I notice that a lot of trendy new restaurants feature this cut of beef. One such place in Boston gets $32.00 for it as an entre.
I never knew what it was, so I asked the meat cutter at my local supermarket about it.
According to him, its a rather tough cut-and mst be tenderized. He doesn’t carry it, and according to him, its a cut that used to be ground up for hamburger.
So what is so special about it? Is it like the trendy status of “comfort food” (e.g. restaurants charging big bucks for stuff like meatloaf, macaroni and cheese, or burgers?)
Because it is tasty. Ask a Mexican butcher about it.
A Philly Cheesesteak Sandwich is typically made from hanger steak. It needs to be sliced very, very thin. Skirt steak can be substituted if hanger isn’t available.
Top round or rib-eye is the usual for a Philly.
An article from Esquire magazine a few years ago lauded hanger steak as “the most flavorful of the cheap cuts,” which sure made me curious about it. Every butcher shop in the vicinity told me that restaurants come in and snap it up when it’s available and pass it off as a much pricier cut. I eventually got a big piece and had the butcher cut it up into, like, 8 mini-steaks. It was mighty tasty while it lasted, and had the lumpy consistency of coarse-ground Angus beef. But I trace its trendiness to the Esquire article.
My understanding (may have read this on Wiki) is that hanger steak is also known as the ‘butcher’s cut’. Supposedly, due to its desirability, the butchers would reserve this steak for themselves. Also, if I recall correctly, there is but one hanger steak per cow.
I’ve had it, and it’s durn tasty.
mmm
Hanger steak? Why, I barely even know 'er!
I’m here all night, folks.
There are a lot of tough cuts that used to be cheap. People learned how to cook them, so demand went up, along with the price. I used to love cooking shortribs, but there is no way I’m paying what they are charging now.
Agree with your comment..I myself much prefer london broil to filet mignon-much more flavor.
Of course, you have to cook it right (pink interior), and slice it thin.
Otherwise, you might as well eat a piece of leather.
Hanger steak, huh? Is that what kids are calling meat curtains these days?
Yeah, shortribs are one of the beefiest cuts. That said, around here they’re not too bad, usually in the $3.50-4/lb range, but sometimes under $3 at the smaller chains. Sure, usually more expensive than chuck or shank, but cheaper than almost all other cuts. If you get your hands on boneless short ribs, they not only are probably the best and most flavorful cut to use for stewing meat, they are awesome ground up into hamburgers. Yum, yum.
When I worked in a kitchen, management allowed us either a london broil or a hamburger. So good.
Hanger steaks are sometimes known as hanging tenders. How can you not like meat so tender it’s called a hanging tender?
I got hit in the hanging tenders playing shortstop once. Ain’t no joke.
mmm
Has anyone ever had a “flat-iron steak”. We had a local restaurant that featured it and it is indeed a specific cut of meat and damn … it was really good.
It’s been “trendy” since at least the nineties. I remember TV chefs demonstrating it as a secret and little known “cheap cut” or “Butcher’s Cut”, because it was something that the Butcher would take home often because he couldn’t sell it otherwise. Think I saw the Frugal Gourmet use it in its earliest inception, but can;t be sure.
It doesn’t really need to be marinated, although it often is because it accepts the marinade and flavoring well due to its relative thickness and permeabilty, it just needs to be cut on the grain correctly to avoid its toughness. It is also the traditional cut for real Mexican street “fajitas”. “Fajita” actually means little belt or girdle and refers to the long “belt like” or “girdle” appearance of skirt steak and its actual location on the cow, both whole, and then the little pieses of it sliced.
It used to be the cheapest throw away cut for streetfood fajitas but when was the last time you had skirt steak fajitas? Probably never, unless you’ve been to mexico or fixed it yourself… most restaurants use cheap sirloin. So, in reality most Americans have never had proper fajitas. Its popularity from PBS and Food Network cooking programs of the 90’s priced it right into inflation and premiums here in America… now if I can only figure out how to do this with beef liver. Kind of like the popularity of Ox Tail soup as a specialty item priced tails into a rather uncomfortable and rare price point.
Yeah, it is the most favored cut of beef at the Mexican grocery store near my home in Chicago, and is more expensive than Ribeye!
Or you live somewhere with a big Mexican population. Skirt steak is pretty much all that’s used for steak tacos/fajitas here.
Maybe at a premium and authenticity, but we have large Mexican populations where I’ve been too, and it seems like most Mexican restaurants use sirloin for fajitas and al carbon/carne asada (Tex Mex) over the pricey skirt steak so they have a profit margin. But then I suppose fajitas are cheaper here and must be cheaper here to compete than in Chicago environs.