tender.
Japanese cattle were bred to do labor, which just so happened to genetically predispose
them to produce marbled meat, according to the American Wagyu Association.
The higher grades of wagyu beef have so much intramuscular fat that they are literally
off the USDA charts and can be classified as Prime++ or Beyond Prime.
Purebred Japanese wagyu beef is so rich and intense that it's not really a good idea to
cook it like an American steak, according to BBQ Guys.
We're used to being served a big ribeye in one piece, but that's just way too much wagyu
to eat in one sitting.
Instead, if you manage to source a real Japanese wagyu ribeye steak, it's best to follow the
traditional method and cut it into small pieces to quickly grill.
Not only will this give you a more reasonable serving size, but it also reduces the chance
that the fatty meat will flare up and scorch on the grill.
We're moving on from wagyu, which is perhaps the fanciest ribeye steak you can buy, to
possibly the least fancy: a Philly cheesesteak.
Classic Philly cheesesteaks are made with super-thinly sliced ribeye griddled on a flattop
until brown.
Why are cheesesteaks made with ribeye?
For one, the things that make ribeye great to eat with a fork and knife also make it
perfect as a sandwich stuffer.
You want tender beef in a cheesesteak, and the fat in ribeye keeps the beef juicy and
tender during the griddling process.
Beyond the superior taste and texture of ribeye, there's another reason cheesesteak shops use
it: tradition.
Ribeye is simply what has been used to make cheesesteaks for a long time.
This fact is actually a source of gentle ribbing between the owners of Pat's and Geno's in
South Philadelphia, the two most famous cheesesteak places.
Although Pat's is the originator of the sandwich, the owner of Geno's says Pat's no longer uses
ribeye.
He told Philadelphia Magazine:
"He's into the chopped-meat thing.
But the Philly steak needs to be really thinly sliced rib eye.
That's how it started out."
You have many options to cook your ribeye, and they're all excellent.
Kansas City Steaks says grilling is the ultimate way to cook a ribeye, but also endorses broiling
and pan-searing.
No matter what method you choose, however, one thing remains constant: The best way to
enjoy a ribeye is medium-rare.
This means cooking it to an internal temperature of around 130 degrees Fahrenheit and then
resting it before digging in.
The temperature will rise to around 135 during the resting period.
Regardless of whether your grill, sear, or broil, a 1 to 1.5-inch-thick ribeye is a quick,
easy protein option that cooks in around 10-15 minutes.
A thinner ribeye can be cooked entirely on a hot grill, but for thicker steaks, you'll
want to set up your grill with a two-zone fire.
That means half of your grill should be significantly hotter than the other half.
This way, you can sear the steaks on the hot side of the fire, then move them to the cool
side to gently come up to temperature without burning.
Okay, we know we said wagyu was the fanciest ribeye, but maybe this next one is actually
the fanciest way to eat this steak.
Or perhaps it's the tackiest?
That depends on your perspective.
In any case, you can order a wagyu tomahawk steak covered in 24-karat gold leaf from Salt
Bae's restaurants for a cool $1,000.
At his U.K. locations, the dish will set you back £850 pounds.
"Perfect, I'm getting charged $1,100 to get cut in front of David Beckham."
The dish's high price has raised some eyebrows and even led to an incident where police were
called on a customer who said they didn't order the shimmering steak and refused to
pay for it.
We're sure the steak is good, but edible gold is odorless and tasteless and adds nothing
to the dish from a culinary perspective, so you're mostly just paying for bling.
And you might be overpaying for that bling, too.
British chef John Stirk was able to sell a gold-coated tomahawk steak in his restaurant
for £100 pounds.
Sure, that's still a splurge, but it's a much more reasonable luxury than burning a month's
rent on a single piece of beef.