Roast beef fillet with meat fork on a wooden cutting board. Image source: Picture Worm Creative.
As the most classic dish in Western cuisine, a piece of steak that is charred on the outside and tender on the inside, when you bite into it, it not only has the crispiness of the skin, but also can reach the full mouth of gravy, which is enough to satisfy all the needs of meat lovers from taste buds to fullness.
But when it comes to how to order steak, I believe many people have been troubled by this question: what are the sirloin, ribeye, and filet in the menu?Should a steak be medium-rare, medium-rare, or fully rare?Grain-fed cattle or grass-fed cattle have a better taste ?......Today, Sanjiang Kitchen (ID: Sanjiangfood) will talk about how to choose a steak?
The origin of steak is in **?
In medieval Europe, pork and lamb were eaten by the common people, while beef was the high-class meat of the aristocracy. The steak is cooked with pepper and spices, which were also distinguished at the time, and on special occasions** to show the dignity of the host.
By the 18th century, England had become a major producer of beef. Today, the United States is the country that consumes the most beef, and steak became one of Americans' favorite foods as early as the mid-19th century. And in Asia, the Japanese take steak to the extreme.
What kind of meat can be used to make steak?
You can't just cut a piece of meat from a cow to make a steak, you have to reach a certain level.
Beef, like wine, has a grading system, which is to grade beef according to its quality. The grading of beef varies from country to country, but there are currently three recognized grading bodies around the world: the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Australian Meat Standard (MSA and AUS-Meat), and the Overall Grade, administered by the Japan Meat Grading Association.
There are eight grades of beef from the USDA, and only the first three grades can be used for steaks, namely Prime, Choice, Select, and Prime Grade and Choice Grade to meet the meat selection standards of top restaurants and hotels.
U.S. Grading Law. Image source: Insightslooloo
There are two grading systems in Australia, which are A-M (AUS-meat) and MSA:
A-M is mainly based on the snowflake texture of the meat, and is divided from 0 (no intramuscular fat content) to 9 (very high muscle fat content) (no decimal places).
The MSA is graded according to a series of criteria, such as meat color, fat depth, meat weight, age of the cow, and pH value, which are refined from 100 points (no intramuscular fat content) to 1190 points (very high muscle fat content) (the minimum unit of score increment is 10).
Overall Grade, managed by the Japan Meat Grading Association, is the most rigorous beef scoring system in the world, and it consists of two parts:
First of all, the beef is divided into three grades, A to C, with Grade A being the highest. Step retention is a calculation method to measure the input-output balance, which is mainly used to estimate the input-output ratio of meat feeding, the higher the input, the higher the step retention will be.
In addition to Buliu, there is another grade of meat produced is the meat quality grade, which is divided into five grades (1-5), and the higher the number, the better the meat quality. So generally speaking, the beef of grade A-5 is the best quality beef.
For the snowflake pattern on beef, the Japanese also have a scoring system called BMS (Beef Marbling Standard), which is divided into 12 grades, the higher the grade, the more oil flowers, then the corresponding meat quality will be better.
What factors affect the quality of a steak?
A perfect steak crust should have a brown burnt crust with a pink core and be soft and juicy with a melt-in-cheek texture in the mouth. There are a variety of factors that affect a steak, including ripeness, oiliness, breed, feed, location and heat, as long as you understand these factors, you can judge your preference for different types of steak, and you can order steak like a connoisseur in the restaurant.
01.Maturity.
Maturity, also known as the age of the cattle, determines the tenderness of the meat. The age of the animal has a great influence on the quality of the meat, and almost all animals are older and tougher, but the more flavorful they are.
The same is true for beef, steaks are usually not made from older cows, and the younger the cow or steer, the more delicate the texture, resulting in a softer taste and brighter color. So when ordering a steak, be sure to ask if it's veal, or if it's 180, 280, 350, or 500 days.
02.Degree of oil splash.
The oil splash is the marbled fat in the steak. A high-quality steak will have many oil splashes, and the high-quality oil splashes are white in color, hard in texture, and evenly distributed throughout the lean meat.
