The Virtual Gourmand - Debut Column

August 2, 2004

Contributing Editor and "CW Executive Chef" Jason Clabaugh (BigO) takes us step-by-step through the process of selecting, preparing and grilling the perfect steak.

Steak Through The Heart: A Carnivore's Companion to the Common Cow

There's just no mistaking it... summer is the season of the grill. Living in New Orleans, the heat between roughly May and October is so bad that firing up the stove even to boil a pot of water is enough to make my kitchen blazing hot. So, we fire up the grill most nights during the summer. We do chops, chicken, ribs and all manner of side dishes and variations of the meat and seafood choices afforded to us by living on the coast... but for me, the king of all grilled treats is the well-aged, thick-cut, medium rare steak. Steak is best when it is kept simple. All of the marinades and sauces out there can't help a bad steak and will flat out ruin a good one.

What the hell is a 'steak', anyway?

There sure are a lot of cuts of beef out there that are called steak, but only a few of them are really worth the effort or expense that goes with good beef these days. What's worse is that grocery stores are increasingly stocking what I call 'Wal-Meat', which is cut and packaged at a processing plant and frozen. All your 'butcher' does is thaw it and stack it in the case-and they know absolutely squat about what they are stocking. Avoid these stores and this meat. It is almost always middle grade stuff and is never cut the way you want it. Find a store that has at least a meat-cutter on staff (few stores have actual butchers these days) and be picky. If you have a specialty meat store-or, if you are truly blessed, a genuine butcher shop--by all means patronize it... they are truly a dying breed nationwide. You should always cultivate a relationship with your grocery store employees, whether it is the butcher, the produce manager or even the cashiers. You never know when being a loyal customer can catch you a break or result in some really choice stuff that they saved knowing you'd appreciate it.

As I said before, there are a lot of cuts that are referred to as steak, but the really good cuts come from the center of the cow - areas known as the rib and the short loin (areas 2 and 3 on this diagram). There are other cuts that are referred to as steaks that come from the sirloin, but they aren't really in the same league. The reason the rib and short loin are the best steaks in terms of tenderness and marbling is because the center muscles aren't used as much as the leg, belly and neck muscles are. Specifically, we are referring to the tenderloin, strip, and ribeye portions. From this we get the filet mignon (tenderloin), the chateubriand (center of the tenderloin), the t-bone (ends of the unseparated strip/tenderloin), porterhouse (center of the strip/tenderloin--with more of the tenderloin), New York Strip (boneless strip section), Kansas City Strip (bone-in strip section), and ribeye (which can be bone in or out -- bone-in ribeyes are often called "cowboy steaks"). Sirloin is also considered to be a steak, but even the best cut of sirloin can't compare with the texture and flavor of these other cuts. In my opinion, you should buy (when possible) the steaks with the bone in. To me it just adds to the flavor tremendously and bone-in cuts are generally cheaper. Plus... I have to admit, I love to gnaw on a big old rib knuckle after I've satiated my inner carnivore.

OK, now that I know what a steak is and where it comes from, how do I pick a good one?

The next thing you should pay attention to is the grade of meat. There are several grades that the USDA sorts meat from. Prime is the most marbled and tender of all beef. Marbling is the amount of fat in the muscle itself--the more fat, the more flavor your steak will have. Most prime beef is sold to restaurants and hotels, so it is hard to find at most grocery stores. There are exceptions to this rule, and when prime beef is available it is well worth the expense. The next grade down from Prime is Choice. Most of the specialty butcher case meats fall into this category. It is well-marbled with fat (but should not have too much around the edge) and will be tender but not loose like the prime will be. For what it is worth, I never go below this grade when selecting beef. It is moderately priced and may be labeled as Top Choice... this means that it is closer to Prime than to Select. There is a movement afoot to make Certified Angus beef a recognizable brand independent of USDA ratings. You need to be aware that any beef marked as "Certified Angus" is either Prime or the top 35% of the beef labeled as Choice. It's pricey as hell, but it is damned good beef. The last grade is Select. There isn't anything inherently wrong with Select beef, but most of the tough steaks-in my opinion--are in this category. These are usually the steaks you find on a loss-leader sale in the weekly paper. It has little fat in the meat itself and is generally of an inferior quality compared to Prime or Choice. Most of the time when people complain about a tough or dry steak, it's because they bought Select grade meat out of the grocery meat case or on sale. If it is all you can afford, by all means buy it... just don't expect spectacular results from it. For more information and pictures of what the different grades of marbling look like, click here. Another trick that I use to save money is to buy a rib roast and have the butcher cut it in to steaks for me (if it is bone in-I don't have a band saw for cutting meat at home!). Most grocery stores that do not stock 'Wal-Meat' provide that service for no additional charge.

