The PERFECT Steak

[Jauronimo]

14 hours ago, RochesterRob said:

  It's not that Wegman's employees are bad but the stock they have to work with.  I am a real stickler for fresh.  I like real lean beef for anything going into the pan but for the grill it's best to have a bit more fat.  Anyways, I feel like you that I want to know what cut of beef I am dealing with before I buy it if possible. 

But why?  Whats your definition of fresh?

 

Good beef is typically 3-4 weeks old before it hits your table.  Imported lamb and beef is twice as old as that.  Most of the fish we eat is flash frozen on the ship or subsequently flash frozen to kill parasites.  

 

Meat is not very "fresh" by the time you are ringing it up at the market.  This may make your stomach turn but actually its a better product through aging which is way beef is hung for a couple weeks before being broken down and shipped to the market.  Its also why the highest end sushi places in Japan are serving fish that has been frozen for XX number of days.

Edited September 27, 2019 by Jauronimo

[RochesterRob]

32 minutes ago, Jauronimo said:

But why?  Whats your definition of fresh?

 

Good beef is typically 3-4 weeks old before it hits your table.  Imported lamb and beef is twice as old as that.  Most of the fish we eat is flash frozen on the ship or subsequently flash frozen to kill parasites.  

 

Meat is not very "fresh" by the time you are ringing it up at the market.  This may make your stomach turn but actually its a better product through aging which is way beef is hung for a couple weeks before being broken down and shipped to the market.  Its also why the highest end sushi places in Japan are serving fish that has been frozen for XX number of days.

  I get aging but my taste buds don't lie.  About once every two months I have to take a package of Wegman's ground beef back before the expiration date because the meat had become inedible.  Some packages of meat can get through the weekly cycle and taste fine all the way through.  This tells me that there is a quality and therefore freshness issue.  Good beef can be 3-4 weeks old before it hits my table but who truthfully knows how old the stuff is that I buy on a given Friday.  Just this morning at Wegman's no large lean ground beef out so I ask the meat guy about it.  Did not make the normal truck and he could grind some stuff up that had already been in the store a few days.  I want the stuff just off the truck there and not something that has already been there a few days and most likely mixed in with some older stuff already going gray.  Too bad the Mennonites are not on my normal Friday run as there is night and day difference in product.  Headed down into Mennonite territory tomorrow so maybe I will stop at a meat shop they run.

[The Dean]

5 hours ago, Cripple Creek said:

If you still have it and care to share please post your recipe. I'm always looking to tweak mine. 

 

 

I don't have a recipe. I'm not a recipe guy, for the most part. I will tell you it isn't very complicated.  I'm going from memory as (except for the quick sausage patty thing) I haven't done this in a few years.

 

1. Grind a pork butt once or twice, depending on the grinder and the texture you prefer in your sausage. Pick a nice piece of meat that is not too lean, but also not too fatty. Oh, and if you are grinding twice, you might want to spice the meat with step 2 before the second grind--if you have time, let it commingle for awhile before the regrind..

 

2. Add some fennel seed, salt, garlic, pepper (I use a lot of red pepper in my hot sausage) and a bit of dry red wine.

 

I like my sausage to be less salty and fatty than most, but very hot. So the amount of each depends on whether I'm making it just for myself or for others, as well. I don't use curing salt, just regular old sea salt. I NEVER add sugar. I'd only use paprika if it were a very good hot paprika. As for most of the stuff in the grocery store---that's just food coloring, and not needed, IMO. I've been known to toss in a bit of oregano and/or parsley. 

 

3. Test a small patty (after cooking, of course). Make some spice adjustments, test another. Repeat until I'm satisfied.

 

4. Stuff into well rinsed natural casings (intestines). 

 

That's it. It's best to let them sit in the refrigerator for a day or so, before chowing down, but I usually start digging right in. 

 

There are other, fancier, more complicated recipes and I've had some sausage that was quite unusual. But this is the style of sausage I was raised on as a couple relatives made sausage like this. Also similar to Scipione's in Niagara Falls. If/when I get a new machine, I might try making some small changes to make a Scime's Market (North Buffalo) style. It's slightly different, but it's very good.

[Cripple Creek]

3 hours ago, The Dean said:

 

 

I don't have a recipe. I'm not a recipe guy, for the most part. I will tell you it isn't very complicated.  I'm going from memory as (except for the quick sausage patty thing) I haven't done this in a few years.

