Chewy steak

mcarr · August 2009

I'm hoping somebody can help me figure out what I did wrong here...

Yesterday I had a bunch of friends over to show off the Egg. I'd done NY strip and Kroger "grilling steaks" (that's what the pkg was labelled) previously and had great success both times, so along with a bunch of other stuff I prepared a grand finale of two beautifully marbeled 12-oz ribeye steaks, about 1" thick uncooked, that I bought on sale at Anderson's (a popular place for meat around here). Seasoning was a bit of sea salt, fresh ground pepper, EVOO, oregano. I followed the usual method -- heat grill to 600, sear for two minutes, flip and sear for two minutes, flip and dwell for 4 minutes with the vents closed. For those that liked their meat cooked more I left the 2nd steak on an extra 2 minutes. They came off looking medium-rare and medium, so everything looked good... until we bit into them, and then we discovered that they were the chewiest pieces of meat the world has ever seen!! My jaw hurt after the first piece and I didn't even eat any more. It was like eating already-chewed gum. Embarassing! I'm not even sure my dog could have masticated these steaks (admittedly, I've never seen him chew scraps of meat anyway -- he appears to just swallow directly).

Ok, so what the heck did I do wrong?! Were they just bad pieces of meat to begin with? Is a ribeye cut typically this chewy??

Celtic Wolf · August 2009

Nothing!! Some times you get a tough cow..

No Ribeyes are extremely tender..

PapaDan · August 2009

I'm new to the egg, but have cooked a lot of ribeyes. Getting them to the "tough" stage is usually due to cooking them too long which you obviously didn't do. Sounds like a tough piece of meat!

Morro Bay Rich · August 2009

Nothing. You probably got the lower end of Select.
Now-a-days the markets are using all kinds of different descriptors on beef so they can pass off Select without letting the customer know what they are buying. The only solution is to ask the butcher "What grade is this?" and don't settle for a marketing answer (Rancher, etc). Say "The USDA requires all beef to have a grade. What grade is this? Is this Prime, Choice, Select or less?"

PhilsGrill · August 2009

Sure glad Kroger has a 100% money back guarantee.

Celtic Wolf · August 2009

He might have to wait 24+ hours to get a returnable item though !!! :woohoo:

Chappy · August 2009

That happened to me a couple of weeks ago. Publix had bone in ribeye for half price, so I bought a bunch of them. It was the chewiest steaks I have ever cooked. Its not the technique, its the meat.

tjv · August 2009

This afternoon, I drove by two krogers and alberstons to hit Sams for a 3 pack of ribeyes. At Sams, it's choice grade and labeled as such, no fancy made up trade names.

Beef comes in all sorts of cuts that can be grilled for a steak style meal. Best thing to do is find a reputable butcher who knows what he is talking about. Then research his cuts on the best ways to grill.

Just chalk this cook up as a learning experience.....beleive me, I've been learning for more years than I care to say.......LOL.

t

stike · August 2009

select meat, or overcooked. the grill doesn't know what it is doing, so it's either the operator (we all have overcooked something i'm sure) or the ingredients

stike · August 2009

hahahahahaha

wa ha ha ha ha

bring it back in the plastic bag with receipt, too.

i recommend tying a knot in the handle

reelgem · August 2009

Sorry to hear about your bad experience. Something like this always happens when you have guests you're wanting to impress. I've had it happen more than I want to admit. Definitely some bad meat. Yeah, you can return the steaks but the damage is done.

Grandpas Grub · August 2009

Let us know the grade of meat you ended up with.

I went to Albertsons a month or so ago and picked up a whole packer. I didn't pay attention it was Select, after the cook I looked at the package and realized that in my case it was the grade of meat.

Out here Albertsons announced they have sold all their stores. It looks like it will also be a name change.

GG

mcarr · August 2009

Morro Bay Rich wrote:

Nothing. You probably got the lower end of Select.
Now-a-days the markets are using all kinds of different descriptors on beef so they can pass off Select without letting the customer know what they are buying. The only solution is to ask the butcher "What grade is this?" and don't settle for a marketing answer (Rancher, etc). Say "The USDA requires all beef to have a grade. What grade is this? Is this Prime, Choice, Select or less?"

Hmm, I never thought to ask about the grade ... I guess I assumed that since everybody loves this place for meat that I would get good quality stuff! (There's always a line at the meat counter and you even have to take a ticket to be waited on.) Ah well, live and learn, I won't let them get away with that next time.

llrickman · August 2009

Here on Lubbock we Have United supermarket Market Street.

The carry select, choice and one they call natural, The natural is the lower end of prime but guaranteed not to have had hormones,etc.. and is grain fed.

I generally buy the choice cut as they are a little cheaper and you cant tell the difference between that and the natural, natural ribeyes here are about 16.99lb filet 23.99

I cant find any one here that carries prime cuts though

PhilsGrill · August 2009

What???!!!! He ate the receipt? That's all you need.

emilluca · August 2009

Are you sure they were rib eyes? The steaks from the 6th and 7th rib are very close to the chuck and can be chewy.
Also as stated the grade is important. Prime is best followed by choice. I would only roast any other grade.
E

mcarr · August 2009

While researching this futher I can across a couple things I may have done wrong...

From How to cook steak, we probably missed #6 (let it sit for 10 minutes after cooking) and #7 (cut across the grain).

#6 we missed because we were starving (note to self: buy two more LBGEs for faster cooking) and #7 because I just wasn't aware of it.

Chewy steak

Comments

Categories