Now that we've seen what part of the cow to buy and how that meat is graded, let's pay attention to the size of the cut. I hate the way most markets cut their steaks. They trim the hell out of them (I have been amused time after time when I'm shopping for meat that another customer asks the butcher if they have any meat that has less fat in it. The fat in the meat is where all of the flavor is) and then either cut them 3/8 of an inch ('breakfast steaks' <shudder>) or an inch thick at most. No matter how you fix one of these puppies it's gonna be dry and likely over done unless you do little more than run it through a warm room. You want a cut that is at least an inch and a half thick... two inches is preferable. If there aren't any in the case, ask the butcher/cutter to cut them for you. What I do is wait until the price is low enough (this happens a couple of times a year) and then buy a whole strip, ribeye, or even tenderloin (not been that rich in a long time!) and have the butcher custom cut them for me. You want the thicker cut because the ultimate steak is almost charred on the outside and yet still pink and juicy on the inside. The thinner cuts end up drying out before they can reach that stage and unless you're going to do an oven steak and a pan sauce, they're just inferior crap in my book.

OK, I'm ready to fire up the grill now... right?

Well, you could... but let's look at another trick we can use to give your hunk of burning flesh even more flavor:

Dry aging is another trick that you can use to achieve carnivorous Heaven. Aging beef allows the fibers in the meat to break down and intensifies the flavor while tenderizing it further. It's also relatively easy to do... all it takes is some extra planning. Take your steak and wrap it tightly in a clean dishtowel. Place it in the back of the bottom shelf of your fridge and change the towel each day until there is no more blood on the towel. At that point (3-4 days), your steak is nicely aged. If any visible bacteria or mold has collected on it, feel free to trim it off (this typically happens with beef that has been aged 20+ days and you'll likely never have it happen at home, but I wanted to mention it anyway).

Can I light the fire yet?

Again... you could, but there are still a few things you need to know to achieve bovine Nirvana (apologies to our Hindu bretheren and sisteren). Let's face it: you just spent at least $15 on a single steak... you want to taste the beef, right? (What else did you pay for?). Therefore, forget the marinades in a bag, bottle, or any of the grilling sauces or steak sauces. No, seriously... forget them... they might be OK for salvaging a hunk of sirloin or making some Select grade slab palatable, but for this stuff they're only going to screw it up. This is one of those cases where less is better. You need (at the most) a little Lea and Perrins Worcestershire sauce (there is no substitute for this brand... they invented the stuff and no other brand tastes remotely like it), a little fresh ground black pepper and a dusting of garlic powder. Coarse sea salt should be on hand, but not added at this stage. Douse the meat in the Lea and Perrins, grind the pepper over it and dust it with the garlic powder. Repeat this for both sides of the meat. You need to let this sit and marinate and allow the steaks to come up to room temperature. This should take only 30 minutes or so. Just enough time for you to get your fire in order!

Fire time!

Now let's talk about the fire. I'm a grill snob, so a hardwood charcoal fire is the only way to go as far as I am concerned. We could argue for days that gas grills can deliver as good a steak as a charcoal fire and that it is easier, faster, and cleaner than a charcoal fire. Whatever maneuvers your Hoover. We could also discuss the relative merits of hairstyle and its correlation to attitude, but we'd still be hungry when we finished. The point is, if you have a favorite way to grill, use it. For me, though, there is no substitute for quality hardwood lump charcoal. It burns extremely hot, and your fire is ready to go in 10 minutes. I've heard many people complain about charcoal starter imparting a bad flavor to their food. I've never noticed this with hardwood charcoal, but I have found it true with briquettes or the 'EZ lite' brands. My personal opinion is that it isn't the starter fluid that gives food that chemical taste, it's the binder they use to make the briquettes (which, by the way, were invented by Henry Ford--as a way of turning a waste product from wooden-framed automobiles into a profitable by-product--and not by Chuckie Kingsford as everybody assumes). Whatever you do for fire, though, you want it hot. The hotter your grill is, the better. I'm talking 800-1200 degrees if you can swing it. In any event, you shouldn't be able to hold your hand six inches over the fire for more than two seconds without pulling it away. That's a hot fire, to be sure. You want the grill like you want your woman: hot, clean and lubricated. Fire up the grill 20-25 minutes prior to your target time (if you use briquettes, hardwood is good to go in 10-15), let it burn off the bits on the grill surface, then brush it with a wire brush. Afterwards, a paper towel dipped in oil brushed over the surface (with tongs!) will help to coat the grill and prevent sticking. The grill sprays work too... but be sure to follow the instructions on the can.

