Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Choosing The Best Steak To Grill - Jargon Explained

By Mia Kane

Cooking a great steak is as much about the selection of your meat as it is about how you cook it. As they say rubbish in equals rubbish out. So the first thing you need to do is know how to select a fine piece of meat.

A great steak starts with a quality piece of meat. But how do you know a good piece of meat from a not so good? How do you get through all that jargon? The variety of steaks to choose from can be very confusing.

I always prefer to get my steak from the butcher. But I know that you may not have one nearby. My second choice is the butcher in the supermarket (many of them have an in house butcher, so check him out). They should be able to give you some great advice, and the meat is usually fresher than the pre packed version. Here are some other tips to help you through the meat language.

The cut of Steak, what does that mean?

To keep it simple, the best cuts for grilling are Rib Eye, T bone, Porterhouse, Strips Steak and Sirloin. This is because they contain more fat, which gives great flavor and makes sure the steak does not dry out on your grill. Other cuts like tenderloin and fillet, well they have less fat and are not so good for grilling. For my money I always go for rib eye. But you should try them all before you choose.

All About Marbling.

Marbling is the visible lines of fat that you see going through the meat. The fat is what gives your steak its great flavor. Now of course the more fat you have on your beef, the less healthy it will be. But as long as you don't over do it, I'm sure its fine. The marbling should be thin lines of fat and should be evenly distributed throughout your steak. Just try to avoid thick marbling, as this will produce a tougher steak.

What Does The Grade Mean?

The grade is easier. There are three different grades. They are Prime, Choice and Select, in order of quality. You probably won't get much prime in your supermarket, these are the top end expensive cuts and are more often found in restaurants. So you will be looking at choice or select. So try both and see what you think. I have found great select cuts at good prices for use on my grill.

So for starters test out a rib-eye, T-bone, Porterhouse and Strip to see which one you like the best on your grill.

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