Welcome back to the Gentleman's Gazette and part two of our steak guide.
Today, we talk about how to buy a great steak.
The first step to buying a great steak is to look at the components we discussed in
part one of our steak guide which you can watch here.
first we're going to determine the right cut whether it's a ribeye, a tenderloin, a New
York Strip, a sirloin, or a porterhouse, or maybe a t-bone steak.
Second, you look at the flavor profile.
is it grass-fed is it grain-fed or maybe grain fed with grass finish?
Of course the size and the thickness of the steak are also very important.
Most grocery stores steaks are usually cut very thinly while most chefs prefer a 1 to
2 inch thickness.
At the ens of the day, you should choose something that you're comfortable cooking because both
can be over and undercooked.
In my experience I prefer slightly thicker cut steaks because I like the nice pink areas
inside the steak when I cook it medium-rare.
A huge factor to consider when buying a steak is the amount of marbling which is basically
the amount of intramuscular fat.
the marbling of steak can vary considerably depending on the cut you choose as well as
the quality level of beef that you get.
in the United States the USDA has a grading system for beef that's pretty universal.
basically you have three main USDA categories there's USDA select, USDA choice, and USDA
prime.
these three grading categories are simply based on the amount of marbling present in
the beef.
USDA select is considered to be the lowest grade of steak you can get but it's also the
leanest one.
take a look at this strip steak.
there's hardly any fat and 40% of all steaks are categorized as USDA select.
the next class up is USDA choice, just take a look at this New York strip steak it has
visually more marbling that's exactly what you want, fine marbling not big chunks of
fat because they won't melt when you grill or sear a steak.
choice is the only category that is sub categorized into three.
you have small marbling moderate marbling and modest marbling.
so there is small marbling which is 37% of all steaks.
there is modest marbling which is 15% of all steaks and then there is modern marbling which
is 5% of all steaks.
on top of the USDA scale thrones the prime steak.
it's the most flavorful choice with the largest amount of marbling.
only about 3% of all steaks are graded as USDA prime.
just take a look at this strip steak it visually has more marbling than the other two and it's
also the most expensive one coming in at $23.99 a pound at the local grocery store.
so what about grass-fed beef you might wonder?
grass-fed beef is actually not a protected term and so it can mean anything from a cow
that ate just a tiny bit of grass to one that ate nothing but grass at all.
so because of that it really pays to understand where your grass-fed beef is coming from and
what the breeders are actually doing and feeding to their cattle.
in general grass-fed beef is leaner and has less intramuscular fat simply because grass
is not as energy dense as grain.
also grazing cows walk more than in grain fed cows. in recent years grass fed beef has
become a lot more popular people declare it as the healthy choice because it contains
omega-3 fatty acids.
now while the claim is true, in my opinion, it pales in comparison to other foods.
for example a three and a half ounce piece of sirloin steak that is grass-fed has about
80 milligram of omega-3 fatty acids at the same time a traditional or conventional grain
fed piece of beef of the same size of the same cut has about half at 40 milligrams.
at the same time if you compare it to a three and a half ounce piece of salmon which contains
thousand to two thousand milligrams of omega-3 fatty acids that means you get about 12 to
25 as much in the same portion.
so yes while you get more omega-3 fatty acids with grass-fed beef I suggest you just eat
salmon every once in a while and then go with traditional beef and you get a lot more omega-3
over all.
that being said grass-fed cattle are more often treated in a better way meaning they
use less antibiotics they are not in tight fit Lots but they're grazing and overall it
leads to less pollution for environment and a less costly way to raise cattle.
personally I like grass-fed steaks simply for the flavor which is slightly different
and I don't mind that it's a little leaner and usually not as tender.
at the end of the day it's a personal choice that you have to make and there's no right
or wrong answer.
so what about Angus steaks or Certified Angus?
it's a term that you often see in restaurants or grocery stores but it is in fact a breed
not a quality grading.
Angus or Aberdeen Angus is a breed of Scottish cattle that is smaller than the typical American
cattle.
because there's a breed it can be select choice or prime just like other beef that is non
Angus.
Angus has been around in the US for quite a while and the American Angus Association
was founded in Chicago in 1883 and interestingly, it took them until 1978 to come up with the
Certified Angus beef standard.
the purpose behind the certification was to promote the idea of a higher quality beef.
to meet the Certified Angus standard the cow must be 51% black and exhibit Angus influence
which includes simmental cattle and crossbreds.
there's also a bunch of other criteria that you have to fulfill including higher than
average marbling, a carcass size of under a thousand pounds and a certain hump size.
to learn more about details please check out our in-depth steak guide on the website here.
that being said it's worth keeping in mind that even McDonald's serves Certified Angus
beef.
in my opinion most people would not be able to discern a pair of tenderloin Certified
Angus beef from a tenderloin that is not Certified Angus in a blind test.
at the same time I firmly believe that most people who immediately be able to tell the
difference between let's say a select grade tenderloin and a prime tenderloin.
so what about Kobe beef or Japanese beef? is it worth your money?
so first of all what is Kobe beef wagyu?
it is a Japanese black cattle breed and a substrain of that that's called Tajima.
it is fed on grain father and the feeding period is usually a lot longer than in the
US typically 26 to 32 months whereas in the US it's only 18 months.
it also has a much higher content of intramuscular fat and the melting point of the fat is a
lot lower so when you eat it it melts in your mouth like butter.
per year there are only about 3000 cattle that qualify as authentic Kobe beef and the
best of them are never exported from Japan.
