By: Zola
Chief Dieter
Plan Z Diet
The panel was made up of three of the biggest names in steak in Chicago. Considering Chicago was once known as the Hog Butcher for The World (thanks to Carl Sandberg and his poetry) it stands to reason that men around here know their meat.
Steak is huge here.
Whether it’s people coming in for a convention or just business people taking clients out for a nice meal, steakhouses are the current “go to” locations. The number of highly successful restaurants specializing in steak in Chicago cannot be counted on two hands or even if you add all 10 toes. There are probably two dozen that do amazingly well.
The first guy on the steak seminar panel was an original developer of the Morton’s Steakhouse Group. Morton’s started in Chicago and now has locations spread from here to San Juan, Puerto Rico and back. Klaus joined us for the steak seminar. Turns out I worked for Klaus about 35 years ago. I didn’t recognize him until he opened his mouth. His Germanic accent hit me like a thunderbolt. I instantly knew that voice. I had been terrified of that man while I worked for him. That’s another story I will tell soon.
The second guy was John Hogan. John is the head chef and partner in a place called Keefer’s. One of the guys who owns Keefers came out of the radio business and we used to do business with his company. Keefers is probably our favorite steakhouse, so it was nice to see John on the panel.
The third gentleman was from Gibson’s Steakhouse. Gibson’s is huge with the convention crowd. The place is always packed with guys who are looking for a good time and a raucous night out. It’s located in a neighborhood that affectionately calls the intersection where Gibson’s is located “The Viagra Triangle”. A lot of steak is eaten at that place and is washed down with a good number of martinis.
I guess that can be said of all three places.
The moderator was a guy who works for Bon Appetit. He’s young, studies food in depth and was a charming host. He was good in front of an audience, and kept the pace of the seminar at a good clip.
The audience was filled with foodies. I’d venture to guess that most of us are people who like to learn about professional cooking techniques. Some of the audience members were people from the food press and others were friends of the guys on the panel. One guy is a major beef producer. When answering questions the panel would sometimes include that guy in the conversation.
The whole session was pretty informal. There was no real agenda that I could figure out. The gentlemen were all asked to give a brief background on where they came from and then they were just asked questions.
They talked about what kinds of meat they specialize in. They talked about their methods for cooking steak; both in the restaurant setting and at home. There’s a huge difference. I remember when I worked for Klaus the restaurant had a 1500 degree broiler. That’s how the steaks were cooked in 1980. One guy manned that broiler. You can just imagine the sweat running down his forehead. His hands were like leather and his tong was long. He’d be putting steaks on the broiler rack, flipping them and moving them around and finally off on to plates. He knew exactly what temperature the steak would come out at (rare, medium rare, etc) just by eye. No backyard grill or home broiler works like that. Grilling steaks on a broiler like that one is a Master’s job.
They talked about the various cuts of meat and some really basic stuff like marbling. How much marbling a steak has determines the depth of flavor and how fatty the meat is. They all agreed that they love lots of marbling. They had all kinds of cuts of beef on the table in front of them and they all liked poking at the marbling with their fingers.
They all also agreed that they prefer the taste of corn fed beef. This was the most controversial discussion. The new rage in the grocery stores is grass fed beef. That’s healthier. Grass is a natural way a cow or steer would eat. We pay a higher price to get grass fed, pasture raised beef. The corn fed cattle can have extra hormones in their system because the corn feed is filled with things to make the steer grow really quickly and get quite fat. They want that marbling. They don’t care if they are eating feed hormones as part of their steak. They also want to see a steer with lots of muscle. None of the guys on the panel want anything to do with grass fed beef. They prefer the flavor of the corn fed ones.
They also say they can’t charge enough for the grass fed beef. They say they’d price themselves out of the business. As it is these are steakhouses that charge in excess of $40 for most of their steaks and some of them charge extra for the side dishes. I’m talking about $7 for a baked potato on the side. Nothing comes with the steak. It’s all extra.
