Food Do we seriously not have an entire thread dedicated to STEAK until now?

I can't believe it, we've been slacking!!

If you TFP Foodies haven't yet noticed, I'm a die hard steak guy. I love grilling it, I love going to really nice steak places, and best of all, I love eating it!

I'm fortunate enough that I have a farmer friend who raises some awesome hormone free, antibiotic free, grass fed beef, so we get a really sweet deal on excellent beef (like ~$3/lb for an entire side, including all the steaks, roasts, and best ground beef you'll ever taste). That's the primary way I get me some steak. If I had to buy butcher shop prices all the time, there is no way my budget could keep up with my taste.


So, how do you feel about steak?
What cuts are your favorite?
How do you like it cooked?
What do you like to have with it?
Where are your favorite places to have steak?




How do I feel about steak? Already covered that, it's one of my all time favorite foods.

What cuts are my favorite? A bone-in ribeye is pretty tough to beat in my mind, but a great porterhouse comes in a close second. I also think flank steak is underrated if you prepare it right.

How do I like it cooked? Usually medium rare. I want to see some red, but the whole steak needs to be warm. Sometimes, depending on the cut and quality, I'll go just to the medium side of medium rare to let the fat break down just a touch more.

What do you like to have with it? I love salad. A nice spinach or mixed green salad with tomatoes, some shredded carrot, cucumber, hard boiled eggs, and shredded cheese is a nice starter with a steak. And I love baked potatoes, especially baked buried in the coals of the grill. I precook the potato most of the way, drizzle some olive oil on it, sprinkle some garlic, salt, pepper, and various other herbs on it, and wrap it in foil. Then cook it amongst the coals. Another great side for steak is grilled asparagus.

What are your favorite places to have steak? I like the traditional steak houses like Morton's, Ruth's Chris, Flemmings, etc. I really loved Peter Luger's the time I was able to make it there. But the top place in the world when it comes to steak, to me, is David Burke's Primehouse in Chicago. First and foremost, the steak there is to die for. If you truly like a steak that is full of flavor, go for their dry aged steaks. *drool* The great thing about David Burke's is that the rest of their food blows all the "traditional" steak houses out of the water. They are very creative with their appetizers, sides, and desserts, and offer a nice variety of non-steak entrees. The service there is also top notch.


The inspiration for this thread was my brunch this morning. The wife and I spent the weekend in Chicago for our wedding anniversary (14 years this month, can't believe she still keeps me around ). We've been to David Burke's for dinner before and loved it. But we've always wanted to try their brunch, the timing has just always been off. So this morning we decided we'd go for it. We go down there and start with a mimosa (for her) and a bloody mary (for me). Then we start checking out the brunch menu, when I spy the blurb about all the dinner steaks being available for breakfast too. So I ask the waitress "What if I want your 75 day dry aged ribeye from the dinner menu, but I want a load of breakfast food with it instead of the dinner sides." Her response was PERFECT: "You can absolutely do that. At David Burke's we will make you whatever you want, no matter what's on the menu, assuming we have the ingredients." Bam, I'm in instant heaven. (Can you tell yet that a great meal really gets me going? )

So I see some of the stuff on the brunch menu that looks good, and I piece together a plan. I ask for the 75day dry aged ribeye, medium rare. I ask for fried potatoes, extra crispy. I ask for their lobster scrambled eggs. I ask for wheat toast (hey, I got to keep it healthy ).

This is what she brought me:







And here is what it looked like when I was done:



I seriously felt a little stoned after all that awesomeness.







So, though I rambled and diverted and extrapolated, please post up your thoughts on steak!! I'm always looking for new ideas, and absolutely love sharing my thoughts, tips, and tricks.

 

I'm going to respond according to the years before I became a vegan. I was very much a meat lover growing up and into adulthood.

So, how [did] you feel about steak?

I loved it. A lot. I would eat seconds and even thirds at BBQs, even as a kid. My maternal grandfather was the same. We loved our meat. Steak was always king. If given a meat choice, it would always be steak. Always.​

What cuts [were] your favorite?

I was always a sirloin kind of guy. I was never into the fattier cuts. I liked my meat lean. However, later on, just before going vegan, I did experiment more with fattier cuts like ribeye. ​

How [did] you like it cooked?

I always liked it closer to rare than well done. Well done always seemed a waste, especially for leaner steaks, which would turn too tough. My preferred "doneness" was usually medium, but I often would go medium-well if I didn't quite trust who was doing the cooking. Medium-rare was a rare treat, though that was mostly for prime rib.​

What [did] you like to have with it?

