At Fresh Market they cut them to 1 1/2 inches thick and that is perfect in my opinion.

Shelley

Tenderloin is so tender (both pork and beef) that thick cuts, cooked quickly work great. I just bought a beef tenderloin at $4.99/lb and cut it up in to a bunch (at least 2 dozen) thick steaks. About 1 1/2" seems right. So now I have filet minon steaks at about $1 per steak. Glorious! You can eat them with a dull spoon.
Jean

"Posted by jean_sark --------I just bought a beef tenderloin at $4.99/lb and cut it up in to a bunch (at least 2 dozen) thick steaks. About 1 1/2" seems right. --------Jean "

We have $4.99 a lb here in NYC also, same as lobsters. Surf and turf of course.

I cut them 3/4" thick.

What I like about steak is the searing flavor. With thin cuts I have many more surfaces to sear for the flavor, and more surfaces to pick up seasoning.

I use a screaming smoking hot cast iron griddle, so that I can brown the steaks very quickly without overcooking the meat.

dcarch

Dcarch:
That sounds good. 3/4 to 1 inch for me also.

I think the same way for Waffles.
The regular size has more cooked ( crust )area,
than the Belgium.
Lou

I forgot to mention:

I also use a blow torch to help out whenever the cast iron gets a little cold.

dcarch

It depends on how hot your pan is. If you have weak burners and a steel pan that doesn't retain heat, then thicker. If you have hot burners and a cast iron pan, then thinner. Idea is, you want the middle nearly raw (if you're me) but the outside seared dark brown (again, if you're me). If it takes longer to sear, the thicker steak keeps it's rare center better than the thin one. That's my theory of tenderloin. I cut 2'' thick steaks, and use butter to speed browning. I have not tried the torch trick but will have to.

1 1/2 to 2 inches for me...I like my steaks very rare and it's impossible to have a nice brown outside and a blood rare inside unless you cut it thick. I have never had a high end restaurant steak under 1 1/2 inches thick.
Linda C

Gues Dcarch and I did a little math!?! Two dozen at 1 1/2" thick... THREE FEET LONG... on BIG A bovine! I like about 1.5" thick. ALso fan of cast iron. Get it really hot, maybe minute and a half on each side, and then heat off till sizzling subsides. Don't like it RED inside but it has to be seriously pink for me.

It's not impossible, to have a well seared outside and medium Rare, inside.
The last one I Posted was 1 inch thick, Meduim Rare inside.
I don't eat raw meat.
My MIL had a Cast Iron Skillet just for cooking T Bone Steaks. Got it red hot first.
The Steaks were always delicious.
LOU

I will do 1 1/2 inch. Sounds the most preferred.
I still remember the first time I bought a tenderloin roast. Cooking was pretty new to me so I went to the butcher and asked for 5 lbs of tenderloin (I should have realized it would be expensive when he said "Let me go to the back to get you a piece" as the display was full). So he packaged it and I saw $40 and I thought "That's pricey! Oh well". Anyways it was $40/kg and the total price was $100! I had already invited friends for dinner, told the menu, the butcher already went to the back to get me a piece that size, it was wrapped, etc. I felt committed. My husband's uncle was laughing at me as he said he could have bought me half a cow for that. BTW, this was 10 yrs ago. And yes the price was up front and centre but I knew I wanted tenderloin so I didn't do the math beforehand. I thought meat was meat! This was then, of course.

Just be aware of how stretched out, or not, the filet is when you're slicing it. More than once I've made the mistake of slicing it a measured 1.5" only to realize, too late, that they collapsed into much thinner steaks when set down flat.

I like the flavor or a nice sear on my filet mignon, but for me the beauty of this cut is the buttery tenderness within. I wouldn't hesistate to go as thick as 2 inches so that the final product is still a nice, thick steak.

I'd also go with 1 1/2 inches, maybe more.

I do like my beef extremely rare, my girls accuse me of eating it raw/just warmed, and they're pretty much right.

So, that gives me a goo0d sear on the outside and very rare/just warm on the inside. Thinner gets too done for my tastes.

Annie

I cut most of my steaks 1 1/2 to 2 inches thick. Tenderloins, New York strips and Rib eyes. When I buy whole tenderloins some of the meat gets cut into steaks and I'll also cut a small tenderloin roast.

I occasionally will cook a steak in my cast iron skillet but usually I grill steaks.

We like our meat on the rare side, so 3/4 inch doesn't cut it for me.

Also, a thicker steak gives more surface area not less. Unless you aren't counting the side surfaces.

Ann

I cut most of my steaks 1 1/2 to 2 inches thick. Tenderloins, New York strips and Rib eyes. When I buy whole tenderloins some of the meat gets cut into steaks and I'll also cut a small tenderloin roast.

