Chuck Eye (Take II)


 
D

Darren C.

TVWBB Pro
Based on all of the great advice in my previous chuck eye post, I gave it another try. This time I cooked to about 130-135. According to Jim, I may still be overcooking them at that temp. I have to say that the meat has been flavorful both times. I think my problem with the results has been the gristle that runs throughout the steak. Cooking it less didn't seem to make a difference with that. I don't guess the meat is so tough. It just has a lot of gristle. I bought 2 packs today. So, I have one more chance to see what I can do with them. Here's "Take II's" result...

This is one of the ones that cooked a bit longer...
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Here it is plated...
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Darren, I'll give you this: An A for hanging in there to prepare & taste one of the finest, tastiest, and most inexpensive cuts of beef in America.
The majority of folks I know liking their beef cooked medium to well done would not consider WITHOUT A DOUBT eeting "an under cooked" cut...

This ▼ looks SENTASTIONAL!!

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The gristle you mention is, to me, unusual... as I do not find gristle in the chuck eyes I buy.
 
Darren, chuck eyes should be like ribeyes, no gristle. Maybe you are not getting genuine chuck eyes.
Maybe buy them someplace different next time and see how you like them.
 
I have been put off by steak, in general, since they started marketing SKINNY COWS! I was raised on a farm and we had REALLY good beef. Paying "two prices" for sub standard beef (that's my opinion, of course:mad:, but I stand by it) has almost tempted me to quit beef entirely. Well, maybe not quit but certainly I am "from Missouri" on this question.

At any rate, a couple of weeks ago, my wife came home from the super market with two chuck eye steaks. They were approaching the "sell by" date and were marked way down. I threw them on the OTG at high heat with Kingsford Original and cooked them medium rare. Wow! These were a couple of the best steaks we have had in ages! The flavor was fantastic and the meat was tender. In fact, I could tell when I picked them up with the tongs that they were going to be tender. I used McCormick's Montreal Steak Seasoning liberally - it worked really well with these steaks. Again, the flavor was outstanding (like I remember steaks of old) and had a silky mouth feel. Needless to say, we will be doing these again, and again.

The comments about chuck eye steaks on this forum were responsible. Thanks, good people!

Dale53:wsm:
 
That looks awesome Darren! I have not found any gristle in the chuck eyes I get either, so maybe they are mislabeled as
chuck eyes and are actually chuck steaks??
 
Darren; the steaks look fantastic! Med Rare is just right by me. :)

If you subscribe to Cooks Illustrated, they had a wonderful article on Chuck Eye steaks in their Aug/Sept issue. They suggest buying a Chuck Eye Roast and cutting it into several steaks.


Here's what they suggest.... choose a 2 1/2 to 3 lb boneless roast without too much fat at the natural seam - that seam that runs through the roast. You will get 4 steaks from this.

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Divide the roast into two sections using your hands to split it at the seam.

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Lay each of these pieces on their side and cut them in half lengthwise against the grain.

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Finally trim each of these steaks removing any silverskin or excess fat. That silverskin will never render down with a high heat, fast cook and it's like chewing shoe leather.

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Thanks all for the kind words.

I've been thinking about how I described the toughness. In a way, what I have described as "gristle" or "tough" might be a little misleading. I actually found the meat itself to be tender. But, it was kinda like islands of tender meat separated by a good bit of difficult to chew connective tissue. I posted a photo of the raw meat in the first chuck-eye thread that started. I guess these look like average chuck-eyes??

@Jim... I don't give up easily.

@Pete... I don't subscribe to Cooks Illustrated. But, I have been tempted to. Maybe I should have spent some time trimming the ones I had. Your comment about
Finally trim each of these steaks removing any silverskin or excess fat. That silverskin will never render down with a high heat, fast cook and it's like chewing shoe leather.
Click to expand...
really describes my experience.
 
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