Steaks: Educate me

[Saab2000]

I don't order a steak very often when I eat out but when I do it is always a filet mignon. My rationale is that it has less visible fat and little, if any, of the gristle that I get in other cuts. You can just eat the whole thing and when done properly they're pretty effin' tasty.

So today I'm reading some reviews of some famous steakhouses. Pricey ones. Why would someone order other cuts? Seems if you're going to drop the money on a good steak dinner that you'd go for the best cut, which I have always presumed to be the filet. Am I wrong?

Teach me. I'm all ears.

Also, how about bison steaks?

[bellman]

I think the fat makes them taste differently, in a good way. While I loves me some fillet, a 2" thick ribeye is my favorite. I like them grilled so they are still pink and then I turn it white with salt from the shaker.

Kinda like chicken breast is the leanest but the fattier thigh tastes like a summer picnic should. You know, potato salad-cold chicken- checkered table cloth....

Man, this sucks. Now I'm hungry.....

[topher]

I too usually get the filet however I have been reconsidering as almost everyone tells me that the other cuts have more flavor. The filet is generally the most tender but a properly cooked t-bone, sirloin, etc will have more flavor and can be close to as tender. I may have to branch out but I really hate the fat and any gristle.

[TMB]

Filet is honestly the last thing I would order if going out. Ribeye and Top Sirloin are the most flavorful of steaks, a slight edge to Sirloin, and given the typical methods of cooking in a steakhouse, you want marbled fat in the steak.

Much of the flavour in a steak is in the marbled fat, you order a Filet, you're ordering an expensive paperweight.

[devlin]

I like the good old rib eye as well. Closer to teh bone as well as a little bit of fat make for a juicy and tender steak. I like it flame grilled, still pink going on red with a little salt and pepper put on before being cooked.

Cold drumsticks are sooooo good on a hot day. Damn Bellman, the jam sandwhich I just had tastes like crap now!

[bellman]

I think the fat makes them taste differently, in a good way. While I loves me some fillet, a 2" thick ribeye is my favorite. I like them grilled so they are still pink and then I turn it white with salt from the shaker.

Kinda like chicken breast is the leanest but the fattier thigh tastes like a summer picnic should. You know, potato salad-cold chicken- checkered table cloth....

Man, this sucks. Now I'm hungry.....

[edoz]

I'm a strip steak kinda guy, Jake is right about the fat making them taste different and strips have a fat content somewhere between the ribeye and the tenderloin that filet mignon is made from. It's a lot of personal preference, though.

[deepsix]

The ultimate treat to myself:
Ribeye cooked sous vide (I do this with a thermometer on the stovetop- easy) then seared on the grill, precisely medium rare. Topped with some cracked pepper and a drizzle of nice balsamic reduction. It must be wrong to lust so powerfully for anything.

Ask someone smarter about sous vide. You're missing out.

[jbartmc]

New York strip and ribeye stand alone so well, and the fillet is milder. I like them all.

[Shinomaster]

Most real foodies shun the filet in favor of the more flavorful strip, ribeye/delmonico, or something cheap and fun like a skirt/bavette/flat iron. I do happen to like a nice filet with real sauce bernaise or bourdelaise imho. :) Saab do you ever cook? Throw a rib eye on the bbq and report back.

[Hindmost]

Ribeye.

[zetroc]

Ribeye med rare or maybe a t-bone for flavor. I dont think I've had a filet in 2 years.

[roguedog]

Rib eye..yummy. don't really care for filets. Only exception is the filet on the bone from Boboquivari's The Steak - San Francisco Restaurant in The Marina when they have it.

[Saab2000]

Most real foodies shun the filet in favor of the more flavorful strip, ribeye/delmonico, or something cheap and fun like a skirt/bavette/flat iron. I do happen to like a nice filet with real sauce bernaise or bourdelaise imho. :) Saab do you ever cook? Throw a rib eye on the bbq and report back.

I barely ever cook. And I'm embarrassed about that fact. I'm just home so little and so irregularly that it's hard to learn. But I think I'd like it and I think I'd be good at it. But I'm mostly embarrassed that I really don't know how to do much of anything in the kitchen.

I do know how to boil water.... But not much more.

[-HvA-]

Alton Brown has some really good instructions on cooking steak (it worked for me and I can't cook for shit).

[Shinomaster]

Saab, it may take a few tries but a simple steak can be easily mastered. Salt, pepper and heat are all you need (maybe some olive oil and a grill pan). The worst thing you can do is slightly over cook (or burn the crap out of it) it and then you"ll only be out $11.00, or if it's too rare just throw it back on for a few more minutes. If you steam some red potatoes (just with boiling water) and a grill some asparagus on the same pan you'll have yourself a complete meal.

[Lionel]

Bone in filet, medium rare please.

[vertical_doug]

Go to a Korean Barbecue or Japanese Yakiniku

order in some boneless short ribs (Kalbi) and some TAN (Tongue)
Grill away.

p.s. don't be shy and try kimchee

[AJPM44]

I have a good story about steaks. I was in Switzerland a while ago staying at a friend's house, so I said I would cook them dinner. They told me they had a great butcher in the next town over, so off I went with his wife to see him. My Swiss-German is non existent, so there I was pantomiming where on a cow the cut of beef (hanger steak) was that I wanted. Finally after an awkward couple minutes he takes me out back to point out where the steak comes from on the cow. There were about 10 freshly slaughtered cows hanging in the walk in, so I pointed out where the cut is located. We walk back out front, and he tells the lady I am with that he has already ground that up. In the end, I get no where and settle on a t-bone. With the t-bone, he also threw in a skirt steak for free (which in Switzerland saved me about 40.00$). A week later I get an email from them, the guy I stayed with is a well known cyclist in the area and they know of his family. His mother went to the butcher where the butcher asked how the meal was. Apparently he gave me the steak for free because he thought it was funny that anyone would eat that cut. He said he only uses it for cat and dog food. So I am now known as the weird American that eats cat food.

As far as what you should do with steak, try some of the cat food cuts, they are mighty tasty. If you ever see a hanger steak (onglet in French) order it, rare to mid rare and enjoy. Just be careful when you are in Switzerland.

[WayneJ]

Go with the proven DarrenCT method:

Salad and IPA
Crisp and Lean - Flushes out clean