According to records, the habit of eating beef came from the earliest medieval period in Europe, pork and lamb is the common people's consumption of meat, beef is the princes and nobles to get the high-grade meat, the noble beef was also enjoying the status of their peppercorns and spices together with cooking, and on special occasions in the supply to show the owner's noble status. By the 18th century, England was known as the leading beef-consuming nation. Today, the United States is the largest consumer of beef, and steak became an American favorite as early as the mid-nineteenth century. But in Asia, there is a polarized response to beef, with Japan, for example, making the most of it.

Countries have different attitudes and habits towards beef, so beef is consumed in different ways: the United States consumes steak in a rough and tumble manner, no fuss, the whole filet mignon barbecue and then sliced; the Roman flavor of the Buddha jumped over the wall is the most people enjoy, after cooking, frying in oil to the surface into a golden brown, and injected with white wine, it is said that such a dish can prevent allergies in the summer; for Britons The British are still accustomed to large pieces of steak forked up and grilled; French steak is particularly focused on the deployment of the sauce, with a variety of sauces to highlight the noble status of the steak; as for the Germans, eating steak in a very peculiar way, "Sour Beef" just listen to the name is enough to make people think, and raw beef is more need to take out the courage to try; in Japan, the general The Japanese teriyaki sauce commonly used in barbecue restaurants is used in Western steak, so that the flavor of the Japanese style teriyaki sirloin steak is unique ......

Currently, most of the popular steaks in China's ordinary Western restaurants belong to the American flavor

The second steak classifications

Philadelphia, sirloin, rib eye, New Yorker, diced bone, Red House, red house, and other steaks are also available. Red Roof,Ribeye,Beef Short Ribs...... these common words on the menu of the Western restaurant, all refers to the steak meat taken from the parts of the steak, steak categorization, but also based on the parts of the steak meat taken from the parts of the steak. The following is a detailed description of several more common steak varieties:

1, filet mignon

The material part: filet mignon from the cow's muscle (i.e., loin meat), less movement, and the most tender meat, and less oil flower, because each cow on a small strip and appear to be "rare and expensive".

Featured flavor: Filet mignon is tender and lean, but lacks juice and bite, which means that it tastes good but is not chewy, and is old and astringent if it is overcooked, so it is recommended for the elderly or children who have poor teeth and weak digestion.

Recommended heat: three to seven minutes cooked

2, sirloin steak

The material part: sirloin steak is generally referred to as tender meat and tender tendons of beef, basically from the back of the cow along the most tender beef, the specific position of the different, the flavor is also different. The more authentic sirloin is taken from the "back loin", but special varieties, such as the New Yorker, are taken from the front loin, which is similar to the filet mignon.

Flavor: The sirloin is tender, sweet, juicy and flavorful, and is preferred by entry-level steak connoisseurs. For example, authentic sirloin is the part of the cow that has very little movement, the meat is tender and full of oil, like marbling like beautiful, compared to the leanness of filet mignon, a good sirloin is ultra-tender and succulent to the point of melting in the mouth, so that diners are amazed at the first mouthful of beef's ultimate sweetness. New Yorker's meat is coarser in fiber, slightly with tender tendons, and the distribution of oil is not so uniform and beautiful, but it is the standard "tender with fat", "sweet and juicy", chewing up a mouth full of meat, quite addictive, and its bold and personalized flavor, which is memorable.

Recommended heat: four to six minutes

3. Rib Eye Steak

Part of the meat: Rib eye, as the name suggests, is taken from the rib spine of the cow, that is, the meat on the side of the cow's bone.

Featured flavor: Rib eye steak may not be as tender as loin meat, but "bone-in" meat has always been tasty, and rib eye has that flavor. The tender, oily shredded meat is interspersed with Q and strong grease, which is more chewy than sirloin, more flavorful than filet mignon, and the oil flower is very rich and rich, which is a steak that has been constantly praised by young male diners and recognized by connoisseurs.

Recommended heat: four to six minutes rare

4, T Bone steak (T Bone)

Take part of:

Specialty flavor: T Bone or red house (Porter House) steak, a large chunk of meat in the middle of the steak sandwiched between the big bone in the shape of a T, on one side of the filet, on the other side of the New Yorker, the meat is a tender and rough, or fat or smooth, point a guest! The meat is either tender or rough, oily or smooth, so order one and you'll get it all.

Recommended heat: 5 to 8 minutes

5. Beef Short Ribs

Part of the meat: Beef Short Ribs are taken from the left and right side of the cow's chest cavity, including the rib section.

Featured flavor: Beef short ribs with bones and sinews are fatty and tasty, juicy and chewy, with marbled texture. Especially the Formosa Beef Short Ribs, which is cooked with the sixth and seventh ribs of the cow, is tender but not astringent, and the meat is rich and full-bodied, so that even those who are afraid of raw meat can enjoy it, which creates an alternative charm to the Beef Short Ribs.

