Cooking Steaks?

[JT]

I'm with Teresa Rae on this one! Omaha Steaks are on a scale of 1 to 10, less then a 5, but the prices are outrageous! Can you spell mediocre? On-line is just not the place to buy steak, and previously frozen steak is just flat out damaged goods. I like Sam's or Costco's steaks, which are virtually all high "choice" rated cuts, and many places carry Black Angus meats today, which are pretty good. Very little "prime" beef is available to the regular consumer these days, except at a few speciality markets, as most of it goes to high end steak houses. I always avoid steaks labeled as "Lean," as that translates to tasteless. I'm also a fan of thicker cut steaks, as they are juicier when grilled correctly.

[Pia]

You can always order this

Pia

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.as ... opnav=&s=1

[sherban]

You can always order this
Pia

$2300 for beef from a cow that drinks beer and gets massages...sounds a little like soylent green or something...HA!
Our genetically traceable cattle are raised on a diet of soybeans, wheat barley and beer, with no antibiotics, growth hormones or animal by-products ever used. A strictly followed diet rotation and traditional Sake massage are key factors in the development of the Wagyu’s characteristic marbling and taste.

[liamsaunt]

Hi Sherban,

We have bought steaks online from Lobels. They are prime grade. They are pricy--though sometimes they run a buy one get one free sale. They ship their meat fresh via fedex priority overnight packed with gel packs.

Here is a link:

http://www.lobels.com/?NG_urlID=39155945

[sherban]

I'm thinking that I should buy a remote thermometer since "doneness" is one of the keys to a satisfying steak. I found an acceptable thermo on Amazon dot com and have some gift bucks to spend there, so that will get done...

But, I'm seeing significant variation in temperatures for beef "doneness". I've seen one reference stating that 140F is med-well and another reference that 145F is med-rare....split the diff and call it medium or what?

What is the "point of reference" or "source" for doneness temperatures?

[liamsaunt]

I would not cook your steak to 140. The temperature is going to continue to rise as it rests. I think if you pull at 140 you are going to end up with a well done steak. I usually cook John's rib eye steaks to 120 and then let them rest. I did a four bone rib eye roast a couple of weeks ago that I pulled at 116 and let rest for 30 minutes. It was perfectly cooked. Note that John likes his meat pretty rare though. There are probably pictures in the food porn thread if you want to see the result you get cooking to that temperature.

And yes, a thin probe instant read meat thermometer is a terrific investment.

[RickG]

Theresa Rae makes a good point - here's a thin probe thermometer that Cook's Illustrated recommends - http://www.thermoworks.com/products/the ... _home.html

You can't leave this one in the steak while it cooks, but I only do that for the big honkers.

I like the beef from our local organic butcher in McLean. They slaughter and process entire animals, so they also have the interesting bits. Your local grocery stores, Sam's Club, Costco, etc. are likely getting their meat from the same processing plants, T-Rae (I like that moniker!) can comment further on that.

If you have a good local butcher locally count yourself lucky. It's a vanishing skill.

Cheers, RickG

[Teresa_Rae]

I like the beef from our local organic butcher in McLean. They slaughter and process entire animals, so they also have the interesting bits. Your local grocery stores, Sam's Club, Costco, etc. are likely getting their meat from the same processing plants, T-Rae (I like that moniker!) can comment further on that.

If you have a good local butcher locally count yourself lucky. It's a vanishing skill.

Cheers, RickG

It’s true that local butchers are a vanishing industry…profit margins on meat are so small that it’s a hard way to make a living unless you happen to live in an affluent area where people don’t mind paying top dollar…and those areas aren’t typically next door to cattle farms. Couple that with keeping perishable product on display in a meat case, and it is no easy task to do well on a small scale. Outside of niche markets, small profit margins are the norm and mean that you have to do a whole lot of volume to make a living.

In my family there’s a cow/calf operation and a feed-lot operation, and even though there are a few hundred head, nobody’s getting rich off of cattle. Most of the income (which is still modest) comes from farming a couple thousand acres of grain, mostly corn and soybeans.

There are of course small lockers all over the place where you can take your own cattle to be slaughtered and fabricated which is what farm families like mine do, but those places don’t usually sell meat, they just process it. Families like mine send a few head to the locker to fill their freezers and the rest go to a large packing plant to be sold at places like Sam’s, Costco, and grocery stores.

T-Rae was actually my nickname in college and many of my college friends still call me that

[NoTanLines]

It’s a crime to cook a high quality steak more than medium rare.

Exactly! Do you like eating shoe leather? I had a friend in collage who used to order her Prime Rib well done. She is no longer my friend.