Where is the best steak (and why)

steve white said:

@rookhawk, where did you get your dry ager. What are brands to trust?

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I previously had a Steak Locker. It worked fine when it worked, I did need warranty parts on the water tray that corroded and I had some IT issues with the wifi that required them to reset some settings.

The Very best money can buy is the Dry Ager, made in Germany. It’s a serious, commercial grade unit and you see them occasionally displayed in Steak Houses.

The other option is to buy a used Tru brand commercial fridge used on FB Marketplace for $500-$1000 and hack it. People put fans in them, adjust the temp, and get a Bluetooth/wifi control unit for them. They are excellent and cost effective if you can get a used fridge from a gas station or restaurant that went belly up.

Does anyone dry age venison for steaks?

BGGMKLR said:

I discovered my favorite steak by accident 30+ years ago in BA Argentina. I ordered it out of curiosity as I had absolutely no idea what exactly it was.
Hanger steak... roasted medium rare over a hot wood fire...served with chimichuri dip sauce.
IMHO several steaks are it's equal...
however none bests it.
Cheers
Spike

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the comment on hanger steak got my attention-what a fabulous cut of beef! I first ran into the hanger steak during my time in Paraguay and never look back. Not a handsome cut and difficult to grill because thickness is often not uniform but for juicyness and flavor it tops my list. less marbled and does not have that luxurious fat (which is totally amazing )of the bone in rib eye that rookhawk describes so well but very easy to fall in love with as a go to for a md week treat.

steve white said:

Does anyone dry age venison for steaks?

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Not really if I literally answer "steaks". Deer fat goes rancid within hours to a few days, even if frozen. ALL the fat must come off of a steak.

People do make venison charcuterie which can be excellent. Here's how it works: A full hindquarter is usually encrusted with rock salt and placed into a cooler in a cold, dry place for about 30 days. After that it is removed, washed, and sometimes paprika is added. If paprika is added, it is placed in a dry ager with the UV light on for 45-60 days to create game jamon that is excellent. If Paprika is not added, penicillin spores are added to the steak ager which colonize the outside of the hindquarter, turning it that beautiful white color of fine charcuterie. (the latter is done with the UV off to permit controlled penicilin bacteria growth on the meat.)

So in conclusion: dry aging venison steaks, no never. Dry charcuterie making with game animals, 100%, decadent and VERY traditional. A steak ager does both tasks.

I’ll can’t disagree with posts about DIY in the back yard. Built my hinged, covered grill 35 years ago out of 30” dia steel pipe. Found a used commercial cast iron grill segment, about 15” x 25” that fits perfectly. Uses plain hardwood charcoal. Pick up steak locally, usually ribeye or NY strip, selected by my eye. Garlic and lightly salt and pepper surfaces and set in refrigerator overnight. Broil/sear to my liking. Add baked potato and French bread garlic toast for complete meal. Not fancy and not expensive. I’ll do that 2-3 times a year at most. Anyone into gourmet dining… are welcomed to a local restaurant, 15 minutes away, for a $75 6 oz Kobe steak and $15 drinks. Been open about three years now- I’ve never been there.

One of the things about steak and meats in general is the chemical manipulation potential during the raising, fattening up or what some smugly refer to as “finishing”. More recently the buzz terminology that has, many times, been erroneously lumped into this idea is “organic” or not. Very misleading and sometimes very wrong. Always manipulated because of marketing to a gullible or uneducated public. Same goes for GMO or not. One of the insidious chems used in t tohe past in the meat production industry has been DES, a synthetic estrogen growth stimulator. You can claim or be led by labels such as “grass finished” or whatever but DES or any number of other chems and many wide spectrum antibiotics are, IMO, some of my big no nos for meat production. I try to know the history of the meats I consume but in today’s world an almost impossible task. I try to select my steaks/meats locally and usually know the history of the cattle and producer. I couldn’t care less about labels like “grass finished”, I’ll leave that to the smug bragger class. This also may have something to do with why so many wild game meats taste so good by comparison. Bottom line is I’ll take a lean, somewhat tough, open range, non-feedlot bison steak or burger any day over much of the mass produced cattle meat available today.

Everyone has probably heard of Omaha Steaks and other online merchants for steaks. In the last year or two, I've seen commercials on TV for Riverbend Ranch steaks. Interesting info on "finishing cattle."



Apparently, they age their beef for 21 days at 30F.

All cuts offered through Riverbend Ranch are certified 100% USDA CHOICE. We also proudly offer 100% USDA PRIME beef on several of our most popular cuts.

One secret to great flavor and superb tenderness is proper aging of the beef. Proper aging means storing beef at 30°F (slightly below freezing) for 21 days. Most processing facilities no longer properly age beef because it’s so expensive to do. But at Riverbend Ranch, we don’t take shortcuts. All Riverbend Ranch beef is aged for 21 days in our 780,000-cubic-foot aging coolers.

steve white said:

I might have once voted for McGuire's Irish Pub in Destin, Florida--a great dry aged steak, though they do apply a proprietary rub.
After tonight I might vote for The Keg, a Canadian based enterprise, and we ate at the Arlington, Tx location. Difference? Their New York strip was so good, I couldn't even bring myself to salt or pepper it, and used a béarnaise sauce to dip bread in, rather than dip steak in it. Just Wow. Near as I can tell, the grade of meat and the well seasoned grill did their magic, no doubt aided by good cooking.
What makes you defend you favorite steak or method as champion?

