Keeping it Real The C.U.T.S. Method

Shell steak, top loin steak, Kansas City strip. Cut from the top of the short loin, New York strip, a longtime steak-house favorite, is renowned for its robust flavor and somewhat dense texture, says Theo Weening, the global meat buyer for Whole Foods Market. Serve it with a baked potato and creamed spinach for a classic and always delicious combination. Two 1-inch-thick steaks 12 to 14 ounces each. For many, this best-of-both-worlds pairing makes a porterhouse the ultimate steak.

Two 1-inch-thick steaks 16 to 18 ounces each. Rib steak bone-in , Delmonico steak. That marbling is what gives this steak a velvety texture and a full-bodied flavor. A great choice for the grill: The fat in the middle called the eye fat keeps the meat juicy over high heat. Two 1-inch-thick steaks 11 to 14 ounces each. Top sirloin steak, sirloin butt steak. Sirloin comes from the area between the short loin home of the porterhouse and the T-bone and the less pricey round, so it delivers taste and tenderness for a lower price.

Real Help for Resisting the Urge to Cut

Sliced thin, the cut makes a killer steak sandwich. Romanian steak, Philadelphia steak. And like flank, it has an intensely beefy flavor and a sinewy texture, making it a natural for fajitas, kabobs, and satays. Since parts of it are thin, the steak cooks quickly and should be watched closely. It is cut from the front end of the short loin, which contains less tenderloin.

A favorite of backyard grillers everywhere, the T-bone is an ideal partner for potato salad, tangy slaw, and cold beer. The top round is a boneless cut from the rear of the steer with big, juicy flavors. Because it is lean, it must be tenderized with a marinade before cooking and thinly sliced before serving.

London broil refers to a preparation method marinating, broiling or grilling, and thinly slicing , not a cut of beef. Newport steak, triangle steak, bottom sirloin steak.

Common Cuts of Beef

Tri-tip is a triangular cut from the bottom sirloin section of the steer. Extra thick, it needs to be covered when grilled. Most common on the West Coast and in the southwest. One of the tougher, leaner cuts it comes from the breast, just behind the front leg, or foreshank , brisket is still flavorful with long, slow cooking.

It makes excellent corned beef or pot roast. The two cuts found in the supermarket are the leaner flat or first cut and the thicker, more flavorful point cut, which includes a layer of fat. This large, square shoulder portion of the steer is coarse grained and tends to have lots of connective tissue running through it. Tap water is alkaline, which is ideal for many bacteria. By adding a weak acid, you create a hostile environment for the bugs. Bacteria create slimy stem ends that make the vase water stink.

It also blocks stems and prevents them from taking up water. In a 30cm 1ft tall vase, use one teaspoon of bleach or a good slurp — about five tablespoons — of cheap clear malt vinegar. Aspirin contains salicylic acid; lemonade contains sugar and citric acid. And bubbles are created by carbon dioxide, which forms dilute carbonic acid in water. Proprietary flower food also includes sugar. The sugar feeds the flowers, but in my view, it feeds the bugs too. In our experiments at Perch Hill it seems to add to the vase life of sweet peas, but nothing else.

I always put a drop of bleach in water with strong-smelling plants such as alliums, cleomes and any brassicas, to prevent their characteristic pong from developing. I like arranging stems through a noughts and crosses flower grid.

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This supports delicate flower heads or those like camellias with short woody stems and keeps them just out of the water in your favourite bowl. For delicate small flowers like snowdrops, put a bunch of several stems through each square.

For larger flowers, add just one to each. Look out for vases in either of those colours. Pewter also looks wonderful — jugs, mugs, bowls and plates. I use traditional metal milk pails for picking my flowers; they look good and are very durable. You can easily carry two, one slung over each arm. You need two; one filled with water for plunging cut flowers into, and the other for stripped leaves. I also have pin-holders in several sizes, heavy metal discs with spikes on the upper surface to hold in place the stems that create the structure of your arrangements.

Waterproof glue-tack called Florafix is an absolute must-have. Use this to stick pin-holders to the bottom of a vase.

Resisting The Urge To Cut Yourself

You need to use this when both vase and pin-holder are clean and dry, or the stuff will not stick. All plants picked from the garden benefit from a rest before you arrange them. This means giving the flowers a few hours, or best of all, a night, in a bucket of water in a cool, dark place.