Steak Toppers
Here are a few of our favorite steak toppers if you are looking to jazz up your steak with some additional flavors.
Pat of Butter- a must while the steak rests before serving
Garlic butter- make your own of course! Use fresh minced garlic for best flavor.
Blue Cheese crumbles- adds a wonderful complimentary flavor
Sauteed Mushrooms- slice and sautee in butter or olive oil
Sauteed Onions- slice onions and sautéed in butter until lightly carmelized
Lump Meat Crab- Warm backfin lump crab in butter. Phillips Seafood makes a wonderful pasteurized lump crab in a can. Closest to fresh as you can get—find at Costco in the refrigerated section, make sure you buy the lump meat,not backfin or claw.
These are our favorites—there are many others that range from salsa to fruits, other cheeses, butters & herbs.
Whatever your topper make sure that you allow your steak to rest after grilling. Meat tightens up during the cooking process—serving immediately would be a disservice to the meat and to the one eating it. By allowing the meat to “rest” for 3-5 minutes juices will return to the center of the meat and the meat will relax making for a more tender bite.
Why USDA Prime
Have ever wondered what quality of steaks you were really buying? There are so many names out there….Premium, Prime, Choice, Private Reserve, Select. What do they mean? Well, many names are not actual “grades” given by the USDA, but merely marketing names. Many times these names attached to steaks are geared to give the appearance of a high quality steak, when in fact, they are merely fancy descriptions. The USDA (United States Dept of Agriculture) sets the standards for inspectors on how to “grade” beef. When talking in terms of grading steaks, there are 3 basic quality levels of Graded beef.
The HIGHEST quality Grade issued by the USDA is “USDA Prime“. USDA Prime makes up less than 2% of all graded beef. USDA Prime has abundant marbling and is generally only sold to high end hotels and restaurants. There are also some high end mail order steak companies who also offer USDA Prime. More tha likely, you won’t find USDA Prime in your local grocery store.
The next quality grade given is USDA Choice. This grade of beef is a nice quality, but has less marbling than USDA Prime. Marbling is what give your steaks succulent flavor and tenderness.
USDA Select is the final and lowest quality grade given by the USDA. This grade is described as fairly tender with less marbling than the higher grades. It may also lack flavor and juiciness than higher grades.
So, as you can see, it really matters what’s in a name!! Don’t be fooled if you see a steak marketed as ”prime”. If you are looking for the best and highest quaity graded steak, make sure it says “USDA Prime“. Then you can be assured that you will be dining on the finest graded steak available.