Recommended heat: fully cooked

In addition to the above varieties, the table is also common in the part of the beef shoulder blade plate tendon, the upper shoulder blade rib eye heart, the belly part of the abdominal coercion of the beef belly meat, the upper thigh and so on, these parts of the meat fiber is thicker, can not be comparable to the above varieties, but the importance of the price is inexpensive, and therefore often used as an entry-level steak raw materials, such as domestic common black pepper steak, and so on.

Three, the steak fire

Hearing the three-quarter cooked, associated with the bloody meat steak, then you have a misunderstanding of the steak.

The authentic three-quarter-cooked steak, is not to see the blood, see only the same beautiful charred brown, the surface of the sweet gravy, tender and absolutely very tempting. Under the knife after cutting, see will not be scared of the bright red, but the dark red ham sausage-like, taste, the entrance only need to gently chewing will be warm that melt, leaving a mouth full of sweet aftertaste, so, it is "three minutes ripe"!

Note: To identify the degree of doneness of beef:

3-minute doneness: indicates dark red blood

5-minute doneness: light red blood

7-minute doneness: pink blood

Full doneness: clear juice

The terminology used by steak joints, which is expressed as medium-rare in Chinese, is the following terminology in English:

Raw, or cooked to medium rare, is a term used by steak joints in Chinese, but not in English:

The terminology used by steak joints in Chinese is rare, but not in English. >When you don't know the difference between the chef's standard of heat and your own, it is generally recommended that you choose a rare level of doneness first, and then ask the chef to rework the dish if you are not satisfied with it when it is served; however, when you really meet a customer who dares to order Raw or Rare, the chef will be a bit scared, as this is a challenge to his experience and skill. If it is to the domestic Hawker to the luxury of the Haoxiang to this kind of popular Western-style restaurants, I am afraid it is very difficult to eat the authentic Rare filet mignon.

Four, beef tasting

Like eating seafood, freshness is the first, steak is the same. Standard Western restaurants use refrigerated beef, which is produced from the factory, transported to the cutting before cooking, the whole process is monitored at a low temperature of 0 to 2 degrees to maintain the tender flavor of beef. The difference in flavor is obvious when compared to frozen beef.

Origin and grade also affect the flavor quality of the steak. North America, South America and Australia are the world's three largest beef producers, including Australia, South America, cattle to grass grazing feeding, meat is slimmer and chewy; and North America is to take corn grain as feed to scientific captive breeding and become a low-motion, naturally tender, fat, juicy taste with sweet; and to "drink beer, listen to music, enjoy a massage," famous Japanese cattle, grease is very rich, extremely delicate meat, but more than eating a few pieces of The actual export volume is very small, and some stores claim that it is Japanese beef, but in fact, they take American cattle as a substitute.

As for the grading of meat, to senior steak the largest U.S. beef, for example, the U.S. Department of Agriculture based on the maturity of the meat and marbling fat (oil flower) content of beef rated for eight grades, the best two grades only applies to the steak, respectively, is Prime excellent, Choice Select, and Prime means the most detailed oil pattern, the least amount of excess fat, the most fibrous meat tenderness. Prime means the most delicate oil pattern, the least amount of excess fat, and the most tender meat in terms of fiber. At present, only a few five-star hotels and a few high-class Western restaurants use Prime grade steaks.

The other "American Angus Beef" rarely seen in China refers to purebred Angus cows with pendulous ears that are not mixed with dairy cattle. The U.S. has a special association that raises these high-quality beef cows, supplying only 16- to 30-month-olds with Prime and Choice grades of quality beef. The point is that restaurants authorized to sell Angus beef are not allowed to serve other beef products, making it a truly "noble" steak.

V. Steak etiquette

1, dish order

In Western cuisine, steak is mostly served as the main dish on the menu, so when using Western food, it should be enjoyed in the order of starter, soup, side dishes, main course, salad, dessert, coffee and tea. For example, the T-bone steak set menu at Hawthorne should be enjoyed with cocktails, corn chowder, bread, steak/noodles/eggs/corn, salad, and pudding in that order.

2, tools

Eating steak need to use the two basic tools are knives and forks, the basic principle is "left fork, right knife", the specific steps are to fork pressure on the left end of the food, fixed, along the right side of the fork with a knife to cut down the size of a mouthful of food, the fork can be directly stationed in the food into the mouth, in short, that is, "the fork", "the fork" is "the fork", "the fork" is "the fork". To put it simply, the fork is pressed down and then cut with a knife.

Also, you can't change the position of the set utensils, but if you're left-handed, you can switch between the knife and fork as you eat.

In addition, the shape of the knife and fork can indicate whether you have finished eating, for example, when there is still food on the plate, the knife and fork open, about a triangle that you still want to continue to eat, and when you rely on the knife and fork parallel to the side edge of the plate, it shows that you have finished eating; plate is empty, the knife and fork parallel to the diagonal, indicating that the waiter will be asked to clean up the empty plate.