Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

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Thursday, June 1. 2023

What is so rare as a steak in June?

Readers know that Maggie's has a preference for rare Ribeyes (especially those thick Costco ones which can dine 4 people), cooked on an iron pan over a hot gas flame. Olive oil and butter, salt and pepper. Hard crust on the surface, but almost alive inside.


Burgers and hot dogs on the outdoor grill? Excellent. Also, marinated butterflied legga lamb.  But a good steak? Nope.


I know others have different opinions. 



Posted by Bird Dog in Food and Drink at 13:27 | Comments (10) | Trackbacks (0)

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I love steak anyway I can get it. Medium rare to rare please!
#1 Don on 2023-06-01 14:31 (Reply)
I agree although I like mine medium.
#2 OneGuy on 2023-06-01 15:45 (Reply)
Sam's Club stocks frenched racks of lamb in cryovac packages. My wife puts together a marinade (her secret recipe including fresh rosemary and garlic) and puts them in a bag in the fridge for at least 24 hours.

She then uses the (gas) grill and gets them nice and crispy on the fat cap while maintaining a rare interior. We rest them tented in foil for at least 5 minutes before slicing them into individual ribs and devouring.

I have to agree that for beef the rib-eye is the best steak. Finding one with a small eye and large crown, and without the typical huge chunk of fat in the middle is becoming difficult but not impossible. The one illustrated here would not pass muster for this household despite the relatively nice marbling; just not enough crown over the "eye". Those two different muscles have completely different flavors and texture.
#3 Blackwing1 on 2023-06-01 16:09 (Reply)
Hmm, rack of lamb at Sam's? I gotta check it out.

My wife and I are divided, rib-eye vs t-bone, but both sear up nice on a red hot griddle.
#3.1 Mike Anderson (Link) on 2023-06-01 17:25 (Reply)
I use a cast iron pot or Dutch Oven to contain the splatters a bit when hotterenhell to sear, but the same concept. Throw in a handful of big jalapenos while the iron is heating up and when they go mushy heave in the meat and perhaps some chopped up onion; nothing else but olive oil, salt and pepper. Rare inside is fine although the outside crust is where the taste is for me so I try for a good burn first. Perfected this ribeye method with hundreds of pounds of oil company provided steaks. My consumption has declined some since the "free" steak days offshore.
#4 slm on 2023-06-01 16:20 (Reply)
I prefer the gas grill, super hot - I have an infrared burner for the sear, and then over to the regular gas to finish.

And Costco also has a New York strip, Prime cut, that is absolutely terrific, not quite as much fat as the Ribeye but very very tender eating.

If you're using a skillet, why are you using olive oil, though? Awfully low smoke point. Have you ever tried Ghee? Cow for the cow.
#5 Aggie on 2023-06-01 20:04 (Reply)
You might want to try reversing that order on really thick steaks. What I've found works best is to grill them over very, very low heat, turning about every minute until the interiors hit around 110°F, and (having warmed up your searer in advance) put them on the searing burner for 30 seconds on each side, twice (a total of 2 minutes), and then plate them.

They come out rare on the inside but with sizzling hot/crusty fat on the outside.
#5.1 Blackwing1 on 2023-06-02 13:15 (Reply)
That probably works very well, but I confess I'm a little bit stuck in my ways when it comes to steak. I like the grill for the very high heat and the smokiness imparted when the drippings hit the fire. I prefer to leave the grill cover closed as much as possible; I find that using the meat probe frequently releases too much heat each time the cover is raised. And from long experience, I know the 'feel' of the steak as it cooks and by now, I know what my preferred medium rare-bordering-on-rare 'feels' like, when I prod it or flip it with the tongs. It still comes out sizzling and mouth-watering, but either way, that aspect goes away pretty quickly if you're going to let the meat rest for a few minutes - which I highly recommend, to lock in the juiciness.

My preferred is definitely Costco's Prime New York strip, nicely marbled with little waste and almost no whole fat, seasoned overnight with Worcestershire, Pickapeppa, salt & pepper, and a little garlic. The tamarind in the Pickapeppa is a very nice subtle note.
#5.1.1 Aggie on 2023-06-02 13:27 (Reply)
I agree about the iron pan on the stove. And I like rare beef, but ribeye has too much fat for me to prefer it rare. I have to cook some of that fat away. Ususally, I go with t-bone/strip.

Aggie is right. Olive oil will smoke before it's hot enough to sear a steak. It's for sweating vegetables or as a topping.
#6 jack walter on 2023-06-02 07:15 (Reply)
I've become addicted to Montreal Steak Blend, which is (I think) basically salt, pepper, and lemon zest. Nothing like a little lemon zest on a really thick ribeye. In fact, that was dinner last night.
#7 Texan99 on 2023-06-02 09:04 (Reply)

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