Best shop for steak

[moontang]

I just checked the local store by my house in Wyoming..nothing Earth shattering but choice top sirloin is just under 400 THB per kg...choice cross rib roast 240, turkey 48 (will be much less in a week or two), pork chops 66, ice cream 60 for a 1.5 liter, and eggs are 30 per dozen large.  Median household income is 2.3 million THB, per year.  Gas 16 per liter.  

Edited November 15, 2020 by moontang

[tgw]

1 minute ago, moontang said:

I just checked the local store by my house in Wyoming..nothing Earth shattering but choice top sirloin is just under 400 THB per kg...choice cross rib roast 240, turkey 48 (will be much less in a week or two), pork chops 66, ice cream 60 for a 1.5 liter, and eggs are 30 per dozen large.  Median household income is 2.3 million THB, per year.  Gas 16 per liter.  

 

how are the bars?

is there a good selection of 5' 80lb girls?

[Susco]

8 minutes ago, moontang said:

I just checked the local store by my house in Wyoming..nothing Earth shattering but choice top sirloin is just under 400 THB per kg...choice cross rib roast 240, turkey 48 (will be much less in a week or two), pork chops 66, ice cream 60 for a 1.5 liter, and eggs are 30 per dozen large.  Median household income is 2.3 million THB, per year.  Gas 16 per liter.  

Overdue for you to move back I would say

[moontang]

12 minutes ago, Susco said:

Overdue for you to move back I would say

Of course we Americans can't get good beer, but there were only 1300 choices at the first store I checked.  Sierra Nevada 12 ounce for 38 THB, but you and your partner would likely fit in better in Thong Lo, paying 8 times more..just ignore the rumors about the shakedowns, everyone knows that is false.

Edited November 15, 2020 by moontang

[jacko45k]

14 hours ago, JAFO said:

I have always had very good quality from both Villa and Foodland at Terminal 21 albeit Villa seems to be a bit better and will cut to size and vacuum pack. I grab up a variety of Ribeyes, Striploin and Tenderloins when I am down that way on business. I always have them cut them 4 to 5 cm thick and then vacuum pack and pack on ice.  Very nice pulling one out the freezer and tossing it on the grill.  

For best results, let it come to room temperature first. 

[Kerryd]

10 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

For best results, let it come to room temperature first. 

There are some weirdos out there that will (literally) throw a steak on the grill as soon as the surface has thawed. Char the outside of the meat then slap it on the plate while the middle is (almost) still frozen (then brag that's how they like it). 
It's almost criminal the way some people do it.

If I'm having steak (or pork chops or whatever that's coming out of the freezer that day) I'll usually take it out in the morning to thaw for a couple hours then stick it in the fridge. If I'm going to use some kind of marinade, I'll take it out again in the early afternoon and drop it into the marinade. Flip/stir it a few times during the afternoon until it's time to cook it.
(If not using a marinade, then I'll take the meat out of the fridge about 2 hours before I expect to cook it to make sure it's fully thawed.)

One thing I find though. Over cooking the meat (i.e. low heat for too long) tends to make the meat tougher. There's a certain point during cooking where the meat is cooked but still tender and shortly after that point it starts turning "tough".
You really notice it when you are doing something like slow cooking pork for a curry or beef for a stew. After a couple minutes of cooking, it's tender and juicy. Shortly after that it becomes "tough" and chewy, but a couple hours later, it falls apart at the touch of the fork (sort of - it becomes really tender and moist again).

Also, the taste is usually a result of what the animal is fed. Cow is cow, but grain fed doesn't taste the same as grass (free range) fed. Also, where the cow comes from.
(Nationality makes a difference believe it or not) !

When I was in Afghanistan, all our beef was coming from Canada (being Canadian eh) ! However, during the short "mad cow" scare, we couldn't get beef shipped over because even though it was frozen, on a ship, countries the ship(s) were making port in along the way wouldn't let them in if they had Canadian Beef on board, regardless of the destination of that beef.

So we had to import beef from Australia instead and wow, it was a shock. A lot of people bit into their first Aussie steak, started chewing and stopped. I saw people spit it out while others looked around to see if anyone was watching before they too spit it out.

It wasn't that the meat was bad, it was that it had a very different taste than what they were expecting. They were expecting the taste they were used to and when they bit into the Aussie steak, it didn't taste "right" so the first thing people assume is something is wrong with the meat.

Like, if you eat bacon all the time and someone tries to sneak some "turkey bacon" into your sandwich. You take a bite, expecting to savour that luscious flavour and suddenly you're thinking "W.T.Finnigan" !! You're first thought is "this bacon is off" (as in bad meat), then you open the sandwich to see if it's green and slimy or what, only to see that it's not really bacon at all. (Then you carefully remove the turkey <deleted> and grimace slightly as you finish the rest of the sandwich while noticing that no living creature is going anywhere near the turkey bacon you threw on the ground. Not even the starving street dog or the flies or the ants.) 

Once the guys found out it was just a different taste because it came from a different country, all was good.

