12 Types of Steak, Examined and Cooked | Bon Appétit

this my friends is state recently I played around with just about every way you can cook one particular kind of steak but that just made me want to take a closer look at all the different kinds of steak that are out there in this wacky world of ours there are so many factors that distinguish one steak from another from the breed of cow it comes from to the way that animal was raised in processed to the part of the animal it comes from all of which are gonna have an impact on the dish that ends up on your table with all those variables at play you could go a lifetime without eating the same steak twice today we're gonna take a look at 12 very special steaks that highlight the most important elements that give a steak its unique character and flavor armed with that knowledge you'll have a better understanding of what you're looking for in a steak and why I'm a meal Stanek and this is 12 types of steak let's start with some basics shall we we use the term steak to refer to a cut of beef that is tender enough that it can be cooked relatively quickly and to temperature as in rare medium-rare medium rather than being slow-cooked to a soft shreddy texture the primary 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 individual muscles on a cow get used is going to have a profound effect on the way that it cooks as a general rule muscles that get a lot of views are gonna be tougher and leaner whereas ones that don't get used as much tend to be richer and more tender today we're gonna look at 12 different cuts of beef but that's only one aspect that makes each steak distinct we're also going to be considering the breed of cow they come from the diet they were raised on their age at the time of slaughter and finally how their meat was processed let's start with breed there are over 70 different breeds of cattle that are raised for beef 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 u.s. is Angus the Angus breed was originally developed in Aberdeen Scotland but in the 1870s they found their way to the United States American farmers were impressed by how quickly these cows gained weight and how much meat they could get off of a single cow for our angus steak we decided to go with an iconic lee american cut the t-bone steak this bad boy is cross cut from the forward section of the cow short loin and gets its name from the t-shaped bone that runs along the top and the center of the steak the t-bone is actually a two-for-one cut the bigger side is a New York strip steak and the smaller side is a piece of the Tenderloin those white streaks that you see in there are made of fat specifically intramuscular fat known as marbling the bits of fat between those muscle fibers are what makes a steak rich and juicy when it cooks and both this steak and the breed of cow it comes from are known for their marbling this particular steak is real thick which means it's gonna take some time to cook and has a handsome fat cap on the outside which is gonna lend each slice some added richness let's see how this cooks up look at that beauty mmm I love the smell of steak in the morning this fat cap is looking especially appealing to me right now it's gonna lend every slice off of this steak a little bit of extra richness one of the things that makes a t-bone steak challenging to cook is that bone that bisects it which conducts heat at a different rate than the meat does and you actually have to stand it up on this flat side for a period of time in order for it to cook properly to carve this we're gonna take off the New York Strip side first look at that color and then the Tenderloin section and slice them up real nice let's taste the Tenderloin portion first this is a muscle that doesn't do that much work at all so it's very tender like melt-in-your-mouth but relatively mild hmm but this New York Strip side is beefy it's got a little more chew but big flavor and the fat just coats your mouth and deliciousness to me this steak is as American as apple pie a real straight down the middle crowd-pleaser the next breed we're looking at is the Herefords this breed also originated in the UK specifically from the county of Herefordshire in England these cows are rugged tough and adaptable and like the Angus they produce a lot of meat for this breed we decided on a newport steak which is basically just a tiny little slice taken from a larger cut called the tri-tip a large triangular shape steak that comes from the bottom sirloin the newport steak is sometimes also known as an apartment steak probably because it's so manageable and affordable as you can see it has a lot less marbling that our t-bone did there's still fat in there but it's concentrated in larger veins and on this edge this cut comes from a muscle group that controls the cow's knees so it's gonna have more pronounced flavor and probably a bit more chew a couple of minutes and a hot grill pan should be all it needs and let's put the clothes down voila that right there is a tasty looking steak for one because we cooked it in a grill pan relatively quickly we've got some nice-looking grill marks but not a ton of overall carmelization but I'm excited about this tender looking ribbon of fat on this side cutting in it looks gorgeous looking more closely at this slice you can see those larger veins of visible fats surrounded by leaner meat which is gonna have an effect on the eating experience it's definitely on the leaner to theour side but the more you chew the fat releases and the richer it becomes the flavor is outstanding though layers of full minerally beefy flavor I want to eat this with a cold beer in front of the TV be Mantes this very special breed originates from the Piedmont region of northwestern Italy this is the Schwarzenegger of cattle breeds they're known for a genetic mutation called double muscling which means that their bodies don't restrict muscle growth so they end up looking like they're on steroids they take longer to grow but they get bigger than other cows and are definitely on the leaner side for this monster of a cow we've got a monster of a cut a three-inch thick porterhouse the color of this meat is definitely deeper than our angus steak and there's way less marbling going on you may notice that this steak looks remarkably similar to the t-bone we saw earlier and that's because it's almost the same steak you've got strip on one side and tenderloin on the other except it's cut from the rear end of the short loin and as such has a bigger chunk of tenderloin attached this is gonna take a while to cook let's get it under the cloche okay since this steak is so huge we actually cooked it in two stages the first in a low oven so it could get up to a juicy medium-rare throughout and then we grilled it right at the end to caramelize the exterior a process known as a reverse sear it's a really effective way to get a giant steak like this under control Wow look at that unbelievable wall of pink this meat looks muscly noticeably leaner than our other breeds interestingly the same genetic mutation that causes double muscling also makes the meat exceptionally tender even if it's less rich let's give it a taste while all out that flavor is insane way way beefier than our other steaks so far hmm this tastes really burly without being overly gamey and it's complemented really nicely by the smoke from the grill there's definitely less fat going on but a