How to order steak in a butchers?

sasta le

If i want 2 good steaks for dinner what would you ask?Whats a good amount to get
Or Tesco steaks any good

D

Well if you pop into your local butcher they can advise you as well and mostly likely better than randomers on the internet.

Any butcher would be happy to answer any and all questions.

Kovu

You could ask for a sirloin, striploin or fillet. Or a T-bone, which is just a sirloin with bone in. I like sirloin as they're a nice size with good flavour. However I usually buy all my steaks in Lidl, you can pick through the packs for one with good marbling which will give you the best flavour.

Marbling is the way fat is spread across the meat like this. The more it's marbled, the more tender it will be if it's cooked correctly.

whiskeyman

Try the Aldi finest steaks.
Fillet, Striploin and Sirloin.

Amazing quality.
I'm sure Lidl ones every bit as good too.

BailMeOut

what I do is if cooking indoors then strip steaks and if outdoors ribeyes. The trick for both is to get your butcher to cut nice and thick. No less than 3cms and ideally around 4 cms.

Mena

I wouldn't go with anything other than a ribeye.

delahuntv

Avoid fillet - over priced and difficult to cook perfectly.

A good aged ribeye or striploin is best for most occasions.

If unsure about how to cook them, then go to local butcher and they'll give you great advice.

If you're good on the cooking, Aldi's specially selected is very good.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

Markcheese

If you buy sirloin in a supermarket (and some butchers now) you'll usually get rump steak-(big flat steaks with several different muscles ) nothing wrong with rump steak but nothing like the sirloin you get in a restaurant-

Nicest steak (IMO)- 500g/ 1lb of centre sirloin ,cut in half giving you two very thick pieces of about 8 oz each -

stimpson

I love the Aldi Specially Selected Striploins. Would be better if they were a little thicker but the quality of the meat is fantastic.

sasta le

As said above when you unsure about buying it puts you off

Kloppstar

always ask the butcher to cut from the middle - if you're paying for fillet don't take the end pieces

Kovu

Kloppstar wrote: »

always ask the butcher to cut from the middle - if you're paying for fillet don't take the end pieces

Any decent butcher will take a thin slice off the end before cutting a fresh steak for a customer. If you ask for it to be cut from the middle, you're leaving the butcher with four open ends on a full cut and he will have more wastage.

Effects

Make sure to cook them from room temp and not straight from the fridge.

BailMeOut

Effects wrote: »

Make sure to cook them from room temp and not straight from the fridge.

perhaps! read this 7 Old Wives' Tales About Cooking Steak That Need To Go Away

Arbiter of Good Taste

I never go with rib-eye - it's too easy to get a bad rib eye and you end up with a cut of meat that is either too tough or way too fatty.

If you are not eating steak every night, I would go with the better, more expensive cut. I tend to go with fillet.

I've converted to the Aldi finest range and I find the fillet steaks fantastic

pwurple

More expensive is indicative of scarcity rather than being anything "better" in terms of steak. There are around 5 fillet steaks from a whole animal carcass but 15 sirloin + 15 rib eye.

Fillet steak is from an unused part of the animal. It is part of the reason that bullocks are castrated, they don't use this muscle to practice mating, so it remains floppy and flavourless. I am convinced that is why strong sauces like pepper sauce are used with it.

I personally prefer the flavour of sirloin or ribeye with good marbling. When I use fillet, I use the whole fillet in a Wellington with loads of other flavours from mushroom and bacon to go with it. Sirloin doesn't need the sauces, it has amazing flavour all on its own with a tiny bit of seasoning.

Kovu

pwurple wrote: »

It is part of the reason that bullocks are castrated, they don't use this muscle to practice mating, so it remains floppy and flavourless. I am convinced that is why strong sauces like pepper sauce are used with it.

It's flavourless because it's so lean, it's the marbled fat that gives a steak its flavour. Bulls are castrated mainly for handling purposes, plus the price for bull beef is not as good once they go over 16 months so they have to be highly fed and be of a quality to reach a 350/400 kg carcass deadweight.
Steers get a good ppk up to 30 months, so can allow a slower, more mature aging of the beef.

pwurple

Kovu wrote: »

It's flavourless because it's so lean, it's the marbled fat that gives a steak its flavour. Bulls are castrated mainly for handling purposes, plus the price for bull beef is not as good once they go over 16 months so they have to be highly fed and be of a quality to reach a 350/400 kg carcass deadweight.
Steers get a good ppk up to 30 months, so can allow a slower, more mature aging of the beef.

Yes, the flavour comes from marbling, the texture comes from lack of use of the muscle.

The price is from the amount of that cut in the animal.

I think we agree, what's the confused smiley for?

Jawgap

If you can, build a reputation with your butcher.

Until then just pick a good one and ask for his advice - tell him what you want, what you like and let him guide you.

For me, it would be ribeye - or t-bones or porterhouses, if you can get them.

Fillet is gorgeous, but because of the Irish obsession with it it's over-priced and not great value.

For cooking, I'd cook from room temp (at least 2 hrs out of the fridge -although you can speed up warming by wrapping it in clingfilm and immersing in a bowl of warm water), pat dry before, season well before cooking and flip frequently.

