Yeah, i will almost never eat fillet but occasionally I want somethign served very bloody/bleu then fillet fits the bill
Where to get nice steaks from?
- Thread starter danlightbulb
- Start date
Yeah, i will almost never eat fillet but occasionally I want somethign served very bloody/bleu then fillet fits the bill
A marinate is probably a waste of good fillet but I know what you mean. I think you have to realzie that a fillet just has an extremely delicate flavor so you need to keep everything else to a minimum., even side dishes and just drink water with it. Enjoy the melt in the mouth texture and sublte mild beef flavors.
Cuts like ribeye have much more flavor so are fantastic alone but also stand up to the usual sides and a very good wine.
Soldato
Its possible to get OK steaks from the supermarket shelves. Look at every steak on the shelf and try to find one with nice marbling. If there are none that fit the bill, then wait until next time.
Associate
- Joined
- 8 Jun 2007
- Posts
- 1,854
Of the supermarkets one the best steaks (sirloin) i've had was from Morrisons even the wife raved about it and she is a fussy bugger 
I work right by Smithfields in London. So have access to some good steak.
However, I think Lidl finest (or whatever it is called) is really good. Steak is nice and thick, you can find really good marbling and when cooked properly its really great.
one of the greatest mistakes most people make is not getting the steak to room temp. If the steak is vacuum packed then I place it in warm water for 20 mins. If it isn't, then I put it in a zip bag and do the same thing.
If you have the spare cash, going to a large butchers like Smithfields means you can buy a whole rib eye, fillet or sirloin and then portion it. That's what I normally do. Freeze in vac bags and you're good to go.
However, I think Lidl finest (or whatever it is called) is really good. Steak is nice and thick, you can find really good marbling and when cooked properly its really great.
one of the greatest mistakes most people make is not getting the steak to room temp. If the steak is vacuum packed then I place it in warm water for 20 mins. If it isn't, then I put it in a zip bag and do the same thing.
If you have the spare cash, going to a large butchers like Smithfields means you can buy a whole rib eye, fillet or sirloin and then portion it. That's what I normally do. Freeze in vac bags and you're good to go.
i cant remember, haven't ordered in just over a year, no freezer space atm.
Boo, but...
Yay! Good news in that case, DPD are fairly reliable around me. I've been hankering for some nice steaks on the BBQ, may order some later in the year in this case!
Caporegime
old wives tale?
It's well advertised and I know that if I cook a steak straight from the fridge it is a lot harder to get a nice cook on the steak. I can't be bothered reading that whole page about wives tales
Sorry.And yes, warm water
And he says it still makes no difference. Drying or covering with salt for a few days makes much more difference.
I can see his logic though. It hardly takes any energy to get the steak up 15c from fridge to room temp when you put it in the pan/on the bbq compared with the energy needed to turn the water into steam to get a nice browning.
Caporegime
Well he said 'room temp', so I took that and ran with it.
It's not a temperature thing, it's a moisture thing if you want a kickass crust.
Reverse searing or sous vide are completely different things compared to the 'sit until room temp' myth.
I work right by Smithfields in London. So have access to some good steak.
However, I think Lidl finest (or whatever it is called) is really good. Steak is nice and thick, you can find really good marbling and when cooked properly its really great.
one of the greatest mistakes most people make is not getting the steak to room temp. If the steak is vacuum packed then I place it in warm water for 20 mins. If it isn't, then I put it in a zip bag and do the same thing.
If you have the spare cash, going to a large butchers like Smithfields means you can buy a whole rib eye, fillet or sirloin and then portion it. That's what I normally do. Freeze in vac bags and you're good to go.
It makes no difference if you warmt eh steak up to room temperature, you are cooking it on a hot pan or coals. The fridge is like 4*C, room temperature 20*, the heating surface 300 or so.
http://www.seriouseats.com/2013/06/the-food-lab-7-old-wives-tales-about-cooking-steak.html
Letting the steak rest at the end is important, as is not over cooking them. Once they have heated up they will continue to cook on the inside so you have to take them out earlier than you expect to eat them at.
A decent piece and a decently cooked piece of rump should not take an age to chew. It's not as melt in your mouth as ribeye or fillet but it's no more "chewy" than a piece of sirloin.
My favourite cut is ribeye, cooked a little longer than most other steaks (to melt the fat a bit). I normally go blue to blue/rare with my steaks but cook ribeye to a slightly more medium rare finish. Has a great taste and melts in the mouth, but isn't as expensive as fillet as already mentioned.
That said I would always go to waitrose for my steaks, as they are a lot better than those in the other supermarkets.
Last edited:
There is only one good recipe for fillet. It's called take it out of the fridge to warm up, put on bbq until done to your liking (blue or rare only!), let it rest for a few minutes and serve.
Don't ruin it with anything else.
That said i'd take a good bit of Oglet over Fillet if i were paying.
Soldato
I know but it does. The only way I've found of making it tender is to slow cook it in a casserole, then it's melt in the mouth.
Associate
Once upon a time you'd never use rump for a "steak meal" it was always used as in stews etc.
I disagree. maybe with thin steaks the difference is not so much but for thicker bits of meat it's a game changer when you're aiming to get your steak cooked evenly.
Take a 2" thick fillet and cook it straight from the fridge. by the time the middle has got to say 50 degrees for rare, you would have had the outside of the steak on the heat for a longer time so you will get a much thicker grey second of meat.
We can agree to disagree however I have seen far more evidence and topics from chefs I respect with regards to not cooking a steak straight from the fridge than web articles that disagree with this.
Soldato
True that. I only ever use it when I whip out my slow cooker.
Soldato
Being a butcher since I was 18 I really never used to eat steak much when I was younger. If I did it was always rump. After I started to cook for my self I always had to do it for ages in the pan or grill so it would be pink but not runny. Once I was told to leave it out before cooking it took far less time to cook to my preference. Obviously since all this learning stuff I always have ribsteak now. Have done for 16 or so years. I have had fillet twice, first time tasteless second time it was hung for 6 weeks in the fridge at the butchers i worked at the time. By the time the customer came back to buy it it was covered in crust, furry in places but once he told us to cut a steak of to keep for ourselves and we cooked it , the taste was immense. They are the only two occasions I have had fillet and will never try it again. Waste of money imo.
For the record I leave my steaks out on the kitchen work top for hours. Sometimes over night. When I cook them they take literally 2-3 mins and put on plate cover loosely in foil and the drained juices back in the pan to reduce and seasoned and poured onto the steak on the plate before chomping on.
For the record I leave my steaks out on the kitchen work top for hours. Sometimes over night. When I cook them they take literally 2-3 mins and put on plate cover loosely in foil and the drained juices back in the pan to reduce and seasoned and poured onto the steak on the plate before chomping on.
Man of Honour
To be fair for a steak thread it's taken a long time for it to get to the "No you're cooking it wrong!!!" chat to start 