'Strip Loin Piece' = delicious dinner

Black_Badger

Hello All,
Went to my favorite butcher shop a while back and ran into something I don't think I've ever encountered before. Several hunks of beef marked as 'Strip Loin Piece' and priced at $3.99/#. They looked pretty decent and I thought worst case scenario they'd go into a burger or something, so I picked up three of them and put them into the freezer when I got home. Today I decided to cook one up and, inspired by another thread, decided to use my Sous Vide. The entire ~2.5# chunk went in at 132F for a few hours while I was working then I fired up the egg to very hot for a sear on all sides. Took the hunk out, dried it on all sides, brushed it with some garlic butter I'd made and gave it a healthy coat of Golden Toad steak seasoning. Onto the super hot egg on a grid right above the coals, 30-50 seconds on each side.

So call me crazy, but I think this is essentially an end of the New York Strip section of the cow. I can't believe that would only be $4/#, because it would take almost no effort to cut it into a couple of steaks. In the end this was GREAT! May have seared it just a bit too much and maybe left it in the SV a little too long (butter knife tender if not fork tender...) but all in all a really nice cook. Rested for ~10min before slicing them brushed the slices with garlic butter right after plating. Served with a salad and some BBQ black beans. Enjoyed by all and even have a bit leftover for lunch tomorrow.

Cheers all -
B_B

Eggcelsior

I see those as "strip loin- first cut" at times. It's off of the end of the loin where a muscle group converges so it has veins of connective tissue through it, making it "imperfect" for presentation as a strip steak. I had one last weekend that almost looked like a ribeye.

blind99

Always fun to see an underused piece of meat out to good use. Do you think it would have been good just grilled like a strip steak? Just wondering, for those of us that don't have the SV

Black_Badger

Hey @blind99, I have two more in the freezer, so I'm thinking the next one I'll thaw and cut into 'steaks' before reverse searing in a more traditional, non-SV way. I expect this will be just as good as what we enjoyed tonight, but we'll have to see.

@Eggcelsior iId guess it's got to be the same thing, but I didn't see any big, ugly veins or connective tissue or anything. Maybe I just lucked out, but this was a tasty and very pretty piece of meat. I'd certainly buy it again based on tonight's cook.

B_B

chrisc133

@Black_Badger how does the foil work for you over your SV container?  I left mine uncovered last time (it was a quick SV)...but I can see the need to cover for longer cooks...

Black_Badger

@chrisc133 - I think the foil actually reduces evaporation quite a bit. When I did 72 hour short ribs I used the foil and still had to top the water up once, but it was only once. I'm sure there's a better solution, but this is quick and easy.

Cheers -
B_B

Black_Badger

@Eggcelsior I just cut up the leftovers for a steak salad at lunch and ran into a big vein of fat and some of that connective tissue you were talking about, so now I think I get it. this must be the end of the NY Strip section that is not used, and I just got lucky by starting to cut from the nicer end. That being said, at $4/# it was a steal and I legitimately got 3 full servings of nice slices without having to do any real trimming or anything.

Long story short, I'd buy these guys again in a heartbeat.

B_B