 

1. Grind a pork butt once or twice, depending on the grinder and the texture you prefer in your sausage. Pick a nice piece of meat that is not too lean, but also not too fatty. Oh, and if you are grinding twice, you might want to spice the meat with step 2 before the second grind--if you have time, let it commingle for awhile before the regrind..

 

2. Add some fennel seed, salt, garlic, pepper (I use a lot of red pepper in my hot sausage) and a bit of dry red wine.

 

I like my sausage to be less salty and fatty than most, but very hot. So the amount of each depends on whether I'm making it just for myself or for others, as well. I don't use curing salt, just regular old sea salt. I NEVER add sugar. I'd only use paprika if it were a very good hot paprika. As for most of the stuff in the grocery store---that's just food coloring, and not needed, IMO. I've been known to toss in a bit of oregano and/or parsley. 

 

3. Test a small patty (after cooking, of course). Make some spice adjustments, test another. Repeat until I'm satisfied.

 

4. Stuff into well rinsed natural casings (intestines). 

 

That's it. It's best to let them sit in the refrigerator for a day or so, before chowing down, but I usually start digging right in. 

 

There are other, fancier, more complicated recipes and I've had some sausage that was quite unusual. But this is the style of sausage I was raised on as a couple relatives made sausage like this. Also similar to Scipione's in Niagara Falls. If/when I get a new machine, I might try making some small changes to make a Scime's Market (North Buffalo) style. It's slightly different, but it's very good.

Fennel, garlic, pepper flakes and wine is what I use as well, thanks.

[thebug]

Jesus, I’m guessing mr perfect steak has to eat alone. Only one way I guess. Beer snob X10!!! 

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

On 9/26/2019 at 9:28 PM, Augie said:

 

I’m NOT in a small town, and I had hoped that we had found a butcher in Buckhead the quality of the place(s) I used in Sarasota, FL. It looked like the real deal! I asked for a few pounds of boneless beef short ribs. “Oh, we don’t do boneless”, to which I asked “why not, if thats what I want?”  I was making a boneless dish. 

 

He acted all surprised when I got on the phone in front of him and called Whole Foods, got Tyler in the butcher department and he was happy as hell to cut 3 pounds of boneless short ribs for me (as he had done before). I’m not a real WF fan, but they have advantages and are not as expensive as they used to be, especially compared to Publix. 

 

If anyone in Atlanta knows of a great butcher, I’d love to hear from you!  The place that let me down was NY Butcher Shoppe in Buckhead.

 

I know we have Sarasota people here. If you haven’t, try the Butcher Block on 17th or Geier’s on 41, just south of Alpine Steak House, which is also good. 

 

Way off the subject, but I was just in Atlanta (Buckhead), and had a great steak at a restaurant called Bones.

 

By the way, not sure how you survive down there! Traffic and strips malls! 

[Augie]

25 minutes ago, JR in Pittsburgh said:

 

Way off the subject, but I was just in Atlanta (Buckhead), and had a great steak at a restaurant called Bones.

 

By the way, not sure how you survive down there! Traffic and strips malls! 

 

Bones is awesome! My wife had an event there last week, but I haven’t been in quite a while. Great food and a nice feel to the place.

 

As for traffic, this is not my favorite place to be. Stay off the highway whenever possible, the back roads are bad enough. 

[Nanker]

 

[BringBackFergy]

34 minutes ago, Nanker said:

 

I bet he doesn’t give a ***** if that steak is reverse seared. 

[Gugny]

On 9/28/2019 at 1:38 PM, BringBackFergy said:

I bet he doesn’t give a ***** if that steak is reverse seared. 

 

If you leave that steak in his mouth for 28 hours, just take it out and finish it in a cast iron pan with some butter and rosemary.

[Augie]

3 minutes ago, Gugny said:

 

If you leave that steak in his mouth for 28 hours, just take it out and finish it in a cast iron pan with some butter and rosemary.

 

I bet you’d have to reverse sear the Doberman to get that bone out of his mouth. I’ll let you go first. I’ll come in later with the butter and rosemary....more my style. I prefer the nuance of cooking over the spurting of blood from my arteries. 

 

Just personal preference, to each their own.