![]() ![]() I never eat a filet, it’s just not my cut. If I’m eating USDA Prime beef (there aren’t too many true USDA Prime beef steakhouses), I order a New York Strip. If I am at a steakhouse that serves USDA Choice beef, I order a ribeye. My rule of thumb for cuts of beef is easy. I have known people who would choose a two-inch straight up and down select filet mignon over a smaller, slightly ill-formed prime filet. ![]() There are many people who judge the quality of a steak by the size and shape of the cut. The rare occasions when I do answer the question about steak being my perfect meal, the follow-up is usually, “What is your favorite cut?” To me, it’s all about the grade of the beef. As young men tend to do, he fell in love instantly. On a father-son trip this past spring I introduced my son, another avid steak eater, to USDA Prime beef. The same goes for “Certified Hereford Beef.”īut prime beef lives in a land all its own. If beef is sold as “Certified Angus Beef” then it is of a high quality and usually on the upper end of the choice grade. Though just because a restaurant or retailer lists it as “Angus” or Black Angus doesn’t determine the grade. These days the marketing of breeds of cattle is becoming popular such as black Angus and Hereford. If one takes that same raw product and cuts through a cross section of the ribeye roast he or she will have ribeye steaks. It is simply a whole lip-on ribeye that has been slow-roasted in an oven. Prime rib can be choice grade or select grade. Prime rib is the name of a cut of beef determined by the way it is cooked. Many people mistake prime “rib” as being prime-grade beef. Prime beef, like anything that is rare (excuse the pun), is expensive. Ruth’s Chris’ and Moreton’s steakhouses and the Purple Parrot Café serve prime beef. The marbling is intense and it makes a huge difference in the final flavor of the cooked product. Less than two percent of all beef that is graded can be listed as “prime” beef. Prime- This is rarified air in the steak world. Some supermarkets get clever with the word “choice,” but if the steak is not listed as USDA Choice alongside the USDA shield then it is not true choice beef but a deceptive use of an adjective. The package will be marked “USDA Choice” and if it isn’t, and is just marked “ground beef” it is probably select grade. Be careful though, some retailers will try to use a catchy name variation to sell select beef.Ĭhoice- This is where most steakhouses live. Select- This is the most popular retail grade, and most run-of-the-mill grocery stores sell this grade. Standard- this is low-quality beef and you probably don’t encounter this unless your eating canned beef stew of some type of canned chili. It’s about the tiny veins of fat running through the steak.īeef is graded by the United States Department of Agriculture. The more marbling- and the younger the steer- the more flavorful and juicy the steak will be. More than anything else, the amount of fat running through the muscle (marbling), determines the grade. Grades of beef are designated by the quality of the beef. Today, I still love to use my outdoor grill, but 90% of the steak I enjoy is in a restaurant, and the higher the grade of the steak the happier I am. When we did eat steak it was usually cooked outside on a grill and not in a restaurant. We didn’t eat a lot of steak in my childhood years except on special occasions. My favorite meal and my favorite dish are the same- steak. The answer is simple, and it’s been the same answer all of my life. I was asked that question in an interview last week and I did what I usually do, which is divert the question to, “What is your favorite ingredient?” I try to avoid the “favorite dish or meal” question because my answer is so boring.īeing a chef and longtime restaurateur, I imagine people want to hear about an exotic dish with complicated preparation techniques and hard-to-find ingredients. The most popular interview question I encounter is “What is your favorite dish or meal?” ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |