I gathered that the search for the holy grail, a perfect steak, runs in Mark Schatzker' s family. His father and uncle put a lot of effort into it.
For his new book Steak ('One man's search for the world's tastiest piece of beef'), Mark sampled steaks the world over from tasty to chewy while digesting a lot of information on the secret to delivering flavor, texture and tenderness in our plate.
He was kind enough to take the time to discuss all things beef with us in 17 dry to juicy questions.
Q: Mark, from your quest for the holy grail of steak, it sounds like many are made
to look good but taste bad to average, why?
Simply,
because people who make steak-farmers and ranchers and feeders-are
more focused on producing as much beef for as little money as
possible than they are producing beef that is delicious. Consumers buy
beef by the pound. If we bought wine based on how much it cost per pint
or per gallon, do you think the wine we drink would be any good?
Q: Are you afraid that reading the D.C Jones episode and how poop flies in
from neighboring Palo Duro Feeders might have people question their love
for a red slab of meat?
It may. But people have to
recognize there is more than one way to raise a cow. We don't have to
crowd cattle into feedlots.
Q: The Texas Tech Invitational Meat Evaluation Contest sounds a bit like a
golf tournament, can you tell us a bit about it?
The
United States Department of Agriculture grades beef based on how much
marbling there is in it (there are other criteria, too, such as age,
but marbling is the big one). The deparment employs graders who spend
their days looking at sides of beef and determining what grade they'll
get. This has spawned a competitive "sport" at universities in which
teams compete to judge carcasses. The have a grueling practice schedule
and over the course of a year will see tens of thousands of carcasses.
The ones who do it best, win.
Q: Did you debunk Peter Luger's claim to have served 'the finest USDA prime
steaks since 1887' while doing research for the book?
The
USDA developed its quality grades for beef in 1926, so it is simply not
possible for Peter Luger to have been selling "the finest USDA Prime steaks
since 1887. I don't think they're being intentionally misleading, however.
The restaurant has been owned by the same family since 1950s.
What
happened before then seems to be a bit murky.
Q: You associate steak and power meals. Is bigger really better? Did size
shrink during the recession?
I don't know if steaks got
smaller during the recession, but business at steak houses has
definitely been down. As far as bigger being better, not for me. I'd
rather a steak was tasty, above all. However, when I get hold of a
really good steak, I could eat three or four. And when I get served
one of those gigantic but flavorless steaks you so often get in steakhouses,
I usually can't finish it.
Q: Is steak Rabelaisien?
It might be.
Q: You write that the best steak your father had was his first, can memories
fool us?
I would say it's context that can fool us.
When my dad ate that steak, he was a) hungry and b) it was a new and
delicious food for him. That said, I believe it was probably a good
to very good steak.
Q: Do you swear often when eating a nice cut of beef as you mention doing
during your honeymoon in Italy?
Is it reserved to pleasant
experiences?
I am moved to use ill-considerd language when I taste something that's really
unbelievably good. Something that astonishes me with how incredible
it is.
Q: Many years ago, what made aurochs meat so tender?
I
doubt all of it was tender. However, one thing that heavily influences the
tenderness of cattle-and, by extension the primitive wild cattle that
are called aurochs-is how fast they gain weight. So I imagine that an
auroch in good condition would have been quite tender after a summer
on good pasture.
Q: Eat Steak, Get your vitamin B12, what other essential benefits does it
offer? What about the negatives?
It depends on the
steak. Grass-fed steak is more nutrient dense than corn-fed feedlot
steak. It has more vitamins, more anti-oxidants, and the fat is less
saturated. It also has more CLA, which is considered healthy. Any
kind of beef-or chicken, pork, duck, etc.-has all the essential amino
acids. This isn't a big concern for people nowadays (although I've
known a few vegans who looked rather protein-deficient), but it was
important to primitive humans.
Q: How can we be sure that Paleolitic humans ate 3 and a half pounds of meat
a day?
I'm not sure that's correct for all Paleolithic humans. But anthropologists are quite sure that Upper Paleolithic humans living in mid to northern Europe ate a great deal of meat-perhaps more than 3.5 pounds per day. Before the days of farming, there just wasn't much else to eat in, say, France in the
middle of February.
Q: You talk about the doodies, is Scotland really the epicenter of Steak Land?
What makes it happen?
Scotland gave the world its most
famous beef breed-the Angus (known in Scotland as the
Aberdeen-Angus). It is well endowed with pasture, and as the British
taste for beef developed, the Scots developed breeds that fattened
well on grass with meat considered to be succulent and delicious.
There is some truly excellent beef to be had in Scotland today. But
make no mistake, an average Scottish supermarket steak is no reason
to travel to Scotland.
Q: Are there equivalents to the Sagra della Bistecca in other parts of the
world?
There's a big "steak of origin" competition in
New Zealand that I would like to attend. I'm sure there are others
here and there. Every day seems to be a steak-eating festival in
Argentina. But I don't know of anything quite like the Sagra della
Bistecca.
Q: Name a few of the peculiarities encountered for steak in Japan, if you
can?
It's incredibly fatty, rich to the point of foie
gras. As a result the Japanese eat it in very small amounts, because
if you ate a big thick Japanese steak you'd make yourself sick.
Q: Do you find people grilling their own meat in restaurants outside Japanese
'Yakiniku'?
I know of one yakiniku restaurant in New
York. I live in Toronto, where we have Korean barbecue, which is what
inspired the original Japanese yakiniku.
Q: Compared to the somehow obsessive approach to steak in Japan, would you
describe Argentinian's attitude as live and let's eat?
Yes.
Argentines love steak, but they are not as fussy about origin the way
the Japanese are. That's one of the reason beef quality in Argentina is
going downhill.
Q: Last, if you were to offer 5 tips on how to buy and grill a great steak
what would they be?
1. Start with a good steak. My preference is
for excellent grass-fed steak (and not all grass-fed beef is
excellent). But there is such a thing as good grain-fed steak, too.
2) Dry the steak with paper towel. It will form a better crust
that way. Cooking a wet steak can make it taste boiled.
3)
Don't put anything on it other than salt, and maybe pepper. Salt it a few
minutes before cooking.
4) It doesn't matter if you pan
fry it or grill it.
5) Start it on a high flame to sear the exterior, but turn the heat down so
that the centre has a chance to cook. It's cooking that releases a steak's
inner juices, and if the centre stays cold the steak won't be
juicy.
These cooking tips conclude our interview with Mark Schatzker.
Thanks to Meghan Fallon at Viking (his publisher) for making it possible.
Previously in our irregular Interview series:
Talking Roots and Love of Wine with Marco
Monaci of Cantina Pieve Vecchia, Maremma