Free range beef from Australia has a different flavour than free range beef from Canada. Who knew ?
I imagine free range beef from Argentina also has a different flavour as well. (More "Spanishy" maybe ?)

Most "cuts" of beef are going to be similar though, regardless of where you buy the meat from or where the meat originates from. Some cuts maybe be slightly thicker/thinner, some beef may be aged slightly longer/shorter. Some maybe be free range or grain fed (or feed special beer served by virgin Japanese girls while experts massage the cows).

But you can be pretty sure that almost all of them will be butchered in a similar fashion, so the steaks will be cut the same way and (usually) aged in a similar manner. Very unlikely that you'll find some steaks cut vertically while others are cut horizontally or diagonally for example.

As far as I can tell, the cut isn't going to make that much difference to the texture of the meat (or the flavour). 

What the cow was fed and how you prepare/cook the meat will make a difference though.

It can result in a succulent, juicy steak and a dried out hunk of leather better suited to the sole of a boot. Cooking on a grill is different than using a frying pan or a broiler. What you use for fuel in the grill can add flavour to the meat (that "smoky essence"). What spices or marinades you use (or don't). All those can make a difference in how the meat turns out.


But O.M.G. - W.T.Freddie is with using chunks of frikken rubber to start a grill (or one of those charcoal braziers every Thai home seems to have) ?? Last BBQ I went to (a week ago) I was gagging on the burnt rubber fumes and people were throwing meat on the grill while the rubber was still smoking and the charcoal was just starting to burn.
I know - rubber burns forever once it gets going and "BBQ Starter Fluid" costs money but seriously, rubber ? 

Made me want to skip the whole affair. (I waited a long time before starting to cook the marinated ribs I'd brought.) I guess the assorted dipping sauces (some of which they prepared fresh while the meat was cooking) covered up any of the "burnt rubber" smell and taste.

[Olmate]

Cow is cow? Cow,s give milk. Steak....oh never mind!

[Kerryd]

1 hour ago, Olmate said:

Cow is cow? Cow,s give milk. Steak....oh never mind!

Beef cattle are cattle raised for meat production (as distinguished from dairy cattle, used for milk production). The meat of mature or almost mature cattle is mostly known as beef. In beef production there are three main stages: cow-calf operations, backgrounding, and feedlot operations.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beef_cattle#:~:text=Beef cattle are cattle raised,%2C backgrounding%2C and feedlot operations.

Definition of cow

 (Entry 1 of 2)

1a: the mature female of cattle (genus Bos)

b: the mature female of various usually large animals (such as an elephant, whale, or moose)

2: a domestic bovine animal regardless of sex or age
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cow

Cattle

Cattle, or cows (female) and bulls (male), are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos taurus.

Cattle are commonly raised as livestock for meat (beef or veal, see beef cattle), for milk (see dairy cattle), and for hides, which are used to make leather. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cattle
 

If you are still confused about whether or not "cows" can become "steaks", please don't bother letting me know.

 

[Olmate]

27 minutes ago, Kerryd said:

 

 

If you are still confused about whether or not "cows" can become "steaks", please don't bother letting me know.

 

Regardless of your google editing skills......If your eating cows pal your eating burger mince. As I said never mind!

[moontang]

Best to thaw your turkey in the fridge.  Steak likely wouldn't matter..  I would fully thaw steaks, however, I had very good luck putting beef patties in the freezer for twenty minutes, before grilling.  They stayed together, and flipped better, also sizzled better.

[JAFO]

9 hours ago, jacko45k said:

For best results, let it come to room temperature first. 

 

Always. Let it defrost naturally in fridge. Then take out, hand season and let the steak come to room temperature before dropping it on the grill. A quick sear for a few mins on each side, drop heat and can cut it with a butter knife. ????.

[SidJames]

You can actually cook steak from frozen & there's some evidence that freezing it helps to tenderize it as when water freezes it expands so breaking the cells walls in the meat.

It is one reason you can't freeze & defrost fresh tomatoes as they turn to mush.

Cook the frozen steak at a lower heat & use a probe thermometer to check that the internal temperature of your steak has risen to the required doneness.

Degree of Doneness	Internal Core Temperature	Internal Description
Extra-rare or Blue (bleu)	80 to 100 degrees F 26 to 38 degrees C	deep red colour and barely warm	feels soft and squishy
Rare	120 to 125 degrees F 49 to 51 degrees C	centre is bright red, pinkish toward the exterior portion, and warm throughout	soft to touch
Medium Rare	130 to 135 degrees F 55 to 57 degrees C	centre is very pink, slightly brown toward the exterior portion, and slightly hot	yields only slightly to the touch, beginning to firm up
Medium	140 to 145 degrees F 60 to 63 degrees C	centre is light pink, outer portion is brown, and hot throughout	yields only slightly to the touch, beginning to firm up
Medium Well	150 to 155 degrees F 65 to 69 degrees C	mostly grey-brown throughout with a hint of pink in the center	firm to touch
Well Done	160 degrees F and above 71 degrees C	steak is uniformly brown or grey throughout	firm or hard to touch