If you're looking for a nice, juicy steak to cook in your own kitchen, there are plenty of options. But if you're trying to get your beef fix, some cuts are harder to get right than others. These are the seven hardest steaks to cook at home.
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00:00If you're looking for a nice, juicy steak to cook in your own kitchen,
00:04there are plenty of options. But if you're trying to get your beef fixed,
00:07some cuts are harder to get right than others. These are the seven hardest steaks to cook at home.
00:12All-round steaks are found on the back of the cow in a heavily muscled area near the rear legs.
00:17Because these muscles are used for frequent movement, this part of the cow has a low fat
00:21content, which means the beef isn't as tender. As a result, these tougher cuts can be more difficult
00:26to cook than steaks with well-marbled muscle and fat. Additionally, eye-round steak is often
00:31more affordable than other cuts, which makes it a desirable option for many home chefs.
00:35But tread carefully when cooked incorrectly, eye-round steak is chewy and tough,
00:39resulting in an unpleasant dining experience. Certain cooking methods like braising,
00:43sous vide, or using a slow cooker can make eye-round steak more tender and enjoyable to
00:48eat. But they require a lot of time, patience, and practice to perfect. Marinating the steak
00:53beforehand can also help tenderize the beef. As Ashley Lonsdale, ButcherBox Chef-in-Residence
00:58explained, the salt in the marinade will help tenderize the meat and you can introduce more
01:03aromatics. Like the slow cooking methods, marinating your eye-round before cooking
01:08requires more time and forethought. If you want a quick, easy dinner to put on the table,
01:12eye-round is not it. Skirt steak is cut from an area on the cow's belly known as the plate.
01:17This section of the animal is much fattier than the heavily muscled round, which might make skirt
01:22steak seem like a great candidate for home cooks. However, the cut is peppered with connective
01:26tissue that can be tough and chewy once cooked. Because it is cut from the belly in a single
01:30piece, skirt steak can also be an awkward shape. In addition to being thin and narrow,
01:35it can be up to two feet long. The thinness of the cut is also one of the factors that
01:39makes it difficult to cook. Skirt steak is most flavorful and tender when served medium
01:44or medium-rare. Even when cooked just a minute too long, the result will be tough and dry.
01:52Achieving this nuance at home on a grill, under a broiler, or in a pan can be a very difficult
02:00feat for inexperienced home chefs. A suitable alternative to skirt steak is flank steak,
02:05as Lonsdale explained. Flank steak is a great cut. It's easy to identify the grain to slice
02:09against when it's time to serve, and it can feed multiple people. All chuck cuts come from the
02:14cow's neck and shoulders. Like the round, this area is filled with muscle and connective tissue,
02:19which limits the fat content. While chuck is often turned into ground beef, it can also be
02:24purchased in larger steaks for a steal, but you'll want to proceed with caution. Also known as the
02:28shoulder steak or London broil, chuck eye steak can be seared in a pan or on a grill, and then
02:34cooked over low heat until it's about medium-rare. If cooked too long, you'll be left with a chewy,
02:38tough bite. Barry Sorkin, owner of Smoked Steak, recommends home chefs avoid heavily-muscled cuts
02:44like chuck eye steak because of their difficulty to perfect. He explained,
02:48For the home cook, I recommend cooking steaks that are naturally tender,
02:51boneless, well-marbled, and relatively uniform. These characteristics offer the less-experienced
02:56cook a good deal of forgiveness, and even cooking, and are suited for a number of
03:01different cooking methods. Often called California's cut, tri-tip steak is an often-overlooked steak,
03:07cut from the bottom of the sirloin found on the cow's belly. Earning its name from its distinctive
03:11shape, this steak has very little fat and is always boneless. Tri-tip is sometimes sold with
03:16a fat cap on one side, requiring extra trimming once purchased. This prep step alone is a hurdle
03:21for home chefs, as the more desirable cuts are typically ready to go right from the butcher.
03:26Because of its asymmetric size, it is also difficult to cook consistently, often when
03:30the steak comes out of the oven or off the grill. The smaller end is cooked more than the wider,
03:35thicker end, which tends to still be on the rarer side. While this may be an advantage if you're
03:39cooking for a crowd with varied preferences, this uneven result is often a negative when preparing
03:44tri-tip for a small group or individual. Even if cooked correctly, tri-tip steak can still be
03:49chewy and tough if it's not cut properly. This steak has two different grains, with some running
03:54vertically and the rest running horizontally. Cutting the cooked steak along this intersection,
03:58and then cutting it into smaller pieces from there, is vital to ensuring you have tender steak.
04:03It can, however, be a difficult task for those who aren't familiar with the cut or aren't comfortable
04:08butchering. Bone and rib eye is cut from the cow's lower ribs, with part of the rib bone
04:13left attached. Many people prefer to purchase bone-in rib eye versus the boneless steak,
04:17because they feel the bone infuses additional flavor. While the jury is out on whether or not
04:22the bone actually adds flavor to the steak, one thing is clear, leaving the bone in makes the
04:26steak much easier for home chefs to mess up. Sorkin agrees that bone-in cuts aren't the best
04:31option for home chefs, he observed. Bones can add significant cost to your raw product and make it
04:36more difficult to cook the steak evenly. Bones can insulate the steak from the heat source,
04:40making the meat around the bone cook at a slower rate than the rest of the steak.
04:44With bone-in cuts like rib eye, home chefs may run into issues where the meat closest to the
04:48bone is underdone or even raw, while the meat around the steak's edges is cooked properly.
04:53Because of the touchy nature of this cut, it's best left to the experts.
04:57Like skirt steak, hanger steak is a thin cut that comes from the plate of the cow. However,
05:02there's only one hanger steak per cow, so it can be more difficult than other cuts to find
05:06at chain supermarkets. This low supply also makes it a less sustainable cut than other popular
05:11steaks like flank steak or even ground beef. Though naturally tender with a good fat content,
05:16hanger steak has a membrane that runs down the center of the cut. When this membrane is left
05:20in the steak, it causes the final product to be chewy and tough. Once the membrane is removed,
05:24hanger steak can be cooked rare to medium, depending on your personal preference. However,
05:29getting the perfect internal temperature for your preferred cook can be a challenge to time on such
05:33a thin cut. Even just a minute or two longer on the grill or in the pan can cause the steak to be
05:38too tough to enjoy. If you take it off when it's too rare, the meat will have an overly soft texture.
05:43Striking that perfect middle ground is extremely difficult for those who are less experienced
05:47cooking steak. T-bone steaks get their name from the distinctive T-shaped bone that runs through
05:53the center of the cut. Sourced from the cow's short loin, the T-bone has a different type of
05:57steak on each side, strip steak and tenderloin. Like other bone-in cuts, the meat closest to
06:05the bone in a T-bone steak also cooks at a different rate. The bone insulates the surrounding
06:10meat, making it heat up more slowly, which can lead to uneven levels of doneness along both sides
06:15of the steak. Because there are two different cuts, it's important to choose a cooking method
06:19that will cook both sides at the same rate, such as a grill with two heat zones. Instead of a cut
06:23like a T-bone, Sorkin recommends bone-free alternatives. He explained,
06:27"'I like a ribeye!' It's natural tenderness, rich flavor, and good marbling deliver great
06:32flavor and tenderness and will stay juicy even if slightly overcooked."