a Flat Iron you can eat

I was looking at the sale circular for Food Lion, a local supermarket chain here in NC, for something to cook up this weekend. One of the items on sale in the meat section was Flat Iron Fillets ($4.99/lb down from $5.99). I'd never heard of a cut referred to as "flat iron" so I googled it, of course. Here's what I learned from the Georgia Beef Board website:


The Beef Flat Iron Steak was developed through intensive muscle profiling research funded by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association in order to find cuts that can be better utilized to meet consumer’s needs. The Flat Iron is a very reasonably priced steak, from 4.99 to 6.99/lb, and is very flavorful, well marbled and very tender. In fact, it is the second most tender muscle in the beef carcass.

The Flat Iron, also known as a Flat Iron roast or shoulder top blade steak, which is taken from the shoulder clod just above the shoulder blade.

The Flat Iron has two halves that are separated by a thin section of tough gristle running lengthwise through the meat. Be sure to not overcook this cut, as it will quickly toughen.

Wiki has a nice article on this cut in case you're curious about it. And there's a great set of pictures and description of the derivation of the cut on the Confessions of a Butcher Blogger site.

I looked on a lot of sites for info and the things almost every single site recommended was that you don't cook these past medium and you should marinade them before cooking. Grilling for about 5 minutes per side over coals was often suggested. My outdoor grill is a little grody so I don't want to use it--and cleaning it is too labor intensive!--so I might take my panini press and use that to grill up a flat iron steak. Yum!

There's a very good looking recipe for Flat Iron steak on Kalyn's Kitchen blog. The recipe features a Chimichurri Sauce that sounds incredible. I've never used a Chimichurri Sauce and I've been curious about how it tastes.

Beef. It's what's for dinner! Or maybe Saturday brunch...

Comments

rosemary said…
sounds like flank steak to me. but no matter how you cook flank steak it is tough..couldn't be me, the cook could it, Dave?
5:31 PM
SassyAssy said…
sounds yummy
7:45 PM
kenju said…
Let me know if you like it, Dave.
9:43 PM
Kalyn Denny said…
This is absolutely not flank steak! I think it was the July issue of Saveur magazine that had photos of where the various beef cuts come from. Anyway, flatiron steak is very tender and juicy. Thanks for mentioning my post about it too!
10:44 PM
Lois Lane said…
Okay, will this flatiron jobby provide me with the proper morphological (sp?) change I need to become a super rat??
9:00 AM
utenzi said…
I didn't make the Flat Iron steak as planned on Saturday but I did pick up two of them at the store on Friday and will probably prepare at least one of them on Sunday. They look tasty.

Lois, I can't imagine you ever being a rat. You're far too cute and you don't have whiskers.

Kalyn, I love Saveur. I wish it came out every month instead of skipping 3 months a year.
12:15 AM
Liz said…
You seriously never heard of a flat iron steak before? Is that a regional thing?
8:12 AM
Anonymous said…
Flat Iron leftovers make great dining, too. I cut mine in half flatwise and make hot or cold steak sandwiches.
1:27 PM
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