How to Select Your Steak

If you want to end up eating a great steak, there is no other way to do it than by starting with one that is already great. Unfortunately, it can be rather difficult to determine whether or not a steak at the market is of high quality. There are plenty to choose from, but if you don’t know what you’re looking for, finding the best one will be pretty tricky. Here are a few things to look for when you go steak shopping that’ll help you get a better result.

Grade is one of the first things you will want to look at. The USDA, or a third party agency in some cases, does the grading according to the age of the animal and how much marbling is on the carcass, which is then cut into pieces of meat. There is some variance between the actual cuts because of this. However, prime meat is usually better than choice, which is better than select meat – these are the major consumer grades in the US.

Other grades exist, but they are sold mostly to commercial users. It can be pretty hard to find prime beef, so most of us will be eating choice steaks. Try some choice and some select steaks and see if you can taste the difference between the two grades.

Marbling is a factor traditionally used to determine the quality of a steak. Leaner meat will have little fat and be more tender, but much less flavorful. Streaks of fat generally produce steaks that have more taste to them. However, many people are discovering that other factors influence taste as much or more than marbling. For instance, raising the cattle on grass instead of grain, and finishing them on grass alone, or a mixture of grass and grain seems to result in a steak with more taste, even though it has less attractive marbling. You may have to try a few different kinds to discover what the best option is.

There are lots of different cuts of meat available on the market, with some making better steaks than others do. Steak comes from three major portions of the animal – the sirloin, short loin, and rib, and each cooks a little differently. The rib is less tender, and needs more attention and longer cooking than you’d use if you were deciding how to cook boneless top sirloin steak.

The short loin brings us the top loin steak, Porterhouse, T-bone and tenderloin, while the sirloin produces sirloin and top sirloin steaks. You may see round, chuck, and flank meats also labeled as steak, but do not put them on the grill unless you want really tough beef. Try them in stews instead, since the quality is much lower. Pick the best steak to begin with, and then find the best way to cook it, since a good marinade will not make a bad steak any better. A good one will improve even a great steak, however.

There are many different cuts of steak that can be grilled, broiled or fried. In order to make the most of each cut, you need to learn the best way to use marinades and other methods of adding flavor. If you visit EasySteakMarinades.net, you can find out all the best ways to prepare each cut.