drizzle of good grassy olive oil would fix all of that this is a really special stick next up we have Brahman this unique breed originated in India and is a descendant of the Zabu an Asian breed of cattle they're known for their large humps and their ability to tolerate extremely hot environments a camel but make it cow this date comes to us from the fine folks at Brahman country beef in Texas who specialize in this very special breed this time around we're working with an outside skirt steak which is a long flat muscle it is attached to the outer part of the chest wall the color of this meat is really wild deep dark red almost purpley and it also has a lot less visible fat than you'd see on a skirt from another cattle breed when you look more closely you can see the loose grain structure that this cut is known for and also that it's been mechanically tenderized to the processing plant they've run it through a device that scored it which interrupted those muscle fibers somewhat I'm really curious about what this one's gonna taste like oh you know I could use a drink right about now thank you magic cloche ah there's our steak and there we have our cooked outside skirt so obviously this is just a piece of the full steak we need a really long grill to cook the whole thing skirt steak is thin so it just needs a couple of minutes on each side on a smoking hot grill to get us to the medium medium-rare we're after when you're serving this one it's really important to slice it as thinly as possible against the grain which is gonna further disrupt those muscle fibers and make it as tender as possible you're always gonna have some more well-done bits on this steak let's give it a taste mm Wow I have actually never tasted anything like this before it has a very strong flavor pretty gamy minerally almost venison like with a kind of toasty popcorn aftertaste it's definitely on the drier side but the eating experience is still really exciting so it's got flavor for days Wagyu so Wagyu literally translates to Japanese cattle over the years certain Japanese cattle breeds have been selectively bred and raised 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 of a practice as restaurants would have you believe regardless it's crazy rich with a price tag to match this time around we went with a culotte steak which is just a sexier name for the top sirloin cap this is a thing of beauty the color is just so deep and red and the marbling is really striking it's definitely not as intense as it would be on a higher grade of Wagyu or an inherently fatty or cut of the animal but still freakin gorgeous and I'm super excited about that big juicy fat cap all right let's get the cloche on it and beautiful so here we have our cooked Wagyu culotte we barely cooked this guy poking it I can tell that it's still practically raw inside black and blue as they say that's what you want with Wagyu you don't want to render too much of that fat out 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 is so amazing looking it's glossy from all that marbling and that piece of fat cap is the cherry on top hmm Wow that is so so special honestly it's like you need butter the texture is like a firm piece of sashimi it's super savory in a delicate almost mushroomy flavor my mouth is just totally coated right now it's so rich I don't think I could eat more than 2 or 3 pieces of this but damn is it good let's check out some bison so bison are indigenous to North America and we're one of the meat staples of Native Americans before they were nearly hunted to extinction by European colonizers the cattle breeds we discussed so far are really different from each other but bison is actually a completely different species altogether they have a lower fat content than cattle and are richer and iron and protein since bison tends to be tougher than beef we decided on the filet mignon a cut from the tenderloin this high falutin steak is prized by some for its tenderness and mild flavor which is exactly the reason why some steak lovers turn their noses up at it there's very little marbling to speak of and you can see that this one has been tied to make it more compact and help it cook more evenly let's see how this one cooks and presto so we gave this filet a quick sear on both sides you do not want to overcook this cut because it's really easy to dry out and forget to cut that string you can see how it helped to keep the stake in this tidy cylindrical shape cutting in we're looking at a nice even medium going on in here these slices are extremely even in uniform and it actually feels soft to the touch like it would be easy to pull apart with my hands hmm you know I'm not usually a fan of filet because I feel like it's lacking in the flavor Department but bison is so much stronger tasting than regular beef and this filet has a lot going on it's kind of grassy and has a minerally irony almost livery flavor to it it's tender a little bit on the mealy side but this is definitely a filet I can get behind so breed is one really important variable but as steaks character is also profoundly affected by what kind of feed a cow is raised on which brings us to our next type grass-fed for most of history all cows were 100% grass-fed cattle 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 we went with a cut from the flank that goes by a few different names in Argentina where it's really popular it's called voseo and in France it's better known as bavette this dramatic burgundy color is characteristic of grass-fed beef and it's also pretty lene which is to be expected from beef that just been chomping on lawn for its whole life generally speaking grass-fed beef tends to have a bit more chew and gamy err flavor than the grain finished stuff which is either an asset or a liability depending on who you ask let's bring our magic cloche back in 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 ropey looking just like our skirt stick it's super important to slice 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 really pretty taking care not to overcook grass-fed beef is one of the ways to ensure that it's as juicy as possible I can't wait to taste this one hmm YUM I love the flavor of grass-fed beef yeah it sounds stupid but it really does taste you know kind of grassy it's got a lot of flavor and I can see how that might turn some people off but that rich earthy flavor really does it for me YUM now that we've seen grass-fed let's take a look at grain finished around the middle of the 20th century US farmers realized that when they fed corn to cattle they grew way faster than they did if they ate grass alone the faster the cow grew the cheaper it was for farmers to raise them and the high protein and starch content of grains led to better marbling now the majority of cattle in the US are fed grass early in their life but finished on grain to bulk them up before slaughter this time around we're looking at a Denver steak which comes from a relatively little used muscle situated underneath the shoulder blade bone it's got really nice marbling and it's a great example of the way that fat develops in a grain finished animal the color is slightly paler than that of our grass-fed steak but it's still really pretty let's hide this for a second and oh you know I am feeling a little bit of heartburn eeee right now that feels better oh good the steaks back I was worried we lost him ooh I'm obsessed with the color