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The best stake I have ever had was at Del Frisco in Dallas TX. They cook it exactly like you tell them. It is the only steak that I never have to use any additional spice. I ate their on business for over 20 years!

I have had a great steak at Don Shula’s in west palm in the early 2000’s. I had a great steak in Chicago in a hotel that had the top rated steak in Chicago that year (2001). We shared a fantastic steak in Aruba— dry aged 48 oz Tomahawk from Argentina But I would argue that my favorite steak of the last three years was in a bar near Blumfontein on a trip from hunting in the eastern cape and returning to the Limpopo. Fantastic. Called ahead and it literally hit the table when we walked in! We had been riding for 8 hours. Possibly the best steak ever! Creamed spinach and creamed sweet potato I’m not sure the Waygu hanger steak I had in Charleston, SC at Burwell’s, which was excellent, tasted any better nor hit the spot any better…

The best steak I can recall is from my youth. T-bone beef my family raised from an Angus calf, grown on our pasture, fattened on our own farm's feed, slaughtered and butchered by my Dad with my brother's and my help. Prepared at our modest family cabin by the shores of a little lake just a half hour drive north of our home. Cooked hot and quick and rare on a wood fire that was mostly diamond willow logs. Wonderful, aromatic coals. Served with a side of my Mom's garden salad, corn on the cob that my sisters and me planted and much later shucked, with new potatoes cooked skin-on in creamy butter-onion sauce, and a dessert of Saskatoon berry pie that we picked on our wild native prairie, and topped off with maple walnut ice cream. Shared with a few cousins and friends of the family after a hot afternoon at the lake, fishing, swimming, and visiting. Completely personal/family/local. No restaurant can match that.

Longwalker said:

The best steak I can recall is from my youth. T-bone beef my family raised from an Angus calf, grown on our pasture, fattened on our own farm's feed, slaughtered and butchered by my Dad with my brother's and my help. Prepared at our modest family cabin by the shores of a little lake just a half hour drive north of our home. Cooked hot and quick and rare on a wood fire that was mostly diamond willow logs. Wonderful, aromatic coals. Served with a side of my Mom's garden salad, corn on the cob that my sisters and me planted and much later shucked, with new potatoes cooked skin-on in creamy butter-onion sauce, and a dessert of Saskatoon berry pie that we picked on our wild native prairie, and topped off with maple walnut ice cream. Shared with a few cousins and friends of the family after a hot afternoon at the lake, fishing, swimming, and visiting. Completely personal/family/local. No restaurant can match that.

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I think your "best" is the hands down winner of this thread-hard to argue otherwise. cheers

Longwalker said:

The best steak I can recall is from my youth. T-bone beef my family raised from an Angus calf, grown on our pasture, fattened on our own farm's feed, slaughtered and butchered by my Dad with my brother's and my help. Prepared at our modest family cabin by the shores of a little lake just a half hour drive north of our home. Cooked hot and quick and rare on a wood fire that was mostly diamond willow logs. Wonderful, aromatic coals. Served with a side of my Mom's garden salad, corn on the cob that my sisters and me planted and much later shucked, with new potatoes cooked skin-on in creamy butter-onion sauce, and a dessert of Saskatoon berry pie that we picked on our wild native prairie, and topped off with maple walnut ice cream. Shared with a few cousins and friends of the family after a hot afternoon at the lake, fishing, swimming, and visiting. Completely personal/family/local. No restaurant can match that.

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Well said.
The companions, location, circumstances, and memories that accompany a spectacular meal often trump the goodness of the meal itself...if one is fortunate.
Best
Spike

Bisteca ala Fiorentina, private estate raising chianina cattle, Umbria. Perhaps not the best steak I’ve eaten, but it’s right up there, and certainly one of the most memorable.

If in L’Albir, Spain look up the restaurant «Palmen». Absolutely perfect steakes. A little pricey but definitely worth it.

About every 6 months I treat myself to a backyard grilled steak. I bought a 14 oz, 1” thick NY strip, rubbed surfaces with light mixture of garlic, salt and pepper, covered and left in refrigerator overnight. Yesterday afternoon built a small fire in my grill, waited til fire was nearly into coals, added charcoal and waited til charcoal was fully firing, lowered the grilling surface and prepared my steak. Grilled to about medium with very faint pink center. The strip had a thin fat skin on one side and was evenly, very faintly marbled throughout. Cost of the steak was $12. Absolutely great, clean beef flavor!!! No odd taste of chems nor hormones. Not fall apart mushy like some tenderized or overly fattened steak can be but not at all tough either.

Conversely, my daughter doesn’t eat much beef or steak preferring chicken, pork or fish. She grew up where such beef was rare and what little beef was available was low quality. I’ve tasted such beef and fully understand her aversion to it. I’ve had some of that odd tasting beef here in the US, even in expensive, high end steak house restaurants.

I had an amazing steak at Ol Pejeta in Laikipia Kenya made by a fellow named Jolam in a kitchen about as big as a hotel bathroom. It was from the Borana cattle that are raised there. The best I’ve ever had.

Generally I do not eat steak out because I can buy prime tenderloin locally and feed three people for half the price of a single meal. I only use salt and pepper and only occasionally finish baste with butter, but usually not.

My place with corn fed steers (occ heifers) that almost all grade prime then age for 21days.
However I've had rare Sable and Eland tenderloins that would rivel prime beef.