Top Shelf

We are all different. Some people thrive on vegan or vegetarian diets. I have tried it before, for two protracted periods and it is not for me. My body needs red meat to thrive. I know that for some of you that lands me on a lower evolutionary rung and for that I apologize. I will probably be reborn as a rock. But it is what it is.

For the past few years I have been buying large subprimal hunks of beef and breaking them down myself. Why? I can select the right piece of meat with the most marbling and best color for one thing. And have you priced beef at the grocery store or bought a steak in a restaurant lately?

Prices are through the roof. 

I rarely will buy a steak in a restaurant although I did buy an extravagant bone in rib eye at the Tee-Off which was damned good although exorbitantly expensive. 

I was hungry and out of town.

Trust me, this is a lot cheaper.

When I first started cutting my own beef I favored ribeyes. 

About thirteen dollars a lb. 

But I found that there was too much wasted fat and they sort of dissolved on the grill. 

I then switched to New York strips, which I love and which were a little cheaper at around ten bucks a lb. 

Nice, firm, less fat, better texture. Toothy.

My dad was a steak and potatoes guy and growing up we ate a lot of top sirloin. 

It is a cut that seems to have gone out of favor with the general public who are ribeye mad  right now but I like it a lot and it is a heck of a lot cheaper. Love the strong beefy flavor.

I have been craving it lately. 

Perhaps it reminds me of my dad and childhood?

Anyway I decided to buy one recently at Costco Business and break it down.

Eighteen lbs at $6.69 a lb. for choice, 

Far and away the least expensive meat we have purchased.

A pound of steak for less than the price of a big Mac.  

You get me?

But also a hunk of beef that requires far more expertise trimming and breaking down than anything I am used to.

It is a bit of a chore.

I split beef with Jim and Debbie, my cohorts in steak.

This one had the best marbling and beautiful fresh color.

We all took turns trimming and it went really well.

We watched a couple YouTube movies and coached each other and I am very proud of every one of us!

We separated the culotte or picanha section, the most prized beef in Brazil with its gorgeous fatcap.

Love the apron!

We made beautiful baseballs out of the tenderloin, long strips of the picanha, pulled the mouse steak and trim for stir fry.

I think we ended up with about 18 steaks. 

Jim likes his a little thinner than I do. 

We adjusted.

He threw a small one on his super hot grill to test our work.

Perfection!

We made a picanha the next night at home and it was delicious. 

I wish we had left a little more flatcap on it as it makes the steak so buttery.

Next time.

I haven't tried a baseball cut yet but it will happen very soon.

With vacuum sealed New York, Ribeyes and now Top sirloin steaks filling our freezer, we are good to go for the next four or five months at minimum.

Can't wait.