Andrew's ingredient of the month: Summer steak 101

Andrew's ingredient of the month: Summer steak 101

Explore various beef cuts, get great recipes and cooking tips for your very best summer steaks.
Updated:
2009-10-11 22:27
Published:
2009-08-13 00:00
By 
Andrew Chase, Homemakers food editor

Different types of steaks

It's August and the grill is blazing hot. For many, grilled steak is a simple choice for barbecued summer meals. Topped with salt, pepper and maybe some Worcestershire or A-1 Sauce, you grill your steak to perfection. Nothing's wrong with that, but there's a lot more you can do to spice up your steak. But first, let's talk about various cuts of beef.

Types of steak: Grilling and marinating
In Canada, steaks are designated as "Grilling" or "Marinating" steak.

Grilling steaks are tender and well marbled (veined with fat) and are cut from the rib, sirloin and loin sections of the beef (the top, centre section).

Marinating steaks are tasty cuts that require some marinating for optimum tenderness. They are generally cut from the flank and short plate sections of the animal.

Tender grilling steaks
Rib (with the bone) or rib eye (boneless and cut from the centre) is perhaps the tastiest and most fatty cut in the repertoire; perhaps a bit too fatty for some, a good rib steak offers robust, rich flavour.

A full rib steak with just the bone removed is often called a Delmonico steak. Because of its marbling, rib steaks can retain their flavour and moisture when grilled to medium or even well-done (a crime, if you ask me!)

Strip loin (also known as New York steak) is a tender and flavourful boneless cut, and is especially good when well aged. The meat is finely marbled and the cut has a fat cap on top.

T-Bone and Porterhouse steaks are cut from short loin and include a loin steak on one side of the bone, with a smaller tenderloin steak on the other side of the T-shaped bone. The only difference between the two cuts is that Porterhouse steaks have a larger tenderloin area. Both are fantastic choices.

Tenderloin steak is the most expensive cut for grilling. While it's very tender and lean, this cut delivers less flavour than other grilling steaks. Tenderloin steaks have a wonderful mouth-feel and are best accompanied by a sauce or flavoured butter to boost its flavour. Never cook a tenderloin steak past medium-rare.

Simple spicing for grilling steaks
Sometimes, a simple coating of flavour can make all the difference in turning plain meat into something quite exciting. Middle Eastern shish kabobs, which can be made from beef or lamb, inspired the flavours of Shish Kabob- Style Steaks. And from a different part of the world came the inspiration for another completely different set of flavours: while Montreal Spice Bison Steaks was developed for bison, it works equally well with regular beef.

Click to continue to learn about the best marinating steaks...

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