I occasionally will cook a steak in my cast iron skillet but usually I grill steaks.

We like our meat on the rare side, so 3/4 inch doesn't cut it for me.

Also, a thicker steak gives more surface area not less. Unless you aren't counting the side surfaces.

Ann

I buy the whole untrimmed tenderloins at Costco. Takes me about 20 min to trim off the fat, silverskin, chain, etc, and the chain is usable. Far cheaper than buying trimmed tenderloin. Get enough meat for a dinner party plus a week of good eating, or split it with a friend/neighbor. Only do this a couple times a year.

I usually want a sauce on my tenderloin, otherwise to me the meat doesn't quite have the taste to match the great texture and high cost. (But that's just me being piggy.)

I also like sauces on Beef Tenderloin and New York Strip steaks, either a green peppercorn sauce or a homemade Bearnaise sauce. But it is possible to get lots of flavour in a tenderloin steak. Any good quality beef tastes great just rubbed with fresh garlic that has been grated on a microplane, lots of fresh ground pepper and a little sea salt. And then grilled.

Ann

cookie8:
You have to go by what you like, not by a few threads on the CF.

I like mine Medium Rare, others like Rare almost Raw.

Don't know if it is healthy eating raw meat nowdays.

One DD like hers cooked until it looks like a piece of shoe leather.

I ask her " did you ever of anyone saying, I would like a thick juicy Steak, smotherd with Onions ".

Anyway, cook your steak the way you like. Rare, Med. Rare ,
well done, etc.

More important , Enjoy every bite.

Now I want a Steak, smothered in Onions!!!
LOU

*******************************************

Here are some of my steaks, 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 inches thick.
All cooked Meduim Rare well seared on the outside.

Porterhouse

NY Strip

Ribeye

If some Photo's are too light, use your imagination.

Every few months I will buy a whole tenderloin at Sam's. Like johnliu, I take about 20 minutes to clean it up, removing silverskin, fat, etc. Depending on the size of the tenderloin, I'll usually end up with about 6 to 10 steaks (about 1 1/2 inch), a nice chateaubriand, and the chain meat. I'll actually cut up the chain meat and remove the tendons. (If you're in a restaurant and order something with 'tenderloin tips', that's what you're getting.)

I wrap the individual steaks in plastic wrap, then freeze them in a plastic bag. If you use them within 4 to 8 weeks, they're still good. (Julia Child used to keep frozen steaks in her freezer, so there.)

As far as cooking, I have a well seasoned cast iron pan which I put on my admittedly wimpy gas stove, and wait till it gets pretty hot. I put the steak on the hot skillet and let it cook for about 3 1/2 minutes on the first side and 3 minutes on the second. I remove it to a preheated plate and deglaze the pan with brandy or stock, and then maybe throw in some mushrooms and butter.

You'll need to practice with whatever pan you plan to cook the steaks, and whatever heat source you plan to use; that timing I listed yields a nice crust, about 1/4 inch of medium blending into a nice medium rare center. But your mileage will vary depending on your burner's heat and the heat capacity of your skillet.

Ha ha Lou. I'm stuck here with a family of six and if I went by what I like I'd be alone. Lentil tacos anyone? I'm not a huge meat eater to be honest. With meat, I need help! Not my thing. Anyways, I do love sauce so I would love any recipes of your favourite sauce. I did make a mushroom sauce but I must have done something wrong because it kind of curdled. See, even my topping are against me with meat.

This is only my own preference, and not to say that you donÂt know anything about eating or cooking steaks.

I like my beef well done, medium, and rare, but not raw.
They all taste different and all have different texture for enjoyment. I try not to have rare beef too often because of increased health risk.

I believe that the best thing about a steak is the appropriately seasoned, well charred crust. Inside the crust is the meat done to exactly the way you prefer. I will never sneer at people who like well-done meat; if thatÂs the way they enjoy it. I donÂt like chewing on bloody raw meat. I have seen too many nature shows with lions masticating on a bloody buffalo. Having said that, I will enjoy Gyu Sashi, Steak tartare, Carpaccio, etc. if I am absolutely sure that they are done properly.

I understand that the common practice of preparing the "perfect" steaks is to have the steak about 1 ½" thick or more. However, I have noticed that with a steak of that thickness, as you can see from the chart below, a rare steak is having the center raw, a medium rare is to have 1/3 of the steak near well-done, and a medium is to have the steak 1/3 well done and 1/3 medium well, a medium well is to have 1/3 of the steak hopelessly over cooked.

Based on the law of physic in thermal dynamics and heat conduction, it is not too difficult to understand that it is not easy to have the so called "perfect" steak.

