Choosing Steak

The key to a delicious steak is choosing the right cut of meat. Johnny Livesay discusses marbling, grass-fed versus grain-fed beef, and the best cuts for your budget.

Find more Co+op Kitchen videos featuring information and easy recipes for making delicious meals at home, as well as handy hints from chefs and food enthusiasts who love sharing their passion for great food.

Video Transcript

Hello. My name is Johnny Livesay from Austin, Texas. I'm a former employee of the Wheatsville Food Co-op and the current kitchen team leader at the Black Star Co-op Pub and Brewery. Today we're going to talk about choosing the perfect steak.

The key to a perfect steak is finding the right cut of meat. What you want is something that's going to be a beautiful cherry red color with a good amount marbling or fat stripes that are actually in the muscle tissue.

Personally, I prefer ribeye. These are both ribeyes. They have a lot of fat, generally, on the inside of them. A lot of marbling. That allows for a lot more flavor. They have a good beefy flavor.

A good alternative to a ribeye that is just a little bit less expensive is going to be the New York strip. The New York strip tends to be a little bit more dense, less intra-muscle fat, but it's still a good amount of fat on the outside to provide some flavor while we're cooking.

A little bit more expensive, but kind of a treat, is going to be the filet or tenderloin, which is a naturally tender piece of meat, so it doesn't need as much marbling. It's a very juicy cut. You usually see it sold as a filet mignon, which is going to be wrapped in bacon.

The last thing to really think about when you're choosing your steak is if you want to have it grass-fed or grain-fed. Grain-fed beef is usually finished on cereal grains, and that provides a lot of fat. Grass-fed beef tends to be more expensive, but it has a really delicious flavor but not a whole lot of fat.

So these are good examples of steaks that you're looking for.

Let's talk about steaks that you don't want to find. These steaks are very sad. They're gray. You can see that there's a lot of moisture, and that's also known as purge. It looks like these have sat around for a long time. This is something that you would never want to serve any of your guests. And probably not even want to have in your house.

I hope that this video gave you some tips on how to choose a perfect steak.

I'm Johnny for Co+op, stronger together.