As of: March 29, 2024, 8:25 p.m
By: Fabian Hartmann
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Grilling season is upon us. However, in a WDR service time steak comparison, one piece of meat comes off particularly poorly.
Munich – On the Easter weekend, spring is likely to appear for the first time in many places with temperatures approaching 25 degrees. If the weather stays like this, it could mean an early start to the grilling season. For this purpose, the
West German Radio
(WDR) program “Servicezeit” recently tested various beef steaks for the grill.
Grill expert Stephan Zwikirsch from the Grillwerkstatt Ruhrgebiet presented four hobby grillers with a total of three different steaks in completely different price segments: Firstly, the discounter steak from Aldi for a kilo price of 20 euros, a mid-range steak from the butcher for 35 euros per kilogram and a high-end steak for a kilo price of 232 euros.
The latter is made from Japanese Wagyū cattle, whose meat is one of the best in quality in the world. Incidentally, Zwikirsch and the other participants in the comparison were not told which meat came from which price range.
Steaks in the WDR comparison differ significantly from one another in external aspects
The four hobby grill fans were asked to examine the three steaks for various factors: First of all, external aspects of the meat, such as color and appearance. Grill expert Zwikirsch first drew attention to the visible fat content within the steaks, because this is where the examples listed differed significantly.
The trained chef Zwikirsch can tell at first glance which steak comes from which price segment: “With the classic Wagyū, you can see that large portions of the meat are streaked with fat,” explains the expert. You can tell by its consistent marbling.
Zwikirsch also believes that he can immediately identify the meat from the discounter Aldi. This is due to the fact that, with its almost bare red color, it has little to no fat in it. There is only a thick layer of fat on one side of the edge. The middle-class steak from the butcher, on the other hand, is also rich in fat, which makes it much more tender after grilling.
Expert has tip for grilling steaks – and for precise temperature measurement
The steaks are grilled on a round cast iron grate at 250 degrees Celsius. However, before they land on the grate, you should pull them over the grill with the edge of the fat, recommends grill expert Zwikirsch. This is how you prepare the grate for grilling. The expert recommends that they should then be grilled for a minute on each side.
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The steaks should then be removed from the direct heat and placed in an area of the grill with indirect heat generated by circulating air. There they can then be cooked to the desired degree. By the way, there are not only “rare” and “medium”, but also a number of other degrees of doneness, ranging from “medium rare” to “medium well” to “well done”. The information website Grill-Wissen.de, among others, provides some tips about the exact temperatures of the individual degrees of cooking.
Steak comparison in the WDR program “Servicezeit” © https://www1.wdr.de/mediathek/video/versanden/servicezeit/servicezeit-clip-servicezeit-montag-25-03-2024-100.html
Grill expert Zwikirsch recommends always using an instrument to measure the temperature within the meat when grilling to get the desired doneness of the steak. He uses a core temperature sensor for this. For their comparison, the experts cook “medium” – a temperature of 52 degrees Celsius within the meat is perfect.
WDR steak comparison: Which meat impresses the testers the most?
But which steak is best to grill? The test grillers agree: the steak with the highest fat content, i.e. the Wagyū, cuts the best figure on the grill. “Compared to the other steaks, it was definitely the easiest to remove from the grill,” says one of the testers.
It is also noticeable that the meat with the higher fat content is more likely to cause flames when turned on the grill. “Fat makes the meat tender. You will notice that later in the taste test,” explains Zwikirsch. Steaks with a comparatively low fat content would often become harder after grilling because they contain less fat in their structure.
Testers agree - the steak from discounter Aldi loses significantly
Both the grill expert Zwikirsch and the hobby grillers agree on their conclusion. The Japanese Wagyū steak makes by far the best impression both on the grill and on the palate. But which of the two significantly cheaper steaks performs better than the other? Does the Metger steak win at 30 euros per kilogram, or does the steak from Aldi, which is even cheaper at 20 euros per kilogram?
“I don't want to say it's tough as nails. “But it’s significantly firmer than the other steaks,” is how one of the hobby grillers describes the steak from discounter Aldi. “Yes, you have to chew longer,” admits another tester. The other two remaining testers even consider the steak from the discounter Aldi to be the slightly higher priced one from the butcher.
“It’s a little easier to chew and also more flavorful,” says one of the testers about the butcher’s steak. It also tastes “a little more like meat” than the Aldi steak. The Aldi steak is in last place among the reviewers. The middle-class steak from the butcher ends up behind it. However, the undisputed leader in the WDR steak test remains the Wagyu beef steak, which is clearly the most expensive at 232 euros per kilogram.
(fh)