First, know your meat. Some cuts are born tough. Think of them as the gym rats of the cow. They work hard (like the chuck or round) and get all sinewy. Other cuts, like the ribeye or filet mignon, are born lazy. They’re soft and marbled with fat.
If you grab a tough cut, don’t panic. You just need a game plan. Low and slow is your mantra. High heat will make a tough cut rubbery faster than you can say "medium-rare."
Fun fact: A cow has about 220 cuts of meat. Only about 30 are "tender" raw. The rest? They’re begging you to cook them correctly.
