Meat for steaks: basic rules for choosing

It’s easy to buy the right meat when you know what to look for. A real Steak is prepared from beef with minimal interference in its natural state. So initially it should be juicy, soft, easy to chew, and have a real “beef” taste.

Juiciness is achieved at the expense of fatty spots – “marbling”. Softness – due to the lack of connective tissue and tendons.

Choice of meat cut depending on the type of steak.

Depending on the type of steak, different parts of the carcass are chosen, but it is always a muscle group that has little involvement in the movement of the animal.

Sirloin – filet mignon, Chateaubriand. Meat is lean, tender, fine-grained in structure.
Lumbar rib part – Ribeye, Cowboy, Tomahawk. Marbled meat with the perfect combination of tenderness, flavor, texture.
Short loin (behind the ribs) – New York, or straightloin, Kansas City strip. They are not as tender as filet mignon or ribeye, but have a bright meaty flavor and a good balance of lean meat and fat.
Diaphragm – Skirt, machete – high marbling, bright, intense flavor.

After deciding on the type of steak, you can go choose the right cut of meat.

It is best to buy it at the market, not in the supermarket, where because of the hermetic packaging it is difficult to understand the freshness, the quality of the product.

Fresh beef differs from stale:

• a bright pink or red color with white fat and streaks;
• Good elasticity: The dimple recovers quickly if pressure is applied;
• moist, non-sticky surface;
• a “meaty” odor without any extraneous odors. The smell of ammonia should be especially alarming.

Choosing good steak meat does not end there. Market vendors often entice buyers with steamed products, advertising them as the best option for a juicy dish. This is not true. Steamed beef does not taste good. Only seasoned beef can be used to produce truly delicacy premium steaks.

There are 2 types of beef aging (maturation), which differ in terms of maturity, price and taste:

• Wet, for 7-10 days. Beef is relatively inexpensive, with a familiar taste, the most common;
• dry – up to 40 days. Meat is much more expensive, having a nutty, buttery flavor and tender consistency at the end of maturation.

Ideal pieces for steak are 2 to 5 centimeters thick. Too thin will turn into rubber, too thick will not cook as it should.

So, the best steak comes from grain-fed beef:

• dry-aged;
• loin and rib;
• with a high percentage of marbling.

Choose your meat wisely, and you’ll be well on your way to making the perfect steak, comparable in flavor – to Argentine, in tenderness – to Japanese, in brutality – to American.