Having grown up in New York, I’m an avid reader of the New York Times and absolutely love their Style section, where you can also find the Dining and Wine subsection. In that Dining and Wine section you’ll find a great little column called The Minimalist written by Mark Bittman and this week his article titled For the Best Cuts, Here Are the Rubs was a winner for all you aspiring Grill Maestros out there.
The article advises that rubs are the way to go when you want to add some flavor to your steaks and a must unless you have the best of cuts. His favorite is “chili powder, with mild chilies; fragrant curry powder; jerk seasoning, which contains fresh garlic and ginger and is quite powerful; and five-spice powder, which, when homemade, is unlike anything you can buy in a store.”
I’m a huge fan of chili powder and jerk seasoning, it gives your meat a nice little kick that works well with the sweet flavor of the meat; adding garlic is always a winner and five spice is an incredible flavor if you’re familiar with it. He warns that more important than the rub is how good of a cut of meat you have, which is something no one would dispute, and whether it’s prime, with great marbalizing of fat.
Sirloin strip and rib-eye are the hands down winners with some folks enjoy flank and skirt steaks, though he does bring up a good point – if you have to slice it thin, how good could it really be? A thick tender steak is far superior to a thin tender steak and it’s also much easier to overcook a thin steak.
Mark finishes the article with some good solid steak grilling tips – grill after the steak has reached room temperature and make sure it’s dry, putting the rub on at the last minute. Winner winner steak dinner, my mouth is watering just looking at the picture (and the Guinness, which is like drinking a steak).
Image by shannon steele, a woman after my own heart.
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