12 Types of Steak, Examined and Cooked | Bon Appétit

This is the state my friends, I recently played with almost all the ways you can cook a particular type of

steak

, but it made me want to take a closer look at all the different

types

of

steak

that exist in this crazy world our. There are so many factors that distinguish one steak from another, from the breed of cow it comes from, to how the animal was raised, to the part of the animal it comes from, all of which will have an impact on the final dish. on your table with all those variables at play, you could go a lifetime without eating the same steak twice today we're going to take a look at 12 very special steaks that highlight the most important elements that give a steak its unique character and flavor .

With that knowledge, you'll better understand what you're looking for in a steak and why I'm a Stanek meal and these are 12

types

of steak. Let's start with some basics. Will we use the term steak to refer to? a cut of meat that is tender enough that it can be

cooked

relatively quickly and at the temperature as if it were rare to medium rare rather than slow

cooked

to a soft, crumbly texture. The main thing that separates one cut of steak from another is where it comes from on a cow's body, at the end of the day all meat is muscle and the way a cow's individual muscles become accustomed will have a profound effect on how it which is cooked, as a rule, muscles that receive a lot of views.

They will be tougher and leaner, while those that are not used as much tend to be richer and more tender. Today we'll look at 12 different cuts of beef, but that's just one aspect that makes each steak different. To consider the breed of cow they come from, the diet they were raised on, their age at slaughter, and finally how their meat was processed, let's start with the breed. There are over 70 different breeds of cattle raised for meat around the world. each with their own unique characteristics and history that impact the type of meat they produce, the most popular breed in the US is Angus the Angus breed was originally developed in Aberdeen, Scotland, but in the 1870s they reached the USA.

American farmers were impressed by how quickly these cows gained weight and how much meat they could get from a single cow for our angus steak. We decided to go with an iconic Lee American cut, the ribeye. This bad boy is cross-cut from the front section of the short beef loin and gets its name from the T-shaped bone that runs along the top and center of the steak, the ribeye is actually a cut of two For one, the larger side is a New York strip steak and the smaller side is a piece of sirloin, those white stripes you see there are made of specifically intramuscular fat known as The marbling of the pieces of fat between those Muscle fibers are what make a steak rich and juicy when cooked and both this steak and the breed of cow it comes from are known for their marbling.

This particular steak is very thick, which means it will take some time. to cook and it has a beautiful layer of fat on the outside that will give each slice a little extra richness, let's see how it cooks, look at that beauty mmm. I love the smell of steak in the morning, I find this layer of fat especially attractive, right? Now it will give each slice of this steak a little extra richness. One of the things that makes cooking a ribeye difficult is that bone that divides it and that conducts heat at a different rate than the meat and in fact, I have to leave it standing on this flat side for a period of time so that it cooks correctly.

To cut this, we'll remove the side of the New York Strip, look at that color first and then the tenderloin section and cut them into actual slices. Well, let's try the tenderloin portion first, this is a muscle that doesn't do much work, so it's very tender, like it melts in your mouth, but relatively soft, mmm, but this side of the New York Strip is meaty, has a little more. It chews but has a great flavor and the fat just coats your mouth and is a delight to me. This steak is as American as apple pie. It's a real crowd pleaser.

The next breed we will look at are the Herefords. This breed also originated in the United Kingdom. Specifically from the county of Herefordshire in England, these cows are hardy, hardy and adaptable and like Angus, they produce a lot of meat for this breed, we decided on a Newport steak which is basically just a small portion taken from a larger cut called tri. -tip a large triangular-shaped fillet that comes from the lower sirloin. The Newport steak is sometimes also known as an apartment steak, probably because it is very manageable and affordable, as you can see, it has much less marbling than our ribeye, it still has fat. there, but it's concentrated in larger veins and on this edge this cut comes from a group of muscles that controls the cow's knees, so it will have a more pronounced flavor and will probably chew a little more.

A couple of minutes and a hot pan should be all. needs and let's get the clothes down, done, there's a tasty looking steak for one because we cooked it in a grill pan relatively quickly, we got some nice grill marks, but not a lot of overall caramelization, but I'm excited. about this tender looking ribbon of fat on this side, it looks beautiful, looking closer at this slice, you can see those larger veins of visible fats surrounded by leaner meat, which will have an effect on the eating experience, It's definitely leaner. our side, but the more you chew, the fat is released and the richer it becomes, the flavor is exceptional through layers of minerally meaty flavor.

