How To Cook Baseball Steak So It's Almost (But Not Quite) As Good As Filet Mignon

Filet mignon may be at the top of the steak chain, but it's out of the price range of many these days. There are alternatives — pork tenderloin makes a tasty non-beef option, while Anthony Bourdain considered a lesser-known cut called filet de romsteck to be a poor man's version. One replacement you may not have considered is the baseball steak. No, this isn't something you're likely to find in a stadium (hot dogs always taste better at the ballpark, the same can't be said of steak). Instead, the baseball steak is a round(ish) chunk of top sirloin that gets its name from its shape. Jamie Waldron, the eponym behind a Canadian business called J. Waldron Butchers, said the cut is similar in appearance to the filet mignon, but markedly different in both flavor and texture.

"They're two totally different cuts of meat," Waldron acknowledged, but he feels that each one has its strength. "I would give the flavor vote to a baseball steak, but the tenderloin lives up to its name by beating all other steaks when it comes to tenderness," he opined. (The filet mignon is a tenderloin's tip.) The reason, he explained, has to do with what the respective muscles are used for: "The baseball steak is a cut that gets some work as a rump muscle; the tenderloin does nothing, therefore is tender by default." Even so, Waldron suggested that it's possible to cook a tender baseball steak by sous vide it at 125 degrees Fahrenheit, either before or after searing it in butter.

You don't need to buy a sous vide machine just to cook your baseball steak; there's a DIY way to do it without an expensive gadget. First, stick the steak in a heavy-duty freezer bag, then suspend it from the side of a pot of water that's been heated to the proper temperature. The bag should be left open to let air escape, but the steak needs to be submerged without letting any water in, which is why you'll need to use a metal clamp or wooden clothespin to secure the top of the bag to the side of the pot above the waterline. A thermometer is also necessary for checking the water temperature and making sure it remains steady throughout an hour or more of cooking time. This can be done by turning the heat up or down as necessary, or adding a little cold water if the pot gets too hot.

Another expert-approved method for baseball steak preparation doesn't involve using any water. The expert in question is Robert Irvine, who featured these steaks several times during the 2022 season of "Restaurant: Impossible." Instead of cooking by sous vide, Irvine starts with a pan sear, then finishes them off in a hot oven (375 to 400 degrees Fahrenheit) for a few minutes. The results, while perhaps not as tender as filet mignon, are flavorful enough for an award-winning chef.