STEAK
In order to get a level of comfort in your knowledge of steaks and beef and are able to communicate well with our guests, it is important that you know the following. Whenever referring to the animal from which our beef comes from, it should always be referred to as a steer. Cattle is the collective name for all domesticated oxen (genus Bos).
Cattle are classified as:
Bulls: Male cattle, usually not raised to be eaten.
Calves: Young cows or bulls prized for their meat (veal).
Cows: Female cattle after their first calving, raised in this country principally for milk and calf production.
Heifers: Young cows or cows before their first calving.
Stags: Male cattle castrated after maturity, principally used for dog food.
Steer: Male cattle castrated prior to maturity and principally raised for beef.
Please disregard the other kinds of cattle and remember only the type we would ever use - steers!
Now let’s break down the steer to get a solid understanding of how we get our steaks.
There are eight primal cuts per side of beef, progressing from the head to the tail.
They are as noted on the diagram above and as follows:
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FOREQUARTER:
1. Chuck
2. Brisket and Shank
3. Rib
4. Short Plate
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HINDQUARTER:
5. Short loin
6. Flank
7. Sirloin
8. Round
These are names of large cuts of beef made from the animal. In the simplest of terms, think about a steer butchered into two pieces, straight down and through the backbone. You would then call each piece a side of beef.
Now, cut each side in two, and you would have four pieces known as quarters. The two quarters towards the front of the animal are the forequarters and the two towards the back of the animal are the hindquarters.
These cuts are used for different purposes. If all of these cuts are from a prime steer their quality should be the highest possible. Each piece cut from the steer has a different range of tenderness, flavor and suitability for cooking.
Typically, unless we have chosen a different cut for use as a special from time to time, our center of the plate featured steak cuts come from the following primal cuts only:
The Rib and the Short Loin
Steaks regularly featured are:
Strip and/or Shell ( Bone-In or Boneless)
Filet Mignon
Porterhouse
Rib Eye
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Each of these steaks are cut from one of the two larger primal cuts we use here. These are names given to cuts by butchers and consumers over history, therefore standardized and recognizable. Quite simply, they are what they are. This does not necessarily make it easy for us to describe them to our guests, so let’s break them down a little further.
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The Rib
The primal beef rib consists of ribs #6 through #12 as well as a portion of the backbone. This primal cut is best known for yielding Roast Prime Rib of Beef. Prime Rib is not named after the quality grade USDA Prime. Rather its name reflects the fact that it constitutes the majority of that primal cut.
The eye meat of the rib (the center muscle portion) is not a well exercised muscle, so remains quite tender. It also contains large amounts of marbling compared to the rest of the carcass and produces rich, full-flavored roasts and steaks. Although roasting the eye muscle on the rib bones produces a moister roast, the eye meat can be removed to produce a boneless rib eye roast or cut into rib steaks. The reason we identify this steak on our menu as a Kansas City Rib Eye is for marketing purposes only. Throughout history Kansas City has been a huge producer of beef to our nation, as well as a large consumer of beef. So, at times it lends its name to a few cuts. This can now be a general term rather than meaning the steaks actually came from Kansas City.
To describe our Kansas City Rib Eye, we would suggest saying:
“The Kansas City Rib Eye is a well marbled, full flavored steak cut from the tender eye section of the rib.”
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The Short Loin
The Strip/Shell, Filet Mignon and Porterhouse all come from the short loin. As noted previously, these names have been determined through time. To understand the names, you must understand the make up of the short loin.
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Of the major primal cuts of beef this is the most tender. The short loin contains a single rib, the 13th and last, as well as a portion of the back bone. It lies in the middle of the back between the sirloin and the rib, and the muscles in this section do little that could toughen them. With careful butchering, this small primal cut can yield several sub-primal cuts of beef. The two main muscles in the Short Loin are the tenderloin and the top loin. The loin eye muscle, a continuation of the rib muscle, runs along the top of the “T” shaped bones that form the backbone. Therefore it is called the top loin. Beneath the loin eye muscle on the other side of the backbone is the Tenderloin, the most tender cut of all. Leaving all the muscles in tact on the short loin and by cutting cross sections with the bone in, it produces the following:
Club Steaks (which do not contain any tenderloin).
If you remove the bone, they are also known as New York (or Kansas City) Strips, Delmonico’s or Shell Steaks.
T-Bone Steaks (contain only a small portion of tenderloin).
Porterhouse Steaks (cut from the sirloin [larger] end of the short loin and contain a large portion of the tenderloin).
The elongated tenderloin muscle can be separated from the bone and the rest of the short loin. At this point, it can be fabricated further and sold as Chateaubriand (the majority of the tenderloin tied and whole roasted), Filet Mignon or Tournedos. To describe these steaks we would suggest the following:
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"The New York Strip Steak is a boneless, tender and flavorful cut from the top loin."
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“The Filet Mignon is an extremely tender piece cut from the tenderloin.”
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“The Porterhouse is a bone-in cross cut of the short loin, containing both a full strip steak and a generous piece of the tenderloin.”
There are a few other terms such as “European Style”, Charcoal Grilled, Petite and so on. Please refer to your menu descriptions for a better understanding of why we add these words.
A few other points to understand about our beef:
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HOW IT IS RAISED
The flavor of beef can change subtly depending on whether it was corn-fed, grain-fed, young, old, over-exercised, etc. If we do not use an exclusive supplier, we must buy our beef based on quality. We may at times buy corn-fed beef, grain-fed beef, or both. Regardless of which we buy, it's always of the best quality.
AGING
On our menu, we list that all of our beef is aged 21 days. This is true. Why do we age our beef? What type of aging process do we use? There are two specific and distinctive ways of aging beef. The first is known as Dry Aging.
Dry Aging
Dry aging is the process of hanging or shelving fresh meats in an environment of controlled temperature, humidity and air flow, for up to six weeks. This allows enzymes and micro organisms to break down connective tissues. Dry aging is actually the beginning of the natural decomposition process. Dry aged meats can lose from 5% to 20% of their weight through moisture evaporation. They can also develop mold, which adds flavor, but must be trimmed off later. Moisture loss combined with additional trimming can substantially increase the cost of dry aged meats. Dry aged meats are generally available only through specific distributors; specialty butchers or controlled and inspected in-house operations.
Wet Aging
The second form of aging meats is the wet age method. Today, most pre-portioned or pre-cut meats are packaged and shipped in vacuum-sealed plastic packages (sometimes known generically by the manufacturer’s trade name, Cryovac®). Wet aging is the process of storing vacuum-packaged meats under refrigeration for up to six weeks. This allows the natural enzymes and microorganisms time to break down connective tissue, which tenderizes and flavors the meat. Currently, we are buying wet aged beef from the most reputable pack houses in the country. The process of aging meat, by either process in the above explanation, does not sound appetizing. It would be best to find a comfort zone to communicate what you now know to any guest, should they ask. We would suggest the following:
“Our steaks are aged 21 days to help impart flavor and to tenderize the meat.”
Let's recap what you just learned.
“We age all of our beef 21 days to help impart flavor and tenderize the meat.”
“The Kansas City Rib Eye is a well marbled, full flavored steak cut from the tender eye section of the Rib.”
“The New York Strip Steak is a boneless, tender and flavorful cut from the top loin.
“The Filet Mignon is an extremely tender piece cut from the tenderloin.”
“The Porterhouse is a bone-in crosscut of the short loin, containing a full strip steak and generous piece of tenderloin."
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