Choosing the Right Steak

Saturday, 5. September 2009

If you are going to end up with a great steak, you have to start with one, but determining what makes a great steak can be pretty difficulty. A trip to your local supermarket or meat market will show you a long row of steaks, but if you don’t know what to look for, you’ll have trouble finding the best one. Fortunately, there are a few things you can look for when you go to buy a steak that will help you end up with one that is delicious.

The first thing you will need to pay attention to is the grade of the meat. Grading is performed by a government agency or third party organization, and is determined by fat marbling and the age of the animal. Remember that the carcass is graded whole, and then the individual cuts are made, so there may be some variance across different cuts. In the US, the major grades are prime, choice, and select. Prime is the best and select is the lowest grade available to most consumers.

You will not find a lot of prime steaks, since they are sold mostly to restaurants, or sent abroad. That means that most of us will be eating choice or select meat, according to our budgets. Try both to see if you can tell the difference between them.

Marbling is a factor traditionally used to determine the quality of a steak. Leaner meat will have little fat and be more tender, but much less flavorful. Streaks of fat generally produce steaks that have more taste to them. However, many people are discovering that other factors influence taste as much or more than marbling. For instance, raising the cattle on grass instead of grain, and finishing them on grass alone, or a mixture of grass and grain seems to result in a steak with more taste, even though it has less attractive marbling. You may have to try a few different kinds to discover what the best option is.

There are lots of different cuts of meat on the market, and some produce much better steaks. They come from three major sections of the animal – the sirloin, short loin, and rib, and each cooks up differently. Rib meats are less tender and must be cooked longer and more carefully than short loin or tenderloin. Think about this when you are asking questions such as how long does it take to cook a steak in the oven?

The short loin is the area responsible for producing the tenderloin, top loin, Porterhouse and T-bones we are all familiar with, and sirloin produces the top sirloin and sirloin steaks. Chuck, round steak and flank steak all come from the areas with those names, but they’re not likely to be as high quality as meat found elsewhere, and are often tough. Choose the best steak to start with, and then look for the best method of cooking. You will be a lot happier with the results, since no marinade can fix a bad steak. However, a good marinade can make a good steak even better.

When you are looking for the best steak marinade recipe for your big dinner party, you want one that will deliver as promised. Your steak should be full of flavor and melt in your mouth. At EasySteakMarinades.net, we strive to provide only the best steak marinade recipes for your enjoyment.

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