Choosing a steak can be a tricky process – how do you know that the piece of meat you have picked up is going to be the best? No one wants to regret their steak choices! Jack’s Creek have taken out Gold at the World Steak Challenge for the last three years and once you have tried their steak, the chances of going back to your ‘usual’ are quite slim.

Patrick Warmoll, Managing Director of Jack’s Creek has three tips for choosing the best possible steak in a butcher or supermarket:

Colour – Look for nice freshly cut beef with a pinkish red colour. You’ll want to avoid dark grey or dark red coloured beef, which can be an indicator that it has been sitting for some time
Age – Aging beef improves taste and tenderness. Check with your butcher on how long their beef has been aged, between 3 to 6 weeks is best.
Grain fed – If specifically after grain fed beef, look for a cut that has fine cobweb like marbling structure in the eye muscle for a buttery, melt in the mouth flavour.

If you are in a restaurant with only the menu to look at as a guide, Patrick has two tips:

When ordering beef from a restaurant:

Look for beef from NSW/VIC or specific breeds i.e. Wagyu and British Breeds (or of course Jack’s Creek if it is there!)
The right cut – If you are after bold flavours then choose cuts like Ribeye or Sirloin. If you prefer a more tender experience then choose the Eye Fillet cut.

Many consumers presume the less fat, the better the steak, however, this is not strictly true. Jack’s Creek beef is grain fed and as such is juicer and more tender than grass fed products. Similarly, the greater the marble score of a beef product, the tastier the beef.

Patrick explains, “Marbling is the visible form of intramuscular fat (IMF) which appears as fine flecks within the muscle. The presence of marbling has a very positive effect on the eating quality of beef in terms of tenderness, juiciness and flavour. Marbling refers to visible fat found between muscle fibre bundles and is assessed within the M.Longissumus dorsi muscle.”

“In addition to the quantity, the distribution and texture of visible fat flecks within the muscle are considered during assessment of marbling score. Marbling potential is determined by both genetics and nutrition.”

Jack’s Creek delivers between MBS 1 – 9+ depending on cut and cattle breed. The award winning fillet steak which took home the World’s Best Fillet accolade earlier this year at the World Steak Challenge was a MBS 8-9+.