This ain’t your Father’s rib eye!

This’ll be short and sweet.

I love to eat meat.  Most of us (honestly) do.  Fact is, I simply do not eat near as much meat as I used to, for a variety of reasons.  First and foremost, it’s just not a good idea for me to consume large quantities of steer flesh any longer…’nuff said for now on the health issues.  Secondly, I would rather pass on most beef found in the grocery store because it’s just not raised right, cut right, or (heavens) aged at all!  Good aged beef is superb.  “New” beef purchased as a so-called steak in the store is simply not very flavorful.  Bottom line:  I’d rather not subject myself to it, however seldom, if it ain’t good.

On a medical side note, I underwent an Endoscopy last week (the camera down the gullet to photograph the interior of your stomach).  I fully expected the doc to tell me afterwards, “Mr. Hansen, your stomach is perfectly normal.  However, we did have to remove approximately 6 pounds of undigested meat!”  Realistically, I suppose that crap will be found in my colon during the colonoscopy next week…not in my stomach.

So, side from a couple of meals a week, I now eat mostly chicken and fish for protein.  Yesterday, however, I broke down and bought a good looking rib steak (about 1 pound) at an upscale grocery with an actual butcher department to share with Loretta for dinner tonight.  Yes, we share that amount and still have half left over for the next day.  Sadly, I am no longer able to (or have want to) down beef in measurements of pounds.  Four ounces does me just fine now.  Four ounces of GOOD beef.

Here’s my beef in this blog.  The most flavorful steak on a grill is the rib steak, or, what they now call a rib eye.  The Prime Rib Roast is really the best, but requires a larger amount in one hunk and needs to be slow cooked to rare…blah, blah, blah, etc, etc.  How to cook a prime rib properly will come in a later blog.  So…here’s the story…what they sell in stores and call a rib eye is actually a boneless rib steak.  Perhaps the Ag Department has looked the other way for years or just allowed meat cutters to change the nomenclature, but a boneless rib steak is not a rib eye.  A rib eye is the center cut from a rib steak.  The bone and outside flap is removed (even though it is more flavorful than the eye) and it is labeled a “Rib Eye Steak”.

Really, the best way to buy this particular cut of meat other on a Prime Rib is to buy a full on, bone-in rib steak…and cook it hot and fast on a BBQ!  Furthermore, if it ain’t at least 1 1/2 inches thick, you are wasting your money.  By the way, the same goes for a New York.  Buy it cut thick with the bone on…and it’s called a Kansas City Strip.  Ask the butcher.  If he doesn’t know what a Kansas City Strip is (or a real rib eye for that matter), question his credentials and find another butcher.  If you want a real rib eye, ask him to custom cut you one at least 1 1/2 inches thick, with no more than a 1/4 inch of fat, and remove that outside flap.  Now…you got a real rib eye!

As far a cooking one of these bad boys (or any other nice cut of beef)…do it hot and fast, turn it only once (with tongs), never f***ing poke it with a fork while it’s cooking (the humanity of it all), and remove it from the heat at an internal temperature of no more than 135 degrees (medium rare).  Let it rest for at least five minutes, then slice in.  As a point of fact, most good steak houses will not cook your steak past medium rare without a disclaimer: “Any steaks cooked more than MR will not be guaranteed”…end o’ story.  Visually, medium rare is charred on the outside and an even pink all the way through.  If there is a slight amount of red in the middle, so be it.  A lot of red in the middle and you have yourself a rare steak.  And, by the way, that is way ALL prime rib is cooked…rare.  If you want your cut more than rare, they will throw it on the broiler or plop it in the au jus for a couple on minutes.  Again, not guaranteeing tenderness.

Personally, regarding seasonings, I use salt, fresh ground pepper, and a sprinkling of my own seasoning mix.  Not seasoned salt, a seasoning mix.

If you have the time, age your steak yourself by removing it from the package, placing it on a plate, and covering the plate with a Tupperware cover with holes in it.  How long?  As long as you can before it starts to smell “different”…a week works fine.  Sounds like a pain in the ass, right?  If so, then ask yourself this question:  Is it worth it to have a flavorful, tender steak you paid about $10 a pound for?  Me thinks yes.

Bon Apetit