Good Steak

How to See and Select a Good Steak

A Good Steak should have good flavor, very tender, juicy and have a small amount of fat. All beef is a good tasting and nutritious food item but a good steak is most people’s favorite cut of beef. The lean part of a good steak should be cherry red in color. The white part of beef steak is usually considered waste and is called fat. Most people will cut the fat off and throw it away. This tells us that a good steak should not have a lot of fat on the outside or in between the muscles. We need to remember though that there is a special kind of fat that makes cooked steak juicy and full of flavor. This fat will be visible as small specks of white and scattered throughout a good steak, it is referred to as marbling. Some folks will call this the taste fat. A good speckling of marbling and a bright cherry red color to the lean will most always be a good steak.

 

Color of a Good Steak

The freshness of a good steak can be identified by the color. When a good steak is displayed in the air for a short period of time if it is fresh the lean beef will have a bright cherry-red color and the fat should be a bright white. When it has been on display for longer periods of time and begins to age. It will start to ruin and the bright cherry red color of the lean becomes brown and the color is dull. The white fat may get an undesirable appearance and can also turn a little off color towards brown. Your best choice for a good steak and the fresher ones will be the ones with the bright white fat and bright cherry red lean.

Marbling in a Good Steak

A Good Steak and most all beef has a certain amount of small specks of fat in the lean or muscles and this is referred to as marbling. Marbling is fat that gives a good steak the flavor that is good to your taste. The cooking of a good steak causes the marbling to melt at high temperatures and this is what makes the steak juicy. When beef is dry after cooking it is because there was very little marbling before starting to cook. Dryness especially applies to a steak that has been cooked for a long time. Because the marbling makes a steak juicy and gives it a unique flavor a good steak will have lots of marbling.

 

 

Fat Thickness and a Good Steak

A good steak will not have a lot of fat along the outside edges because most folks do not like to eat very much fat. Thus it is a waste of your money to buy an otherwise good steak and then have to cut off lots of fat before cooking and eating your steak. Be careful and do not take this to extreme because a little fat is good and will protect the outside of the meat and keep it from drying out as it is cooked. A good steak will have a thin rind of fat surrounding the outside of the steak.

 

 

 

 

Seam Fat and a Good Steak

A Good Steak will not have a lot of seam fat. It is natural for cattle to have fat between their muscles as a normal part of their growth. This is referred to as seam fat. When a good steak has more than one muscle you can see the line or seam of fat that separates them. You will want to avoid steaks that have a large glob of fat instead of a small line. Not only is seam fat undesirable but more of a problem than outside fat because it is almost impossible to cut it off or out of the steak. Seam fat is also waste fat and should be avoided when selecting a good steak.

 

 

Seam Fat

This picture is a better definition of what seam fat is and where it is located within the muscles. Also associated with seam fat there may be some toughness and it is also undesirable. It is recommended that you pay close attention to seam fat and definitely stay away from it when selecting a good steak.

 

Now that you are fully armed with all this information we hope you select, cook and enjoy a Good Steak every chance you get.