The perfect steak

The perfect steak is not easy to find

We say: "There are as many perfect steaks as there are people!" Every connoisseur of a good steak knows that there is a lot to consider when selecting and preparing it. In this article, we want to give you an overview of how to find the perfect steak and thus get closer to your perfect steak with every steak. But what criteria do most consumers use to evaluate a steak? The most important criterion in Germany is tenderness. If someone has to chew on a steak for too long, they won't want to eat it a second time. The second extremely important criterion is the juiciness of the steak. In order to influence the juiciness of the steak, two things are important: the degree of doneness and the marbling. At this point at the latest, many people's idea of ​​a perfect steak goes in very different directions. Now we've talked for a long time, this is how you find your perfect steak.

The selection of the cut makes the perfect steak

To find your perfect steak, you obviously have to choose the right cut. To all of you fillet lovers : "There are hardly any alternatives!" But as a meat sommelier, I recommend this cut: the Flat Iron . If prepared correctly, you get a very flavorful yet tender steak. With the right cut, every steak lover will be in seventh heaven. As a trained meat sommelier, I naturally have my favorites too. The Hanging Tender provides a particularly intense taste experience for me, which is why it is one of my favorite cuts. The very expensive but also extremely marbled and tender American Angus Hanging Tenders represent the absolute premium segment for this cut.

The meat sommelier's favorite steak

My favourite steak though is a different one. The Picanha , a cut that has been properly selected and hung with its continuous edge of fat is an absolute highlight for me. It doesn't matter whether it's from a Franconian heifer , an Irish pasture-fed beef or an Australian Angus. Of course I don't just eat these two steak cuts, I also like a T-bone or porterhouse steak , a ribeye or New York strip steak , a spider steak , a flank steak or a sirloin steak from, for example, 100% fullblood Wagyu Frankenhöhe . To be honest, I like eating any delicious steak. ;) The main thing is that it tastes good. For me, it's okay to have more flavour at the expense of tenderness every now and then, but on my YouTube channel FreybergerTV I show you how to overcome this obstacle.

With more or less marbling you can find the perfect steak

The right marbling, i.e. the amount of intramuscular fat deposits, the so-called grain of a steak, is one of the most important criteria when choosing the right steak. But depending on your own taste, the perfect steak is more or less marbled. The marbling is measured in the so-called BMS, the Beef Marbling Standard. The levels on the scale go from 1 to a maximum of 12. The Miyasaki Wagyu Striploin, for example, has a BMS of 10 to 12. For one of our Franconian heifer ribeyes, you'll get a BMS of around 5 to 6.

What to do if there is a lot of marbling in the perfect steak

Sometimes even at 7. The more marbling, the juicier the steak remains. Intramuscular fat is also very important for the maturing process. During maturing, the fatty acids are crucial for tenderizing the individual muscle groups. The most important thing for flavor is fat, whether subcutaneous or intramuscular. Most of the flavor profiles that arise from metabolism are stored in fat. In the same animal, different muscle groups are always marbled to varying degrees. The cut of the leg with the best marbling is always the maminha , for example. Or flat roast beef is always less marbled than round roast beef or entrecote. Our recommendation is: always choose a marbling of at least 5. A BMS of 8 is the top league; here the limit of 100 euros per kg is quickly exceeded.

The right degree of doneness for the perfect steak

Finding the right degree of doneness for your steak is not that easy. There are many factors that affect it. Here is a short list of what we consider to be important degrees of doneness:

• rare / bleu
• medium-rare / English
• medium
• medium-well / a point
• well(-done) / bien cuire

The choice of doneness depends most of all on your own preferences. It is important to know that the most tender doneness is well-done, and not, as many people often believe, rare or medium. At this point, I can already see a trend in barbecue courses after my participants have told me their favorite doneness. Namely, which steaks do they usually prepare at home. Someone who credibly assures me that their favorite doneness is rare or medium rare is usually a fillet lover. With the most tender steak cut, the fillet, we do not need to increase the tenderness, we need to leave the steak juicy. But just as you have to take your personal preferences into account, you also have to consider the "needs" of the steak cut.

dry-aged steaks

A well-aged dry-aged steak , in our case at least 35 days, should not be cooked as much as the same cut as a wet-aged steak. Depending on your cooking preferences, we recommend that you reduce the cooking level of dry-aged beef by one or two cooking levels. We keep dry-aged beef best at 50 to 52 °C.
For a very marbled steak with a BMS of 7 or more, it is often beneficial for the mouthfeel to cook the steak a little longer. This way the fat melts better in the mouth and has a more tender mouthfeel. We recommend a KT of around 58 to 62 °C for these heavily marbled steaks. Try it out! PLEASE NOTE: do not use a Miyasaki Wagyu , as the fat in these cattle has an extremely low melting point!

How do I prepare my perfect steak

It doesn't matter whether you cook it forwards or backwards. The preparation method has to suit the steak. For large steaks such as a Bistecca Fiorentina, we recommend the inverse method. All steaks up to 2 to 3 cm thick should be grilled forwards. But for all steaks, we recommend that you always bring the steaks to the right temperature before you prepare them. This way you avoid heat shock, can cook the steak evenly and get a more homogeneous caramelization on the surface. You can find lots of preparation options and recipe ideas on our YouTube channel FreybergerTV ! Just take a look!