NY Newsday's roundup of steak houses
I'm not going to bother listing their ten favorites because as I understand it, if you're serious about your steak, there is only one steak house -- Peter Luger (178 Broadway, Williamsburg; 718-387-7400).
In "High Steaks," originally appearing in Vogue and now in his book, It Must've Been Something I Ate, Jeffrey Steingarten does a more than thorough job explaining the three criteria that should be used to judge a good steak -- USDA grade, how long it's been aged, and by what method.
USDA grade is based primarily on the amount of marbling. Marbling is the level of intramuscular fat (small white flecks) within the beef and correlates to better flavor and juiciness. Here is a more technical and exact definition of USDA beef grading thanks to the department of Meat Science at Texas A & M University. Also, the official United States Standards for Grades of Carcass Beef from the Department of Agriculture. Helpful visuals: Prime, Choice, and Select.
Dry-aging was the standard aging process up until twenty years ago. As explained by Rob Walsh (see link below), "In this process, carcasses are hung for up to five weeks in a cool, well-ventilated meat locker at 85 percent relative humidity. During aging, natural enzymes break down proteins in the muscle fibers, resulting in improved tenderness. The meat also acquires a unique flavor. But dry-aging is costly, as the meat loses something like 6 percent of its weight every week." Dry-aging has been replaced by the less costly wet-aging process in which "the meat is simply sealed in Cryovac and set aside for a while. The same enzymes break down the same proteins, but without any loss in weight. Wet-aged steaks are often just as tender, and because they retain more water, they're juicer than dry-aged steaks. But when the steaks are sampled side by side, most people describe the taste of wet-aged steaks as "bloody" or "metallic," compared to the "dry" and "nutty" flavor of dry-aged beef."
So dry-aging is the way to go, but for how long? According to Steingarten, forty years ago better grades of beef would be dry-aged for at least six weeks. He writes, "Research shows that the maximum increase in tenderness is achieved at three weeks of dry-aging. But the flavor keeps developing from the inital fresh, iron-meaty taste to a round, buttery, complex, and mouthwatering savor. Eight weeks seems just right to me, though some might find the taste a little gamy or high."
With these three critera, Steingarten and his assistant, Gail, compiled a list of 78 steak houses across the country and telephoned them all and asked the restaurants' managers or head chefs what grade beef they buy, how long it's been aged, and by what method. Of the 78, only 2 met all 3 criteria (drying-aging USDA Prime beef for five weeks or longer): Peter Luger and Bern's Steak House in Tampa.
Rob Walsh of the Houston Press wrote an informative 3-part series on American Steak which is available online and worth reading:
Part 1: A Matter of Fat - Explanation of the USDA grading system and the decline in quality of American meat.
Part 2: Aging with Grace (and Science) - Explanation of dry-aging and wet-aging, and factors affecting beef tenderness.
Part 3: American Kobe
