Steak

[Katman]

How do you like your steak? Medium rare? Well done (burnt)? Mooing? Discuss it here.

Have any tips or tricks for the best way to prepare a steak? What rub do you use? Steak sauce? Pfah. A good steak doesn't need sauce. What is your favorite cut? Wine? Side dish?

What was the best steak you've eaten? I remember mine almost as vividly as I remember losing my virginity. I had the steak at a summer camp where I was working; I was 16 at the time. Real meat was a scarce thing and this cheap cut of beef, seared on a cast-iron skillet and seasoned only with salt, bleed all over my plate and into my heart.

I look forward to more excellent steaks in the future. Here are some pictures of steak for you: Mmm and ahhh.

[Orangeaholic]

Oh steak! Where do I begin?

Steak could quite possibly be my favorite food. I prefer my steak rare (very rare) with a side of sauteed mushrooms. Oozing with red wine marinade. mmmmm...

*wipes drool off key board*

~Orange

[ThatReallyHurt]

Medium well to well done. No pink, but no charcoal.

I don't usually marinate steak at all - I'll just slap on some sort of BBQ sauce, toss on some onion power and garlic powder, serve with a baked potato with mushrooms and onions...

My Dad BBQs great steak. He does marinate them, but I'm not entirely sure in what... but they're great.

[mrbiggs]

Medium. Cooked on the outside, soft on the inside. Mmmmm.

With bernaise sauce...that stuff is soooooooooooo goooood.

[Araznal]

Steak is just plain good. That's it. My steaks come medium rare (there's only so much juice I can handle before getting sick) with mashed potatos, broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower as side dishes. Favorite cut? Not sure, but I am a big fan of the classic T-Bone and tenderloin. Had my best steak in Arlington two years back after the last day of a NAC. I kept eating it even though I was full. It was that good. So... juicy...

[Moses]

I like my meat still a-twitchin'.

Salt and pepper over a rare or medium-rare bone-in ribeye is dee-vine.

I like mine with white rice or a small roasted sweet potato and a tall glass of icy water.

Meat > non-meat =

Meat = non-meat =

Meat < non-meat =

-Da Mose

[cornflower]

I like my steak roasted/BBQd until it has only a HINT of pink and still tender ... but not charred on the outside. I like it with oregano, onions, garlic, whatever. Greek-style steak rules. Mmmm... *drool*.

I can't decide on the BEST steak I've ever had. In fact I don't think I've ever had a REEEEALLY good steak. If I had to choose, I think I'd pick the steak I had at Boston Pizza.

[Welted 24/7]

The best steak I've ever had was at a steakhouse called Morton's on Long Island, and for what it cost, it had damn well BETTER be the best one I'd ever had. Medium rare, marinated and seared with cajun spices with a gigantic baked potato...believe me when I say that I need a Barry White song to accompany my thoughts of that steak.

In general, I take my dead cow medium rare, although I've moved to medium lately because I've found that a lot of places don't know how to do medium rare right, and I end up with an overly chewy/soggy lump on my plate instead of what I wanted. Sending it back until they get it right is more trouble than it's worth.

Somewhat off-topic, my most prodigious act of gluttony ever involved a steak. Dinner for me that night consisted of a basket of bread(all of it, including butter), seven fist-sized cheddar/bacon potato skins(there were nine on the appetizer), a 16 oz. steak, a plate of thick steak fries, and a massive baked potato with butter, cheese, and bacon bits. I imagine I took about a decade off of my life that night. Oddly enough, the steak wasn't even that good. And yes, I do love my carbs, thanks for asking. Saucysabrevixen can corroborate that story, if you like....and the aftermath of it, although I really doubt anybody really wants to relive THAT part of it.

[Zelda]

Steak GOOD! Medium rare - medium for me. Best steak I ever had...
Rib eye fillet cooked by my adopted brother in a Chimera using a shovel, with mushroom sauce, gravy and baked potato. Orgasmic.

[ReverseLunge]

The best steak must be between medium rare and rare and must be Kobe beef or Argentinian beef with the fur kept on.

[sabreur]

Just knock the horns off--somewhere between raw and warm all the way through. Preferably grilled over charcoal.

I usually eat flank steak, and will often marinate it in herbs, olive oil and red wine vinegar, in a teriyaki marinade (soy sauce, crushed garlic cloves, fresh grated ginger, olive oil and a hefty shot of gin).

MR

[great bowyer]

i like my steak medium-rare seasoned with just pepper. i remember when i went conoeing several years ago in minnisota for a week. the night we got off the water we went into town and found a nice steakhouse, that was the best steak i have had.

[Epee_Pox]

Let your fire burn down till there's no flame, just hot coals.

Take two full filets mignon (not just the center whorls), about 1.5" thick, and rub them gently with a bit of salt and cracked black pepper, not too much.

Toss them on the grill for five minutes or so, until the bottom sides are nicely seared and carmelized.

Turn them over and let 'em sizzle until the pink juices start percolating out the top (searing actually draws out fluids, rather than sealing them in).

Your steaks are now hot through, with the perfect blend of flavors -- the utterly complex and powerful outer crust, the mellow and meaty mid-layers, and the pink perfection of the center.

You even think about putting more salt or any sauce on that steak, and you will never be invited over again.

Drink with a good beer or a velvety peppery red wine.

[oso97]

I'll second Zelda's comment about the best steak being an almost orgasmic experience. Best one I had ever was a melt-in-your mouth tender medium rare with a raspberry glaze.

Followed by a chocolate dessert that WAS an orgasmic experience.

[Maeve_Mari]

Rare, seasoned with a dash of salt and garlic, grilled over hot coals. I love the real cuts... Porterhouse, T-Bone... Sirloin when I don't want to pay the big bucks for the boned meats. I'm not a fan of Filet - doesn't have enough chew and flavor for my taste.

A group of us went over to a friends house years back for steaks on the grill. He asked us how we wanted it cooked and most of us replied back Raw to rare... after a bit we got carried away in conversations and hadn't realized the host was still out there cooking our steaks, so we tapped on the patio door and he said, no problems, they're just about done. When he served those chunks of shoe leather to us for dinner that night, we made a pact to never let him cook our steaks again! It's gotta be rare if you want it good.

[counter riposte]

Gheez... you guys are making me hungry. Flank, Medium Rare, no salt, pepper with mushrooms.

OK I'm a grillin tonight.

[Epee_Pox]

Yeah, I almost said porterhouse. And heck, you're right. It comes with the filet, and the meat alongside the bone is the best. And all those lovely fats rounding out the flavor.... mmmmmm

[Katman]

Argentinian beef

The man has a good point. My girlfriend and her family are from Argentina and damn if they don't know how to make good steak.

[D+F+P=Hadouken!]

bloody as hell, with a five dollar milk shake.

[mollusk]

I prefer my steak to be tuna and on occasion swordfish. A nice thick piece of grouper is divine, too.

If it must be beef, I prefer a medium piece of flank steak; I find the "choicer" cuts too fatty. (I try to limit my consumption of beef and try and get more of my protein from white meat of chicken and turkey and from fish.) As for wine that would go with this I like a really good St. Estephe (Montrose or Cos d'Estournel especially), but those would be for rare occasions or somebody else picking up the tab. A decent California cabernet would do fine. Schafer is one of my favorites.

A real simple marinade is Paul Newman's olive oil and vinegar dressing. Flank steak, half a bottle, and a large ziplock bag is all it takes.