I want to eat this with a cold beer in front of the TV. Sea Mantes, this very special breed originates in Piedmont. Northwest region of Italy. This is the Schwarzenegger of cattle breeds. They are known for a genetic mutation called double musculature, which means their bodies do not restrict muscle growth, so they end up looking like they are on steroids. They take longer to grow, but. They get bigger than other cows and they are definitely leaner for this monster of a cow, we have a monster cut, a three inch thick porterhouse, the color of this meat is definitely deeper than our angus steak and there is a lot less of it.

If you continue marbling, you may notice that this steak looks remarkably similar to the ribeye we saw earlier and that's because it's almost the same steak that has the strip on one side and the loin on the other, except it's cut from the back of the short tenderloin and as such has a larger piece of tenderloin attached this will take a while to cook we are going to put it under the hood okay as this steak is so big we actually cook it in two stages the first in a low oven so it could until juicy medium-rare and then we grill it right at the end to caramelize the outside, a process known as reverse searing, is a really effective way to control a giant steak like this.

Wow, look at that amazing pink wall. This meat looks noticeably leaner than our other breeds. Interestingly, the same genetic mutation that causes double muscle also makes the meat exceptionally tender, even if it is less rich, let's give it a taste while all that flavor is incredibly much meatier than our other steaks. hmm, this has a really full-bodied flavor without being too spicy and complements the smoke from the grill very well. There's definitely less fat, but a drizzle of good herbaceous olive oil would fix all that. This is a really special stick. Next we have Brahman, this unique breed originated in India and is a descendant of the Zabu, an Asian breed of cattle.

They are known for their large humps and their ability to tolerate extremely hot environments. A camel, but make it a cow. This date comes to us from the good people. At Brahman Country Beef in Texas, who specialize in this very special breed, this time we are working with an outer skirt steak which is a long, flat muscle that is attached to the outside of the chest wall. The color of this meat is really wild. Deep dark red, almost purple, and also has much less visible fat than you would see in a brisket from another breed of cattle.

When you look closer you can see the loose grain structure this cut is known for and also that it has been mechanically cut. softened to the processing plant they passed it through a device that marked it, which disrupted those muscle fibers a little bit. I'm really curious what this one will taste like, oh you know, I could use a drink right now, thanks magic bell ah. there's our steak and there we have our cooked outside brisket, so obviously this is just a piece of the whole steak. We need a very long grill to cook everything. Skirt steak is thin, so it only needs a couple of minutes per side on a hot, smoking grill to reach the medium-rare we're looking for when serving this, it's very important to slice it as thin as possible against the grain, which It will further alter those muscle fibers and make it as tender as possible.

You may always get a few more well-done pieces in this steak. We're going to try it. Wow, I've never tried anything like this before. It has a very strong flavor, quite spicy, minerally almost venison, like a kind of toasted popcorn. the aftertaste is definitely drier, but the eating experience is still really exciting, so it tastes good for days. Wagyu, so Wagyu literally translates to Japanese cattle, over the years, certain breeds of Japanese cattle have been selectively bred and bred to promote incredibly high levels of intramuscular fat. and tenderness, the result is unlike any other beef in the world.

In Japan, some farmers feed their cattle beer and give them massages and things like that, but that's not as common a practice as restaurants would have you believe, regardless of whether it's incredibly tasty and priced. To match this time we chose a culotte steak, which is simply a sexier name for the top sirloin cap. This is something beautiful, the color is so deep and red and the veining is really striking, it's definitely not as intense as it would be. be on a higher grade of Wagyu or an inherently fatty cut or of the animal, but still incredibly beautiful and I'm very excited about that big cap of juicy fat, okay, let's put the cloche on it and beautiful, so here we have our Wagyu culotte Cooked.

We barely cooked this guy who pushes him. I can tell it's still practically raw inside, black and blue, as they say that's what you want with Wagyu, you don't want to take out too much fat and the fat in Wagyu beef actually has a lower melting point than that of other breeds, so it literally melts in your mouth. This slice looks incredible, it shines with all that marbling and that piece of fat cap is the icing on the cake. Hmm, wow, that's so special, honestly, it's like you need it. butter the texture is like a firm piece of sashimi it's super tasty with a delicate almost mushroom flavor my mouth is totally covered at this point it's so good I don't think I can eat more than 2 or 3 pieces of this but damn good , let's take a look at some bison, so bison are native to North America and we were one of the staple foods of Native Americans before European colonizers nearly hunted them to extinction.