When the beef is being grilled, the oil flakes melt, leaving the meat soft, moist, juicy, and showing more flavor. In fact, much of the silky texture and flavor of many steaks comes from the oil splashes, without which the steak will become very dry and lacking flavor. However, even a well-oiled steak can become like this if it is over-fried, and the steak that is medium-rare or more has lost most of its original flavor.
Some parts of beef are naturally rich in oil, such as the loin of a cow, where there is less movement than the legs, shoulders and hips, and excess calories form fat here. However, softness and oil bloom are not necessarily at the same time, beef tenderloin is the most tender and soft part of the cow's body, but it does not have many oil splashes.
Charcoal-grilled Wagyu beef. Photo via hkcitylifecom
03.Cattle breeds.
There are two common types of steak in Chinese restaurants: wagyu and angus.
Because China prohibits the import of Japanese beef, the Wagyu beef eaten in China is basically Australian Wagyu. In the 90s, Australia imported Wagyu cattle from Japan for breeding, and today exports more than 20,000 head a year. The biggest feature of Wagyu beef is that it is oily and fatty. (For knowledge about Wagyu, you can read the article Sanjiang's Kitchen: Understanding Kobe Beef Thoroughly, All You Eat in Chinese Mainland is a Fake).
Although Angus cattle are also a type of beef with a lot of oil, they contain fewer calories and have more chewy meat than Wagyu beef. Today, Angus cattle are the mainstream beef cattle in the United States and Australia.
04.Grain-fed or grass-fed.
Different feeds also give the steak a different flavor, which is generally divided into "grain-fed beef" and "grass-fed beef".
"Grain-fed beef" refers to the fattening of calves when they eat pasture grass to a certain body weight, and then feed formula for fattening, in general, the mixed grain feed contains 75% corn, and the grain-fed cattle reach the expected harvest weight between 18 and 24 months.
Grass-fed beef "is fed grass from the time cattle are herded on pasture and eaten fresh grass until they reach maturity, which typically takes 30-36 months."
In general, grass-fed cattle have less fat content and grain-fed cattle are fatter and more tender.
05.What part to choose.
Perhaps the biggest problem that many people encounter when ordering steak is the choice of part, sirloin, ribeye, filet ......There are a lot of unfamiliar terms that people can't swallow, and they don't know if they can satisfy their appetite when they order a random one.
There are many parts of the cow, and the steak is selected from the relatively delicate parts of the cow, such as around the spine of the cow, which is not very active, and several representative steaks are concentrated here.
Filet fillet: The most delicate taste.
Filet once ** in French, the origin and development of steak culture is inseparable from France, the French divide the cow into more than 200 parts, can be used as steak as many as dozens of kinds. It is not accurate to say that filet is beef tenderloin, the authentic filet should be the tail of the tenderloin (the thin end) to the middle of the tenderloin 1 3, and the thick section can only be called tenderloin or beef tenderloin.
Filet is famous for its tenderness, it is the least moving part of the cow, there is almost no connective tissue, the meat is lean, the fascia is removed, and the taste is juicy and tender. Filet is very difficult to cook, it will look old after a little heat, and filet is best fried until it is medium-rare to 5.
But filet's production is also very low, only four or five kilograms per cow, so filet is also the hardest hit area of steak fraud, and all kinds of parts come to counterfeit it. So pay attention to the ** when ordering filet, scarcity is expensive, and filet's ** will not be too cheap.
Sirloin: Super tough mouthfeel.
Sirloin is a beef tenderloin, containing a certain amount of fat, and there will be a circle of white tendons in the extension of the meat, and the overall taste is super tough, and the meat is hard, but it is more chewy.
King Henry VIII of England is an absolute fan of sirloin steak, and every meal must be ordered to savor, the love is too deep, and all practices can not express joy, so he simply crowned it "sir-loin", which literally translates to "loin sir".
In the 18th century, after the slaughter of beef cattle in the eastern United States, they were transferred to New York**, and the New Yorkers near the water kept the best part, sirloin steak, for themselves. This practice has also led to another big name for sirloin steak, the NY strip steak.
