- [Amiel] This my friends, is steak.
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 is so many factors
that distinguish one steak
from another, from the
breed of cow it comes from
to the way that animal
was raised and 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 can 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
it's 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 Amiel Stanek and
this 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 cow's body.
At the end of the day, all meat is muscle
and the way individual
muscles on a cow get used,
is gonna have a profound effect
on the way that it cooks.
As a general rule, muscles
that get a lot of use
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 gonna 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 in 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 found their way
into 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 iconically
American cut, the T-Bone Steak.
This bad boy is cross cut
from the forward section
of the cow's shortloin
and gets its name from
the T shaped bone that runs along the top
and through 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 steaks that you
see in there are made of fat,
specially intra-muscular
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!
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
then 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 fist.
Mmm, 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.
Mmm, 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 in 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 Hereford.
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 shaped
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 than 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 cows knees so it's gonna
have more pronounced flavor
and probably a bit more chew.
A couple minutes in a hot grill
pan should be all it needs
and let's put the closh down.
Voila!
That right there is a tasty
looking steak for one!
Because we've cooked it in a
grill pan relatively quickly,
we've got some nice looking
grill marks but not a ton
of overall caramelization.
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 fat
surrounded by leaner meat
which is gonna have an effect
on the eating experience.
Mmm, it's definitely on
the leaner, toothier side.
But the more you chew, the
fat releases and the richer
it becomes, mmm, the flavor
is outstanding though.
Layers of full, minerally beefy flavor,
I wanna eat this with a cold
beer in front of the TV.
Piedmontese, 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 body doesn't
restrict muscle growth so
they end up looking like
they're in 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 my 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 whole to cook,
let's get it under the closh.
Okay, since this steak is so huge,
we actually cooked it in two stages.
The first in a low oven so
it can get up to a juicy
medium-rare throughout
and then we grilled it
right at the end of
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.
Mmm, wow wow wow wow wow!
That flavor is insane!
Way way beefier than
our other steaks so far,
it tastes really burley
without being overly gamey
and it's complimented 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 steak.
Next up, we have Brahman.
This unique breed originated in India
and is a desentative of Zebu,
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 steak 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 that is attached
to the outer part of the chest wall.
The color of this meat is really wild,
deep, dark red, almost purply
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 plan,
they run it through a device
that scorded which interrupted
those muscles fibers somewhat.
I'm really curious about what
this ones gonna taste like.
Oh, you know, I could use
a drink right about now.
Thank you, Magic Closh!
Ha, 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.
Mmm, wow, I've actually never tasted
anything like this before!
It has a very strong flavor,
pretty gamey, minerally, venison-like,
with a kind of toasty,
popcorny after taste,
it's definitely on the drier side,
but the eating experience
is still really exciting
'cause 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 intra-muscular
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 coolat 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 fattier
cut of the animal
but it's still freaking gorgeous
and I'm super excited about
that big, juicy, fat cap.
All right, let's get the closh on it and
beautiful!
So here we have our cooked Wagyu Coolat,
we barely cooked this guy,
poking it, I can tell that
it's still practically raw
inside black and bleu 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 longer 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.
Mmm, wow!
That is so, so special!
Honestly, it's like eating butter!
The texture is a firm piece of sushimi,
it's super savory, 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 two
or three pieces of this,
but damn is it good!
Let's check out some bison!
So, bison are indigenous to North America,
and were 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 all together,
they have a lower fat content than cattle
and are richer in iron and protein.
Since bison tends to be tougher than beef,
we decided on the filet mignon,
a cut from the tenderloin.
This high fluetent 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 don't forget to cut that string.
You can see how it helped
to keep the steak in this
tidy, cylindrical shape.
Cutting in, we're looking
at a nice, even medium
going on here, these
slices are extremely even
and uniform and it actually
feels soft to the touch
like it would be easy to
pull apart with my hands.
Mmm, 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 goin on.
It's kind of grassy, has a
minerally, irony, almost livery
flavor to it, it's tender and
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 a steak's 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 three 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 vaseo!
In France, it's better known as bavet!
This dramatic burgendy
color is characteristic
of grass-fed beef and
it's also pretty lean
which is to be expected
from beef that has just been
chomping on lawn for its whole life.
Generally speaking,
grass-fed beef tends to have
a bit more chew and gamier flavor
than the grain-finish stuff,
which is either an asset of a liability,
depending on who you ask.
Let's bring our magic closh back in.
No you see it raw, now you see it cooked!
Now that it's cooked, you can
really see that pronounced
grain structure than I
associate with a cut like this,
it's almost ropey looking,
just like our skirt steak,
it's super important to
slice this guy thinly
and against the grain
to maximize tenderness.
Oh, 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.
Mmm, yum!
I love the flavor or grass-fed beef.
It sounds kinda 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
the farmer 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 a 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, you know,
slightly paler than that of
our grass-fed steak but
it's still really pretty.
Let's hide this for a second and--
You know, I am feeling a
little bit of heart-burny
right now
[water bubbling]
[gulp] Ahhh!
That feels better.
Oh good, the steaks back.
I was worried we'd lost him.
Oh, I'm obsessed with the
color we got on the exterior
of this steak, this shape of this cut,
made sustained contact with
the 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 intra-muscular fat.
Mmm, mmm,
this is nice and rich.
It's juicy, totally delicious,
the flavor is slightly less
complex than the grass-fed,
which you can chalk up to
the fact that it's a younger
animal that took on fat more quickly.
It's still really lovely and
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 the 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 if it
came from a more mature animal
would be called a rib-eye steak.
What we're looking at here is rose Veal
and it's decidedly
different than factory veal
or white veal which comes from animals
that have usually been
raised in confinement.
By contrast, rose veal 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 develop
some muscle, this almost
looks like a porkchop,
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 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.
Ahh, 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.
Cutting in, oh 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!
Mmm, 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
once and 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 in rich, complex flavor.
In the early pat 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, rutty color,
and the fat is more yellowish
and it's really firm!
The marbling is pretty
impressive but I can see
that there are some gristly bits
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, the 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,
the meat is really pretty
and the fat has an almost
bees waxy quality to it.
Give this one a taste.
Mmm, wow!
This steak has huge flavor,
it's really really earthy
and the longer I chew,
the more layers of flavor I'm getting,
tastes like a porchini 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 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 flat iron
which is a tender little
steak that hides in the chuck,
a primal cut that people
often don't bother to dry-age.
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 damp and flabby
to be honest, let's go to the closh.
We gave our flat iron 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?
I love the flavor of
this cut, complex without
being too gamey, and it's plenty tender,
it does taste a smidge watered down,
but not in a really noticeable way.
And there's a faint tinniness
that I tend to associate
with wet-aged meat, you know,
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 it's 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 rib-eye,
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 thick veins of fat
are gonna keep things nice
and juicy when it cooks,
you can tell 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 closh,
and beautiful!
Oh, that is a sight to behold.
We pan seared this bruiser and
then finished it in the oven,
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 to
gnaw on that bone later.
This meat looks amazing!
These slices are just
shining with fatty goodness.
Mmm, mmm!
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.
Mmm, the cut, the
dry-aging, I'm in heaven!
This is a slam dunk.
And there ya have it folks!
12 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 checked now!
Have a favorite kind of
steak you didn't see today?
Leave it in the comments!