I didn't discover the beauty of horseradish until my late steak career. Though I've also enjoyed fried mushrooms and onions. I occasionally would enjoy a cream-based seafood sauce, such as scallops or shrimp. I hadn't had gravy on steak for a really long time. It was a childhood thing mostly. Most often, though? Just some fresh-ground pepper if it's a good cut cooked right.

Sides? Anything. I'm a foodie. I like many things.

Wine? Yes, please. Give me a hearty red. Shiraz most often.​

Where [were] your favorite places to have steak?

No favourites. I'm no connoisseur or anything, though going to a proper steakhouse was always a clear advantage to any steak lover. ​

 

Love it.
Can't have it like I used to, the fat gets to me.

Prefer pan seared over grilled, but I'll take either.
Nothing needs to be actually on the steak, just by itself. (true Medium-Rare please...none of this our restaurant doesn't do it for health reasons, BS)
Love grilled mushrooms as a side.

Every so often I want Heinz 57 with it. (NOT A1, ick)

Maybe a nice Caesar before (yes I know it's now cliche...so what, I like it)
And a nice green on the side...spinach, green beans.

Most of the time, baked potato is overkill, maybe rice at the most...I like to focus on the steak as the meal...and my fill.

/Your dog wants STEAK! (to take from Fark)

 

Some more steak awesomeness to keep the juices flowing.

This was a tomahawk ribeye from St. Elmo's in Indianapolis. It's an absolute must visit if you are ever in Indy.




Man, I'm getting hungry.

 

Oh, and for me: Montreal steak spice. Not always needed, but just the smell of that stuff drive me crazy.

 

My favorite steak is the traditional Delmonico rib eye. There is some meat group out there trying to co-opt the name of the cut, but if you go to the original Delmonico restaurant on Beaver Street, you'll find out that it is a rib eye. I like mine to be medium on the inside, and slightly charred on the outside. Bone in isn't a necessity, but it does make it more interesting.

I do traditional baked potato usually but good steak fries work too. Oddly enough, I do like to have rice with my steak also. I find creamed corn or spinach to be too rich, so I like roasted vegetables, asparagus, brussel sprouts, peppers.

I do like to have a nice sauce, house steak sauce is good, but there are some good sauces out in the world from churrasco to habanero.

My favorite part of the rib eye is the tail. I like that rendered out as much as possible, but still fatty. yum.

 

I don't eat it at the moment, but I can tell you that if someone waved a Painted Hills steak under my nose, I wouldn't say no.

My favorite cut is filet mignon, but because of the price of that cut, it isn't one I enjoy if I'm paying for it. I generally prefer to pay the premium for the Painted Hills beef (pasture-raised, vegetarian diet, no hormones or antibiotics, raised in Oregon), and thus typically buy a sirloin. My other favorite cut is a New York Strip. In summer, if the Painted Hills New York Strips are on sale--watch out.

I like my steak anywhere from blue to medium-rare depending on my mood/time of the month.

I like steak with a good Caesar salad first and a baked potato alongside. Growing up, we frequently had to visit Reno, NV to visit my grandfather, and my favorite place to get a steak there is Sterling's: http://www.silverlegacyreno.com/dining/sterlings-seafood-steakhouse/ As a teen, I spent a few birthday dinners there. I don't typically go out for steak these days--I save my steak-eating for summer, the grill, and cook it myself. My family has cooked steak at home for as long as I can remember, and so I've had ample opportunity to perfect my technique. Similarly, my father-in-law grills a great steak. Doing it at home ensures I can be choosy about my beef and its source.

 

For those of you that like blue to rare steak, or even medium rare, try this technique. It may scare you, but I promise it turns out fabulous.

1) Let the steak sit at room temp for several hours before grilling.
2) Light a charcoal fire and get the coals red and glowing hot.
3) While the fire is getting hot, season the steak.
4) Throw the steak directly on the glowing coals. Leave it there anywhere from 90 seconds to 3 minutes, depending on how you like it.
5) Flip and repeat on the other side.
6) Let the steak rest for 5-7 minutes before cutting.
7) Nom nom nom nom nom nom

No, you will NOT burn it or make the outside taste like ash by doing this.

 

That is what I do. My husband always gets super-concerned: "Shouldn't you put this in the fridge?"

 

It goes to a small town butcher this farmer and his family have been using for 30 years. They hang it for a month, and let me choose how they process it (thickness of steaks, which roasts we keep and which are ground, size of packages, etc.).

 

I'm going to have to make a reservation at Delmonico's now...