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the skillet,” he says. He is a big fan of searing steaks in avocado oil because it has a high smoke point. First, preheat your oven to 450 degrees. “Next, get a cast iron skillet sizzing hot, and sear the steak on both sides for four minutes each.” After that, he likes to add but- ter and rosemary to the steak and put it in the oven for a couple of minutes, to the desired doneness. (This depends mightily on the size and type of the steak.) WHAT AM I BUYING HERE? A casual stroll through the meat department at Rouses will reveal a surplus of options, but when it comes to steaks, the classics tend to be ribeye, filet mignon, strip and porter- house. But what does it all mean? This little guide should light your way. The ribeye is the king of steaks—by far the most popular of its brethren. It is cut from the loin along the ribcage. It is well marbled— there’s a lot of fat and that textbook “steak” flavor in there—and because of that, will

cook evenly throughout, and will get that classic, crispy texture. If you are throwing a fancy party and need good steak that everyone will love, this is your cut. The filet mignon is among the leanest and tenderest cuts of beef you will ever enjoy. This is because the part of the cow where it lives before… well, you know… is from the tip of the tenderloin, next to the backbone and beneath the ribs. Basically, this tiny part of the cow doesn’t actually do anything, so it never develops a toughness. It is also largely devoid of fat, and thus less juicy and flavorful, making it the perfect canvas on which chefs the world over can create culinary works of art. The strip steak is a lot like the ribeye, found along the same muscle. The strip is nearer to the back of the cow, while the ribeye is found at the front. This is “middle ground” steak; not tender like the filet mignon, and not as marbled as the ribeye. If you are throwing a party but don’t want to spend as much money, this is a good choice.

Lastly, let’s say you want a filet mignon and a strip, but you don’t want to order two things. Well friends, let me introduce you to the T-bone steak (sometimes called a porterhouse ). One side of the steak is a filet mignon. The other side is a strip. The two are connected by a bone shaped like a T. That bone makes preparation something of a challenge, because as any steak cooks, it shrinks, but that big bone doesn’t, making it hard for both types of beef to maintain contact with a skillet. Go for the grill with this one and you can’t go wrong. David W. Brown is a freelance writer whose work appears in The Atlantic , The New York Times , Scientific American and The New Yorker . His next book, The Mission: A True Story, a rollicking adventure about a motley band of explorers on a quest to find oceans on Europa , is in bookstores now. Brown lives in New Orleans.

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