Last Sunday my daughter and I enjoyed dining at Michael Jordan’s the Steak House NYC in Grand Central Terminal.

MJ’s Executive Chef Cenobio Canalizo gave me some great tips on both grilling steak and choosing a lobster:

 

How to Grill the Perfect Steak

1. Start with High Heat….

 

Steak cooks best quickly over high heat, so preheat the grill and get it roaring to go. Bring your meat to room temperature before grilling, to help it cook evenly and fast. If the steak stays on the grill too long, it loses moisture, so the goal it to get it on fast and then off the heat the moment it’s done.

 

2. …. But Don’t Let it Burn

 

You want to avoid flare-ups and burns, and attain that perfect char. Coat your steaks with a little safflower oil – not so much that it drips onto the coals. The oil will protect the meat with its naturally high smoke point.

 

3. Season Assertively….

 

Don’t hold back: season your steaks with a healthy amount of kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. These basics bring out the flavor. Then after the meat is cooked and is ready to serve: finish it with coarse sea salt. You can add some fresh, finely chopped herbs. The key is to season in stages as you go.

4. …. And Butter it Up

 

To raise your steak up to a level of rich beauty, make a compound butter to top it with. This is a mixture of softened butter with your favorite flavorful ingredient. Some examples of winners: fresh herbs, chipotle, diced truffle, roasted garlic, cognac, fresh herbs, it’s endless. These blends are a steakhouse tradition – chefs often have their own signature combo – classically called maître’d butter. Add when the steak is off the grill.

 

5. Let it Rest….

 

Even if your friends are circling the pit, hungry for the steak right away, you have to let it rest – ideally for half the cooking time. This gives the meat’s moisture a chance to evenly distribute throughout the steak – if you cut it too soon, all the natural juice will spill out and be lost.

6. …. Now Slice and Serve!

 

It’s time for the payoff – slice carefully, always against the grain. Slices cut against the grain ensure maximum tenderness – this way the muscle fibers are short and buttery soft. For a crowd, it’s fun to grill larger cuts to slice, serve and share. Not only are they economical, but they are also impressive to show off – they look and taste great.

*****

Choosing a Lobster:

 

• Feel the shell – There are hard-shell and soft-shell lobsters. It’s just a function of whether the lobsters have recently shed or not.
  • The meat in soft-shells is a little bit sweeter and more tender but a lobster with a softer shell has recently molted and is likely to have more water weight and less meat.They’re not as hearty, so they don’t travel as well as hard-shell lobsters.
  • Hard-shell lobsters have more meat, but they can be a bit tougher.
  • On a new shell (soft-shell), the claws will be clean. On an old shell (hard-shell), they’ll have scrapes on them from when they’ve banged against rocks over the course of the year. If they’ve recently shed, it’ll be a pretty clean shell without very many scrapes on it – another way to tell if it is a soft or hard lobster.

 

• No smell – They should not emit any odor when they are alive.

 

• Pick a lively lobster– Make sure to scan the tank for a vivacious lobster.   The more active the lobster, the more tender the meat. If it’s limp when you pick it up, that’s a sign of a soon-to-be-dead lobster. If you straighten out their tails, they should swiftly curve back under the body.

 

• Look for long antennas – The longer the better. A secret to buying at a grocery store – the lobsters in the holding tank will often eat each other’s antennae. If you look into a tank at a store, you can tell if a lobster has been there for a long time because their antennae may have been nibbled down to the base.

 

• Check out the color – Don’t be turned off by the varieties of color.  Live lobsters are usually dark green or greenish-brown, but lobsters can be found in a range of colors including blue, white, orange, yellow, black, and sometimes even red.  If you look at the underbody of the lobster, particularly the claws, they’re usually a vibrant red.

 

• Size matters – The larger the lobster the tougher the meat.  Chef Cenobio prefers under two pounds.  He says that lobsters under two pounds have tender and flavorful meat.

 

• Location! Location! – There are many different species but Chef says the best come from Canada and Maine.

 

• Don’t be biased – Most aficionados would agree that there is no difference in the taste between male and female lobsters.
• Pay attention to price – The price of this species is between 9 to 11 dollars a pound.  If the price is lower often the quality is as well.

 

Thanks Chef!