Listen. We don't want to get into a whole lot of detail here - but this should not be overlooked.
I went to the store one day and saw these great looking steaks - about 1 1/4" thick with not much fat that I could see. I'm thinking "Whoa doggies! These are gonna be great on the barbecue."
Wrong . . . . . . .
I got round steak. Don't barbecue round steak. You are not going to get it to be tender on a grill. I got about 8 steaks in there - efiguring that was nough for 4 meals for my wife and I. The price was cheap - so was the meat.
Let me tell you something. That was one tough steak. So I called my brother-in-law in California. He used to be a meat cutter. Told him what I did and that I had 6 of these steaks left. He said that was not a problem. Cook them in a slow cooker. They need to be cooked slow and long to become tender and are not meant for cooking on a grill.
Well, the store made them look like they were but . . . . . the good news is he was right. They were delicious in a slow cooker.
Take a look at the cow and keep this in mind. The parts of the cow that gets the most exercise is also the parts of the cow where the toughest meat is found.
See the chuck, the round, the shanks, and the bottom of the cow? Not tender. Can you say slow cooker?
OK. See the rib section?
The rib eye, or ribeye, also known as the Delmonico, is a beef steak from the small end of the rib roast. When cut into steaks, the rib eye is one of the most popular, juiciest, (and expensive) steaks on the market. Meat from the rib section is tender and fattier (the meat is said to be "marbled") than other parts of the cow. This extra fat makes rib eye steaks and roasts especially tender and flavorful.
Unlike a lot of steaks, the rib eye is sometimes served bone-in, particularly at high quality steakhouses. The extra moisture and fat alongside the bone is said to enhance the flavor.
How about the sirloin section?
The sirloin steak is beef steak cut from the lower portion of the ribs, continuing off of the tenderloin from which filet mignon is cut. Of the steaks typically considered to be premium steaks, the sirloin is the cheapest, because the muscles still do quite a bit of work.
The sirloin is actually divided into several types of steak. The top sirloin is the most prized of these. The bottom sirloin is less tender, much larger, and is typically what you get when you buy sirloin steaks instead of steaks marked top sirloin.
The bottom sirloin in turn connects to the sirloin tip roast, which is generally considered to be a good, if somewhat tough, roast. Again - slow cooker. I'm going to have to have a section on slow cooking later.
See the area market tenderloin?
Your looking at the filet mignon - considered to be the tenderest cut of beef, and one of the most expensive. The average cow provides no more than 4-6 pounds of filet per animal. Because the muscle is non-weight bearing, it receives very little exercise, which makes it tender.
The filet can be cut into 1-2 inch thick portions, then grilled and served as-is, with minimum seasoning. Generally cooked no more than medium rare on high heat.
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Now look at the Short loin section.
The T-bone is a steak cut of beef. It consists of a T-shaped bone with meat on each side. The larger side contains meat from the strip loin, and the smaller side contains the tenderloin. T-bone steaks from the rear end of the tenderloin contain a much larger section of the tenderloin, and are called porterhouse steaks.
Due to their large size and the fact that they contain meat from two of the most prized cuts of steak, T-bone steaks are generally considered one of the highest quality steaks, and prices at steakhouses are accordingly high. Porterhouse steaks are even more highly valued due to their large tenderloin.
So for grilling, choose from the area from the rib to the sirloin, keeping in mind the upper area of the sirloin area is best. But you can grill the bottom sirloin - the rest of the cow - not for the barbecue.
