If you are plotting to stun your loved one with a mouthwatering steak, you need the right cut of beef, which is thick, genuinely tender, and has plenty of marbling. Not all steaks are created equal and chances are that the meat case of your local supermarket won’t be able to offer you a decent option. Anyway, before heading to a fancy butcher shop or browsing virtual shelves of online specialty meat stores, you have to know exactly what to look for. The tips below will help you choose the perfect cut of beef for your steak.
Where Do The Best Steaks Come From?
There is no dilemma, the most tender and delicious steaks come from the pointy end of tenderloin (hence the name) with famous filet mignon being the champion in terms of tenderness, which also makes it a pretty costly delight. Just a heads up, tenderloin steaks can be cut from the butt as well, but a small presence of connective tissue doesn’t allow such steaks to rival filet mignon. You will also come across a strip steak taken from the short loin, famous T-bone or porterhouse steaks that have meat from both the short loin and the tenderloin, as well as ribeye steaks derived from the rib primal cut.
To sum up, the best cuts come from the tenderloin, rib, and short loin but a lot depends on a particular meat provider and how it handles the cuts on their way to the consumer. If you want to find out more about how the best in their class treat the cuts, read this review dedicated to one of the oldest companies in the full meat delivery business. It is also important where providers source the meat from and whether the animals were mainly raised on a grass-fed diet.
Look For The Marbling
All the aforementioned cuts can bring you the desired culinary masterpiece but only under one condition – you get a cut worth cooking. How can you tell a great cut from a not so great one? Very easy! Look for the tiny flecks of fat – the more of them your cut has, the more delicious it will be. You have probably already noticed that some cuts may look very similar (just at first glance!) but cost differently. Now you know that there is a good reason for that price difference and it’s called marbling – the pricier cut is always the one that can brag of a greater number of little fatty flecks.
Thickness
Unless you get your steak at the supermarket, you will be able to decide how thick you want it to be. Generally speaking, 1 ½ inch is your sure bet, not too thin to be dry and not too thick to be awkward to bite. Just as thick as it should be.
As you can see, there is nothing tricky in choosing the perfect cut of beef for the best steak ever. Look for the cut taken from the tenderloin, rib, or short loin, adorned with plenty of scrumptious marbling. Bon appetit!