My attempt is to accomplish two things:

1. The more crust the better taste. By having a steak half as thick, you will have almost twice the crust for the same amount of meat.
2. By having the steak thinner, heat conduction is more even, therefore is it more possible to cook the meat to the doneness that you desire.

Regarding the belief that it is not possible to have a nice crust and the meat rare at the same time if the meat in only ¾" thick. I decided to up the ante and have the steak cut at only 1/2" thick to demonstrate that it is very doable.

As you can see the crust on the meat is very nice and the inside is very red. Near the edges the meat is more well done. That is because itÂs only ¼" thick and I used a torch to burn the sides. Cooking time is very short on thin steaks and the heat may not be high enough on some edges to sanitize the meat. As you know, the outside of beef can be contaminated.

Let me know what you think.

dcarch

Dcarch:
" let me know what you think " Are you Kidding ???

I'll have to look and think, until tommorrow night,
on this one.

Great presentation !!! I'll have one of each.
LOU

Cookie:

Ha ha, Cookie. You thought you were going to get off easy.
Lou

This is a good article. I think is the same one that the above chart came from.

The Perfect Steak.

I do take my steaks off the grill when they the temperature reads between 105 and 110 depending on the thickness of the steak. I do the same for prime ribs roasted in the oven or on the grill. Once they have rested they are perfect.

My preference is a thick steak.

But even with a thinner steak if you let the meat rest before cutting into it you can get an even finish.

Oh, Ann, those are some gorgeous looking steak dinners! Like most of yours, I prefer a thicker steak. Nice grilling on the outside, but rare to medium-rare on the inside. Perfect!

Lori

Well...I had dinner already....but that lovely rare steak looks wonderful.
One thing that hasn't been addressed is the alleged cancer causing properties of charred and well cooked meat.
Linda C

Here is a link that might be useful: grilling basics

However, I have noticed that with a steak of that thickness, as you can see from the chart below, a rare steak is having the center raw, a medium rare is to have 1/3 of the steak near well-done, and a medium is to have the steak 1/3 well done and 1/3 medium well, a medium well is to have 1/3 of the steak hopelessly over cooked.

dcarch - I would be very disappointed if I ordered a steak medium rare and it was served as shown in that chart. No excuse for 1/3 of the steak to be overcooked like that. With proper heat management a nice thick steak can have the same profile as Ann's picture, but with the red sections a bit more pink.

Unfortunately I can't say I nail it perfectly every time, but then it's extremely rare that I cook my own steak. When I'm in the mood for a nice dry-aged prime steak, I'll leave it to the experts rather than chance it on my own.

FOAS, I don't nail it perfectly every time either , but my misses still look better than what is shown in that chart.

Ann

Ann, I don't think I've ever seen a "miss" on one of your plates!!

Lori :D

First, ann_tÂs photos speak more than just pretty to me. They really show her skills in the most difficult task in cooking, that is grilling.

In grilling, fish, chicken, pork or beef, there are so many variables to consider and there is no margin for error. You canÂt over cook and you canÂt undercook. Behold the magnificent grill marks on ann_tÂs work, they are indicative of her superb timing proficiency.

FOAS, I agree with you, itÂs a hit-or-miss to get a steak that is "perfect" for your preference.

Another issue, strictly my own preference, I donÂt like this idea so called "let the meat rest". There is no such thing as "rest" for steak. Why? Have they overworked?

"Resting" is just another word for "Meat is a poor conductor of heat, I will have to give time for the heat to get to the center, and I accept the fact that by that time, the steak is not hot anymore."

I like my steak sizzling hot, bubbling with juice and smoke still rising from the plate when it is presented in front of me. The thin cut method will not require the meat to be rested.

Perhaps the sous vide method is the ideal way to prepare a steak, which many restaurants are using now.

dcarch

I am not much of a steak eater, and even less of a steak cook. The following article goes into great detail regarding the importance of resting pan seared steak before serving. In a nutshell, it tells, (in pictures, weights and charts) how meat looses its ability to retain juices during the heating process, but gains it back during the resting period. According to the article, very little internal heat is lost in the resting process. Especially compared to the juice that is lost to the plate vs. being reabsorbed. I found it to be a good read, despite the silly intro.
Jo

Here is a link that might be useful: Serious Eats on the resting period

Resting newly cooked meat is paramount to cooking and serving good meat.
To get a what DeCarch describes "steak sizzling hot, bubbling with juice and smoke still rising from the plate when it is presented in front of me." Thew ait staff places a pat of butter on a superheated plate and plops on the already rested steak and presents it to you.
But I have never seen that sort of presentation at any really fine steak house, such as Smith and Wallenski or Ruth's Chris. I find the sizzling platter more to the style of Outback...not that Outback is a bad thing...
Linda c

jojoco, that is a very good article to read about the concept of resting meat. Thanks for posting the link to it. One thing I like about this forum is the exchange of ideas, and knowledge. Otherwise, this might as well be another "Recipe Exchange".

