Single Wedge Razor Rippler Etiquette at a restaurant - Steak

Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: PDX Posts: 1,563 iTrader: (7)

Most people that go to a restaurant, a nice one that has a suit and tie dress code, casually do not know what to expect when they order or how to order. So let me use the 8+ years I spent in kitchens to help. Here is Wolfgang Puck's CUT. I recommend a steak restaurant to go to first as it is less confusing than a fish restaurant. CUT is a Michelin rated restaurant. The first thing you notice on the menu is USDA Prime. What is this. Prime refers to the cut and the marbling of fat in the meat. The higher the grade, prime is the highest, the better the marbling and the better juicier the meat due to the collagen breakdown in the meat when it is cooked. The next item is Aged x days. The aging process is a dry aging in a climate controlled cooler designed to inhibit the growth of harmful bacteria. The longer the age to more "hearty" the flavor. It gets a little more, I guess gamy is the word, but not in the venison definition of the word. The next is Kobe style. Kobe is a Japanese beef cattle that is, too my knowledge, not allowed to graze and roam as American cows are which, along with their diet, creates a tender cut of beef that melts in the mouth. It does not have the texture of American beef. Remember that beef is muscle. When muscle is exercised it becomes tough, notice that London Broil is a flank steak taken from the rump of the cow which is very exercised. No Kobe cows are not kept in pens like veal, they are fed a specific diet and the muscles are massaged to work the muscle. American Wagyu is not the same as Kobe. If you want Kobe order Kobe. American style is Angus beef cattle with the diet and massaging. Cuts of beef. All these cuts are taken from the spine to the mid rib in the middle of the cow. Too far forward you get into the shoulder and too far back and you get to the rump. Both of those areas are tough. The Porterhouse is a New York, which is to say that it is a high rib cut with the filet mignon attached to the steak. The filet is a pair of muscles that run the length of the spine. It is very tender and very expensive. Rib eyes are just cross cut steaks with the rib attached. Temperature. All restaurants cook steak differently depending on the experience of the cook. A restaurant like CUT probably has a broiler cook that has a minimum 5 years of high end restaurant experience. That being said. Steak should be ordered over medium. Medium well will kill any chance you have of enjoying a moist steak which is the point of ordering an expensive steak. Steak should never be covered in any thing that the chef does not

NEVER

put on it including salt and pepper. What is a medium steak. A medium steak has depending on thickness approximately half of the steak in a pink not bloody center. the other half, top, bottom and sides should be done and seasoned. Remember that the temperature "Medium" only exists in a restaurant. It is done by feel and by eye not by probe. If you can follow this with out a pic. Open one hand flat palm up. index finger to thumb. Feel the web of that connects the thumb to the palm. That is rare. Continue with the middle ring and pinky. Rare, medium, mid well, too damn done. In the end I hope that this can help you order steak at a restaurant with confidence that you know what you are ordering. One last thing. If an order of steak is not right. You order a medium and it is not perfect medium. Do not send it back. See previous paragraph about temperature. If it is underdone by all means, but be warned that the kitchen will probably "flash" the steak in the broiler and bring it back. This will dry it out a little more. I doubt you will get this at CUT but at any other steakhouse you may have to deal with this. __________________ The Shave Stuff Got Chrom OX Portland Razor Convention Voting poll Portland Razor Convention