Prime USDA Natural Beef Whole Striploin | ±5.5kg

USDA Prime Whole Striploin - Steaks or Roasting Joint

±5.5kg, delivered chilled. Serves 18 to 22.

1. Straight from the fridge
Your striploin arrives fresh and vacuum-packed. Keep it in the coldest part of the fridge, 0-4°C, in its unopened pack, and use by the date on the label. If you have frozen it yourself, thaw it in the fridge, allowing 36 to 48 hours.

2. Break it down on the day it arrives
A loin this size gives around eighteen 300g steaks, or three roasting joints, or a mixture. Cut what you need for the next two days and wrap and freeze the rest, using it within 12 months. Freezing portions on day one is better than working through a whole loin in the fridge.

3. Keep the fat cap
Do not trim the layer of fat along the top. Score it lightly in a crosshatch, no deeper than the fat itself. Rendered down, it is the best cooking fat in the kitchen.

Method A - Steaks (300g at 3cm, or 450g at 4cm)

4. Cut across the loin. Temper the steaks 40 minutes, pat dry and salt generously.

5. Stand each steak on its fat edge in a hot dry pan until bronzed and the pan has a film of rendered fat. Then lay it flat and cook it in its own fat, 2½ to 3 minutes a side.

6. Pull at 52°C. Rest 6 to 8 minutes, then slice across the grain at 1cm.

Method B - Roasting joint (reverse sear, for a crowd)

4. Tie the joint at 4cm intervals. Salt it all over and leave it uncovered on a rack in the fridge overnight if you can. A dry surface is what gives you a crust.

5. Out of the fridge one hour before cooking. Oven at 110°C, fat side up on a rack over a tray, until the centre reaches 48°C. Allow roughly 35 to 40 minutes per kilo, but go by the probe and not the clock.

6. Rest 15 minutes, then finish at 240°C for 8 to 10 minutes, or sear it in a very hot pan on all sides. Pull at 52°C.

7. Rest a further 15 to 20 minutes. Remove the string and carve across the grain at 1cm.

Do not cook it past medium rare. The striploin carries its fat on the outside rather than through the muscle, so it has less margin than a ribeye.

If chilled
Keep refrigerated at 0-4°C in its unopened vacuum pack and use by the date on the label. You can freeze it unopened at any point up to that date - at -18°C or below it will keep well for up to 12 months.

If frozen
Keep frozen at -18°C until needed. Use by the date on the pack.
Defrost in the fridge, in its packaging, allow 15 hours. Never defrost at room temperature or in a microwave.
Once opened or defrosted, keep refrigerated at 0-4°C and use within 24 hours. Do not refreeze once thawed.
A faint metallic smell on first opening the pack is normal for vacuum-packed beef and will disperse within a few minutes in open air.