Bacon is representing from the Pork Bracket, Salmon advanced from the Chicken/Seafood bracket, and Hot Dogs moved on from the Charcuterie/Other bracket (controversial choice there). What meat will advance from the Beef Bracket?
There were some very tough choice here and a few easy ones. Let’s break it all down:
Brisket vs. Short Ribs – I love grinding both these meats in my burger blend. Overall I think brisket is tastier though. Short ribs can be great braised but with brisket you have corned beef, pastrami, and smoked brisket. Delicious.
Liver vs. Sirloin – Liver sucks. Easiest choice of the bracket here.
Heart vs. Porterhouse – Heart is a very under-eaten meat. Pound it out, coat with flour, and fry it and it is very, very tasty. I used to eat this somewhat often as a kid and it was a favorite meal of mine. But it is hard to compete against the porterhouse.
Oxtail vs. Tenderloin – Oxtail is very common in Caribbean cuisine but not seen much elsewhere. I used to not be a fan of tenderloin until I ate some Bacon Wrapped tenderloins from Snake River Farms.
Prime Rib vs. NY Strip – This is a tough matchup. I know a lot of people really like Prime Rib but it has never really been a favorite of mine. NY Strips however are one of my favorite steaks. They have a great balance of flavor, tenderness, and fat content. All around a great cut of beef.
Corned Beef vs. Hamburgers – Most people don’t eat corned beef apart from St. Patrick’s Day (unless you count corned beef sandwiches) but they eat hamburgers almost weekly. Hamburgers are the easy choice here.
Pot Roast vs. Ribeye – While a well cooked ribeye can be delicious there are few foods more comforting than a nice pot roast with an intense beefy flavor, some fall apart meat, and some perfectly cooked carrots and potatoes.
Beef Ribs vs. Flank Steak – You generally don’t see too many beef ribs outside of Texas bbq joints. I have only cooked them a couple times and they are good but I really enjoy the texture and flavor of flank steak.
In the second round…
Brisket vs. Sirloin – The sirloin is a good, all around steak. It is usually fairly inexpensive, easy to cook, and it is one of the few steaks that I would ever marinate. Most other steaks are good enough on their own but sirloin can sometimes use a bit of help. Smoked brisket is one of my favorite meats to get when I go out for BBQ. Smokey, tender, and delicious.
Porterhouse vs. Tenderloin – Well, when you get a Porterhouse you also get some tenderloin on it so I have to go with the Porterhouse here. Also tenderloins are usually around 8 ozs where you can’t get a porterhouse under 16 ozs and more steak is almost never a bad thing.
NY Strip vs. Hamburgers – This is such a tough choice. NY Strips are usually my go to steak but I really, really love hamburgers. Thick, gourmet burgers are awesome, flat greasy fast food hamburgers are awesome. The problem here is hamburgers rely so much on the bun, toppings, and condiments where a NY Strip stands on its own.
Pot Roast vs. Flank Steak – Flank steak takes marinades more easily than many other cuts. A nice Asian marinade, sear it off, and finish in the oven makes one of my favorite steaks.
Down to 4. Who moves on?
Brisket vs. Porterhouse – Meat on the bone always feels right. And when you get a NY Strip and Tenderloin in one piece of meat it is all the better.
NY Strip vs. Flank Steak – I love the simplicity of salt, pepper, meat, and heat. The NY Strip is worthy of a trip to the bracket finals.
So we have a showdown of Porterhouse and NY Strip in the finals which gets awkward since the Porterhouse is basically the daddy of the NY Strip. When eating a Porterhouse I always prefer the NY Strip side but that bite or two of tenderloin is always a nice addition. So I think we have to send the Porterhouse on to the finals to face the other bracket winners.
Don’t get me wrong, on any day of the week I would be more than happy to eat any of these 15 meats (liver sucks) but if I were to see all these meats on a menu I would probably choose the porterhouse half the time with the other meats getting a solid rotation.
Come back in a couple days as the 4 remaining meats (bacon, salmon, hot dogs, and porterhouse) show down in the championship.