These guys also agreed on one other thing. They all agreed that the best steak on any menu is the rib eye. They say it has the most in-depth flavor. Short discussion. They all eat rib eyes. There was one short sidebar about us wimpy people (me included) who prefer a tenderloin. They think we are crazy. They say the flavor is in the rib eye. Not the tenderloin. I don’t dispute that. I just like my steak small, tender, easy to cut and easy to chew. I find other steak cuts to be more work. So I don’t agree with them on everything. They reminded the audience that steak sauces were all created to cover up the flavor of bad meat. Hmmm. I suppose that’s right but I sure do love a good béarnaise or choron sauce.
One thing that surprised me is that we agree on how to cook a steak at home. Most folks grill their steaks or cook them under the broiler or even on the stove in a pan. They do the whole job with one method. My method is to sear the meat in a cast iron pan and then finish the roasting in the oven. They agreed. They say for a home cooking method this is best. You get the juiciest, most flavorful steak this way. That discussion made me smile. It seemed as though this was total news to most of the folks in the audience. I was doing the happy chair dance in my seat. It always feels good when the experts support your behavior. I liked that.
Other discussion surrounded the use of lesser cuts of meat in the restaurant. Hanger steak is all the rage. France had this one down decades ago. A steak frite is hanger steak cooked in butter and served with what we call French fries. That menu item is all over town here now. They talk about how flavorful a hanger steak really is and for less money than the rib eye.
Last thing I’ll toss out is about hamburger. They think you need at least 15% fat in your burger. That would mean 85/15 would be on the label. Some of the guys ground sirloin and the burger and combine them. They all agree that the less you handle the meat the better the burger will taste. So don’t play with your hamburger patties any more than necessary. Leave them loose. They all make the burgers at least 8 oz or even 16 oz. That’s a big burger but when you are charging $20 for a burger I guess it better be sizable! Once I switched to 95/5 for Plan Z by Zola burger I’ve never looked back. I have just gotten so accustomed to a lean burger I quit buying anything else.
So that’s about it. Not a ton of new learning for me but it was fun to watch these steak experts toss out their opinions and ideas. Since they all compete against each other it was fun to watch them give a playful ribbing to each other once in awhile too. I did find it pretty impressive that you can talk about steak for an hour.
It is no surprise that the recipe I am offering today is for a Plan Z Diet Great Steak.
Cheers,
To read more of Zola's blogs CLICK HERE or head over to https://www.planzdiet.com/blog/
The panel was made up of three of the biggest names in steak in Chicago. Considering Chicago was once known as the Hog Butcher for The World (thanks to Carl Sandberg and his poetry) it stands to reason that men around here know their meat.
Steak is huge here.
Whether it’s people coming in for a convention or just business people taking clients out for a nice meal, steakhouses are the current “go to” locations. The number of highly successful restaurants specializing in steak in Chicago cannot be counted on two hands or even if you add all 10 toes. There are probably two dozen that do amazingly well.
The first guy on the steak seminar panel was an original developer of the Morton’s Steakhouse Group. Morton’s started in Chicago and now has locations spread from here to San Juan, Puerto Rico and back. Klaus joined us for the steak seminar. Turns out I worked for Klaus about 35 years ago. I didn’t recognize him until he opened his mouth. His Germanic accent hit me like a thunderbolt. I instantly knew that voice. I had been terrified of that man while I worked for him. That’s another story I will tell soon.
The second guy was John Hogan. John is the head chef and partner in a place called Keefer’s. One of the guys who owns Keefers came out of the radio business and we used to do business with his company. Keefers is probably our favorite steakhouse, so it was nice to see John on the panel.
The third gentleman was from Gibson’s Steakhouse. Gibson’s is huge with the convention crowd. The place is always packed with guys who are looking for a good time and a raucous night out. It’s located in a neighborhood that affectionately calls the intersection where Gibson’s is located “The Viagra Triangle”. A lot of steak is eaten at that place and is washed down with a good number of martinis.
I guess that can be said of all three places.
The moderator was a guy who works for Bon Appetit. He’s young, studies food in depth and was a charming host. He was good in front of an audience, and kept the pace of the seminar at a good clip.
The audience was filled with foodies. I’d venture to guess that most of us are people who like to learn about professional cooking techniques. Some of the audience members were people from the food press and others were friends of the guys on the panel. One guy is a major beef producer. When answering questions the panel would sometimes include that guy in the conversation.
The whole session was pretty informal. There was no real agenda that I could figure out. The gentlemen were all asked to give a brief background on where they came from and then they were just asked questions.
