Culinary Poll #18: The perfect cut of meat

[Daniel Rogov]

More than one literary figure, including of course Charles Lamb, have claimed that of the best cuts of meat in the world, all are some form of swine. Now as well we know, pork is not acceptable to those who maintain either the Jewish laws of kashrut or the Moslem laws of halal, so the question arises: What is in your reality the animal most perfectly suited to the perfect cut of meat that can come from a mammal…..

My thanks to forum member Scott Lancer for suggesting the poll.

[Shel T]

Am a card-carrying carnivore, like them all but beef still #1.

[Jacques Levy]

Nothing beats a good steak. There's a reason steakhouses are popular while porkhouses don't really exist

[Robin Garr]

As a follower of neither kashrut nor halal, i hope it is not impudent of me to pick up the cudgel for pork in this forum.

Nevertheless, while on the one hand I love beef and on the other I'm a would-be vegetarian trying to get out, I have to give pork the edge for complexity and variety of flavor. As a simple analogy, if beef is like Bordeaux, pork is like Burgundy.

Or, as the great blues musician Bo Carter once sang, "Pigmeat, I tell you, pigmeat is what I crave."

[Daniel Rogov]

As much as I adore bacon, ham and proscuitto; as easily as I can dig into a lamb or pork ossobuco; as at times there can be nothing better than a fine lamb cassoulet or a plate of lamb chops, my vote has to go to beef. From the noble tournedo to the not-at-all humble burger; from the Porterhouse, to the T-Bone or entrecote steak; and on to all beef hot dogs, beef is the one I'd miss most.

Best
Rogov

[MichaelB]

Everyone who has responded to this point is voting for his favorite meat, not cut. I'm the first of the "other[s]" to date, but found no place to register my distinctive otherness so I'm posting here. I vote for flank steak. usually the leanest (and admittedly, sometime the tougher) meat. Dunno about pork, but for beef, deer, mature sheep and other animals I've butchered, it is the most flavorful.

[Matilda L]

Beef. The most versatile, lending itself to all manner of preparation methods. Fine beef is delicious with or without sauces and condiments. We all have preferences for whether we like it cooked well done, blue, or somewhere in between; but the reality is that beef can be excellent at any level of "done-ness".

Matilda

[Peter May]

All the above are meat animals, not the cut.

I'm going for roasted leg of lamb, carved in thin slices, as my favourite.

However, as Lucia Turin and Tania Sanchez authors of Perfumes: The Guide say

"The question that women casually shopping for perfume ask more than any other is this: “What scent drives men wild?” After years of intense research, we know the definitive answer. It is bacon."

[Gamliel K]

What can I say . . . I may adore lamb, and venison, elk and other game may have there place, but in my mind the greatest and most versatile source of carnivorous delight is the flesh of the cow.

Indeed I often have thought that should I ever need a personal motto, there would be none better for me than the motto of that odd allotment of dukes, brigands, and rakes, the Sublime and Ancient Society of Beefsteaks. For blazoned above their door in ornate carved letters, were the words “Beef and Liberty!” And that is one motto I can get behind.

There are so many different ways to enjoy the abundant variety of flavors and textures that beef has to offer. However if I were forced to choose just one, I would go for a lightly seasoned plate of boeuf tartare, served with a freshly baked baguette. . . a little bit of heaven.

Gamliel

[Scott Lancer]

It's a tough call for everything else but the swine. Bacon, Serrano ham, prosciutto - these give the pig clear first place. Second is hard to judge, between venison backstraps, catfish (if we extend our reach to the legless cuts), and venison loin. I'll give the deer an honorable mention. Not as many lovely options as the pig, but danged lovely nonetheless. Of course I have the advantage in that the deer I eat live primarily on corn, apples, and grapes during the summer and fall.

[Ryan M]

I do love pork loin - such a versatile cut. But the most glorious cuts of meat I have had have all been steak, steak steak!!! T-bones and Porterhouses in particular.

[Bill Spohn]

i hope it is not impudent of me to pick up the cudgel for pork in this forum.

If you were impudent, you wouldn't be ABLE to wield your pork cudgel, would you?

I am surprised that there are so few proponents of lamb - is it just Peter and me?

Beef is good, but give me a mature bottle of claret and some pre-salé lamb every time!

[David Scop]

i went for the buffalo as the perfect meat, not cut as the title says.

I rarely have it due to availability and finances, but A 2 lb steak of cow doesn't go down as easily, and gosh darn it, aint as healthy for ya!

[Charlie Dawg]

I grew up in Ukraine and new very little about kosher. The choice of meat in Ukraine was pork. In any and every way possible.
Not so long ago, some 10 years or so i started to keep kosher, but i am yet to find a piece of meat that can be as good as the other "white meat". Though to be honest with you, I probably do not even remember the taste of it.

In absence of the above piece of meat I would have to vote for chicken. As kosher piece of beef is just not my cup of tea.

[Robert Reynolds]

Pork, with beef a fairly close second.