we got on the exterior of this steak the shape of this cut made sustained contact with a hot pan really easy and that inside is exactly what you want just wall-to-wall pink these slices look really nice they're kind of glossed up from those little bits of rendered intramuscular fat this is nice and rich and juicy totally delicious the flavor is slightly less complex in the grass-fed which you can chalk up to the fact that it's a younger animal that took on fat more quickly and it's still really lovely then definitely what most Americans expect when they're eating beef another factor that has a huge impact on the taste and texture of a steak how old a cow is at the time of slaughter which brings us to our next type veal veal is beef that comes from a calf rather than a cow that's reached maturity here we have a classic bone-in rib chop which it became from a more mature animal would be called a ribeye steak what we're looking at here is rose veal and it's decidedly different from factory veal or white veal which comes from animals that have usually been raised in confinement by contrast roseville comes from a calf that's been milk fed by its mother and then grass fed on pasture until it's around six months old the meat is pink rather than white because the calf has had some time to actually develops a muscle this almost looks like a pork chop the meat is soft to the touch but not flabby and it's got nice structure we've got some nice fat here on the cap and in between these muscles there's not a whole lot of marbling going on it's really pretty I'm excited to try this one cooked ah there's our veal chop so we seared this quickly in a hot pan and then finished it with a smidge of good butter to get a little gloss on there veal is a lot leaner than regular beef so it can use the extra fat that interior is such a different color at medium-rare than it would be for mature beef it's actually really similar to the color it had when it was raw let's try it hmm Wow really tender you know the most notable thing going on flavor-wise is how mild it is the meat is almost creamy tasting with none of the irony minerally character that I associate with meat from a more mature animal I could see myself eating this once in a blue moon but personally I'm missing that full beefy flavor which we're gonna get plenty of with our next type mature cow so the longer a cow lives the more work its muscles do and therefore the less tender the meat becomes but what you lose in tenderness you make up for enriched complex flavor in the early part of the 20th century the average beef cow was slaughtered at four to five years now it's more like 12 to 15 months due in large part to how much faster the animals can grow when they're finished on grain but this steak right here is from a nine year old Angus steer a New York strip steak to be exact which comes to us from Kinderhook farm in upstate New York right off the bat you can tell how different the color of this steak is from our others but especially from our veal the meat has this deep ruddy color and the fat is more yellowish it's really firm the marbling is pretty impressive but I can see that there are some grisly bits there that we didn't see in the steaks from our younger animals and even though meat from older cows tends to be tougher the New York Strip is a fairly tender cut so I'm looking forward to seeing how this turns out and beef Wow this smell is fairly strong and I can tell that we lost some fat in the pan because of the way that it shrunk up it actually feels pretty tender to the touch meat is really pretty and that fat has an almost beeswax equality to it give this one a taste hmm wow this Jake has huge flavor it's really really earthy and the longer I chew the more layers of flavor I'm getting it tastes like a porcini mushroom almost big umami energy it's definitely tougher by a mile I'm not sure that I can eat an entire steak like this to the face but this is something that I hope that everyone gets to try at least once all beef is aged to some degree which allows natural enzymatic processes time to tenderize the muscle tissue and create a whole array of savory new flavors a lot of meat is wet aged wet aging sounds kind of fancy but basically it's just storing the steak in a vacuum sealed bag since the steak is sealed in its own juices it doesn't lose water weight the way that it does when it's dry aged making the process less expensive for butchers and consumers but also makes for less dramatic results the cut we're working with here is a flatiron which is a tender little steak that hides in the chuck a primal cut that people often don't bother to dry-aged this is another nice little dinner for one steak manageable size decent marbling and it's pretty quick cooking you know even though we dried it off really well with paper towels it still feels kind of dampen flabby to be honest let's go to the cloche we gave our Flatiron a quick sear on a really hot grill which is really all it needed there's really nice browning here cutting in it's nice looking plenty moist and that grain structure is tight without being tense you know hmm I love the flavor of this cut it's complex without being too gamey it's plenty tender it does taste a smidge watered-down but not in a really noticeable way and there's a faint in enos that I tend to associate with wet aged meat no I'm not mad at it though now for contrast we're gonna take a look at a steak that's been dry aged a dry aged steak is a piece of beef that's been cut from a larger primal cut of the animal that's been hung in a cold humidity controlled environment for anywhere between seven and 120 days over time the meat will lose water weight concentrating its flavor and dry aging also promotes the activity of friendly enzymes and molds that tenderize the muscles and build flavor the dried-out exterior of the meat usually has to be trimmed and discarded further contributing to lost weight which is part of the reason these steaks command a higher price tag so this time we chose a bone-in ribeye this particular steak has been aged for over 60 days prime fatty cuts like this one are ideal for dry aging and this is definitely one of my all-time favorite cuts of beef the marbling is really impressive throughout and these big veins of fat are gonna keep things nice and juicy when it cooks you can tell that this beauty has been dry aged just by touching it it feels dense not flabby and it has an almost tacky exterior I cannot wait to taste this one let's get it under the cloche and beautiful roof that is a sight to behold we pan-seared this bruiser and then finish in the oven and the exterior is incredible looking dry aged meat takes on a sear way faster than wet aged because it's already lost so much water this is definitely on the rarer side of medium-rare but that's just how I like this cut oh I cannot wait turn on that bone later this meat looks amazing these slices are just shining with fatty goodness hmm damn that's good the flavor is just so much denser than the 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 the dry aging I'm in heaven this is a slam dunk and there you have it folks twelve distinctly different and delicious steaks that showed us just how many variables contribute to the unique taste and texture of the meat on your plate I think I need to go get my cholesterol check now have a favorite kind of steak you didn't see today leave it in the comments

