Not Filet Mignon Or Ribeye: Jacques Pépin's Favorite Steak Cut Is Budget-Friendly

Jacques Pépin knows a thing or two about fine food: The French-born chef, teacher, cookbook author, and TV personality has a career that spans multiple decades, cooking for the likes of former French President Charles de Gaulle, and eventually even co-hosting an Emmy-winning PBS program with Julia Child. And when it comes to steak, Pépin's preference isn't actually your top-bill cuts like filet mignon and ribeye; rather, the chef has repeatedly pointed to New York strip being his favorite type of steak, and it's one that is particularly budget-friendly (per YouTube).

Back in 1991, the French chef called it "the best piece of meat" in an episode of "Today's Gourmet," where he served it with a Lyon-style red wine sauce, baked apricots, and potatoes. His love affair with the specific cut has been a long-lasting one, as it's featured in numerous of his home cooking videos.

New York strip is specifically cut from part of the loin from the animal's back, known as the strip or top loin. Renowned for its delicate yet decisive beef flavor and tenderness, it has just enough fat marbling to give it richness while not being as overpowering to the palate or potentially chewy as ribeye can be (incidentally, one of the gripes that Bobby Flay himself has with the prized cut). This fat-to-lean meat ratio lands it roughly in the middle between the rich ribeye and very lean filet.

One of the main assets of a New York strip is that you get incredible steak both in flavor and texture for a relatively lower price, thus giving you far more for your buck than either ribeye or filet mignon. While cost often heavily depends on the retailer, market, and the grade, New York strip tends to be less expensive than the former and always beats out the latter. A 2025 sample from Trader Joe's, for instance, puts strip at $13.99 per pound, which is a dollar less than ribeye and a whopping seven dollars less than filet. This isn't exactly the Big Mac index of steaks, granted, but it's an insight into how it can be easier on your wallet.

But its lower price isn't the only reason the strip is worth your consideration, and Jacques Pépin has his own reasoning as to why he considers it the best cut of steak. The aforementioned fat-to-meat ratio is arguably one of the main reasons, as he laid out in "Today's Gourmet," where he chose the strip over an extremely lean top round and a highly fatty short rib. Moreover, the New York strip is a highly versatile and easy-to-cook cut, which Pépin demonstrates in his own cooking videos. It responds well to both pan-searing and grilling, and the French chef has used both approaches, employing the former in his home-cooking episodes and the latter in PBS footage. The key, as Pépin shows, is also learning how to season the meat properly while using both approaches: The latter can be helped with more elaborate pan sauces using stock, wine, and other flavorings, while the former can make do with much less — salt, ground black pepper, and a splash of extra-virgin olive oil suffice.