Steak cake
Pretty much everyone loves a good steak. After all — unless you’re vegetarian or vegan — there’s nothing quite like a nice cut of beef, grilled steak cake fried nicely with a little bit of seasoning, and served with a nice batch of fries or potatoes.
The problem is, however, that there is such a thing as a bad steak. And there are plenty of mistakes to make when cooking up a steak, of course: you might overcook or undercook it, you might cut into it too soon, or, of course, you might start things off with the wrong cut of beef. It’s probably important to point out that few cuts of steak are genuinely nasty. Some are better than others, sure, but most have some kind of purpose and there aren’t many that you ought to genuinely avoid at any cost. Then again, there is the beef round.
It’s a large primal cut of the cow, mainly coming from its rear leg and rump. It’s made up of three parts — the top, the tip, and the bottom. Let’s start with the top round. It’s basically the most tender part of the round, though that’s not saying much, and tends to be extremely tough and lean. Otherwise known as sirloin tip, this lean, boneless cut might do you a good kabob or stew, but the connective tissue in there means that, unless you braise it, it’s going to turn out all chewy and gross. Finally, there’s the bottom round — which includes the eye of round, a cut of meat The Splendid Table once called “one of the few unredeemable cuts of meat. Nigh-on tasteless, tougher than John Wick and absolutely not worth your money, no matter how cheap it comes.
Skirt steak comes from the part of the cow known as the plate, which is essentially the muscle that you find inside the chest and below the ribs. Skirt does have one or two things going for it. Mainly, the fact that it’s genuinely quite flavorful — although, like the round, it’s still best cut into thin slices than served as a full steak. This is because it’s a very tough, muscle-heavy cut, meaning overcooking by just the slightest amount is going to make you very unhappy.
If you really must cook skirt steak, keep it rare or medium rare at the very most. Frustratingly, although they’re fine to pan-fry, the long shape of the skirt makes it unwieldy to prepare and season, and a total nightmare to fit into all the but the largest pans. For many, skirt steak just isn’t worth the fuss. That said, you may find that this simple 3-ingredient steak marinade is all you need to elevate the cut of meat.
Like skirt steak, the flank cut of beef comes from the underside of the cow — this time a little further back, right behind the plate. It’s actually very similar to skirt steak too, with each having their own advantages and neither really being much better or worse than the other. Again, you’re generally not going to want to cook flank as a steak at all unless you intend to serve it as thin slices, but they do at least marinade nicely. As ever, remember to cut against the grain or you’re in for a whole world of pain. All things considered, there’s not a lot more to be said for this one. Either way, you’re probably better off with something else. The sirloin is one of the most famous cuts of beef, but it’s actually generally divided up into three smaller cuts: the top sirloin, the bottom sirloin, and the rear part of the tenderloin.
These different parts vary wildly in general quality, tenderness, and flavor. By and large, the bottom sirloin is the inferior cut of the three. The sirloin is the hip of the cow, with the bottom sirloin being taken from the upper hip section. Now, the bottom sirloin is actually great for roasting, but it’s generally not great for turning into steaks, unless — like the flank or skirt — you fancy slicing it up and marinating it. Use it purely for a steak, however, and the bottom sirloin is likely to prove tough, chewy, and chunky.
