Choosing Steaks

[ScooterQ]

A ribeye is a ribeye is a ribeye right? Wrong. Some are more flavorful and tender than others, depending on where along the primal they are cut from. There are differences in packers too. So how do you pick the best one? Take a look below. This information was provided by Steve Graves, a retired butcher who answers meat questions at Ask a Butcher. He provided it (with the photos) in response to my question below:

Question:

Ask-a-Butcher,

I used to buy whole strip loins and rib eyes at Costco for cheap, cut them myself, then foodsave them and throw 'em in the freezer. I have a large family and I thought I was getting great value this way - choice grade at the best price. I've had a couple of bad experiences doing this however - mainly with tough steaks. I got a bad rib section once and it almost completely turned me off to rib eyes. The tragedy is that after the first tough steak, I start thinking about the other eight or nine tough steaks sitting in the freezer waiting for me - and all that money I spent. So, I've stopped doing this. It's too risky. I guess I'm just lousy at selecting big haunches of meat in the cryovac. Now, I buy strip steaks three at a time and I pick them out very carefully, looking for a specific shape (indicating they came from a particular spot along the loin (#2's in the strip pic) and of course, plenty of marbling). My theory is that steaks vary in tenderness/flavor depending on where they're located on the loin. Is this true or just my superstition? If it is true, what should I look for? Is there a way to pick out a great whole strip loin in the cryovac? I do think I'm having better luck with the new way . . . Thanks.

Answer:

Scott, sorry to hear that you are having tough steaks. There is no set practice at the retail level to determine the tenderness of the meat. However, one way to almost guarantee a good piece of meat is the packer. On my site I explain the differences in USDA Choice Beef, so I won't go into it here (it's on the FAQ page), but there is a huge difference which packers have the best beef. I will NOT buy Strips or Ribeyes from Excel, Nat'l Beef or Swift Premium. I stick to ONLY IBP (Iowa Beef Packers) or a CAB (Certified Angus Beef) and I've never had a tough piece of steak.

Now, one end of your Rib Eye does back up to the Chuck and that end will be rather fatty, ugly and 'maybe' not as tender as the end that backs up to the Strip Loin. However, the flavor is indescribably good. Take a look a the pic labeled 'ibprib' and look at #'s 3,

those are the ones that may/may not be tough. #'s 2 are center cut and #'s 1 are running into the Strip Loin. #'s 1 & 2 will be more tender than #3. One end of your Strip Loin obviously breaks at the Rib and the other end backs up to the Sirloin.

#'s 1 on the Strip pic are from the rib end of the strip loin. Notice how much they look like the Ribeyes? #'s 2 are the center cuts and #'3 are now getting near the Sirloin. Notice the veins and different look of the muscles in #3? I don't care for this end, because of the difference in tenderness of #'s 1 & 2. By the way, the "s" is actually part of the Sirloin they left on this particular Strip.

I hope this helps? If you need more clarification, don't hesitate to ask.

[Jinmyo]

Interesting. Thanks.

[RETREVR]

Seems to make sense but my experience is different. The 3 cut is the big end and the 1 cut is the small end. What I look for is the 3 cut with good marble in the main muscle. The marbled strip of meat that runs along the outside of the 3 cut is arguably the most flavorfull part of the animal(the tip of the tear drop is pretty dam good also). Even if you select a tough 3 cut you will still get the ultra tender flavorfull band around it. The 1 cuts in the picture don't have the quality marbleing that the 2 and 3 cuts have. I might as well have a NY if I go shopping for the 1 cut. And in my opinion, a good NY can't hold its own against a poor ribeye.

Now you can argue the point that the 2 cuts shown have good marble and a small band around them. OK fine. They look good. But if you put a prime rib in front of me and ask me to slice myself a peice, it will always come from the large end....the 3 cut.

[ScooterQ]

Jinmyo,

You're welcome. I have great respect for the butcher's craft and value this kind of information highly. Steve is very generous to answer these questions and will respond quickly if you pose a question via his site. My grandfather was a butcher and as a kid I used to help him at the store put out hamburger. He seemed to know everyone in our small town - and had probably given advice about how to cook meat to most of them.

RETREVR,

What is the tip of the tear drop? The ribeyes I had cut myself were tough because I got a bad primal, not because they came from the large end. I don't think Steve is saying the large end is necessarily tougher if you get the right primal. He would agree with you about the outstanding flavor. I asked him about the outer ring of meat on the large end, sometimes cut separately and called a cap steak. I think this may be the spinalis dorsi muscle that Jeffrey Steingarten has praised as as the most delicious cut on the steer. If anybody knows for sure, fess up please. A benefit in buying a whole rib would be to ability to slice this off and keep it for yourself. I may give this a try. The large end is for sure, an extremely rich cut.

Now I'm wondering about what the strip pictures imply for T-Bone and Porterhouse steaks. Is the strip side of a T-Bone more tender than the strip side of a Porterhouse? Vice versa? More to come . . .

[deltadoc]

Could you post the URL of your Ask the Butcher? There seem to be many when googling "ask the butcher".

Thanks!

doc

[scott123]

Very interesting indeed. I wish the pictures were bigger though. It's a little difficult to distinguish the differences between the cuts.

[ScooterQ]

Could you post the URL of your Ask the Butcher?  There seem to be many when googling "ask the butcher".

Thanks!

doc

←

Hi doc - ask a butcher is at right here at ask-a-butcher.com

So I just reread Jeffrey Steingarten's essay "High Steaks" from the book "It Must Have Been Something I Ate". He's done his homework - the piece runs 30 pages. According to Jeffrey, "the three greatest steaks, the very summit and apogee of beef" are the "three steaks cut from the center of the rib section, ribs eight, nine, and ten (counting from the front of the animal)". Note that the first five ribs are in the shoulder section - the rib primal begins at rib six. I believe these ultimate steaks would be the #2's in the rib photo. He adds that these steaks have the thickest piece of "spinalis . . . and only modest deposits of separable fat at their center". He also gives a nod to the Porterhouse, including this "paradigmatic" cut to the list of great steaks. The strip steaks at the front of the short loin (#1's in the pic) when cut differently, become part of the T-bone, the strips closer to the end of the loin (2's and 3's) belong to the porterhouse.

[RETREVR]

Scooter-

I can go whith that. Sometimes the fat seperating the spinalis is so pervasive that it effects the integrity of the steak(on the 3 cuts). So, if you can give me a 2 cut with good spinalis, I would be bappy.

Teardrop is not a industry term. If you look at the cut, it is sort of the shape of a teardrop. The spinalis is on one edge and the pointy, fat tip is on the other. Sometimes you get a bite or two out of that tip that is killer.

I have mixed feelings on the t-bone. You are trying to cook two cuts at the same time. This compromise rarely produces super results on both sides of the bone. The best part of the t-bone is the rare meat next to the bone. There is some satisfaction from chewing on the bone at the end. I prefer a Ribeye to both tenderloin and strip. So I would usually opt for a ribeye over a t-bone unless the price is right, or the cuts just look superior to the ribeye selection. Ribey with the bone is also available.

I just don't see porterhouse very often. I supose if you can pawn off the tenderloin side to your wife it starts to make sense.

My grandfather was also a butcher.