ATK did a nice review of how to work with this cut. That being said, I don’t buy it due to the work it takes. Were I to buy it I would grind it for burger and mix in the brisket, ribeye and filet trimmings I keep in the freezer for this purpose.
I did do a Carpaccio experiment once. I sliced it 1/4 inch thin and attempted to pound to paper thin. An hour (or so it seemed) later it was still 1/8 inch thick and tough. I then braised it like one would do for grillades. It was edible. Not good. Edible.
I use pork loin for my grillades and grits now BTW. I’m usually feeding 30+ so t is a lot cheaper than veal.
Grillades and grits is our traditional Easter meal prepared for 20+ people. We use top round. I can see how pork loin could serve as a viable alternative. But just as with Osso Buco, I prefer the veal or beef version instead of the pork which is very common these days. And I eat a lot of pig.
Hit up a local butcher for some flank tonight and served with a chimichurri recipe from Ad Hoc. Fantastic stuff. I also managed to serve some tri-tip steaks from my local grocery store and had them come out stellar!
Need to improve my photography skills but the steaks were great. Two Morgan Ranch ribeyes, a Flannery ribeye and a Flannery filet tail. Enjoyed with a Sandler cab and Sandler Syrah. Was hot as hades here in MN but still enjoyed sitting on our deck.
Kids are away at camp this week, so I grilled up what was packaged as a Flannery Jorge. Fantastic quality and taste, for certain, but looks like it might be a couple ribs higher than usual. Totally trolled on my IG with an “overcooked?” comment on the last pic
Found a cryovac’ed ribeye deep in the freezer. The package (I clearly vacu-sealed it myself) had my handwriting on it and it said “JF”. I have zero recollection of what JF stands for but the steak was pretty tasty. It stormed here last night so I grilled this up in between downpours. No thermometer, just gut feeling. Solid effort.
Curious to get the group’s thoughts. How long do you think you can leave a vacu-sealed protein (steak) in the freezer?
If it’s well sealed, a number of years. While there can be a tiny bit of freezer burn, I have never found a well-sealed tight protein like steak that needed to be thrown out. We just had some lamb that must have been 6 years old.
Thanks. The reason I ask was that this steak has clearly been in the freezer for a long time. I don’t remember what “JF” stands for. I used to buy steaks at Eataly when they would have their semi-annual sales and then vacu-seal them myself and freeze ones that I wasn’t cooking immediately. I can’t remember the last time I bought a steak from Eataly and I can’t remember the last time I used the vacu-sealer. This is the long way of me saying this steak had to have been several years old and it still looked and tasted great.
Bigger issue for me is if it’s commercially sealed or if I used my vacuum sealer at home. The latter works pretty well, but I don’t always get as tight of a seal as some of the better chamber sealers like you see with Flannery. Given the quality level of the proteins I’m buying, it doesn’t seem to be much of a problem, regardless.
The one area I’ve had some issues is with home-sealed fish, where I’ve bagged large ling cod filets and not gotten a great seal.
I have issues with the commercially sealed meat from the 3 places I buy chicken, beef, pork etc at the farmer’s market. They all leak and the meat takes on fresh water. I have to remove and re-seal them when I thaw them in water.
I had some Costco prime rib caps recently that I vacuum sealed and froze in 2015 and they were fine. I’ve also had 6-8 year old frozen Flannery that has shown no decrease in quality.
Grilled Aussie Wagyu Tri-Tips from Marx last night…had been in the freezer since before Covid…possiby 8-10 years. Other than having to put back on the grill due to thickness, tasted great with perhaps a hint of a meaty aftertaste.
Last night we did a regular Flannery ribeye next to a recently received Flannery Library ribeye. Though both were delicious, the Library was undeniably more marbled and texturally more tender, closer to Japanese wagyu. Flavor was great on both, and both made for excellent breakfast leftovers with eggs. Summer local vegetables make me happy - corn, Little Gems, heirloom cucumbers, squash, sungolds. I never get tired of these, and never need to cook them up fancy.
Local place brings in certified Kobe every so often, and today being my birthday I said WTF. 3/4 inch thick and 16 oz of A5 BMS 9 Striploin. The price difference from the 12 was significant.