Kobe grades go from a 1 at the low end to a 5 at the highest end.
in the US there is only a handful of restaurants that even offer a 5 grade Kobe beef.
anything else is not the real deal and it's a crossbreed between the Tajima strain and
maybe Angus cattle or other cattle in the US.
so whenever you are at the grocery store in the US, you see something advertised as Kobe
beef, know that it's not the real thing.
if you are at restaurants and it is the real thing it will cost you anywhere from 40 to
60 dollars per ounce to enjoy such a steak.
basically that's almost $2 a gram.
a few years back I saw it for sale at Harrods in London but it still cost about half as
much at about one dollar a gram or over a thousand dollars a kilo. in my experience
Kobe beef is so fatty that you really don't need more than 2 or 3 ounces and I once had
it when I was in Japan and it's an entirely different experience from an American steak,
in my opinion, I wouldn't even call it the same thing it's just something on its own
and it's really like flavorful butter rather than the steak experience that you're used
to.
So should you buy the American Wagyu or Kobe beef that is advertised all over the place?
well just keep in mind it's a crossbreed typically Angus cattle and the Tajima cattle and that
usually results in a higher amount of fat content but again it's not regulated and so
you really don't know what you get unless you can trust the source.
there are in fact some American style Kobe beef breeders who have not crossbred their
cattle and they have them DNA tested to have them certified by the WAGYU Association.
in general I would urge you not to overpay for american-style KOBE beef especially when
you're in restaurants because you can never see the raw product.
Another Japanese beef variety that has become more popular recently in the US is a so-called
Akaushi beef it's actually a form of Japanese red cattle not black cattle and in 1994 a
Texas Ranger imported 11 purebred Akaushi cattle to the US. he kept them separate so
he prevented crossbreeding and today they have over 5,000 cattles.
typically the AKAUSHI steaks have even more marbling than prime steaks and you can take
a closer look here where you can clearly see Prime Akaushi and choice clear difference
in marbling personally I like the taste of it and I think it's a good alternative it's
typically priced a little higher than prime but sometimes on some sale and you get it
for even less than prime.
so next time you come across an Akaushi piece of beef, maybe give it a try and see if you
like it.
so how do you know whether a steak is aged so it's really tender?
I always find that if I use my finger and I push into the meat and the meat stays down
it is tender and it's gonna be a tender steak once it's cooked or grilled.
typically grocery store steaks are not aged as long and if you push on it you can see
it bounces right back out of you.
now a tenderloin will probably always stay in versus something like a sirloin will pop
back out of you unless it's aged for quite a while.
now of course once you know what kind of beef you like and what type of beef you like you
have to decide where you're gonna buy it.
typically the lowest quality steak is always precut at the grocery store and shrink-wrapped.
you have to hope that they didn't cheat on a packaging date but keep in mind that ageing
beef is not necessarily a bad thing as long as it's not spoiled.
alternatively you can have your piece of meat cut at the meat counter which has a big advantage
that you can get exactly the piece of meat you want in the exact thickness.
personally I like my steaks a little thicker so I always prefer to have them cut just for
me.
another great source for your steaks is the local butcher shop.
sometimes there are chains and then it's harder to know where things are coming from if you
go to an independently owned butcher they can usually tell exactly where their cattle
is coming from and what breed it is and why they chose it.
best of all you can even have them dry-aged certain beef cuts to order just for you so
it's a service that I really enjoy.
that aside you can sometimes also buy meat from the farmers market because there I know
exactly who the farmer is, he has it processed at the butcher shop, and I know that all the
money I'm paying goes to him and not to some marketing or logistics scheme.
when it comes to special steaks especially for American style Wagyu or very high-end
steaks are very expensive, you can also buy them online.
they come to you in styrofoam boxes in dried ice so they're frozen but you do not have
to worry they don't spoil or anything and you can buy there with confidence that being
said I've always found that the price you pay for that kind of service is quite high
for what you get so personally I prefer to buy my meat locally.
At the end of the day what kind of steak you buy is entirely up to you if you go to the
grocery store you'll likely get the best price if you go to your farmer or butcher you will
probably learn more about where your meat is coming from and what you're eating.
it's also worth noting that cattle that is stressed out before it's being slaughtered
will have meat that tastes different and it's tougher than meat from a cattle that was relaxed
by the time it was killed also if you like the taste of dry aged beef typically we'll
have to go to a butcher shop or someone who really knows how to handle it otherwise you
simply won't be able to get it and it's not something you can do in your fridge at home.
I once tried it years ago and I failed miserably.
so what kind of steaks do I like?
I prefer dry-aged steaks that are about three to four weeks dry aged in terms of cuts I
like the ribeye the New York Strip and a tenderloin typically I try to get a prime grade because
I eat beef very rarely but if I do I want to splurge on it and really enjoy the experience
with the best flavor possible that being said my dad's from Brazil and in Brazil they eat
churrasco which is a really big steak with coarse salt that is grass-fed and usually
flame-grilled and it's quite delicious now once you've selected the right steak there
are many different ways to prepare it you can grill over a gas grill or a charcoal grill
you can use a pan searing method you can do it in the oven and to learn more about how
to prepare the perfect steak what options you have and what may be best for you please
check out part 3 of our series here in this video I'm wearing a typical steak grilling
outfit consisting of a blue polo shirt with long seersucker pants and Sperry boat shoes
in navy and burgundy