It is quite likely that your local butcher will sell more steaks than just about anything else in their shop especially in the summer. This is the time, and the advantage of having a local butcher who understands exactly what you are looking for. Often times, someone will buy a steak that looks great and then, after cooking it, found it less than spectacular. Not all beef steaks will cook up the same. Each has their own identity and way of cooking.
- A blade steak comes right from a steer’s shoulder and has some gristle running through it. This is a chuck steak and will retain a solid and pleasing flavor. It is better enjoyed braised as it will not respond well to the grille. The blade steak can also be cut in a certain way that will produce a more tender steak known as the Flat Iron.
- The chuck eye steak has an explosive flavor compared to other chuck cuts and comes from between the fifth and the sixth rib of the heifer. The chuck eye will burst with extra tenderness and flavor for you when marinated. Its cousin the Rib-Eye is cut from between the sixth and the twelfth ribs and is considered by many to be one of the best cuts of steak in terms of flavor and tenderness.
- Speaking of the Rib-Eye, the Cowboy or Tomahawk steak is a bone in Rib-Eye cut from the same rib portions. As with all of the Rib-Eye’s, it is well marbled, tender with more than enough flavor to satisfy.
- The Filet Mignon comes from the tapered end of the tenderloin which is located along both sides of the steer’s spine. There is no connective tissue, or gristle, here because this part of the cow is unexercised. Because of this, the tenderloin will remain the most tender of all beef steak cuts. Coming from the middle of the tenderloin is the more thickly cut steak known as the Chateaubriand. The Filet Mignon will dry out if you overcook it and will lend itself best to searing in a pan with some added fat such as butter or oil.