I wasn’t going to take a picture of yet another steak dinner… but then this NY Strip from Bryan Flannery turned out to be the best steak I’ve had in a long time. The truffled mashed potatoes weren’t so bad either. Not a bad way to kick off a period of intense holiday eating!

More Bryan Flannery vs Lobel’s “research.” File this one under the category of It’s a tough job but someone has to do it. This is the second time we’ve done this comparison and this time, we cooked all three steaks sous vide to 120 degrees then seared them on a ridiculously hot grill for about a minute and a half per side. The Lobel’s steak was just a bit dryer than the Flannery steaks but it had incredible flavor. I don’t think we’re getting any closer to a verdict, so I guess we’ll just have to keep researching the problem!

Bryan Flannery vs. Lobel’s prime dry-aged strip steak challenge. Also known as the week of embarrassing riches of beef consumption. A recent survey showed that the average american consumes a little over a pound of beef a week, which seems about right for me. But not last week…

Last week, I finally made my way up to 82nd and Madison to visit Lobel’s and came away very impressed and with a fantastic ribeye (and some Kurobuta pork chops). As I finished the steak, I remembered that just a few days later Steve and Patti would be hosting a dinner that would be supplied with our usual favorite beef from Bryan. Why not do a steak throw down!? A few emails and phone calls later and it was all set up; we would compare one of Bryan’s Californian Private Reserve strip steaks (on the left in the photo) with one of Lobel’s midwestern strips. But more on that in a minute. The night before the steak challenge, I stopped by Steve’s to do some prep only to find one of Bryan’s burger sampler packs waiting to go on the grill. Since I’ve started grinding my own meat for burgers it’s become more and more difficult to impress me, but these were ridiculously good. One blend with applewood smoked bacon was especially delicious.

The next night was the steak challenge. Both steaks were dry-aged in the 5-6 week range, and both Bryan and Lobel’s select only the very, very best of the prime meat that’s available. While I joke that this was a challenge, really it wasn’t possible for there to be a loser in this scenario. Both steaks were of course incredible. Between the four eaters we weren’t able to come to a clear consensus. The Flannery steak was perhaps more beefy while the Lobel’s was richer? This is probably due to the California vs. Midwestern sourcing than anything else. So, on that day, call it a tie. Further research is needed!

I thought my week was done, but somehow only two days later I found myself again way up on the Upper East Side and unable to pass up another trip to Lobel’s. I had tried the strip and the ribeye, so it was time for the Porterhouse. The service was once again a pleasure, and it shouldn’t be a surprise at this point that the steak was incredibly good. I also came away with some thick cut veal chops which I’ll post about soon. 

My arteries and I are thankful that Blue Moon Fish will be back at the Greenmarket next weekend!

Bryan Flannery beef rib cap sous vide. I snapped this photo as we were plating these at a dinner at Steve and Patti’s a few weeks ago, but I just keep forgetting to post it. I first wrote about cooking one of Bryan’s rib caps sous vide almost a year ago, and it’s been one of the most visited pages on my blog in spite the fact that I didn’t include much actual info. Here’s a bit more.

Searching around the web, it seems that most people—including Bryan—suggest cooking beef rib caps to medium rare, perhaps in the 135F-145F range to render and integrate as much of the fat as possible. This makes a lot of sense, but Steve and I have come to the conclusion that cooking them sous vide to a lower temperature puts the steaks in just as good of a place while keeping the rare beef eaters (aka, us) happy. In this case we cooked the meat in our beer cooler set up at a temperature range of mostly 120F-125F for 3 hours and 40 minutes. It came out at 120 and we seared it for a couple of minutes in a smoking hot skillet, so the final internal temperature was probably more in the 125-130 range. It really is as easy as that, and the result was perfect. Rib caps are rich enough that you can literally serve them on their own with salt and pepper. They do pair well with other rich garnishes and sauces—try gorgonzola butter (pictured here) and a red wine reduction.

For the final day of holiday over-eating, we hosted a meal featuring an unbelievably good prime rib from Bryan Flannery. The roast was cooked low and slow for about 6 hours then blasted with heat. The final high temperature period along with salting and air-drying the roast for 24 hours before cooking led to the nice crust you see in this photo. Not much else to say other than this was a fantastic piece of meat enjoyed with good company. The last few days on my blog have been a Flannery love fest, with good reason. If I lived anywhere other than NYC I would probably need a shipment from Bryan two or three times a month!

Bryan Flannery’s Private Reserve dry-aged California beef prime rib roast is the finest prime rib I’ve come across. I had Bryan remove the ribs and tie them back on prior to shipping, which makes for very easy carving without losing the benefits of roasting bone-in meat. In the picture, it’s been salted, air dried, and is ready to go.

Lamb saddle roast from Bryan Flannery. On day two of holiday eating, Christmas Eve dinner was centered around this lovely chunk of lamb. A saddle roast prepared this way is essentially the entire loin deboned, folded up, and tied into a roast. It’s a slightly fatty, tender, and flavorful piece of meat, so it’s really easy to cook with good results which was the goal of the meal for this evening. This was eventually served with goat cheese potato gratin and washed down with a 2004 Shafer Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select. Shafer’s HSS is one of my favorite wines, and this vintage is in a beautiful place right now. I’m sure it will get better with more age, but right now it’s everything that I love about California wine.

Bryan Flannery pork rib cap with green peppercorn sauce and pan-roasted Brussels sprouts. Day one of excessive holiday eating! If you’re not familiar with rib caps, of either pork or beef, you should change that. Basically, picture a ribeye steak, and imagine removing the very flavorful and fatty outer section that runs around about half of it. Bryan (and I assume other butchers?) removes this cap from an entire pork rib roast or a portion of a beef rib roast, rolls it up into a neat little package and sells it whole.

Preparation can be pretty simple. The best bet is to grill them until the center is medium rare. Indoors you can pan sear then roast. Or, as I did here, cook them sous vide in a 141 degree water bath for two hours then sear in smoking hot oil.

Right now, I’m trying to imagine what a Mangalitsa pork rib cap would be like. Just by thinking about it, I think a couple of arteries spontaneously closed up…

Christmas comes a couple of days early with this Bryan Flannery haul. Prime dry-aged Prime rib, lamb saddle roast (the whole loin), and a couple of pork rib caps. These plus a whole fresh goose should make for some good holiday eating!