With the added bonus that reverse sear lets you put some smoke over the steaks before you sear them.

Finally a thread that I can totally sink my teeth into.🤣🤓🐂🐂🐂🥩🥩🥩

To a degree.. we use a steam convection oven and now a kamado grill with soapstone for searing. While I do this for steak, I still make it a point to go to steakhouses since they can really get their ovens to 1400 for an impressive cook, medium rare.

Best was Mexico, in Gomez Palacio, fresh at a ranch over a wood fired grill. Something about that experience was so primal. Typically it’s porterhouse for 2 or shellsteak, medium rare.

We walked by Gallaghers once and can’t wait to get there. Turns out the owner had a place on Long Island called Riverbay and then bought Gallaghers. What did you have there?

Of the chains I used to like Hawksmoor and Goodman in London, but have no recent experience since I moved away. Elsewhere I’ve enjoyed Bistecca Alla Fiorentina as mentioned above, and Galician bone-in ribeye in Northern Spain. Whilst I enjoyed wagyu in Japan, I don’t really class it as a steak, it’s very different in taste and texture and it fundamentally lacks the char that I like so much in steak.

Like others on this thread, I now cook most of my steak at home using the reverse sear/kamado finishing method (particularly given in Ireland we have access to some of the best grass fed beef in the world).

I go through periods of favouring different cuts, I’ve been doing a lot of big cote de boeuf recently, but the quantity of usable meat vs fat and bone isn’t great given the high cost. I use a butcher with a big ageing room and you can get pretty much every cut in 14, 21, 28, 35 days aged. Interestingly I’d long stopped eating fillet/filet, as I perceived it lacked flavour, but driven by my wife’s preference I’ve really enjoyed a few thick cut, aged fillet steaks recently. Eating out a NY strip/sirloin would probably be my pick, unless I fancied something lighter or at a specialist place I might order hanger or bavette.

In terms of sauce. Bernaise. Always. Sauce au poivre if not available. I like chimichurri but don’t really believe it adds much to beef (apologies to the whole of Latin America 😁 ).

Agreed with both sentiment. Unless in the places I mentioned, for eating out, I'd rather have the slices of picanha from a churrascaria AND the other stuff they serve, than just a single steak in most establishments.

I have friends actually from A Coruna in Galicia. Visiting them there, or meeting them elsewhere in Spain, is always a culinary treat.
For a wedding of theirs, they had a local caterer bring in a gigantic pot of octopus to serve on-site.
My firm belief is that Spanish gastronomy is the most underrated in Europe.

I might have to agree that a spanish chuleton is the best steak I've ever had, anywhere.

Mine was at a Catalan place in Barcelona, cooked on a wood fire grill.

I have yet to have the pleasure. Much to the relief of my future cardiologist, I suppose. ;)

Boooo. It might be my favorite condiment for steak :).

Trying to decipher this. Is it the most underrated European cuisine, or most underrated by people in Europe?
As an American, I'd rate it very highly, and the tapas restaurant boom of the early 2000's here would be evidence. I'd guess most of us would rate Italian and Spanish as the best, although it's possible to be in the top two and still underrated!


I can't decide on a best steak I've had. Gene & Georgetti's here in Chicago is simple but very good. The Barn is good too. Tango Sur. I had some very nice steaks in Spain as well but can't recall names. One in Tokyo but can't recall the name either. Most overrated for me is Ruth's Chris. Best chain I can think of is probably Morton's, although there are a few that do a decent job, like Capital Grill or Perry's.

That's how my dad does it - especially since Mom sold the grill without telling him.

I love Spanish food but it does start to feel a little bland and ham- and bread-centric after a while (though absolutely nothing wrong with that!).

We went to Bavette's in Chicago maybe a month ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. The steak had a nice crust but was very tender and flavorful. I haven't been to Gene & Georgetti's or Tango Sur in ages but now I need to amend that.

I always feel like the chain steakhouses (Ruth's Chris/Morton's/Smith & Wollensky) are just overrated and expensive. S&W in particular is mediocre at best. We both liked Peter Luger the one time we went (maybe 10 years ago) but agreed we didn't need to go back.

One of the worst steaks that I have ever had was at Morton's. I ordered it medium-rare, however, it was served medium-well, actually more well done than medium-well, as it was barely pink inside. I sent it back, after my dining companions were just about done eating, the replacement arrived; it was almost raw, less than blue-rare. I have never gone there since.

I've eaten at Berns probably 25 times, due to spending an extraordinary amount of business nights in Tampa over thirty-some years. I've likely had better steaks elsewhere, but the Bern's "experience" is tough for any beef restaurant to equal. The ambience (I describe as: French bordello as decorated by Disney Imagineers), extraordinary service, menu flexibility, private dessert rooms, kitchen / wine cellar tour, and reasonable pricing, cause it to be my #1 steak destination anywhere.

I have also amazing memories of the "beef" at the Carnivore in Nairobi in 1990. Not fair to add this event to a best list, as by the time I left the restaurant I was three sheets to the wind after drinking a massive number of Dawa's (which translates in Swahili to "Medicine"). What I thought was an amazing steak may have been wildebeest in reality.

I have a feeling Bavette's is the best in Chicago but I have yet to go, so couldn't list it. Anyone who knows what they're talking about mentions it.

I don't blame you. The price tag is too high to have it cooked incorrectly (and medium-rare is the only correct way). I should have mentioned I've only been to the original Morton's (several times) and one other one. I believe the other was in Troy, Michigan a long time ago and I barely recall that one. It wouldn't surprise me if some of the locations don't hold up.

I would say by people across the globe, Europe included. Because what people rate (or imagine) as the best cuisine is *always* France OR Italy; there's a contingent for Mediterranean/Greek; some weirdos might like German or Austrian cuisine... but rarely do people champion Spain.

(If we're counting Turkey, that's also IMO hugely underlooked).

It's almost, but not quite like, how Chicago is undeservingly overshadowed by NYC and other coastal cities. e.g. Tango Sur is indeed killer!

https://www.stelmos.com/

Superb

It's a little more involved than that. You can feed cows grass all their life and still end up with white fat. OTOH you can feed a cow grain all its life then finish it in fresh pasture to turn the fat yellow. Commercially, yellow tinted fat is undesirable and reduces sale yard prices so most farmers try and minimise it.

Pro tip. Get a cardiac CT score now. I use it as a gauge LOL.

So anyone care to comment on Gallaghers?

Also, I think sous vide to a steak is cheating, no?