The Best Way to Prepare a Steak

Cooking the perfect steak involves more than just taking the meat out of your refrigerator and tossing it on the grill. It involves choosing the right cut of meat, properly preparing the meat and selecting the right cooking method. Here is the best way to prepare a steak to get the results you and your guests will love.

Start With the Right Cut of Meat

When it comes to cooking any good meal, the ingredients you start with are vital. You’ll want to find the highest-quality cut of meat, which means heading over to the butcher section of your favorite local grocer. Our meat department offers not only the best cuts of meat, but we also provide the best service of any meat counter in Southern Maryland. Our experienced butchers with work with you to make sure you go home with the right cut of meat for your meal.

You can choose from different cuts of beef for steak, depending on your preferences. A leaner cut will produce a blander, drier steak. At the same time, a cut with some extra marbling and fat will tend to taste a bit better. If you’re unsure where to start, you cannot go wrong with a ribeye as an easy-to-prepare steak.

Prepare and Season Your Steak

Sometimes, simple is better. You can create a light crust on your steak with a mixture of fresh pepper and sea salt. Use just a bit more than you think might be necessary. You can also coat your steak with olive oil or a mixture of olive oil and crushed garlic. Or, you can use our seasonings to bring out the flavor in your steak – Nick’s All Purpose Seasoning or Nick’s Blackened Seasoning.

To Marinade Your Steak or Not?

Marinading steak isn’t necessary to bring out the meat’s natural flavors. But that doesn’t mean you can’t do it and produce some delicious results. If you want to create a steak meal that is a bit different than your typical steak on the grill, you can opt for a marinade. Marinading steak is also an excellent way to tenderize the meat and ensure it remains juicy if you don’t plan to consume it all in one sitting.

You can marinate a steak anywhere from five minutes to 24 hours, but it’s not a good idea to go longer than 24 hours. Here are a few options:

• Simple Ribeye Marinade – Mix olive oil, Worchestershire sauce, lemon juice, soy sauce, garlic, and salt and pepper in a bowl. Marinade your steak for up to eight hours.
• Strip Steak Marinade– Mix olive oil, balsamic vinegar, crushed garlic, lemon juice, rosemary, and salt and pepper in a bowl. Pour over the strip steak on a pan and cover. Let sit for up to 30 minutes.

Cooking Your Steak to Perfection

Where and how you cook your steak is a matter of personal preference and the availability of different options. Most people choose the cook their steak on the grill, which tends to produce the best results.

It’s a common practice to brush some oil or butter onto steaks just before cooking them. Doing this prevents the meat from sticking to the grill and adds another layer of moisture to the meat.

No matter where you cook your steak, monitoring its internal temperature will ensure you get the perfect cut of meat that satisfies your tastes. It’s a good idea to pick up a digital meta thermometer so that you can get the job done right. Simply insert the thermometer into the edge of the steak to the center.

These are your target meat temperatures:

• Rare125 °F
• Medium rare130°F
• Medium140°F
• Medium well150°F
• Well done165°F

Note: The internal temperature of the meat will continue to rise after you remove it from the cooking source. So, you should remove it from the grill or pan when it is about 5 °F below your target temperature.

Condiments and Sauces to Compliment Your Meal

If you marinaded your steak or seasoned it, you may not want anything additional when you serve it. But many of us love a decadent sauce with our cooked or grilled meat. And there are tons of options.

We provide two sauces for your steak: Nick’s Barbecue and Nick’s Steak Sauce. Of course, you can pick up the tried and true A1, Lea & Perrins Bold, or Heinz 57 steak sauce at the store. You can also create your own steak sauce at home. Some popular choices include Bearnaise, Garlic Herb Butter, Red Wine, and Blue Cheese sauce.

Get the Best Cuts of Meat at Nick’s of Clinton

No matter what type of steak you decide to cook or how you choose to prepare it, you’ll want to start with the right cut of meat. If you’d like help choosing the perfect cut, feel free to ask our butchers for assistance. We are always happy to help customers find the ideal choice for their next barbeque, family meal, or event. Visit our store today or call us at (301) 843-4825.