Best Steak

[derryman]

What is the best and most expensive steak. I bought Strip loin yesterday and although delicious, i remember a few years ago striploin was always dearer that Sirloin.

What is your favourite cut, T-Bone, Fillet, Rump, Striploin, Sirloin?

[ummmm]

Fillet's the best but too expensive for day to day dinners. I tend to buy Sirloin.

[jake-the-peg]

Kobe beef is probably the most expensive at about �200 or so a steak

http://baygourmet.tripod.com/wagyu.html

[ummmm]

But in the real world Jake....

[joggerjayne]

"And true Kobe beef? Overrated."

I just cut and pasted that from Jake's link.

I'd settle for fillet. Chopped, raw, with a salad.

[Jinglepot]

Ribeye has the best flavour I think.

[Clanad]

Well... Jinglepot took the steak right out of my mouth. Here, in the western U.S., we raise beef, and the only thing about which there's no disagreement between cattle men is that the best cut of beef on the entire animal is a 1 3/4 inch, well trimmed, dry aged, rib eye. Juicy red in the mniddle but plenty of grill marks on the outside. Pity the fool cooking one that sticks a fork in it to turn!

Some have tried to insist the New York Strip is just as good, but it's a false and unpredictable pretender...Filet Mignon is, as the name implies, a frou-frou cut for the folks in large New York restaurants that see a steak as only another opportunity to have a deep and meaningful conversation, for crying out loud...

[Velvetee]

Fillet most definitely, if you want lean, tender steak with little fat. Waitrose do a lovely Herefordshire fillet, very succulent.

[theonlyone]

Fillet or T bone ...

[mrs.chappie]

Hey Clanad, how long do you age your beef after slaughter and before cooking?

We have a local butcher who ages his for 28 days. We get rib-eye from him and it's lovely.

[tamborine]

rump is tastiest.

[Clanad]

There are two schools of thought on aging beef, mrs.chappie, one is called dry aging and the other is, you guessed it, wet aging (at least here in the U.S. Locally dry aging is thought to be the best. After we slaughter our own beef (usually a two year old steer, corn fed for the last six weeks) the carcass is split into top to bottom. and hung in a cooler we have for this purpose. (we also hang wild game there). We attempt to keep the humidity low... about 25 to 30%. It's covered with a large sheet of cheesecloth to allow air to ciruclate. In fact, we keep a small fan running during the 3 week period. We have aged beef that was dried for 4 1/2 weeks, but since most of the moisture loss is in the first 10 days the balance is for personal taste.

Wet aging is where the carcass is cut into quarters, vacuum sealed in plastic and cooled for up to three weeks.

The primary difference is one of economics. The wet ged carcass doesn't lose much weight or volume so more is marketable. Most commercially produced beef is wet aged. Dry aging allows for nearly 1/5 shrinkage and some trimming is neccessary to remove the inevitable mouldy parts. The taste is superior though...more than you wanted to know, I'm sure...

[shanilisa]

I am with tamborine on this one - rump has the best flavour and if cooked correctly can be as tender as fillet. I find fillet rather bland on the whole.

[mrs.chappie]

Hey Clanad, thanks very much for that reply. It was very interesting to read.

If I bought a piece of beef and left it in my fridge for a couple of weeks before cooking it, would this help to tenderise it? Or would it start to go bad?

Thanks for reply. xxx

[Clanad]

Probably not... firstly, the humidity level in the average fridge is failry high... probably above 50%, second there's not enough air flow and lastly, if the piece of beef was much smaller than a quarter the enzyme break down that occurs causing tenderness wouldn't work since a certain volume is required...

[caththecrazy]

I'm for ribeye

[mrs.chappie]

Thanks Clanad. xxx

Do you slaughter your own animals, or do they get sent away for slaughter?

[Clanad]

We do the whole nine yards, so to speak...don't tan the hides though, they're sent out now days... Only for our own consumption though... to many regulations to do it commercially so we provide the rest of the herd to the industry...

[mrs.chappie]

Hey Clanad, don't you get attached to them though, and find it hard to do the final deed?

BTW, I used to work in a tannery. It's where I met my hubby.