# Inexpensive Steak Houses Serve Beef... or Something Else? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 19, 2003, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inexpensive-steak-houses-serve-beef-or-something-else/214160 "2003-11-19T19:17:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2003, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inexpensive-steak-houses-serve-beef-or-something-else/214160/21 "2003-11-20T13:03:11Z")
Mmmmm … USDA Utility grade beef … ---
**Author:** ![askol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/53a042/32.png) [@askol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askol)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2003, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inexpensive-steak-houses-serve-beef-or-something-else/214160/22 "2003-11-20T15:26:03Z")
I thought “chevron” meant horse. Wouldn’t that make a “Chevron Burger” a horse burger, not a goat burger? ---
**Author:** ![Dogface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@Dogface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogface)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2003, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inexpensive-steak-houses-serve-beef-or-something-else/214160/23 "2003-11-20T15:30:03Z")
Actually, that Utility grade beef can be absolutely wonderful, if cooked properly. You can’t get away with incompetently tossing it onto a grill. The “good” cuts of beef should really be called the “more idiot-proof” cuts of beef. They require no special cooking skill to make palatable. However, that Utility grade makes for some marvelously tasty dishes if prepared properly. ---
**Author:** ![Dogface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@Dogface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogface)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2003, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inexpensive-steak-houses-serve-beef-or-something-else/214160/24 "2003-11-20T15:31:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by askol \* > \*\*I thought “chevron” meant horse. Wouldn’t that make a “Chevron Burger” a horse burger, not a goat burger? \*\* “Cheval” means horse. ---
**Author:** ![askol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/53a042/32.png) [@askol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askol)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2003, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inexpensive-steak-houses-serve-beef-or-something-else/214160/25 "2003-11-20T15:38:32Z")
Oops! “Cheval” would be horse. Never mind! ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2003, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inexpensive-steak-houses-serve-beef-or-something-else/214160/26 "2003-11-20T16:39:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by r\_k \* > \*\*You have to remember that beef is _insanely_ cheap these days, as it is produced in such great quantities. As other posters have pointed out, 'most any “beef substitute” would be dearer than the real deal. \*\* You haven’t been to the market lately, have you? [USDA: Record High Beef Prices Here to Stay](http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,103465,00.html) [Consumers chew on soaring beef prices](http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/invest/extra/P66639.asp) [Beef prices cut into local sales](http://www.cpubco.com/cgi-bin/LiveIQue.acgi%24rec=15739cbgCurrentLocalNews?cbgCurrentLocalNews) [Atkins Diet Contributes To Higher Beef Prices Across Country - Drought, Disease Leads Ranchers To Reduce Herds](http://www.thekansascitychannel.com/news/2650782/detail.html) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2003, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inexpensive-steak-houses-serve-beef-or-something-else/214160/27 "2003-11-20T17:37:02Z")
Still, beef is cheaper than anything else. ---
**Author:** ![KP](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a9adbd/32.png) [@KP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KP)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2003, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inexpensive-steak-houses-serve-beef-or-something-else/214160/28 "2003-11-20T18:29:12Z")
I would still say that beef is “insanely cheap” in the US these days - just as gasoline was still pretty bloody cheap during the energy crises of the 70s, and definitely insanely cheap during the widely reported 'price spikes" of the most recent war In the 70s, we in the US were reeling from paying more than $1.50/gal at the pump during the first and second major OPEC embargos (respectively) - but that was cheaper than the pre-embargo prices in most other developed nations. This fact was reported in the media, but we didn’t want to hear it, and the video bites weren’t cooperating: e.g. I was in Germany just after the second embargo, and the exchange rate was DM1,71/US$1 (That rate is just a snapshot. Currencies were volatile then: a year later I went back, and the rate was 2,71/US$1) Since gasoline is sold by the liter in Europe, a pump sign might read 1.00 [vs. the 1.30 US buyers were used to seeing then) An announcer might _tell_ us that was $2.30 a gallon, but such facts have less impact than images, so the point was oftn forgotten. (Today, the US still has basically the same gas prices as 1973 -30 years ago!-, when you could buy a new entry model car for $2000. Insanely cheap! and still much cheaper than other comparably developing nations) To return to steak: My favorite cut is NY Sirloin. Though I live in the Boston area, which is fairly expensive, a major local chain sells it for $4.29/lb, (ca 1 hour of minimum wage) and it goes on sale one week a month for $1 less. Since most people eat 4-6oz (precooked wt) as a normal entree [not the way we often stuff ourselves at steakhouses), 1lb is 3-4 meals. It’d take almost any employed American longer to eat a NY sirloin for dinner than to earn the money to buy it! I’d call that pretty cheap. I’m not trying to make any particular political point. I’m just noting that despite all the scares in the media, beef is, and will probably remain, far ‘cheap’ [relative to the local economy] in the US by any practical standard I can think of . ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2003, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inexpensive-steak-houses-serve-beef-or-something-else/214160/29 "2003-11-20T20:43:07Z")
I cooked in a “cheap” steakhouse for a few years, and I can tell you the difference: A lot of “cheap” steakhouses are primarily bars. The place I worked in made all of its money on booze and pulltabs (gambling). Because of that, it could afford to sell a porterhouse steak for $9.99. And as to the quality of the meat… one evening I cooked rare porterhouse steaks for a table of six. When they finished eating, the waitress told me, “They said that was better than the Windmill!” The Windmill being _the_ premeire steakhouse in my town. In my kitchen, we used no tenderizers, but we used a “secret recipe” seasoning on the steaks. The seasoning was prepared on-site by the owner, and I watched him make it several times - no tenderizers. One reason for flavor differences: the top-of-the-line steakhouses almost exclusively cook the steaks on a flame broiler (which is responsible for the dark crosshatch pattern you see on the cooked steak.) Cheaper places tend to use a flat grill, or electric broiler. A flame-broiled steak will taste different from a grilled or electric-broiled steak. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2003, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inexpensive-steak-houses-serve-beef-or-something-else/214160/30 "2003-11-20T20:43:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by KP \* > To return to steak: > My favorite cut is NY Sirloin. Though I live in the Boston area, which is fairly expensive, a major local chain sells it for $4.29/lb, (ca 1 hour of minimum wage) and it goes on sale one week a month for $1 less. Cheap is a relative term, especially when comparing prices with other countries. However, and to use your example, the price you currently pay for that NY sirloin in the Boston area is what I used to pay a year ago. It’s now more than $9.00/lb now, and going up. That’s _not_ cheap compared to what the price was a year ago, and in line with news reports of skyrocketing beef prices mentioned earlier. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2003, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inexpensive-steak-houses-serve-beef-or-something-else/214160/31 "2003-11-21T00:12:53Z")
Until reeading this thread last night I really hadn’t thought much about what my friend the chemist told me those many years ago. But I did find the following in [INTERPRETIVE SUMMARY COMPARATIVE RISK ASSESSMENT FOR INTACT (NON-TENDERIZED)AND NON-INTACT (TENDERIZED)BEEF](http://haccpalliance.org/alliance/NonintactBeefInpretSummary.pdf) (requires Acrobat). > [@](#): > > The majority of steaks and roasts destined for hotel,restaurant,and institutional use in the > United States may be subjected to “mechanical tenderization.” This is a process in which > large pieces of meat are penetrated,usually in several directions,by sets of needles,or > double-edged blades,and then cut into steaks and roasts.Sometimes the needles used are > hollow,allowing meat to be injected with solution containing flavorings and/or digestive > agents such as papain.The purpose of the process is to make lower grade cuts of beef more > tender. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inexpensive-steak-houses-serve-beef-or-something-else/214160.md?page=1)