Flat Irons meet Smokey Joe


 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by G Dechaine:
So Larry...have flat irons bumped sirloins as your new fave? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

They're neck and neck.....I think the flat irons are more tender, but think the sirloin has more falvor....I wouldn't turn one down for the other.
 
i believe that is the brand that foodlion sells here and i love them. i try to steer clear of the bigger ones though as both of the ones over 2 pounds i bought had a piece of gristle running the entire length. the meat on either side of the gristle was great, i'd just rather not deal with it.
 
The gristle is supposed to be removed for the steaks to be called 'flat irons'. It's not surprising it wasn't. I usually buy the whole roasts and cut them myself to avoid the frequent mangling of 'butchers'.
 
I posted this in regards to a reply to Larry's first run in with the flat iron, I thought it might answer G Dechaine's inquiry regarding making your own FI:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> quote:
I found some "top blade steaks" at Publix yesterday that were less overpriced than the rest of the steaks, so I bought a couple packages - about a pound and a half total. I recalled, and confirmed from a google search, that top blade steak is sometimes used as another name for "flat iron" steaks. Come to think of it, they do look a little bit like the bottom of an iron.



the flat iron (infraspinatus) comes from the chuck top blade, but only makes up a small part of it. I talked to my butcher about it, thinking I could buy the subprimal and get a steak and a chuck roast. He talked me out of it, on the grounds that one large roast (that he ground) yielded a small percentage of steak, and that he had some flat irons in his case for 3.99/lb.

On chance alone (if the whole subprimal was cut into steaks), something labeled as "top blade steak" most likely would not be a flat iron. From the sounds of your steak, you did get a flat iron, so maybe they harvest them from the primal and grind the rest.

the infraspinatus has a sheet of connective tissue running through it. One of the possible explanations for its name comes from this connective which may have been thought of as "tough as iron." Due to this, the muscle has to be butterflied and the connective tissue removed. The steak ends up being fairly thin as a result. Other than the shape, looking for these clues will help you to identify it.


j biesinger
nickel city smokers
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

this link shows the chuck top blade, where the infraspinatus can be found:

bovine myology

The only other pertinent info I have on harvesting the flat iron from the top blade comes from an out of print book by merle ellis. Its what started me on the whole flat iron business. His directions start with a small section of the top blade, so its kind of hard to make heads or tails of it, but I suppose if someone else wants to see it I could be talked into scanning the pages.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">the flat iron (infraspinatus) comes from the chuck top blade, but only makes up a small part of it. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Really? Since when? This was misinformation you got from your butcher. The sub is the shoulder clod. The top blade is removed from that. After standard trim removal the top can be cut into flat irons.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Really? Since when? This was misinformation you got from your butcher. The sub is the shoulder clod. The top blade is removed from that. After standard trim removal the top can be cut into flat irons. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I certainly could be mistaken, but I was going from memory and comparing it to the information at the bovine myology site.

He called it something other than "roll" so I used the bovine myology site list of shoulder subprimals, looking for the infraspinatus. "Chuck top blade" was the first sub hit that contained the FI muscle.

However, the top blade certainly didn't look like his description "lots of chuck, lots of work, little steak."

Looking now at the clod pics, you can clearly see the top blade and infraspinatus. And that pic looks much more like he described "the sub comes to a fine point and the FI is in there but it took some work to dig it out."

So, what does this all mean? the FI is in both the top blade and clod. If you want a whole FI then you need to get a clod, sorry for the confusion.

now I gotta go check what merle has to say on the topic.
 
Not to hijack a thread, but Kevin seems to have hit on something that I've been thinking about - true butchering seems to be a lost skill and art.

We have only one shop in the Birmingham area that could be called a "butcher shop" and it sells a limited number of cuts of beef. It isn't like the old time butcher shops where the butchers break down the beef and cut and grind the beef on site.

That's a shame.

Pat
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">I certainly could be mistaken, </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
I wasn't saying that. I was saying that it seemed to me that your butcher was mistaken. Or maybe he just had a different way of saying what he meant. The sub is the shoulder clod. It, along with the chuck roll, makes up the chuck primal. The top blade is a piece of the clod. Yes, other things have to be cut away to get to just the top blade - but one would do this anyway - it would be separated into various roasts.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">I wasn't saying that. I was saying that it seemed to me that your butcher was mistaken. Or maybe he just had a different way of saying what he meant. The sub is the shoulder clod. It, along with the chuck roll, makes up the chuck primal. The top blade is a piece of the clod. Yes, other things have to be cut away to get to just the top blade - but one would do this anyway - it would be separated into various roasts. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

don't be so sure. I'm betting it was my inability to remember anything he said after I walked out the door. clod, roll, chuck, blade were all mentioned in the conversation, and who's who got lost in my brain. Like I stated before, I tried to reconstruct his info with the bovine myology site.

From cooking on camera by merle ellis, he talks about isolating the flat iron from the "blade cut chuck roast."

here's some quotes from the book:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> The Blade Cut comes off the beef only the thickness of a knife blade away from the "Rib" and contains a large portion of the "Rib-Eye" muscle. The Rib-Eye is what ends up in many meat cases labeled "Market Steak" or "Spencer Steak" and selling it at a premium.

When the price is right, buy a Blade Cut Chuck Roast...On the top of the blade bone is a muscle that if the butcher were to bone out and sell separately, would be called "Flat Iron" and it too would be at a premium price. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
 
Nice looking cook.

All this butcher talk is making my head hurt.

I can't get past the fact the grill is on a wood deck!


That's just me...
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by DAVE IN CINCY:
Nice looking cook.

All this butcher talk is making my head hurt.

I can't get past the fact the grill is on a wood deck!


That's just me... </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Why not? A little caution and common sense goes along way!! I have 2 WSM's, 1 Performer and my SJ all on my deck, cooked alot on all of them on this deck over the past 7 years and never had an issue or even one burn mark..(knock on wood)......pardon the pun!
 
I have 3 charcoal-burning units on mine. Never quite understood the consternation. Heat rises. As long as the bottoms aren't open to the ground (the WSM's certainly isn't; the others have ash catchers - good enough). Going on 15 years here. And I am not a hovering cook. Get stuff going and I'm off the do something else.
 
Wow, lots of butcher talk. Good info though. I too do my work on a wooden surface, no issues yet, and my dad has 5 One Touch and 2 WSMS, all on wood, without incident as well, and if anyone is set-it-and-forget-it its him!
 
I figure, if there isn't any fire on a wood deck, it can't catch.

However, I figure it would be my luck, the grass would catch, and ignite the deck!

Luckily, my house is solid masonry.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">hi, folks know any good butcher books? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

there's tons of good stuff online. I never plunked down the 50 clams for this guy, but it looks pretty awesome.
 
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