How do you like your steak?

We went out for a meal last night with some friends, and just by chance, four out of the five of us decided to have steak. I must say I get a little confused by the different cuts, we don’t have steak very often and I can never remember the difference or which cut I prefer. Rump, sirloin, fillet, T-bone… When my husband went to Australia a couple of years ago he had the best steak he had ever eaten and the cut was rib eye, which neither of us had ever heard of at that time but which we have seen on menus since then.

Three of us had fillet, oh and it was so tender and delicious, and one of us had rib eye… rib eye in England seems very different from what my husband had in Australia. Apparently the rib eye here should be cooked slowly and tenderly and served medium; the reason is because of the marbling of fat in the cut, and a slow gentle cook will melt it and result in a very nice streak.

I was researching different cuts of meat, and it’s amazing not only how names vary, but the way butchery is done so there are completely different cuts. Looking on Wikipedia, there are two illustrations, one of British cuts, on of American. The American cuts at the front of the beast are chuck, brisket and shank; the British cuts of the same part are neck and clod, chuck and blade, thick rib, brisket, and shin… We’re visiting the States in June… I better check out the different names before we go, just in case we decide to order steak!