Learn About Steaks: Rib Steak!

Among our cow meat, we have ribs, and then we also have rib steaks. What are those? I waited to cook them because I wasn't sure. I had heard of rib eye steaks...but rib steaks? Maybe they just shortened it on my packages because they could only put a certain number of letters?

Nope, they're a real thing.

The 'rib section' of a cow includes ribs numbers six through twelve (so, seven in all), and butchers can make that section into a 'rib roast' all in one piece (or multiple, smaller roasts), or they can cut the individual ribs with steaks, and then they're called 'rib steaks' instead. Some people call these cuts "prime rib" but it's actually kind of a misnomer because they can actually be "prime" or not, and it depends on the USDA grade.

Rib-eye steaks are basically rib steaks where the bone has been removed. They may be from a particular portion; I'm not really sure. It seemed like different websites said different things.

[Note: In the pictures our steaks are kind of small. It's because they are veal. These cuts actually do come quite a bit larger.]

Rib steaks are supposed to have a lot marbling and fat (so, flavor), because of the muscles that they're from, so people don't usually marinade these steaks.

Instead, it seems like the most popular way of preparing rib steaks is the Sear & Blast method. So, this is what I did to prepare ours.

Here's how it works:
1. Preheat your oven to 450 F.
2. On the stove, get a cast iron skillet really hot.
3. Season your steak. I just used salt and pepper.
4. Sear the steak for 3 minutes on the first side, and then flip it over.
5. Move everything into the preheated oven.
6. Cook it in the oven until it is done. (We like our steaks pretty well done, so I think it was 7 or 8 minutes for us. If you want it medium, it's about 6 minutes.)

And that's it. Then you eat it.

Isn't that so easy? Basically preheat everything, start it on the stove, move to the oven, and finish it up.

Your homework:
1. Fill in the blank: A popular method of cooking rib steaks is ________ & _________ .
2. True or false? One must always marinade a rib steak.
3. Cook a rib steak, or a rib eye steak, or prime rib, depending on what is available at your store! (These steaks can also be called market steak.)

(Is anybody actually trying this with me? You should, because steak is delicious, and then later when you're picking a steak you'll know what the actual choices are. They actually don't all taste the same.)