Beef basics: tips to make the most of meat

If you are of the carnivorous persuasion, it doesn't get much better than slicing into a hunk of juicy steak or savouring slow-cooked beef cheeks. And we Australians are big on beef. In 2012–13, we spent around $6.6 billion on it and ate 32.5 kilograms per person, according to Meat & Livestock Australia.

Increasingly, people are interested in where their beef came from and how it was raised, and this is driving up quality (and arguably animal welfare standards). But it can also make a visit to your butcher or steak house somewhat confronting. Do you prefer grass-fed, grain-fed or wagyu? Wet-aged or dry-aged, and for how long? How do you cook a perfect steak and what should you do with that bargain piece of brisket?

Martin Heierling, group culinary director for Urban Purveyor Group – whose stable includes The Cut Bar & Grill in Sydney's The Rocks – is here to guide us through this pasture of beefy questions. Born in Germany and raised between there and New Zealand, Heierling spent much of his career at top restaurants in the US. At The Cut, he oversees a menu featuring nine or so different steaks plus the ever-popular wagyu rib-eye, roasted whole and carved tableside.

Grass-fed or grain-fed?

The majority of cattle in Australia is grass-fed (as opposed to the US where most is corn-fed), with some "finished" on grain. However, to qualify for the Pasturefed Cattle Assurance System, cattle must be pasture-fed for life, with no confinement for the purpose of intensive feeding for production.

Grain-fed cattle live much of their lives eating grass in paddocks, before being moved into feedlots to be finished on grain. This rapidly fattens up the animals, producing meat with more marbling (the white ribbons of intramuscular fat running through the flesh). The length of time cattle spend in feedlots varies from 70 to 500 days.

"In my experience, grain-fed has a more full-flavoured character; it has a little bit more 'umami'," says Heierling. "The grass-fed has a lot more minerality and a very particular flavour that is more beef-focused."

Some restaurants and butchers opt for grain-fed because its quality is more consistent, while others prefer the flavour of grass-fed. It's worth mentioning that for some people, grain-fed beef raises ethical issues, but ultimately it's a personal choice.

Watch: Martin Heierling explains (and shows) the difference

The wagyu factor

The sexiest word in beef marketing, wagyu is now found everywhere from high-end steak houses and Japanese restaurants to local burger joints. Rumours abound of bovines being massaged and soothed with classical music, but essentially wagyu is a breed of Japanese cow raised on grass and finished on a very specific diet of grain mixed by a feeding master (some of whom use secret recipes handed down through generations).

Wagyu has high levels of fat marbling, which gives it an intense flavour and buttery texture. Marble scores go from one to 12 (at the highest level the meat is virtually white), and the longer the cattle is fed on grain, the higher the marble score.

Wagyu with a high marble score lends itself to being eaten raw, with its silky texture and umami flavour. Heierling also recommends cooking a wagyu steak over charcoal (allowing the fat to drip onto the charcoal and smoke the meat).

Watch: Wagyu explained (video)

Why age matters

Beef that has just been slaughtered is very tough to eat, but wet- or dry-ageing tenderises it by allowing enzymes and microbes to break down the connective tissue. Wet-ageing is far more common because it takes less time, doesn't reduce the meat's weight through dehydration and is less expensive. It involves vacuum-sealing and refrigerating the meat for a few days up to several weeks. The majority of beef you buy in a supermarket or butcher is wet-aged.

Dry-aged beef is a more traditional method where the meat is hung for several weeks in a carefully controlled cold room. A significant amount of meat mass is lost due to moisture evaporation and mould growth (which is trimmed off). The pay-off is a more concentrated, complex flavour and a richer mouth feel. "[Dry-ageing] is a very fickle business," says Heierling. "One degree temperature change will dramatically change the tenderisation of the meat and will develop different flavour profiles. I've had steaks dried up to 60 days that tasted almost like blue cheese."

Whichever way you cut it

The most popular cuts of beef are always going to be the most expensive, and these include the scotch fillet (also called a rib-eye steak), the porterhouse or sirloin steak and the eye fillet. When it comes to underrated cuts that deserve a little more limelight, Heierling cites the hanger steak ("probably one of the most memorable cuts you'll eat from a flavour perspective"), flank or skirt steak and brisket. From the belly of the beast, brisket is very affordable, and cooked well it's hard to beat. Heierling recommends rubbing it with spices and slow-cooking it in a Weber barbecue for around 12 hours.

Watch: How to get the best out of these value cuts

The key to the perfect steak

Heierling's golden rule when cooking steak is using a very high heat to achieve maximum caramelisation. He suggests grilling, barbecuing or using a cast-iron or black-steel pan, which retain heat better than stainless steel or aluminium.

If using a pan, heat some fat (something with a high smoke point such as lard, vegetable oil or soybean oil) until very hot (a few drops of water splashed into the oil should produce an "aggressive sizzle"), salt the meat – which ideally has been brought to room temperature – and place it in the pan turning only once. "I'm not a friend of poking meat – I use a spoon for turning it," says Heierling.

Once it has developed a nice caramelised crust, finish it off in a hot oven. Timing depends on the size and thickness of the cut, but the softer it feels, the rarer it is. Let the steak rest for up to five minutes in a warm place, so the juices are redistributed throughout the meat.

Finally, when it comes to forking out for your steak, why can you pay $7 in a supermarket, and anywhere from $10 to $50 or more in a restaurant? "You've got to question why something is cheaper," says Heierling. "If the operator can't tell the story of where it comes from it means it's probably an inferior product. You can go to the supermarket and buy a piece of meat that costs much less than in a restaurant, but it could be from a dairy cow – not necessarily from a cow bred for meat. It's like wine – you can buy a $5 bottle of wine or $50 bottle of wine, and there's a market for everybody."