After cooking approximately 100+ steaks with the "Meathead Method" and getting phenomenal results. I got a bad one. It was a black Angus grade New York strip, which is the upper 2/3 of choice grade. It was as tough as an under cooked chuckie, and I assume it was from an old cow. I had my wife cut it up for the dogs.
So when picking out a steak we look for the best marbling, is there a way to pick out a young tender cut of beef vs a cut from an old tough cow vs veal?
Or is there any other explanation for having a tough cut of beef? Maybe a good Monthly topic for Meathhead to discuss.
I avoided NY strips for years due to cooking several less than tender ones. They were Angus as well.
I'm not sure how to choose tender vs. non-tender, old vs. young. I just look at the marbling. Recently decided to give NY strips another chance so I dry aged a prime grade strip roast, the steaks from it are amazing!
Large Big Green Egg, Weber Performer Deluxe, Weber Smokey Joe Silver, Fireboard Drive, 3 DigiQs, lots of Thermapens, and too much other stuff to mention.
Large Big Green Egg, Weber Performer Deluxe, Weber Smokey Joe Silver, Fireboard Drive, 3 DigiQs, lots of Thermapens, and too much other stuff to mention.
That’s not saying I don’t love ribeyes, filets, flanks, skirts, flatirons, hangers, sirloins, and any other steak you can name. But strips are my favorite.
Look at that photo. Before I knew better, I thought that piece of gristle was marbling. It’s not. It makes about half the bites of your steak tough. You can eat around it, and that helps.
You won’t get a nerve steak in a good restaurant, but you will find them frequently in the grocery store. Just pick a different steak.
If not cooking outdoors, I am cooking on the stovetop with my 14" carbon steel wok, 12" CI skillet, or in the oven with my two Lodge CI pizza pans, or two dutch ovens. I've also got a nifty Lodge carbon steel grill pan that rocks for veggies outdoors.
NY strip was my favorite for many years, but I was also buying prime whole strip loins and cutting them up myself. I've not grilled one in a year or more, since the last ones disappeared from my freezer, and I've not seen a sale on whole strips in at least 18 months. These days I am shopping for what is on sale, and that means less steak - other than the ribeye's I cut up from a number of prime ribs I bought on sale during the holidays.
I've had great NY Stripes and great Rib-Eyes. But sometimes you get a poor steak, even though it looks good. My dad use to say, "you can do something about flavor, but you can't do a thing about the meat". I've had a few, not many, that were poor in sprit.
Had a couple small sirloin steaks. Little marbling, but came out delicious. Tender, not Angus.
Tough New York Strip
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