NY Strip Steak (Bone-In)

The New York Strip earned its name in the steakhouses of Manhattan — the kind of rooms where the tables are close, the lighting is low, and the steak arrives already perfect. It has anchored serious steakhouse menus for over a century and the reason is simple: it is the most complete steak on the animal. Not the most tender, not the most marbled — the most complete. Firm chew, bold beef flavor, and a fat cap that has a job to do if you let it. It is the steak for the person who knows exactly what they want and who savors the cooking experience nearly as much as the last bite.

That fat cap is where you start. Stand the Strip on its edge in a cast iron pan over medium heat, fat cap down, for two to three minutes before it ever touches the flat of the pan. The fat renders down, pools beneath it, and becomes the cooking fat for everything that follows. If the cap is lean and the pan needs more, add a spoonful of tallow. Lay it down on the first side, sear three to four minutes until the crust is deep and dark, then flip it gently and spoon that rendered fat continuously over the seared side as the second side builds its crust. Pull it at 120°F and rest it ten minutes. That is the method and it is worth knowing.

We are not going to apologize for the price. This is among the most expensive beef we sell and it belongs there — the same grass fed, grass finished program, the same pasture and rotation, the same animal. That cost lives somewhere and on the Strip it shows.

The reverence starts the night before. Move it from the freezer to the refrigerator 24 hours ahead, still in the vacuum seal. The morning of, take it out of the seal, pat it dry, salt it generously on both sides, and leave it uncovered on a rack. An hour before cooking, bring it fully to room temperature. The fat cap needs that time as much as the meat does.

Sold individually and priced by weight.

Photo Credit: Farmer David's Caesar Dressing Recipe with locally grown mini-Romaine from Kindlewood Farms, fellow vendors at the Sea Island Farmers Market.