Thoughts on Choice NY strips from Costco?

solid. spend time picking good ones, as you can find ones that have better marbling than the prime they are selling right next to it.

What is an acceptable premium to pay for prime vs choice?

Been awhile since I posted a steak, it snowed yesterday so was resigned to cooking indoors again. Once again, a ribeye from CostCo.

This time I tried what Ill call the Diablo Method where I start the steak in a cold pan on the fat strip to render the fat:


Once some of the fat (prob couldve waited longer) is gone, and the pan is hot, sear one side and flip:


Into to the oven (on broil) we go. Served with green beans:


First cuts:


EXTREEEEEEEME:



Was a great steak. Cooking the fat at the beginning on the pan directly made it a little hard to eat though. I think Ill stick to just waiting for the pan to get hot and searing it first, because I didnt notice any difference in taste and there wasnt that much difference in the crust either. Perhaps if I bought steaks from a butcher directly and could ask for less fat to be trimmed the Diablo method would be better.

OK, I'm just starting a smoke 'n' sear experiment. Just started smoking some pork loin ribs; charcoal + fruit wood (guava here). Put in this nice ribeye once the smoking temp hit 200 deg F. It's stabilised at 196 after; thats ok since it's not super thick, so I'm gonna give it 30 mins in there and then sear it in a hot pan.

F5F5F5F5

Wow this is exciting, can't wait to see it. I was thinking of trying something similar, but don't want to fire up the smoker when it's -10 out.

Yum! I'll go ahead and declare this an almost total success. Almost, because it came out too medium; but I think I realised why.


TR:

After 30 mins of light smoking (I took a light hand w the smoke while steak in there + flipped after 15 mins).





Into a smoking hot skillet w a little peanut oil for approx 1-2 mins per side; large knob of butter and frenzied basting after flipping:




Lightly smoked steak w side of double IPA (hops are vegetables, right..?):




Yeah, not rare enough. Still juicy and delicious, but that's prolly cos it was nicely marbled meat to start with:




Close up for the pervs:




The taste with a light smoke was fantastic; I mashed the whole steak into me in about 3 minutes.

Will definitely do again, but this time will make sure not to put the steak over the coals . Seems dumb but I didn't think to realise until afterwards that the steak was directly over the heat source while my thermometer is away on the other side nestled in the middle of the ribs.

Next attempt I'll lightly smoke at a lower temp, maybe 175'ish & move it over inside the smoker obv. Apart from that difference, I'm super happy to have tried this preparation; would recommend it to anyone who smokes or even has a grill. I just have a large grill that I put the coals/wood one side, meat the other; works a treat once you figure out how to juggle adding coal/temps etc.

We have a Whole Foods here which sells smoked steak, but they're smoked over kiawe wood (basically mesquite), which is overpowering, and are also totally cooked through. I never buy it after tasting it a couple times - too tough/dry/smoky. This lighter hand with a smoked & seared steak is way nice though.

crust looks great!

yeota: Why the oven? Completely unnecessary step imo! See my steak above.

dogs: Jealous of the smoked steak. Looks great!

im just very comfortable with the oven and to me it simulates the grill more.

100% of the time I get a steak im pleased with when I use the oven, and I dont particularly want to use butter/oil because Im not a big fan of the flavor it adds.

yeota,

Rendering the beef fat makes any extra fat unnecessary, but it sounds like you like keeping the softer chunkier fat around your steak to eat in that form, so that technique prob doesn't work for you. You should get some extra beef fat and give that a try for cooking. I actually think that the pan method results in a steak closer to a grilled steak than the oven, but that's obv a matter of opinion. I do think your steak looked v good, though I think the cooked area around the edge might have been a little more than optimal. Mainly I just find it simpler/quicker to go w/ pan only method.

i feel this thread has now officially surpassed the egullet thread. outstanding work.

Thanks, v good post. Maybe Ill try some beef fat next time. Ideally I would like a crust like yours while sacrificing the minimum of the steak flavor.

1.5 lb prime porterhouse steak, roasted brussel sprouts, scalloped new potatoes with jalepenos and applewood smoked bacon









over cooked it some . tried oven first then searing in cast iron skillet