I've been craving a good Porterhouse for awhile. Earlier today, I went down to my favorite butcher (a real butcher shop, that's all he does...yes they still exist in San Francisco) and asked for two of the best Porterhouse steaks he could cut me. He looked around in the back a bit, and called me back to the walk-in to show me an entire short loin from a certified grass-fed Angus. Of course it looked great to me but I haven't exactly seen a lot of primal cuts of beef in my life, so I told him to cut two 2" porterhouses from it and wrap 'em up.

He is a truly skilled butcher and it was mesmerizing watching him work. He cut the steaks from the loin, trimmed the fat to within 1/8" or so, and then shaved each side of the newly exposed bone with a special tool. Two inches thick, two and a quarter pounds each. The cost...$78.00.

The beauties are currently sitting on my counter coming up to room temperature slowly over the next couple of hours. I'm trying to decide whether to pan-sear them in a cast iron skillet or use the grill...I'm leaning towards the former.

Here are the porterhouses with a US $10 bill next to them for scale. For those not familiar with US Currency, our bills are 6" long, so that should give you some idea how immense these cuts are! A little more information if you don't know much about beef or the porterhouse cut in particular - it's really two separate steaks in one. The larger section is a New York Strip Steak, the smaller section a filet mignon. A porterhouse is virtually the same as a T-bone, but the former has a larger section of tenderloin on the small side.

Aw, lawd.. :O.

One thing visiting relatives in Ireland reminded me of were the good butchers. It was great eating fine (and cheap) meat again. I forgot how butchers are basically nonexistent around where I am in the US and you have to pay ridiculous prices for quality meat. I was so jealous of the 30 or so euros for a beautiful leg of lamb.

Don't ever not grill a steak. Don't be dumb about this. Frying a steak is a bigger waste of meat than deciding to go celibate.

I used to feel this way until I learned the joys of searing meat in a well-seasoned cast iron skillet and then finishing in the oven, if necessary. I like my meat so rare that an oven finish is almost never needed.

The benefits of a flat iron surface are many. I can get a good Maillard reaction on the entire surface of the meat...it doesn't dry out food like a grill can tend to...more even heat distribution...and good flavor, my skillet has ten years of seasoning built into it and has never been touched by soap.

I know there is something to be said about the charcoal flavor from a grill, but don't immediately dismiss pan searing!

god i love meat.

Way to make my mouth water. Although for me, the best solution would be to grill it. There is just something about that charbroiled steak flavour that I love.

Gorgeous. I prefer ribeyes, but I definitely wouldn't turn down an invitation to dinner at your place tonight.

Regarding frying in a cast iron skillet; MB is right on the money. It's a great way to go, and anyone who hasn't had a steak properly cooked using that method is missing out.

It's been a few years since I've been able to down steaks of that magnitude. Those do look damn good though.

Now I am hungry.

BTW: I hope you see the irony of trying to explain the length of a US bill in the imperial system. ;)

I'm glad someone else commented on this so I didn't have to :D

@alexw00d: @wuddel: I'm American, the imperial system doesn't exist to us...only to every other person in the entire world. Bunch of idiots! Oh wait...

It's half the length of the King's foot.

Pan searing is the bees knees, same as you, my skillet has seen some seasoning action, gotta love a herb crunch on the fat,

those steaks look mean as man, I'm jelly.

EDIT: Oh... 8 months old, 8 months on, how were those steaks man?

For real! I can't not know now.

I'm hungry

The terms Prime and Angus clash to me.

Shit... now I want a massive steak. Straight up novelty sized... I'm talking meat sweats and two days of regret. The kind of steak where, if you eat it in an hour, it's free and they put a plaque on the wall with your name on it. And a side of rice pilaf.

I had a pretty good ribeye last week but daaaamn I want another one.