La Légion étrangère-C&P at your own risk !!

[RocDoc]

we had bought a bunch of new york strip steaks a coupla months ago back in the wintertime.
4.99 a pound, a price i hadn't seen for a long time here.
i barbequed a couple in the snow right then, but there were 4 left over which we defrosted and did up on saturday.

the ones i seared over the center of the coals and took off first were near-perfect...on a cross-section, pink/red centers and maybe a millimeter cooked just so.
melt-in-your-mouth.
3 minutes a side. perfect.
but the smaller ones ended up in the less hot zones of the bbq and it just looked like they needed to outwardly brown up just a bit more. so i did a couple more minutes for them....and they still ended up pink on the inside but with a bit more (maybe 3 millimeters) cooked, it seemed, pretty nicely.

but those second ones still came out like, a step chewier than i like, especially based on the fact that this cut of meat's supposed to be pretty darned good cut.

tho i fished for the packaging and they were labeled 'western lean cut ny strip'.
i'd imagine that like with venison, too lean's not exactly a good thing either?

OR like with venison, you've got to know pretty precisely what you're doing...to not ruin your meat?

any tricks to handling this folks?
other than eating them ½ raw...?

doing a marinade for steaks just seems wrong...

[phil]

Or you could try a nice Tartare ...

I got a few recipes I could share with you ...

BTW, it's more easy to cook perfectly a large steak
than a small one. One thing that can help is to put
the meat in alu. foil and let them stand for 10 minutes
before serving them

[strat-0]

I agree with Phil: smaller (thinner) steaks are much more difficult to cook properly, and your best bet with them might just be a "tartare" (raw). That was a great price, Doc, but then again, as soon as you have to freeze a steak, well you've reduced its 'virgin' succulence and deliciousness. I know, I know, I've enjoyed frozen steaks too, but they just aren't quite the same. But in my experience, any steak thinner than 3/4 inch is really very dicey. On a grill, there are just too many variables.

Also, NY strips in particular can vary a lot. One thing I've noticed in recent times is that some larger outlets (i.e, Walmart, Western, etc) sell beef that is of the "select" grade (USDA). Yeah, it's OK, but it's not as good as "choice," or, "midwestern heavy" or whatever. I'm just saying, look at the label, because some of the "bargains" are not so much so. Some of those pretty-looking steaks in the display cooler wind up being not only chewy, but also tasting more like the smell of a slaughterhouse, because they were 'aged' in the truck for all the time it took to get from the stockyard to the butcher. My dad, having grown up on a farm that produced stocker calves (steers and heifers over two years old at least), could not even eat such beef. Couldn't get it past his nose. There is really a big difference in taste, texture, smell, and presentation. Let's not even talk about poultry...

All I can add is this: hot charcoal fire, 5 minutes per inch per side for a medium steak, and if the juices collect on top before you turn them, then you have overcooked them! When cooking steaks, close the lid, open the vents, and just monitor that there isn't too much smoke coming out. I recommend marinading in Moore's for at least a half-hour. Steaks should be at least an inch thick.

Man, I'm gettin' hungry...

[RocDoc]

_{Man, I'm gettin' hungry...}

STOP IT!

i'm still working for another hour and a ½ before i can run out of here to grab a bite...and my breakfast at 8 was a couple of hardboiled eggs.

and 'tartare' is raw?
eek.
geez, fill me in if you have a chance to connect some of these dots on how you eat raw steak.
i'm mean i've heard of it, but didn't know what that meant.


_{All I can add is this: hot charcoal fire, 5 minutes per inch per side for a medium steak, and if the juices collect on top before you turn them, then you have overcooked them! When cooking steaks, close the lid, open the vents, and just monitor that there isn't too much smoke coming out. I recommend marinading in Moore's for at least a half-hour. Steaks should be at least an inch thick.}

this is pretty much what i did...though maybe more down to 3 minutes, which still (w/the heat i had going) seared everything all way around.
sealed those puppies.
but i was still doing 4 simultaneously and their sizes varied quite a bit, thought the thickness were all pret' near an inch.

[Ayinger]

....y'er hungry??? I haven't been able to grill for almost 3 years now because of being in this apartment! Hope to change that in June/July and no longer have my cooker be a close rack in the corner of the bedroom an;ymore

[strat-0]

Wow, Don - that's gotta hurt, knowing the grill meister that you are!

I've never actually had steak tartare, but I think it's chopped. Although the traditional "London broil" is damn near raw flank steak, and prime rib is often nearly raw too. I can go pretty rare, but I do like my meat cooked.

