Where's The Beef . . . From?

Here at Sentence of Dave, the staff occasionally provides more than the usual drivel, and this is one of those occasions; in the past, I revealed the shocking nature of beef brisket and today I will discuss another cut of meat, the hanger steak . . . Wikipedia explains that "it is derived from the diaphragm of the steer" . . . but "diaphragm steak" sounds disgusting (and is also difficult to spell) and so it has more conveniently been referred to as skirt steak and "the butcher's cut" because it has long been a butcher's secret as to how delicious it tastes . . . I got to try this steak at The Frog and The Peach-- a well-regarded rather expensive restaurant that I would ordinarily never visit, but because it was Restaurant Week in New Brunswick, they had a 35$ Prix Fixe menu and so Catherine and I decided to treat ourselves, and it was well worth it-- the hanger steak, which is very lean and has the potential to be tough if it's not marinated and cooked right, was sensationally good-- I don't eat much beef these days and I almost never eat a steak, but if I could eat one of these every night, I would: hanger steak is super lean (and I hate any fat on my meat) and very firm and consistent . . . essentially it's steak that looks and tastes as little like a chunk of cow as possible, and that's the way I like my beef; coincidentally, the night before, I was out late at the Park Pub, and on the way home I got a cheeseburger from White Rose-- and it was late enough that it was technically the same day as our outing to The Frog and The Peach, and so in a short span I consumed two very different grades of beef . . . with a substantial price difference between the two meals . . . a White Rose cheeseburger costs $3.05, including tax (I had to borrow a nickel from Connel) and so it was less than 10% of what the hanger steak cost me . . . and though White Rose doesn't point out what cut of meat they use in their burgers, the important part of the story is that both meals were equally delicious.

7 comments:

T.J. said...

Is this a Hungry Heifer ad?

Rhinolips said...

White Rose has the distinction of smelling the same before and after you've eaten it.

zman said...

I'm a huge fan of hanger steak. I used to get it once a week pre-marinated from my local butcher. It's very easy to cook, just broil or grill it.

Dave said...

your butcher pre-marinates? i wwish i knew butcher that pre-marinated . . .

but seriously-- aren't you either marinating or not marinating.

zman said...

I bough the steaks from him in an already marinated condition ergo "pre-marinated" as in "already marinated for you."

Dave said...

i suppose from your POV it's pre-marinated, but from the butcher's POV it's just marinated.

rob said...

i recall whitney's legendary beefapalooza trip to new brunswick/cape cod many moons ago. my late, lamented gall bladder is in pain just thinking about it.

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