{"id":10977,"date":"2016-04-18T21:26:46","date_gmt":"2016-04-18T21:26:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/?p=10977"},"modified":"2022-06-17T12:48:49","modified_gmt":"2022-06-17T19:48:49","slug":"tips-steaks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/tips-steaks\/","title":{"rendered":"Tips: Steaks (Beef)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>See also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/tips-burgers\/\"><strong>Tips: Burgers <\/strong><\/a>and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/tips-steaks\/\"><strong>Tips: Steaks<\/strong><\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/cow-parts\/\"><strong>Cow Parts<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Buying your Meat<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Don&#8217;t skimp on buying a steak.&nbsp; You would spend $40 on a really good steak at a restaurant, consider spending nearly that much on a quality piece of meat with good marbling.&nbsp; See the chart below from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.foodbeast.com\">Food Beast <\/a>for price ranges of different cuts of meat.<\/li>\n<li>Buy an aged steak.&nbsp; More developed flavor.&nbsp; Better yet, buy a nice cut and dry age it yourself.&nbsp; Put on a rack and salt both sides.&nbsp; Put in the refrigerator for 48 hours uncovered.<\/li>\n<li>The ONLY time you should press down on your steak is when it is first put on the grill.&nbsp; Put the &#8220;serving side&#8221; onto the heat first, then press it down to get maximum contact.&nbsp; Don&#8217;t press down again after you flip it.<\/li>\n<li>Consider buying and cooking one thick steak (2 inches is a nice thickness) to serve multiple people.&nbsp; The overall quality will be better.<\/li>\n<li>Bone in cuts of meat will generally have a more complex flavor.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Prepping your Meat for Cooking<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Searing your Meat:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Get a good sear on your meat.&nbsp; Sear means flavor and appearance will be enhanced.<\/li>\n<li>Tie your meat up with a string around the perimeter to hold and shape your meat.<\/li>\n<li>Steaks must come up to room temperature before you start to cook it (30-60 minutes)<\/li>\n<li>Salt your meat liberally.<\/li>\n<li>Salt it the night before, and refrigerate it overnight<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Dry Age Your Meat:&nbsp;<\/em> <\/strong>Place on a wire cooling rack in the refrigerator for 24-36 hours before cooking.&nbsp; This will allow the moisture to be removed from the surface of the meat.&nbsp; If you are marinating your meat, just be sure to press it VERY dry before searing.<\/li>\n<li>Before searing, add pepper<\/li>\n<li>Sear at medium-high (about 400\u00ba) for about two minutes per side on a cast iron skillet.&nbsp; Sear the presentation side first.&nbsp; Sear even the sides of a thick steak.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Cooking your Meat<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>GENERALLY SPEAKING thin cuts of meat will cook quickly over high heat, while thicker cuts will cook slowly over low or medium heat.<\/li>\n<li>When grilling a steak, consider a 2-3 inch thick Rib-eye on the bone steak. This will feed 4-6 people.&nbsp; Take bone off before serving.&nbsp; Cut against the grain in thick slices &#8211; about 3\/4 inch.<\/li>\n<li>Cook all FOUR sides on the hot side of the grill, then move to the indirect side of the grill and cook until internal temperature is 125\u00ba<\/li>\n<li>Start over high heat.<\/li>\n<li>Try to get steak to medium rare throughout the entire steak.&nbsp; About 250\u00ba for six hours or until internal temp is about 120\u00ba<\/li>\n<li>Rest for ten minutes before cutting<\/li>\n<li>I consider two thermometers critical for any serious chef, even if they will remain an amateur chef for their entire life.&nbsp; I purchased both of mine at ThermoWorks.\n<ul>\n<li>The first is an internal temperature Instant Read <a href=\"http:\/\/thermoworks.com\/products\/thermapen\/classic_thermapen.html\">ThermaPen<\/a>.&nbsp; It is about $80 but I have had mine for about ten years.&nbsp; It needs a new battery about every three years.<\/li>\n<li>This one is less expensive, but I find that I use it more than the internal probe.&nbsp; I usually use it for seeing if my skillet is up to heat, but it is also good to see if the blacktop will burn the paws of my dog.&nbsp; It&#8217;s also a lot of fun to play with at night.&nbsp; It is an <a href=\"http:\/\/thermoworks.com\/products\/ir\/irgun.html\">Industrial Infrared Thermometer<\/a> and is about $50.<\/li>\n<li>If you can only buy one, buy the Infrared Thermometer.<\/li>\n<li>If you ABSOLUTELY can&#8217;t afford to buy one, here is a way that you can test your meat reasonably well.&nbsp; Use the finger test.&nbsp; This wonderful photo is from WattaLyf.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/finger-test.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full aiif11010\" src=\"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/finger-test.png\" alt=\"finger-test\" width=\"580\" height=\"258\"><\/a><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/cow-breakdown.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aiif10978 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/cow-breakdown.jpg\" alt=\"cow-breakdown\" width=\"518\" height=\"312\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>This graphic is from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.foodbeast.com\">Food Beast<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Click for an enlargement.<\/p>\n<p>Notes about cuts of meat<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Boneless Rib Eye-more fat, more flavor<\/li>\n<li>Ribeye &#8211; more marbling and more flavor<\/li>\n<li>Filet Mignon &#8211; very tender, but not as much flavor<\/li>\n<li>Porterhouse-filet<\/li>\n<li>Del Moneo \u2013 no filet<\/li>\n<li>Tenderloin-most tender<\/li>\n<li>Sirloin-good for grill<\/li>\n<li>London Broil-top round<\/li>\n<li>Flank Steak-marinate 24 hrs &amp; grill &#8211; Fairly lean and needs fat<\/li>\n<li>Brisket-first cut-slow cooker<\/li>\n<li>Brisket-second cut-fat-hamburger<\/li>\n<li>Top Round-good for oven roast @ 350<\/li>\n<li>Bottom Round-pot roast-slow cooker<\/li>\n<li>Skirt steak &#8211; outside chest toward ground &#8211; thougher<\/li>\n<li>Hanger steak &#8211; behind skirt steak &#8211; much more tender<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Here is another good chart.&nbsp; Click to read the details.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/cuts-of-beef.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aiif11640 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/cuts-of-beef.jpg\" alt=\"cuts-of-beef\" width=\"503\" height=\"378\"><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>See also Tips: Burgers and Tips: Steaks and Cow Parts Buying your Meat Don&#8217;t skimp on buying a steak.&nbsp; You would spend $40 on a really good steak at a restaurant, consider spending nearly that much on a quality piece of meat with good marbling.&nbsp; See the chart below from Food Beast for price ranges &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/tips-steaks\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Tips: Steaks (Beef)&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[87,172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tips-tricks-and-tools","category-meat-to-eat"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10977"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10977\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22251,"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10977\/revisions\/22251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}