Doc, sounds like you gave it your best shot. For smaller or questionable cuts, you might try Moore's marinade. I know what you mean about it not seeming right for steak, but it can make a big difference and doesn't affect the flavor in a bad way; in fact, I think it enhances it (imo). I mean, it's not like pouring A-1 all over it or something! Not Dale's (way too briny) but Moore's, for about 20-30 minutes. I never used to, but now I always do, even a rib eye or fillet. And avoid freezing steaks if you can.

With the price and quality of beef as it's been for the last couple of years, I had to find a solution. We had just about stopped eating it altogether (except ground chuck, pot roast and the like). I found that there's still good stuff available at a good price around here, but you have to skip the large outlets and sometimes go off the beaten track a little. There is a small "Food Land" grocery in a town near here that has choice beef at great prices, and a lot of good deals on expiring stuff sometimes (shit, that's just slightly aged). "Food Land" is a small, "we try harder" type chain around here. That's the only place I buy beef anymore (and that's about all I buy there).

For guaranteed fresh and delicious fish here, there's only one place - The Fish Market restaurant and retail/wholesale outlet in downtown Birmingham. It's been here for years - run by a couple of Greek guys who really know their fish (and how to prepare it). Once or twice a month I'll stop in there and bring home some fresh fish, usually catfish to fry up. Either catch it yourself, or get it from the Fish Market if you want really fresh fish in these parts. And for me, fish has to be really fresh. I didn't eat it for most of my early life because I had never had fish that was truly fresh and I didn't know how scrumptious it was! How stupid I was!

[phil]

This is one *Tartare* recipe I found on line I could live with ...

Of course, fries are not optional !!

Anthony Bourdain's Steak Tartare
Yield: 6

Recipe Courtesy Anthony Bourdain, Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles Cookbook

"Les Halles, the restaurant, was pretty much created to serve this dish. The key to a successful steak tartare is fresh beef, freshly hand-chopped at the very last minute and mixed tableside. A home meat grinder with a fairly wide mesh blade is nice to have, but you can and should use a very sharp knife and simply chop and chop and chop until fine. The texture will be superior. And do not dare use a food processor on this dish - you'll utterly destroy it."

Ingredients:
Steak Tartare
2 egg yolks
2 tbsp Dijon mustard (28 g)
4 anchovy filets, finely chopped
2 tsp ketchup (10 g)
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce (5 g)
Tabasco sauce, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup salad (i.e., corn or soy) oil (56 ml)
1 oz Cognac (28 ml)
1 small onion, freshly and finely chopped
2 oz capers, rinsed (56 g)
2 oz cornichons, finely chopped (56 g)
4 sprigs of flat parsley, finely chopped
1 1/4 lb. fresh sirloin, finely chopped (560 g)
French fries, optional
4 slices fine quality white bread, toasted, quartered, for toast points

Directions:
Steak Tartare
Place the egg yolks in a large stainless-steel bowl and add the mustard and anchovies. Mix well, then add the ketchup,
Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco, and pepper and mix well again.
Slowly whisk in the oil, then add the Cognac and mix again. Fold in the onion, capers, cornichons, and parsley.
Add the chopped meat to the bowl and mix well using a spoon or your hands. Divide the meat evenly among the six chilled dinner plates and,
using a ring mold or spatula, form it into disks on the plates. Serve immediately with French fries and toasted bread points.

[phil]

I'll always remember the village butcher's face when my sister's mate
asked him for the first time to take quite a few pounds of beef tenderloin
and put the meat in the grinder ... The poor man was almost crying
while he was doing the dead! LoL!!

Using *filet mignon* to make a Tartare is kinda overkill if you ask me
but you do need to have quality meat and a good cut of meat ...

[strat-0]

Sounds good. Just leave out the anchovies and I'm game.

[rocknroller]

Anchovies are a must on a supreme pizza!

[phil]

Apr 24, 2008 2:56:37 GMT -5 strat-0 said:

Sounds good. Just leave out the anchovies and I'm game.

Tastes good too and I never put anchovies in my Tartare either ...

[ScottsyII]

Come back Phil!!! :-) :-) :-)

[Ayinger]

Oct 18, 2008 21:40:29 GMT -5 ScottsyII said:

Come back Phil!!! :-) :-) :-)

yeah -- been a sadder summer not having some mealy tips from our Northern friend.....my plate has been less full !