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The reason to head to the steakhouse is simple: they have access to higher quality meat and cook it at higher temperatures to lock in all the flavors. I firmly believed this mantra until last week when we hit the Market District in Pittsburgh. What an incredible grocery store. It’s gigantic and has just about everything in it that you could imagine. The seafood department had conch, fresh squid, probably six different types of clams, mussels and oysters. I’ve never seen oysters at my grocery store. The meat department had venison, elk, python, quail and so many other things that it was truly overwhelming. The most important thing they have, and why I made the hour and twenty minute drive to this store, is dry aged beef.
Basically, at most grocery stores there are three types of beef to choose from. The first, and best, is known as USDA Prime steak. This cut of beef has the highest degree of marbling and is typically more tender and flavorful than the other cuts of beef. Any high-end steakhouse will be serving USDA Prime, yet only about 2% of all beef can be labeled as Prime. The only cuts of beef with higher fat content sold in the United States are a high quality Wagyu beef. But buyer beware; some Wagyu beef is of lower quality than Prime, but it is still sold at premium prices due to the Wagyu label. The best way to tell between the lower quality and higher quality Wagyu is the marbling – the higher quality will be excessively marbled. The second best is USDA Choice- this cut has less marbling and less flavor than Prime. It’s still a pretty good cut of beef and costs much less than Prime. The lowest grade available at most groceries is USDA Select. This has even less marbling and is a tougher grade of meat. Great for braising, stewing or other slow cooking methods.
This grocery had USDA Prime dry aged. There were two cuts available the day we were there: strip and Delmonico. The Delmonico’s were massive steaks and although they looked good, my eyes were glued on the strip steaks. The marbling was like snow flakes on the surface of the meat. I knew that I would try to sear these at a very high temperature and finish them with blue cheese before I had even bought them. Look at the meat- it’s incredible. For the rub, it is simple: salt and pepper. They’re sitting in some high quality olive oil in the picture while they await their debut on my grill.
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Really well marbled strip steaks with salt, pepper and good quality olive oil. Photo by Scott Groth
See, what dry aging does is allow the natural juices to evaporate from the cut of beef, resulting in more concentrated flavors. A secondary, but very important process also occurs during dry aging: the enzymes begin to break down the meat resulting in a more tender steak. Ever had a steak that seemed to melt in your mouth? Probably dry aged. The dry aging process can only occur with Prime or Choice cuts of beef because the meat needs to have even fat content throughout the cut. The entire process imparts a robust and richly beefy flavor. Awesome.
Okay, so we needed a side with these steaks that would be really flavorful. The last thing you want is to have a really tasty steak and wimpy taters. Smashed redskins mixed with sour cream and colby jack cheese sounded like a great start. Caroline said that it needed something else and pointed to the massive slab of bacon we bought that morning at the West Side Market. She suggested lardon and I said that it needed bacon croutons. Some might argue they are the same, but I say that these jumbo, crispy bacon bites are bigger than lardon and should be categorized as croutons.
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Slab bacon with two huge pieces for the bacon croutons. Photo by Scott Groth
Here we go: Makes enough for 4 people
Ingredients:
4 strip steaks (dry aged if you can find them) Prime or Choice cut
Salt & Fresh Cracked Pepper
High quality olive oil
Blue Cheese- slices or crumbles
15 red skin potatoes, washed and quartered
1/3 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup shredded colby jack cheese
Salt & Fresh Cracked Pepper
Thick cut bacon (or slab bacon) cut into 1/4 inch pieces
To start, there are some things we need to do first. Get the steaks out of the fridge to come to room temp and hit the grill up for all its got. Crank it on high for at least 30 minutes- you want to get that grate as hot as possible. While the steaks are coming to room temp, they should be seasoned with a good amount of salt and pepper. I take the back of a spoon and rub the seasoning into the meat. You can use your fingers as well, but for some reason it just seems to work better for me with a spoon. Cover all sides. Then pour some olive oil over the steaks, making sure all sides are oiled. Let these sit.
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Some giant bacon croutons- sooo tasty. Photo by Scott Groth
Bring some water to a boil. Salt the water fairly heavily after it has come to a boil- the potatoes will absorb the salt (giving the dish greater depth) and you probably won’t need more later. While the potatoes are cooking, let’s brown up some bacon. Take a skillet over medium heat and add the bacon. Cooking over high heat may result in scorching- cooking over medium will render out some of the fat and result in really brown, crispy bacon. When it is cooked, carefully remove from the pan and set on a paper towel lined plate to drain. Set aside until needed.
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Dry the potatoes after cooking in the pan- stir to avoid sticking. Photo by Scott Groth
When the potatoes are fork tender, reserve 1 cup of the cooking liquid and drain the rest. Return the potatoes to the pan they were cooked in and put them over medium heat, stirring to prevent sticking. Drying the potatoes out will result in a better tasting tater. After a minute or two, drop in the butter and stir until melted. Take the potatoes off the heat and add in the sour cream and cheese. I smashed them with the back of a spoon since the skins were still on and it would have clogged my masher. If the potatoes look too thick, add in some of the reserved cooking liquid. Adjust the seasoning to your preference. Cover the potatoes to keep warm until the steaks are done.
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Toss in the sour cream and cheese- mash with the back of a big spoon. Photo by Scott Groth
Okay, so the grill should be super hot by now. Turn one side off and leave the other side on high heat. Quickly put the steaks on the side with the burners off and close the lid to prevent massive heat loss. These steaks have enough fat content to cause flair-ups on almost any grill, so putting them over no flame will prevent this expensive cut of beef from being badly charred. Flip a couple times with tongs- never poke your meat, it lets the juices out. Cook until the desired temperature has been achieved. Bring the meat inside and let it rest on the counter, covered in foil, for about five minutes. This allows the juices to redistribute throughout the steak.
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Torch the blue cheese- I love using the torch. Photo by Scott Groth
Toss the blue cheese on top of the steaks and fire up the blow torch. You could melt the cheese on the grill, but I find that usually there is a loss of cheese or singeing of hair from my hands when operating at these high temperatures. Plus, blow torches are just fun to use. Melt the cheese, plate the taters and top with some of the bacon croutons. If I had chives, they would have gone into or onto these potatoes. Alas, they weren’t in my fridge but they would have tasted pretty good. Another option if you don’t like blue cheese is to slice some Boursin cheese on top instead. Either way, it’s sure to taste delicious. Pour some tasty wine and enjoy your meal!