Fire's ready... where's the beef?

OK... so it's the moment of truth. The time has come to put meat to flame. Take a pair of tongs-never use a BBQ fork on a steak (the 4 for $10 tongs they sell at Sam's Club are absolutely perfect)-and place your steak at a 45 degree angle directly over the hot spot on the grill. Now, if you've taken my advice and gotten a great piece of 2" thick steak, you're gonna need to keep the faith and follow me a little further. Close the grill and wait 5 minutes to do anything. Don't look at it, don't lift the lid, just walk away for 5 minutes. (if your cut is smaller, you might want to adjust this time a bit... they way you can tell if a steak is ready to be flipped is when the blood starts to pool on the surface). Then--using the tongs again--flip it over and do the same thing again... 5 minutes. You're searing the steak on the outside and sealing in all of those wonderful juices. Now that it is seared on both sides, flip it again, turning it another 45 degrees. Slide the meat back and forth across the grill grates to get that pretty cross-hatched pattern. If it is charring on the outside, you might want to move it to a cooler section of the grill (or if you're like me, you like it dark on the outside and raw in the middle). You will flip it a total of four times, creating that cross-hatched pattern of grill marks on your beef.

How will I know it is done?

Now, you want to gauge the doneness. There are many, many ways to do this. If you're anal about the doneness of your beef, you can use a little grilling thermometer (if you have lots of space to store gadgets for every purpose) or the thermometer that you use for everything else around the kitchen - this is the one I own. If you're feeling really rich, this digital model is really cool. Insert it into the side of the steak and make your measurement. Internal temperature for medium rare is 145 degrees F, (63 C); for medium is 160 degrees F (71 C). If you're going to cook it further than that you might as well eat shoe leather anyway and should have stuck to sirloin. You will want to remove the meat at the point that it is 12-15 degrees from this target temp, because we're going to let the meat rest before we devour it and it will continue to cook another 12-15 degrees while it rests.

Another way to test for doneness is what I call a simple 'rule of thumb': make a fist (not a tight one) with your thumb tucked inside your fingers. Now with the index finger of your other hand, press the flesh at the point where your thumb and forefinger meet. Pressing at the point where they meet is almost exactly what rare-cooked steak feels like when pressed with a pair of tongs. Almost exactly an index finger's width away from the point is what medium steak feels like. Another width away is what well-done steak feels like. With this in mind, flip and cook your steak accordingly. Forget about the thermometers and the like... this gauge goes with you anywhere and is almost foolproof.

Can we eat now?

We could, but waiting just a few more minutes will make a world of difference. You've spent a lot of time and money to get to carnivorous Valhalla... why mess it up now? Remove the steak from the fire, sprinkle it with the coarse sea salt, and make a tent out of a piece of aluminum foil over it (to keep it from cooling too much) and walk away from it for 5 minutes. Do not serve it straight from the grill. This resting period is necessary to allow the juices that have been pulled towards the surface by the cooking process to re-distribute themselves through the whole piece of meat. If you cut into it straight off the grill, all of those juices are going to run out on the plate and ruin a great piece of meat by drying it out and removing 3/4 of the flavor you've so carefully preserved.

Are we there yet?

You've suffered long enough... serve up your sides, tie on that bib and dig into that great beef flavor. One of my favorite ways to serve one of these puppies is with about 4 pats of unsalted butter on top... the extra richness is awesome. You can also use a compound butter (my favorite is a mixture of blue cheese and butter refrigerated in log shape and hunks cut from it on the steak) too. If you're really bold, crumble the blue cheese directly over it and let it melt into a gooey flood over that marvelous piece of beef while it rests. Cut directly into the center of what my wife refers to as my "FlintSteak" and embrace your inner carnivore! Then carefully select the proper cigar to follow dinner... something that can stand up to this most manly of meals.

Contributing Editor and CW Executive Chef Jason Clabaugh (BigO) hailed from New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina devastated the city and has settled in a suburb of Atlanta. With the addition of a new baby to his family he's refocused his energies on fatherhood and a new project bringing his famous mango-habanero salsa and unique barbecue sauces into commercial production.