The cattle breeds we have discussed so far are really different from each other, but the bison. It's actually a completely different species, having a lower fat content than cattle and being richer in iron and protein. Since bison tends to be tougher than beef, we decided on filet mignon, a cut From the tenderloin, this high falutin steak is prized by some for its tenderness and mild flavor, which is exactly why some steak lovers despise it, there is very little marbling to speak of and you can see that this has been tied to make it more compact and help it cook more evenly, let's see how this one cooks and that's it, so we gave this steak a quick sear on both sides.

You don't want to overcook this cut because it's very easy for it to dry out and you'll forget to cut the thread. You can see how it helped keep the stakes on this one. neat cylindrical shape cutting we're looking at a nice even middle here these slices are extremely uniform and actually feel soft to the touch, like it's easy to separate them with my hands hmm you know I'm usually not a fan of steak because I feel that it lacks flavor, but bison has a much stronger flavor than regular beef and this steak has a lot going on, it's a little grassy and has a minerally ironic, almost livery flavor, it's tender. a little mealy, but this is definitely a steak I can get behind, so breed is a really important variable, but steak character is also deeply affected by the type of feed a cow is raised on, which It takes us to the next type of grass. -fed for most of history, all cows were 100% grass fed, cattleThey are still primarily grass-fed in South America and Australia, but here in the US only about 3 percent of cattle are classified as 100% grass-fed this time around. with a flank cut that goes by different names in Argentina, where it is very popular, it is called voseo and in France it is better known as bavette, this dramatic burgundy color is characteristic of grass-fed beef and is also quite lene, which should be what you'd expect from a beef that's been chewing grass its entire life, generally speaking, grass-fed beef tends to have a little more chewy and peppery flavor than the grain-finished product, which is either an advantage or a disadvantage, depending on who you ask. our magic bell again now you see it raw now you see it cooked now that it's cooked you can really see that pronounced grain structure that I associate with a cut like this it's almost fibrous and it looks like our brisket, it's very important to cut this guy thinly and against the grain to maximize tenderness ooh, that inside looks really moist, it's perfectly cooked and that slice is really pretty, being careful not to overcook grass fed beef is one of the ways to ensure it's as juicy as possible .

Can't wait to try this hmm, mmm. I love the taste of grass fed beef, yes it sounds stupid but it really tastes, you know, a little bit grassy, ​​it has a lot of flavor and I can see how that might put some people off but that rich earthy flavor really turns it off. does for me. YUM, now that we've looked at grass-fed animals, let's look at finished grain in the mid-20th century. American farmers realized that when they fed corn to cattle, they grew much faster than if they ate grass alone, the faster the cow grew.

It grew the cheaper it was for farmers to raise them and the high protein and starch content of the grains led to better marbling. Now most cattle in the U.S. are grass-fed early in their lives, but this time they finish them on grain to bulk them up before slaughter. Over here we're looking at a Denver steak that comes from a relatively underused muscle located under the shoulder blade bone. It has very nice marbling and is a great example of the way fat develops in a grain finished animal. The color is slightly paler than our grass-fed steak, but it's still very pretty, let's hide it for a second and, oh, you know, I'm feeling a little heartburn, eeee right now, that feels better, oh, well, the steaks worried me because we lost it, ooh, me.

I'm obsessed with the color we got on the outside of this steak, the shape of this cut made sustained contact with a hot pan really easy and the inside is exactly what you want, just pink from wall to wall, these slices are They look really pretty, they are something glossed from those little bits of rendered intramuscular fat, this is nice, rich and juicy, totally delicious, the flavor is a little less complex in grass fed animals, which can be attributed to the fact that it is a younger animal that acquired more fat. quickly and is still really delicious, then it's definitely what most Americans expect when they eat beef.

Another factor that has a big impact on the flavor and texture of a steak. The age a cow is at the time of slaughter, which brings us to the next type. Veal Veal is meat that comes from a calf rather than a cow that has reached maturity. Here we have a classic bone-in rib chop that comes from a more mature animal and would be called a ribeye steak. What we are seeing here is pink veal. and is decidedly different from factory beef or white beef that comes from animals that have generally been raised in confinement; Instead, Roseville comes from a calf that has been fed milk by its mother and then grass-fed until it is about six months old. pink instead of white because the calf has had some time to develop a muscle.

This almost looks like a pork chop. The meat is soft to the touch but not flaccid and has good structure. We've got some nice fat here on the lid. There isn't much grain between these muscles, it's really pretty. I'm excited to try this stew. Oh, there's our veal chop, so we seared it quickly in a hot pan and then finished it with a pat of good butter. To give it a little shine, veal is much leaner than regular beef, so you can use the extra fat. That interior is such a different color for medium-rare than it would be for mature beef.

