One day, we received a giftcard for Longhorn's Steakhouse. I forget the occasion, but that really doesn't matter for this story. On the particular day we decided to use this giftcard, Sissy was otherwise occupied, so it was just Neva, Joseph, and me. We had $50 dollars on this card and Joseph was determined we are going to have steak. I made it clear to everyone that we could each spend $13 dollars, leaving just enough on the card for tips. Needless to say, we didn't walk into the restaurant with very high hopes. We walked in, and, before being seated, asked for a menu. It was starting to look like chicken that night when I spotted one steak within our price range. We were staying.
The steak we decided to try was a flat iron steak. I had never heard of it before. It came out in an 8oz portion, about one inch thick. It is supposedly called a flat iron steak because it resembles the old fashioned flat irons of old. Much to my surprise and delight, it came out absolutely delicious. It was tender, like a filet, but still had the taste of a ribeye. This steak was definitely a winner.
Unfortunately, I could not find the flat iron in any stores. It turns out that this cut of meat is more popular, therefore, easier to find, out west. Just as I was about to give up hope, I was looking through the meat department at my local Kroger, and saw this long strip of vacuum sealed beef. Upon closer inspection, it was labeled as a flat iron steak. Even more importantly, it was about $9.50 for a two pound strip. That was just $4.75/lb. I convinced Neva that it was a necessary item for the grocery cart, and started salivating over the thoughts of grilling it. A few days later, that steak was sectioned into four 8oz pieces, and slapped on the grill. Below are the results.
Isn't that one tasty looking slab of beef!?! Trust me when I tell you that it tasted just as good as it looks. Now, don't go jumping down my throat, complaining about me putting way too much sour cream on my potato. My family does try to occasionally eat right. We stopped eating sour cream quite a while ago. What you see on that potato is plain Greek yogurt. It's taste is very close to that of sour cream, but without all of the fat. The steak is genuine though ... fat and all.
Update: A good friend of mine (we'll call her Melinda...because that's her name) told her that her butcher recommended the chuck eye steak as an inexpensive alternative to those pricier cuts of beef. I decided to check it out. It turns out that the chuck eye steak is cut from the part of the beef chuck that enters the rib cage and connects to the part of the cow where ribeyes come from. In fact, they are often called the "Poor Man's Ribeye" because they resemble ribeyes in taste and tenderness, without the cost. The main thing that distinguishes chuckeyes from ribeyes is that the chuckeye steak definitely has more connective tissue running through it. At $5.99/lb, I was certainly willing to try. I found a pack of six. I marinated them for half an hour in a mixture of butter and a thirty minute steak marinade.
After grilling these things, I can see why the butcher is so reluctant to let his customers know about them. He can only get 3-5 chuckeye steaks per cow, and he wants to keep them all to himself.
There, you have it. Two excellent alternatives to the more expensive cuts of meat; flatiron and chuckeye steaks. Enjoy your steaks, and stay fiscally sound.