I usually start by holding the steak with a tongs and searing the fatty edge, then back on to a plate, season heavily and then on to the pan - push it down on the hot pan with the tongs for about 60-90 seconds, then flip and repeat, then flip, flip, flip and keep flipping until cooked to you liking.

Rare is usually when the steak has the same 'give' as the heel of your hand, when your hand is relaxed. Press your thumb and index finger together and the heel of your hand will have the same give - approximately - as a medium steak.

Kovu

pwurple wrote: »

.

I think we agree, what's the confused smiley for?

This bit;

''It is part of the reason that bullocks are castrated, they don't use this muscle to practice mating''

newacc2015

FYI dont let your butcher "tenderise" the steak. My local one without asking always uses this row of needle thing which tenderises the steak allegedly. IMO all its doing is spreading bacteria from the top of the steak into the middle and will help you get food poisoning

The best place for steaks in Dublin is FX Buckley on Moore Street. Although any help decent butcher should be able to help you ie not a shop full of prepacked meats calling itself a butchers

duploelabs

Jawgap wrote: »

Rare is usually when the steak has the same 'give' as the heel of your hand, when your hand is relaxed. Press your thumb and index finger together and the heel of your hand will have the same give - approximately - as a medium steak.

pwurple

Kovu wrote: »

This bit;

''It is part of the reason that bullocks are castrated, they don't use this muscle to practice mating''

And are you asking me a question about it, or looking for verification?

Bullocks behaviour changes after castration. It helps with farming them, and also with the texture of the meat. Less use = more tender. It's what my butcher & farmer grandfather told us, passed along from previous generations. And here it is mentioned in this book about meat.

the beer revolu

I think the confusion is that pwrple is saying that fillet has less flavour because it is under used - partially because of castration.

Kovu is saying it is tender due to under use but lacking in flavour due to its leanness.

bmay529

Some great advice here.

I used to buy fillet stake until I discovered ribeye. Don't get me wrong but that little bit of fat on a ribeye adds hugely to the flavour and its also cheaper to buy than fillet. For me I have found Tesco Finest Ribeye steaks are the safest buy and also reasonably priced. Generally if you think the meat is cheap then usually I find it is not the best meat. Lidl for example seem to have two prices for ribeye... the lower priced one I found was not good while the higher priced one was fine.

I have found it a waste of time to ask for advice from the newer style butchers (no doubt there are exceptions). As I said earlier if its cheap unfortunately it is not the best meat. I would only ask the opinion of an old style or traditional butcher... they should know what they are about.

For me cooking on a grill gives best results, whether an oven grill or the BBQ

RhubarbCrumble

Another vote here for Aldi steaks. I think the Angus one in particular are very tasty.

Kovu

pwurple wrote: »

And are you asking me a question about it, or looking for verification?

Bullocks behaviour changes after castration. It helps with farming them, and also with the texture of the meat. Less use = more tender. It's what my butcher & farmer grandfather told us, passed along from previous generations. And here it is mentioned in this book about meat.

It's just very odd, I've never heard anything like that before. It's basically implying that fillet off a heifer will be more tender as they won't be leaping on other cows. (Circa 40% of prime beef is off heifers r 25-30 months)
Bulls killed U16 months would not have had a chance to go looking for luve with cows anyway, most would be bought as weanlings at 10 months and highly fed from thn on in a shed with other bulls. For example we sold one last November at 11 months, about 480kg. He was killed at 16 months and KO'd at 449kg and graded U+2+. He would have to almost stand in the one place and be pumped full of meal to make that deadweight. (Deadweight is about 55% of liveweight so he would have to be 820kg or so)

Damn, I've gone way off topic! I guess there could be some truth to the fillet with breeding bulls, but factories here are very particular about ages of cattle and will be graded accordingly. From when I worked in a factory, we killed about 400 a day, the two supermarkets we supplied would only take beef of a certain age and grade. I must find out what they do with fillet off cows actually, I know France prize older animals as they claim it tastes better if hung for 45 days or so. Maybe we export the majority of it?
Sorry about the essay! I'm a bit passionate on the subject :pac::o

duploelabs

All meat tastes better the longer you age it, also dry ageing>wet ageing.

pwurple

the beer revolu wrote: »

I think the confusion is that pwrple is saying that fillet has less flavour because it is under used - partially because of castration.

Kovu is saying it is tender due to under use but lacking in flavour due to its leanness.

I have no idea why that comes across beery, because even reading my posts back I said the marbling was why I preferred sirloin flavour.

Like I said, we seem to be all agreeing!

I assume people everyone had the same exposure to the butcher 'lore' that I had as a child, so I mention it flippantly instead of backing it up.

Mellor

pwurple wrote: »

Bullocks behaviour changes after castration. It helps with farming them, and also with the texture of the meat. Less use = more tender. It's what my butcher & farmer grandfather told us, passed along from previous generations. And here it is mentioned in this book about meat.

Being active, such as mating, would affect a huge number of muscles, not just the fillet. The book says as much. Maybe its not that it toughen the fillet more, but rather brings it up to par with the other hip muscles.

pwurple wrote: »

I have no idea why that comes across beery, because even reading my posts back I said the marbling was why I preferred sirloin flavour.

I think it was this post; I did think at the time does lack of use there of keep it flavouress.

pwurple wrote: »

they don't use this muscle to practice mating, so it remains floppy and flavourless.