Every time I go to a restaurant I always end up asking the same question - “What’s your leanest cut of meat?” I see New York Strip, Prime Rib, Sirloin, etc., and I can never remember which is which.
I ask because I am a meat eater; in fact, if it’s not meat and potatoes I probably won’t eat it. And I like my meat very, very lean - no fat, none of that “marbelized” nonesense. I also like my meat cooked very well done - if there’s any pink, I’ll send it back (I often ask for any thicker cuts of meat to be butterfly filleted so I don’t have to wait fourteen hours for my steak).
So I leave it to the Teeming Millions to edumuhcate me as to which steaks have the least fat so I may enjoy myself at Stuart Anderson’s, Outback, Hunters, and anywheres else I can get me my meat n’ taters!
So you basically eat shoe leather? <sits on hands to avoid making more comments about well done steaks>
That said, the tenderloin is typically acknowledged as the leanest piece o’ the cow. Of course, cooking it well done <slams hands under butt to stop typing> whew OK, to get on with the question… sirloin is often very lean as well, but won’t be as tender.
American Heart Association agrees with Athena. I’m gonna stop there before I say something obnoxious.(or more obnoxious if you prefer). That said, to be helpful, I hate Mexican food so I may be totally wrong here, but the AHA suggests flank steak. Isn’t Flank Steak used a lot in Mexican food? And cooked well done? If you wanna eat your meat well done, you could always go for that. Me I can’t stand cilantro, so I’ll stay away.
Oh, and yes, thank you for not making any comments about my dietary habits. It is most appreciated, as I’ve heard them all, plus it’s been discussed here before at length (and do a search if it means that much to you). If we could stick to the question at hand I’d be grateful.
Damn hamsters!
The filet mignon is the leanest most tender cut of steak. I was reading about grilling filet mignon in the Aug 03 issue of cooks illustrated.
So you may want to steer away from the the leannest cut, and stick with either sirloin or a New York strip both are fairly lean. Flank steak is often used in Carne Asada for when you eat Mexican.
Stay away from Prime rib, rib eyes, and spencers as they have lots of marbling.
According to Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential, ordering well done at a restaurant encourages the chef to serve you his worst cut of meat, running on the assumption that by the time they carbonize it no one can tell the difference. This could mean you get an inferior cut… it could also mean you get the oldest steak in the fridge.
Never worked in a kitchen myself, but just thought I’d lend a heads up.
Flank steak is very lean and relatively inexpensive. One Spanish recipie - no cilantro to worry about - that works wonderfully with it is ropa vieja (old rags) (no, really). Cook your flank steak nice and tender in the oven in a closed roasting pot with a red wine you like (cheap burgundy works well), chopped up onions and bell peppers of whatever colors strike your fancy, and some black pepper. Garlic optional, if you happen to like garlic. Green chili is good, too, if you happen to like green chili. Ooh, or mushrooms. Yum. I’m gonna have to try it with mushrooms.
Cook it at 300 until it’s tender enough to pull apart with a fork (it’ll be well-done by then). Depending on how much steak you’re cooking, this could take anywhere from an hour to all day. Check it every half-hour, and add a little water as necessary. Ideally, you want to end up with a thick sauce, almost a paste, from the veggies, wine, meat juice, and water. It can be thinner, that’s fine, but don’t let it dry up.
Let it cool, take out the meat and pull it apart with a fork, making a shred as fine as you have the taste and patience for. I like it finely shredded. Throw the meat back into the sauce and mix it up real good.
When ready to serve, heat it up in a saucepan or in the microwave, perhaps with another splash or three of wine. Thicken as necessary (Just keep it hot and stir it pretty often until it thickens. Add a little corn starch or even flour if you’re the impatient sort, but for God’s sake, mix it in thoroughly and add it slowly). Serve however you like - on a bun like barbeque, in a tortilla like a burrito, over rice, with beans, eggs, and toast, or whatever.
Flank steak also makes excellent meat-on-a-stick, variations of which abound throughout the middle east, Asia, and probably other parts of the world. Most of those I’m aware of are heavily spiced and very well done, the notable exception being shish-kebab.
Generally the longer you cook a steak for the more marbelling is better, since the marbelled fat keeps the steak from getting dry. Esprix if you like the steak dry, then that is your choice so use Prime Fillet as has been mentioned. If you like the steak to be somewhat moist but no pinkness, try slicing the Fillet into 1/2 inch wide slices and cooking those for a shorter time than you would cook a thick steak, or use a more marbelled steak and cut down on quantity to reduce fat intake. Other tricks are to wrap the steak in bacon (or foil) to stop the outside from burning and to keep in the juices whilst you cook to the well done stage.