I will repeat, that I enjoy preparing steak thinner is a personal preference, in no way I am disputing other ways are no good.

Furthermore, I am not recommending not to rest the steak if you are to prepare steak the normal way. You should absolutely rest the steak.

As the article points out after resting the steak, the temperature will drop from 210 degrees F to only 125 Degrees F. A 125 degree steak is enjoyable, but my personal preference is to have my steak served at close to 210 degrees.

My personal preference is to have more crusted steak while still have the center rare or medium rare. I achieve that by having the steak prepared thin.

My personal preference is to have more surface area to pick up seasoning, and that is also accomplished by having more surface area.

I have business lunches almost everyday, and I think I have been to every single steak house in the entire NYC area more than once; I am in total agreement with LindaC, if a restaurant were to serve steak my way, it would shut its doors in one week. ThatÂs not what most people expect how a steak is to be done.

Regarding the article, interesting and thorough it may be, I do have questions regarding a few issues.

I am not sure the fact that a steak drips some juice out will change its flavor. As the steak drips, the volume gets smaller, the concentration of flavor remain the same. In any case the relative volume of juice exuded is so small it will make no difference to the taste buds.

Not that it matters, juice dripping is a fact, but the presumption as to what cause it had ignore a few possible liquid behaviors. Viscosity changes under different temperature and protein in blood can coagulate after longer cooking resting time.

I also find it very curious that the author did not measure the interior temperature rising during the resting period. The so called "carry-over cooking temperature" rise during resting is a basic thermal dynamic behavior. If the outside temperature is at 210 degrees, the higher temperature will migrate inwards (Entropy), that is what I have been taught, and that has been documented by other studies regarding resting.

dcarch

Your presumption that a steak losing "juice" will not change the taste is based on your presumption that what the steak loses has no flavor....and that texture, moistness, juicyness has no bearing on our perception of flavor.

That which you call thermal dynamics and entropy is simply the fact that if there are no other factors at work, temperatures tend to become equal in a body. Food cools as it sits off the fire and if there is a cool inside the hot outside will both cool off and make the cool inside warmer. And this will happen faster in a thinner piece of meat....so if you want a thin steak cooked on a very hot grill, charred on the outside and rare on the inside, you better eat it very fast before the outside cools off or the inside heats up!

"Your presumption that a steak losing "juice" will not change the taste is based on your presumption that what the steak loses has no flavor....and that texture, moistness, juicyness has no bearing on our perception of flavor. "

I was only addressing the authorÂs several statements that the steak loses flavor if the juice leaks out. I cannot understand how that can be. The flavor will not chance. The steak gets smaller, the concentration of flavor will not be diluted. In any case, if I have steak juice on my plate, I mop it up with my bread anyway. Nothing is losed.

"That which you call thermal dynamics and entropy is simply the fact that if there are no other factors at work, temperatures tend to become equal in a body. Food cools as it sits off the fire and if there is a cool inside the hot outside will both cool off and make the cool inside warmer. "

ThatÂs exactly what I was saying. But of course you said it much better.

"And this will happen faster in a thinner piece of meat....so if you want a thin steak cooked on a very hot grill, charred on the outside and rare on the inside, you better eat it very fast before the outside cools off or the inside heats up!"

I definitely will heed your advice. Flectcherism is not one of my virtues.

In short, I will continue for sure, through thick and thought thin, on my quest for the ultimate way to make the venerable perfect steak. :-)

dcarch

I prefer Dcarch's thinner steak. I prefer a rest, albeit a short one in heavy duty foil so it won't cool off.

The perfect steak is whatever one likes best, not what someone else says is the perfect steak. Nor would I ever ridicule what anyone says is their perfect steak. Most people like a perfect baked potato with theirs. I detest baked potatoes, love them any other way. Different strokes.

Food for thought !!!

I use Sirloin cut thin, for Philly Cheese Steaks,
( sliced 1/8 in.thick )
Put some oil in a hot Cast Iron Skillet.

Throw the steak in and swish and flip for about a minute.
They were seared but not fried a lot.

Of course I used My Garlic and Onion powder, with a pinch of Oregano.

This is how I cooked Steak sandwiches in my Pizzeria.

This is how Pat's and Gino's and Jim's Steaks in West Philly, did their steaks, long ago.
No Oregano !

They were always delicious.

I think most places chop the Steak; now, until it looks almost like Hamburger.
They are cooked til almost well done ???