Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — The plate is served.
In front of you is a piece of seared meat. You cut it, slowly, inhaling the aroma, and finally, you catch a glimpse of the pinkish red meat you know would slowly melt inside your mouth.
Steak, usually paired with equally decadent wine, is a slice of heaven.
When one asks, “What makes a good steak?” some people would easily refer to how it was cooked.
However, if you trace back how the meat was processed, you will discover that even the farm where the animal came affects the taste.
Farm to table
For example, Omaha in Nebraska, United States, is known for its fine Angus and Hereford cattle, which has fine-marbled meat.
Another farm in the United States, the Snake River Farms, is popular for its Wagyu beef, obtained from a breed of Japanese cattle. This kind has intense marbling, resulting in buttery texture and subtle flavors.
Aside from the United States, another farm in Australia prides itself for producing “100 percent Fullblood Wagyu beef” – the Blackmore Farms.
It has a project called eco-feeding, a “multi-faceted standard that includes animal welfare and husbandry, environmental management, nutrition, food safety and product integrity.”
“Our secret feed ration is fully sustainable with natural feed commodities that are not usable for human consumption. Our objective is to feed our Wagyu animals natural commodities that are by-products of human food production,” Blackmore Farms said.
To remain true to the promise of delivering a world-class steak experience, Finestra Italian Steakhouse decided to import their steaks from these prestigious farms.
Prime, choice, select
There are three types of United States Department of Agriculture-graded beef sold at retail: prime, choice, and select.
All three have the same protein, vitamin and mineral content.
“Beef is graded in two ways: quality grades for tenderness, juiciness and flavor; and yield grades for the amount of usable lean meat on the carcass,” the USDA said.
One of the differences between the three is the amount of marbling, which simply means the “white flecks of fat within the meat muscle.”
“(Meat) with a good grade of marbling (will make the meat) flavorsome. (While) cooking, the fat will melt and will give an amazing flavor to those meats,” Chef Alan shared.
“Prime” obviously has the most generous marbling, and is the most expensive, commonly sold in fancy restaurants and hotels.
“Choice,” on the other hand, is still of high quality, only with less fat compared to prime. Select beef is still good, but not as flavorful as the higher grades.
Rare, medium, well done?
Even though it depends on each person’s preference, most will agree that a well-done steak is the worst steak. When sliced, there are no hints of raw meat – brown all around, and most likely hardened.
On the other hand, “rare” is probably the most popular kind of steak doneness. It may be a little charred on the outside, but once the knife goes in, the raw, red, juicy meat is easily visible in the middle.
“Medium,” as its name implies, is in between the two extremes. Not too cooked but not raw either. It has the color of faint pink cooked meat in the center.
Where you cook it also matters, whether you are using a grill, an open fire, a broiler, or pan fry.
“Grilling on char will add smokiness to the meats, pan fry will crisp them on the outside, but taste aside what I reckon it is the most important thing to take in consideration (is that) while cooking, (the) steak needs to be manipulated (as) less (as) possible — few movements while grilling to cross both side of the steak and allow a uniform cooking,” Chef Alan explained.
He added another important thing is to let the meat rest for 4 to 5 minutes.
“(This will) allow the meats to keep cooking and to reabsorb their own juices (to become) as tender and tasty,” he said.
All these – from curating the source of meat up to the cooking process – are treated as an experience, Chef Alan said. This assures the customers of nothing less than a wonderful gastronomic experience.
