Finding A Good Steak

Last week was kind of a clean up week, leftovers from Father’s Day bbq. Leftover hamburgers and hotdogs, plus potato salad and beans my wife made. Like most times I bbq for our family I cook way more than they are going to eat. Thankfully the hamburgers and hotdogs can be frozen, so no waste. The clean up means I don’t want to see a hamburger or hotdog for a couple of weeks.

One of my Father’s Day gifts was a gift certificate for a local butcher shop, 3 minutes from our house actually. Saturday I stopped in to see if they had any really good steaks. I was shocked when I went to the meat counter. Sitting there were t-bone steaks that were amazing and at a reasonable price. Steak like the ones on the tray were the quality that are in the most expensive restaurants and you pay a hundred dollars or more for your meal. I took the 3 nices ones in the tray knowing I was going to bbq a very great steak.

It was the best steak I have ever bbqed and that had absolutely nothing to do with my cooking. In fact I have never had a steak in a restaurant that was as good. For me a great steak is worth every cent you pay for it and these steaks were reasonably priced and worth double what I payed. I even did the silly thing that they say describes something being tender, cutting it with a fork. Yes, it cut with a fork, but that is just a silly way to eat a steak.

So what makes a great steak, think the best way to describe it starts with what is just an ok steak. After I stopped at the butcher I went to the local chain grocery store for some other things. They had t-bone steaks on sale at $3.50 less than what I payed. Their steaks, the meat was bright red and lightly marbled. The bone and fat was white and was listed as triple A. It was clear it hadn’t been hung more than the minimum before it was butchered. Would it have been a great steak, no, it would of been an ok steak.

To start with a side of beef needs to be hung for at least 28 day and then butchered. The steaks I bought clearly were cut from beef that had been hung that long and were from cattle that had been grass feed and pasture raised. The meat was a full dark red and heavily marbled. The bone was a dark creamy color that had a grey tinge to it. The fat was a dark creamy color that was dry looking. All of those things tell you that what your buying is going to be tender and have a great flavour. Yes it was $3.50 a pound more but the difference between an ok steak and a great steak is worth way more than that. One of the greatest treats of summer is bbqing a great steak so go to a butcher and get a great steak. My cooking wasn’t what made the steak great it was it was a great steak to start with.

I actually took one of the steaks out of the freezer for the picture. I was going to attach a picture but when I finished typing remembered the old saying ” a picture is worth a thousand words”.