St. Louis Pork Steak aka Blade Steak


 
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Derek D

TVWBB Member
Was thinking tonight if there was any way to take a (somewhat) St. Louis tradition of Pork Steaks and be able to come up with a unique twist on it by smoking them on the WSM. Most people outside of St. Louis have never even heard of pork steaks, but in the St. Louis area it's just as much of a tradition as toasted ravioli.

Typically they are grilled on high heat and topped with sauce at the very end of the cook. Was wondering if it would be worth it to try a rub or glaze and smoke them for a couple of hours. Any thoughts on this?
 
Derek, I've smoked too many pork steaks to count - they kind of blow folks away as they are used to the hi-temp grill and glaze.

With good wood and rub/glaze you can real good stuff. Remember the primary rule is "Have Fun"
 
Agreed. A good blade steak has enough marbling (or should) to withstand both smoking for a while and a finishing sear. I buy whole blade roasts and cut them myself (I like them thicker than usual). It's a good approach in my book.
 
I was raised on pork steaks and slow smoked is the way to go. I like to sear them on the gas grill and then throw them in the smoker for 2 hours. Melt in your mouth goodness.

The world would be a better place if everyone had pork steaks.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by K Kruger:
I buy whole blade roasts and cut them myself </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Any other name they would call/list them as?
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Branon S.:
I was raised on pork steaks and slow smoked is the way to go. I like to sear them on the gas grill and then throw them in the smoker for 2 hours. Melt in your mouth goodness.

The world would be a better place if everyone had pork steaks. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I have been able to get decent results with 90 minutes but you are right. Low and slow makes the best pork steak.
It an amazing difference from grilling.
 
What's funny is I've only cooked pork steaks maybe three times in the last three years. Whereas prior to getting the WSMs I probably cooked em up two or three times a month! Around here that IS barbecue! Burn up a family pack of pork steaks on the grill then throw em in a stockpot with a gallon of Maull's, simmer for an hour or so and serve. For as funky as it sounds, it was actually ... not bad.
Speaking of big pork steaks, last year I had the wife pick me up a whole butt, cut into thick steaks. When she got home and I looked at the steaks .... they were HUGE! Probably two inches thick and a pound and a half each. We cooked them during the Jeff City comp last year (aka Winterfest). Smoked em for about 4 hrs, then over the next hour or so I kept applying a thin glaze of sauce. Man they were soooooo good! Definately not your typical pork steak.

To put it in perspective, I believe there's a law that if you run a Q-joint in the StL metro area, you MUST sell pork steaks. That, or face the consequences.
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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Rick Kramer:
To put it in perspective, I believe there's a law that if you run a Q-joint in the StL metro area, you MUST sell pork steaks. That, or face the consequences.
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</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I don't know if it is the law, but since most folks in St. L think of pork steaks as barbecue, if you have a q joint in the StL Metro most of your customers will ask for Pork Steaks.

The Pork Steak that they serve at Penney's BBQ in South county is about half a butt - just absolutely huge!
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Oh no, Derek, you don't EVER want to smoke pork steaks! You'll just wind up with something like this:



Don't those look just awful?
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Brad
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Bryan S:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by K Kruger:
I buy whole blade roasts and cut them myself </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Any other name they would call/list them as? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>Pork shoulder steaks. Blade steaks are cut from the shoulder (butt).

Some retailers differentiate like this: a whole shoulder, minus picnic and neck meat but not otherwise trimmed is called a 'butt'--which is what I call it, and you probably too. (Some call it a whole blade roast; not me.) The boneless version of this I (you, no doubt, and many retailers) call boneless butt.
(Some call it a boneless blade roast; not me.)

If you take the same bone-in butt but trim it--remove the false cap, extraneous fat, and square it up, that, to many (including me) is a whole blade roast. I see this sort of trimmed butt called 'butt' in many places, blade roast (or shoulder roast) in many places too. (Where I live no one trims whole butts like this. They might cut them into several smaller hunks and call them 'boneless shoulder roasts' or just 'butt', but no one around here makes whole butts pretty.)

But, actually, what I was referring to upthread when I said 'whole blade roast' is what many (including me) refer to as a whole boneless blade roast. This is the trimmed butt as noted above, but the meat separated along natural lines and removed from the blade bone (not just the blade bone hacked away from the butt as is typical in 'boneless butt' (think Costco).

Confused?

Then there are the pork loin, blade end roasts (aka pork loin roast, rib end, among a few other terms). These are sometimes cut into steaks too, though I've never seen anyone in St Louis use loin steaks for pork steaks.

I went to look for pics that would illustrate... lo and behold--the one that came up is the same one (in pdf) as Chris has here in the Cooking Topics secton. Go to Meat Charts and then the chart from the NPPC.
 
I like my pork steaks cut an inch and a half. Just wondering what type of time would they take? Do you think it is important to sear them? When I do my ribs I sauce them on the gas grill and it workds good for me. Would the pork steak work the same way?

Using a gas grill pork steaks would take me and hour to an hour and a half. I always cooked them on low heat and bast and turned during the whole cook.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by K Kruger:
Pork shoulder steaks. Blade steaks are cut from the shoulder (butt).


If you take the same bone-in butt but trim it--remove the false cap, extraneous fat, and square it up, that, to many (including me) is a whole blade roast. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Thanks Bud, this is what I was looking for. What cut I needed to buy to cut my own blade steak. I figured it was Da Butt, but wanted to make sure. Cool Beans.
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You know how I feel about removing the false cap....... not sure I'll be able to get over that hurdle though.
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