STEAKS ARE TOO TOUGH
Q. “I hope you’ve already written or filmed something about how to cook steaks. I’ve tried everything and they are always tough. Even if I marinate them. I only get NY strip or other good cuts. . . . They’re always just the right amount of pink in the middle for me. I time them carefully. They just are tough enough to pull out my fillings. What am I doing wrong?” Amy C.
A. There is a serious subtext to your overall query with which, in the end, I cannot help you. It concerns what butcher you use. The better (perhaps even longer-aged) beef that you purchase, the better the cooked steak and, in theory, the fewer problems with toughness (or “pulling out your fillings”). If both timing and “the right amount of [desired] pink” are correct according to your lights, you ought to be able to enjoy your steaks without that problem.
About method, however, here are some things that I’ve written or videoed about cooking and grilling beefsteak. Perhaps they also might help. Check them out:
Grilling Myths Busted
The Flat-Iron Steak (a great cut of tender beef)
Braising Beef (another way to tenderize beef that does not involve grilling; be sure to read below the recipe for tips on cuts of beef to use for braising)
And a video on a grilling method that might help: