Meat butchery has had a hold on my attention the last few years, since I discovered during a stint in England that meat is butchered differently there. America butchers for steaks and chops, while Brits prefer roasts. This means you see a lot more steak cuts in America, like round steak and blade steak, that don't really exist in other places.
Last month, Saveur magazine reported on the recent appearance of flat iron steaks. It's a re-architected "blade steak," taken from steer shoulder. Plenty of rich chuck flavor, but blade steak has a segment of unpalatable connective tissue in the center. University of Nebraska professor Chris Calkins figured out a way to cut the meat at different angle to get a fillet-type cut. A flat iron steak was born.
Flat iron is lower in price than other steaks, about $8 per pound. K&S market, source of many delights, has espadilla de res steaks, the same piece of meat as a blade steak and a flat iron, for unbelievable $2.99 a pound. It's sold as "shoulder roast" because it includes the tissue in the center, which you can see in the photo. But now you know it's a steak. Cut out the center and cook the resulting beef strips like steak. Or cook it first then cut out the center.
Butchery. It's what's for dinner.
