Grading Steaks from Lisa Blackard on Vimeo.

Before You Grill

Visit our online store and buy Certified Angus Beef steaks. For a tender steak - choose our filets. For a rich, juicy flavor - choose Texas T-Bones. For the richest steak flavor ; the New York Strip can't be beat!

Here at the Taste of Texas, we are quite partial to the simplicity of grilled steaks served sizzling with garlic butter. While it sounds easy, there is an art to grilling and serving the perfect steak. There are several things to consider before purchasing your dinner.

We've found four components of a great steak - marbling, trim, aging, and preparation. Account for all four and we guarantee it will be love at first bite.

• MARBLING: refers to the white flecks of fat interspersed thoughout the beef. Marbling contributes greatly to a steak's flavor, juiciness and tenderness, and is the major factor in the USDA grading system. Higher quality beef has more marbling.
• TRIM: refers to the cut of steak. A well-trimmed steak will have the proper amount of fat for cooking that particular cut of meat, and will have all grissle trimmed away for you. We very closely monitor the trim of our steaks, resulting in a consistenly great experience every time.
• AGING: Beef is aged to release its full flavor and to develop tenderness. Our steaks are aged in a state of the art system for 29-35 days, fully two weeks longer than our competitors. We wet age our steaks, which we've found from extensive customer testing results in a mouth-watering, tender steak with great flavor. Dry aging was not preferred by an overwhelming majority of our tasters.
• PREPARATION: Enjoy a well-prepared steak and you will definitely want to "kiss the cook!" The following is a quick grilling tutorial and guidelines to follow to really impress your guests.

A note about extremely high temperature searing: we get a lot of questions about high temperature searing to "lock in" the juices. The idea that searing creates a water-proof crust in meat was first proposed by German chemist Liebig around 1870, but was disproven by 1930. Achieving this crust by extreme temperatures in the oven results in a dry, overdone layer on the steak, and, therefore, we do not recommend it. This method of preparation is widely used in restaurants, but is more of a way to brand a style of preparation than an adequate method to prepare the relatively small (compared to a roast) size of steaks. However, searing does cause Maillard reactions (browning reactions) in beef resulting in a flavorful exterior crust on the steak. Therefore, we recommend creating a browned crust by grilling the steaks over a high flame and then finishing them on a cooler portion of your grill.

For more information on browning reactions in beef, please refer to Harold McGee's book "On Food and Cooking."

Steakhouse Cuts from Lisa Blackard on Vimeo.

Grilling Perfect Steaks

SALT YOUR STEAKS: An hour before grilling, remove the steaks from the refrigerator, season with a salt-based rub and leave out to slowly rise in temperature. Salt will help flavor the meat and retain the natural juices during grilling. However, salting more than an hour in advance will toughen the meat.

CLEAN YOUR GRILL: Light the grill to high, close the cover and burn off any residue remaining on your grill grates. With a stiff wire brush, thoroughly clean the grates.

BUILD YOUR FIRE: If you are using charcoals (we love hardwood charcoals) pile the lit and ready coals on one side of your grill. If you are using a gas grill, turn one side to high or medium-high and the other to medium-low. Have two temperature sections of the grill will allow you to achieve a browned crust and slowly bring the steaks up to temperature.

OIL YOUR GRILL GRATES: Using an oil-soaked rag or heavy duty cooking spray, generously oil the grates of your grill. This will prevent sticking and aide in browning.

MAKE CROSS HATCHES: Keeping the information about Maillard reactions in mind, place the steaks directly over a high or medium-high flame for two minutes. Flip to the other side for two minutes. This should produce noticeable grill marks and a browned crust. After two minutes of high heat for each side, rotate the steaks 90 degrees and move to the cooler section of the grill to slowly come up to the desired internal temperature.

CHECK FOR DONENESS: The grill cooks at the restaurant know the doneness of a steak by its feel, but the only fool-proof method is to take the internal temperature using a meat thermometer. Below is a chart of temperatures and corresponding doneness. (Be sure to take the temp in the thickest part of the steak).

• 125-130 Degrees: Rare to Medium Rare
• 130-140 Degrees: Medium Rare to Medium
• 140-150 Degrees: Medium to Medium Well
• 150 Degrees and up: Well Done

As Texans, we hold a very special place in our hearts and on our dinner tables for big, beautiful cuts of beef. The cattle industry in Texas dates back to the 1730's and has been a major thread in our State's colorful history, giving rise to the legacy of the cowboy, great Texas ranches and cattle culture. Today, beef is the largest sector of the State's agricultural economy, and we've got more head of cattle than any other state. On average 14 million! Larry McMurtry famously quipped in his "Essays on Texas" that, "Only a rank degenerate would drive 1500 miles across Texas without eating chicken fried steak." Whether it's chicken fried, smoked or grilled and served sizzling, Texans love beef.

• Try topping each steak with about a teaspoon of herb or blue cheese butter a minute before they come off the grill. Enjoy.