It's actually very similar to the color it was when it was raw, let's try it hmm Wow, really tender, you know, the most noticeable thing that happens flavor-wise is how soft it is, the meat has an almost creamy flavor and there's no none of the ironic and mineral character that I associate with the meat of a more mature animal. I can see myself eating this from time to time, but I'm personally missing out on that full meaty flavor that we'll get in abundance with our next mature cow, so the longer a cow lives, the more work her muscles do and therefore the less tender she is. . the meat becomes, but what it loses in tenderness it makes up for with a complex, enriched flavor.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the average beef cow was slaughtered at four or five years, now it is more like 12 to 15 months due to Animals can grow faster when they run out of grain, but this steak here is from a nine-year-old Angus. To be exact, a New York strip steak that comes to us from the Kinderhook farm in upstate New York from scratch. I say how different the color of this steak is from the others, but especially our beef, the meat has this deep reddish color and the fat is more yellowish, it's very firm, the marbling is quite impressive, but I can see that there are some Terrible chunks in there that we didn't see in the steaks from our younger animals, and although meat from older cows tends to be tougher, the New York Strip is a pretty tender cut, so I'm excited to see how it turns out and the meat.

Wow, what a smell it has. Quite strong and I can tell we lost some fat in the pan because of the way it shrank, it actually feels quite tender to the touch. The meat is really nice and that fat has an almost beeswax evenness to it, give this one a taste, hmm. Wow, this Jake has a huge flavor, it's really earthy and the more I chew, the more layers of flavor I get. He tastes like a porcini mushroom, almost a big umami energy, it's definitely a lot harder. I'm not sure I can eat it. whole steak like this on your face, but this is something I hope everyone can try at least once all the meat has been aged to a certain point, allowing natural enzymatic processes to tenderize the muscle tissue and create a variety of new and tasty flavors.

A lot of meat is wet aged. Wet aging sounds a little fancy, but it's basically storing the steak in a vacuum-sealed bag, since the steak is sealed in its own juices, it doesn't lose water weight like it does when dry aging. The process is less expensive for butchers and consumers, but also produces less dramatic results. The cut we're working with here is a plank, which is a small, tender steak that hides in the meat a primary cut that people often don't bother to dry. aged, this is another nice little dinner for a manageable sized steak, decent marbling and it cooks pretty quickly, you know, even though we dried it really well with paper towels, it still feels a little wet and limp, for a Honest, let's get to the hood we gave our Griddle for quick searing on a very hot grill, which is really all it needed.

There is a very nice sear here when cutting, it looks good, quite moist and the grain structure is tight without being taut, you know hmm, I love the flavor of this cut, it's complex without being. Too juicy, it's quite tender, it tastes a bit watery but not in a really noticeable way and there's a faintness in enos that I tend to associate with moist, aged meat. No, I'm not mad about that, although now, for contrast, we are. Let's take a look at a dry aged steak. A dry-aged steak is a piece of meat that was cut from a larger primal cut of the animal and hung in a cold, humidity-controlled environment for anywhere from seven to 120 days over time.

The meat will lose water weight concentrating its flavor and dry aging also promotes the activity of enzymes and friendly molds that tenderize muscles and create flavor. The dry exterior of the meat usually needs to be trimmed and discarded, further contributing to weight loss, which is part of this time we chose a bone-in ribeye. This particular steak has been aged for over 60 days. Premium fatty cuts like this are ideal for dry aging and this is definitely one of my top picks. favorite cuts of meat, the marbling is really impressive throughout and these big veins of fat will keep things nice and juicy when cooked, you can tell this beauty has been dry aged just by touching it, it feels dense, not flabby and it has an almost plasticky exterior.

I can't wait to try this one, let's put it under the hood and the beautiful roof which is a sight to behold. We braise this bruise and then finish it in the oven and the outside looks amazing. Dried and aged meat is browned. much faster than wet aging because it has already lost a lot of water. It's definitely on the rarer side of medium rare, but that's how I like this cut. Oh, I can't wait to light that bone later. This meat looks amazing. These slices simply shine. OMG damn that's good, the flavor is much thicker than wet aged steak and the fat has an almost nutty flavor that I associate with cured meats like prosciutto or something like that, a cut from dry aging.

I'm in heaven, that's it. a mate and there you have it friends, twelve delicious and distinctly different steaks that showed us how many variables contribute to the unique flavor and texture of the meat on your plate. I think I need to go get my cholesterol checked. Now I have a favorite type. of steak that you didn't see today, leave it in the comments