“If you ain’t got a fat woman, you’re making a big mistake because a big fat woman tastes as good as a T-bone steak.”
— Chick Willis
Like Chick Willis’ muse, a T-bone is a premium and highly desirable cut of meat thanks to its large size and the fact that it contains meat from two of the most prized cuts of beef, the strip loin and the tenderloin both in one cut. The strip loin- also called the New York strip, is the larger portion of the T-bone steak and the tenderloin sits on the other side of the T-bone which it is named. Cooking such a costly delicacy requires a bit more attention to detail so you can get the most out of your investment.
First and foremost, purchase a thick cut ( min 1.5 inches) of the meat, because the goal is to develop a dark, crusty sear while keeping inside rare to medium-rare, a near-impossible feat with a skinny steak where the insides overcook before the outside has a proper sear.
Make sure the meat has a nice “marbling”, the beautiful white intramuscular fat that imparts a big, beefy flavor the T-bone is famous for and makes all of us weak in the knees. This fat not only delivers flavor, but also insulates, and without it, the leaner tenderloin will overcook.
Once you have the perfect T-bone picked, you will not be needing much seasoning other than just salt and pepper to prep it. A heavy layer of kosher salt draws moisture out of the steak and helps break down the muscle fibers so the potent and flavorful liquid that was drawn out can be reabsorbed. Coarse pepper gives the crust of a final steak crisp bite and a little extra texture.
Our cooking method is conventional, as always, and includes smoking the T-bone, a method traditionally reserved for tough and textured cuts of meat that require a long cooking time to tenderize. Our aim is to impart a bit of smoky flavor to our steak which introduces the challenge of applying smoke without making any sacrifices for our expensive baby. Follow the instruction to find out how.
