[sushijerk]

Steak snobbery is one of the greatest pleasures in life and is less expensive than wine snobbery. It is also less gay than clothing/accessory snobbery.

There are two criteria for steak. The cut, and the prep. Various people prefer different cuts, but in most cases the difference comes out to the marbling of the meat, aka the fat deposits within the muscle. More marbling will result in a more tender and more flavorful steak, and marbled cuts will be more expensive than leaner cuts.

Also, most people are under the impression and the fresher the cut of meat is that is used for a steak, the better the steak. This is untrue. True steakhouse steaks are "dry-aged". Steak is big piece of muscle, which means by nature it is going to be tougher than say, a piece of pork belly. Tenderness in steak is achieved by leaving the steak in a controlled environment to decompose. As the meat "rots", enzymes break down the tougher fibers in the muscle, making the end result tender, with a "nuttier" flavor to the meat, although I can't vouch for the latter. The reason top steakhouse cuts are so expensive is because when steak is aged, there is an outer laying of inedible rotten meat which must be cut away before the steak can actually be cooked. Also, the dry aging process dehydrates the steak, meaning it loses almost 15-25% weight during the process. When you buy a 12 oz steak at Outback, it was probably a 12 oz cut. When you buy a 12 oz steak at a top rated steakhouse, it came from a much bigger piece of meat.

The best piece of traditional steak comes from Peter Lugar's in Brooklyn. Single steaks are $30-40 and the porterhouse for two (the best choice imho) is $72. This price is pretty much the standard at most top steakhouses in NYC.

Oh yea, too add to your snobdom make sure to ridicule anyone:
1) who orders white wine with steak
2) uses steak sauce
3) cuts their steak with the grain instead of against (although this is standard)