They talked about what kinds of meat they specialize in. They talked about their methods for cooking steak; both in the restaurant setting and at home. There’s a huge difference. I remember when I worked for Klaus the restaurant had a 1500 degree broiler. That’s how the steaks were cooked in 1980. One guy manned that broiler. You can just imagine the sweat running down his forehead. His hands were like leather and his tong was long. He’d be putting steaks on the broiler rack, flipping them and moving them around and finally off on to plates. He knew exactly what temperature the steak would come out at (rare, medium rare, etc) just by eye. No backyard grill or home broiler works like that. Grilling steaks on a broiler like that one is a Master’s job.
They talked about the various cuts of meat and some really basic stuff like marbling. How much marbling a steak has determines the depth of flavor and how fatty the meat is. They all agreed that they love lots of marbling. They had all kinds of cuts of beef on the table in front of them and they all liked poking at the marbling with their fingers.
They all also agreed that they prefer the taste of corn fed beef. This was the most controversial discussion. The new rage in the grocery stores is grass fed beef. That’s healthier. Grass is a natural way a cow or steer would eat. We pay a higher price to get grass fed, pasture raised beef. The corn fed cattle can have extra hormones in their system because the corn feed is filled with things to make the steer grow really quickly and get quite fat. They want that marbling. They don’t care if they are eating feed hormones as part of their steak. They also want to see a steer with lots of muscle. None of the guys on the panel want anything to do with grass fed beef. They prefer the flavor of the corn fed ones.
They also say they can’t charge enough for the grass fed beef. They say they’d price themselves out of the business. As it is these are steakhouses that charge in excess of $40 for most of their steaks and some of them charge extra for the side dishes. I’m talking about $7 for a baked potato on the side. Nothing comes with the steak. It’s all extra.
These guys also agreed on one other thing. They all agreed that the best steak on any menu is the rib eye. They say it has the most in-depth flavor. Short discussion. They all eat rib eyes. There was one short sidebar about us wimpy people (me included) who prefer a tenderloin. They think we are crazy. They say the flavor is in the rib eye. Not the tenderloin. I don’t dispute that. I just like my steak small, tender, easy to cut and easy to chew. I find other steak cuts to be more work. So I don’t agree with them on everything. They reminded the audience that steak sauces were all created to cover up the flavor of bad meat. Hmmm. I suppose that’s right but I sure do love a good béarnaise or choron sauce.
One thing that surprised me is that we agree on how to cook a steak at home. Most folks grill their steaks or cook them under the broiler or even on the stove in a pan. They do the whole job with one method. My method is to sear the meat in a cast iron pan and then finish the roasting in the oven. They agreed. They say for a home cooking method this is best. You get the juiciest, most flavorful steak this way. That discussion made me smile. It seemed as though this was total news to most of the folks in the audience. I was doing the happy chair dance in my seat. It always feels good when the experts support your behavior. I liked that.
Other discussion surrounded the use of lesser cuts of meat in the restaurant. Hanger steak is all the rage. France had this one down decades ago. A steak frite is hanger steak cooked in butter and served with what we call French fries. That menu item is all over town here now. They talk about how flavorful a hanger steak really is and for less money than the rib eye.
Last thing I’ll toss out is about hamburger. They think you need at least 15% fat in your burger. That would mean 85/15 would be on the label. Some of the guys ground sirloin and the burger and combine them. They all agree that the less you handle the meat the better the burger will taste. So don’t play with your hamburger patties any more than necessary. Leave them loose. They all make the burgers at least 8 oz or even 16 oz. That’s a big burger but when you are charging $20 for a burger I guess it better be sizable! Once I switched to 95/5 for Plan Z by Zola burger I’ve never looked back. I have just gotten so accustomed to a lean burger I quit buying anything else.
So that’s about it. Not a ton of new learning for me but it was fun to watch these steak experts toss out their opinions and ideas. Since they all compete against each other it was fun to watch them give a playful ribbing to each other once in awhile too. I did find it pretty impressive that you can talk about steak for an hour.
It is no surprise that the recipe I am offering today is for a Plan Z Diet Great Steak.
Cheers,
To read more of Zola's blogs CLICK HERE or head over to https://www.planzdiet.com/blog/