Channel: Bon Appétit

Views: 1,554,906

Rating: 4.8137412 out of 5

Keywords: steak, amiel stanek, amiel bon appetit, amiel makes, amiel, amiel makes steak, amiel steak, amiel 12 types of steak, 12 types, make steak, making steak, how to steak, how to make steak, types of steak, best steak, steak bon appetit, 12 types of steak, cuts of steak, best cut of steak, steak marbling, t bone steak, newport steak, porterhouse steak, skirt steak, culotte steak, filet mignon, bavette steak, denver steak, veal chop, ny strip steak, food, bon appetit

Id: Q9y3VRWYtGE

Length: 22min 52sec (1372 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 18 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/Tibbox]

We’re gonna get a new flair going in a bit I’m just busy irl

[u/Font-street]

I will not comment on the thumbnail. There is another thread for it.

BUT AMIEL GAME SO ON POINT

[u/Hefty_Umpire]

Much better than watching him destroy a steak with a waffle iron.

[u/Semper-Fido]

If you find this interesting in regards to steak, check out the Prime Time series on the Eater YouTube channel. Two guys that own a butcher shop in NYC. Their episodes on meat cuts, how to butcher, and interesting ways of preparing them is fantastic.

[u/samaira-]

I wish he would have given the alternative names for all the steaks Americans call steaks completely different names to the rest of the world and it would have been cool to explain why. Also the story of Sirloin is interesting.