Sirloin because of its natural rich flavor, do not add any sauce when eating, it tastes a little sweet blood, every time you cut a piece of meat, pay attention to bring some white tendons, when chewing, you can experience the delicious meat juice overflowing in the mouth. The meat of this material must not be fried, and the degree of doneness between medium rare and medium rare best expresses the deliciousness of sirloin.
rib-eye: The crispy texture of the muscles.
Both ribeye and sirloin steak are derived from the same muscle of cattle – the longissimus dorsi. The eye steak is near the ribs in the front and the sirloin steak is near the lumbar spine in the back.
Ribeye steak gets its name mainly because of its approximately oval cross-section, with a white ring of fat that looks like an eye. Generally speaking, the closer you are to the heart, the richer the fat, which is reflected in the grain-fed beef, which is the beauty of marbled snowflakes.
The ribeye steak has a little beef tendon between the tender shredded meat. Juicy, tender, mixed with fat, generally speaking, ribeye steak has been deboned before serving, if the ribs are particularly long, it is a French-style dividing method, called tomahawk steak. Medium rare to 4 to 6 is recommended.
T-bone steak T bone: Tender and firm double taste.
T-bone steak is the backbone of the cow's back, a large steak with a T-shaped bone sandwiched in the middle, filet on one side, sirloin on the other, the meat contains tender and chewy textures, you can eat them all when you order them, and it is recommended to eat them all with five to eight medium-rare.
Beef short ribs. Beef short ribs are taken from the left and right sides of the cow's breast, including the rib part. Beef short ribs with bones and tendons are fatty and delicious, juicy and chewy, with marbling, especially from cows.
Six or seven ribs, tender but not astringent. Beef short ribs are suitable for pan-frying until fully cooked, so even those who are afraid of raw food can enjoy it comfortably.
In addition to the above-mentioned varieties, there are also common dishes on the table, such as the tendon meat of the beef shoulder blade part, the rib eye of the upper shoulder blade, the ventral flank meat of the tripe part, and the upper hind leg meat, etc., although the meat fiber of these parts is coarse, it cannot be compared with the above varieties.
06.Heat.
According to the different heat, steak can be eaten from whole raw to fully cooked, and the magazine "Zhiwei" has summarized the characteristics and terms of different heat conditions:
Whole Life (RAW;French: cru): Refers to a dish of beef that has not been cooked;
Blue rare, very rareFrench: bleu): The surface is grilled, but the inside is usually raw and cold;
Rare (English: rare;French: saignant ): The surface is firm, grayish-brown, the profile is blood-red, and the center is warm;
Medium rare;French: saignant): The meat in the center of the steak is still bloodshot, but the sides of the steak have been browned, and this temperature is the most common in European and American restaurants when the diner does not explicitly request it;
Medium (English: Medium, French: à point, anglais): The outside of the steak is gray-brown, the center of the steak is also hot, and it is all pink, and the steak has a well-balanced temperature and taste
Medium Well-Done, French cuit, demi-angalaisThe steak has only a little pink in the center, and the texture is heavy and chewy
Well-done, French: bien cuit steak is also grayish-brown on the inside, slightly charred and has a heavy texture
Over cooked (French: trop cuit) steak is dark in color and charred and crispy;
Generally speaking, steaks are better on a scale of 3 to 8 points, and the better the steak, the lower the heat to bring out the meat quality and juicy flavor. However, depending on the quality of the meat and personal preference, there are different optimal temperatures.
What sauce should I go with eating steak?
When eating steak, many people choose to add different sauces to taste. French steak, for example, pays special attention to the preparation of sauces, using a variety of sauces to highlight the flavor of the steak.
The most common steak sauce in the world is black pepper sauce, which is made from minced onions and cream with black pepperMushroom sauce made from mushroom shallots and a dash of sherry;Red wine sauce, a sauce made from candied red wine and green onions.
But if you own a good steak, Sanjiang Kitchen recommends seasoning it with salt and black pepper only so that you can eat the original taste of the beef.
Text |Soybean.