Hi guys,

A couple weeks ago I tried a new cut of steak. It was cheap, about $6 for two medium size steaks. I wasn’t expecting much but the price was ok for a middle of the week quick grill.

WOW!!

What a surprise. They were tender when cooked to medium-rare and the flavor was outstanding. I had never heard of the cut (which surprised me, I thought I knew most of the cuts) and when I asked about them it turned out to be part of a group of cuts call Butcher’s cuts. These are tough or rare cuts that the butchers would take home to their family. Most people have heard of some of them such as flank and outside skirt (sold just as skirt). These (as most of us grillers have found out) secrets have leaked out & now we see a huge jump in price as they got popular on what use to be a cheap cut. From what I heard pork ribs use to be like this. The story on Memphis ribs is that the person who first did Memphis style ribs got the ribs for free from the butcher because the box cost more than the ribs did.

A couple more of these are still not widely know or even available. Hanger steak and inside skirt are hard to come by even at an old fashion butcher. Hanger is near the diaphragm and there is only one per cow. It is said to be a little tough but huge in flavor due to the kidney. Inside skirt is just what it sounds like. It is way above outside skirt!! If you ever get a chance to make fajitas from this cut, do it!!

The cut I just tried is the chuck eye. Seems there are only two of these per cow, enough for four steaks.

Any other rare/unusual cuts (not just beef) or game you guys throw on the grill?

Jim

The tougher the cut, the hotter I prefer the grill. A good sear on each side without a bunch of flipping and poking with a fork does wonders for the taste buds. A well treated flank/skirt steak is much tastier than a fillet. Overcook or dry them out and sometimes only the dog is happy.

Take care, Craig

We eat a lot of skirt steak and flank steak in my opinion these are the most flavorful cuts of meat but are tough. I get them cut very thin maybe 3/16" across the grain this makes the tough fibers short so you can eat it very easily. We usually make Fajitas or Carne Asada from these :D.

In case you did not know Lobster use to be a poor mans food ;).

Here it is:

Up until sometime in the 1800s, though, lobster was literally low-class food, eaten only by the poor and institutionalized. Even in the harsh penal environment of early America, some colonies had laws against feeding lobsters to inmates more than once a week because it was thought to be cruel and unusual, like making people eat rats. One reason for their low status was how plentiful lobsters were in old New England. “Unbelievable abundance” is how one source describes the situation, including accounts of Plymouth pilgrims wading out and capturing all they wanted by hand, and of early Boston’s seashore being littered with lobsters after hard storms—these latter were treated as a smelly nuisance and ground up for fertilizer.

Jim

You guys got me thinking about food history.

If you think about a lot of our common foods are ways to survive. Butter, yogurt, sour cream & cheese are all ways to extend the use of milk. Bacon was nor for the masters. There are even a lot of dishes which are haute cuisine were peasant food. Coque au vin was a way to eat a tough old rooster. Paella was a throw what ever you couldn’t sell in the pot dish for the fishermen.

In our country first on that comes to mind are mudbugs. The first person to eat a crawfish was one hungry dud. Over in the Pacific I heard tales of balut. You could not get me drunk enough to eat one but it’s a delicacy. Down in Mexico they have lengua.

Jim

When I was a kid you could get chicken wings for about 15 cents a pound. Now look at them.

But the waitresses shorts & tank tops make up for the cost right? Or do you just go for the wings?

Jim

There is no comparison between lengua and balut. Lengua or beef tongue is a triditional and very nice clean muscle, in tacos with a nice salsa it just doesn't get much better. Now balut, the last time I encountered balut was in a bar in Manila. This guy, a street vendor, comes in carrying a stick with chicken eggs hanging from it. I usually eat anything but when the guy at the end of the bar opened the egg containing a dead and rotting chick and grabbed it by the beak stuffing it in his face the smell hit me. I charged out of the bar clutching my stomach trying hard to hold onto what was left of my breakfast. Now I have travelled the world and I've eaten some rather disgusting smelling and tasting stuff but after thirty years the mere mention of the word "balut" brings tears to my eyes and they're hardly tears of joy.

No insult ment toward lengua. Tongue isn't one of my favorite meats.

Jim

The first person to eat a crawfish was one hungry dud. Over in the Pacific I heard tales of balut. You could not get me drunk enough to eat one but it’s a delicacy. Down in Mexico they have lengua.

Jim

I you think he was brave what about the first person to eat Osysters.:D