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If you ask Mark Pastore of La Frieda Meats, a Manhattan-based meat purveyor, you should never prepare your steak well-done. That's like squeezing all the goodness out of the animal (and eating a leather shoe). He recommends grilling steak to medium-rare or medium, depending on your preference. He'll also tell you that not all cuts can be thrown onto a grill. The animal's muscular region is usually the best because of its composure -- a chewy but tender texture. Here are his five favorites to grill. His very favorite? Probably the skirt. But that's like asking someone to pick between a Mercedes and a BMW.
Skirt Steak: This
belly cut has a high fat-to-meat ratio, which helps keep it rich and moist.
Cutting it across the grain (length-wise) is essential to thwart the inevitable
chewiness factor. Beware: if overcooked, even for a few minutes, it'll give your
incisors a work-out. Shoot for long, flat, thin slices.
Try: Throwing the meat
strips into tortillas and dress with a cilantro garlic sauce.
Flank Steak: A
similar cut to skirt steak, but this belly muscle is a little leaner and
sometimes easier to find. Butterfly the flank by slicing it horizontally with
the grain, stopping about one inch from the edge of the meat. When thrown onto
the grill, it'll puff up a little.
Try: Going for the
rolled approach by spreading chimichurri sauce -- an Argentine mixture of parsley, garlic,
onion, vinegar, and oil that's very fresh-tasting-all-over, then rolling it up
and using twine for tying.
Hangar Steak: Nicknamed the "butcher's tenderloin," it's what people usually put aside to save for selfish reasons. There's only one of these vaguely V-shaped pair of muscles per animal, and because it's so close to the liver, the hangar is especially flavorful.
Try: Seasoning the hangar when it comes off the grill with some good salt, pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil.
Strip Steak: When it's still attached to the tenderloin, the strip is known as the T-bone or Porterhouse steak. A meaty hunk for the most carnivorous of eaters, this one is so very far from tofu. Cut the meat across the grain, which, in this case, is usually crosswise.
Try: Food Network host Bobby Flay's spice-crusted strip steak.
Ribeye: Whether with bone or boneless, this is one of the richest pieces of the animal, and not surprisingly, the most expensive. Juicy, tender, and marbled (fatty), the ribeye was part of the cow's unused muscle matter. Perfect to soak up marinade.
Try: Marinating ribeye with soy sauce, ginger, paprika, and liquid smoke.
And check out the Wrong Ways to Grill -- and How to Do It Right.
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