The Chronicles of Chuck

[crinoidgirl]

I knew I was having trouble followng.  I think it was the reference to a nice little pot roast that threw me off.

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Woof, yeah, I had trouble following, until I noticed the difference in scale.

Look at the width of the wood pieces in the cutting board - the difference between the two pics.

That little pot roast looked a lot bigger in the first pic!

V

[Dave the Cook]

crinoidgirl and saturnbar, I see what you mean, and I apologize. I'll try to include more scale clues in future installments.

The resulting pot roast is about a pound and a half -- good for two peeps with some leftovers for the next day's lunch, or a crispy hash dinner a few days afterward.

[crinoidgirl]

crinoidgirl and saturnbar, I see what you mean, and I apologize. I'll try to include more scale clues in future installments.

The resulting pot roast is about a pound and a half -- good for two peeps with some leftovers for the next day's lunch, or a crispy hash dinner a few days afterward.

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Right now I'm sitting here in MI trying to upload some work on my laptop, and getting distracted on my main computer by those pretty pics.

Would LOVE to have that chuck eye to eat raw right now!

[Peter the eater]

This is really interesting and useful stuff. I've been visiting the Bovine Myology site for a year or two and there's always so much more to learn. While browsing through some of the graphs I had a (possibly stupid) idea:

Instead of shoving limbs and carcass through the band saw the traditional butcher way, why not excise individual muscles from the cow's body. Cut through the origin and insertion points and remove for consumption. I realize some muscles are too small or irregular in shape but there must be some culinary advantage in having an entire intact muscle to work with.

Aren't some muscles - like tenderloin or backstrap - cut out this way? Would it be practical to treat a shoulder this way?

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I spoke to a butcher today who had done something similar with a veal calf's leg. He brought the limb to a Veterinary College for a lab where the students simply took the whole thing apart from hip to hoof to study the gross anatomy. Nobody ate their homework but we figured it would be one way to isolate pure red meat without the connective tissue and gristly bits.

[judiu]

crinoidgirl and saturnbar, I see what you mean, and I apologize. I'll try to include more scale clues in future installments.

The resulting pot roast is about a pound and a half -- good for two peeps with some leftovers for the next day's lunch, or a crispy hash dinner a few days afterward.

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Right now I'm sitting here in MI trying to upload some work on my laptop, and getting distracted on my main computer by those pretty pics.

Would LOVE to have that chuck eye to eat raw right now!

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OMG, steak tartare! My mom had me eating raw hamburger meat at age 2; my first food love!

[JTravel]

Because of this thread I went searching for Chuck Eyes which I had never heard of. Found them at Wegmans (I swear they weren't there before) for $4.49 a pound in vac pack several month ago. Now they are $3.69.

I cooked up one for Valentine's dinner. It was about a pound and a half, I sliced it in half, trimmed just a bit of fat, tied it, salted it, rested it , forgot to dry it. Sauteed it in a bit of oil and the trimmed fat. One string fell off but I got the surface of each one nice and brown. Then added a bit of butter, basted. Excellent. Portions were very large so there will be tasty leftovers. Better than grilling I think though I would try it again when it warms up.

[col klink]

I've been experimenting with chuck-eyes for almost six years now and without a doubt, they're my favorite -- they're just as succulent and tender as rib-eyes but they taste like beef.

In general, the two most valuable criteria that I look for in a successful steak is beefiness with a good crust and the chuck-eye lends itself well to to that effect. Since these steaks come with a roughly 1" thickness they're perfect for pan searing in the home kitchen. I don't have professional kitchen so I can't get a good crust on a thin steak like you can at a Ruth's, et al.

To get even a beefier flavor I do half salt/half MSG rub for up to a couple of hours beforehand. However, if you do the butter baste the effect will be more diluted than without.

I've grilled these steaks plenty of times and as enjoyable as that is, I find that I don't get the crust that I can with my skillet. I also find that grilling takes away from the beefiness, or rather, that the steak doesn't stand up to the grilling. Not like a smoked brisket in which smoking brings out the beefiness.

But these are just my subjective preferences. For instance, I prefer to use my stainless skillet over my cast iron. I've done the butter basting before too (hint, add an herb to the butter for a subtle flair, c/o Malawry) in which case the cast iron will do better due to the lack of hot spots but in the last couple of years I've been dropping the decadence (dedecadizing) in my steak preparations. Not even dollop of Hope Creamery butter like I used to.

So I typically sear to about 3 or 4 minutes a side for a nice medium rare. I've been down the rare road but this cut and its delicious fat can occasionally get difficult to chew and it took me a while to come to grips that it's OK if it's not rare.

Side note: Hope butter is life altering -- it has a high fat content like Plugra but when you taste it straight you say "so that's what fresh cream tastes like!" The wife insisted for a long time on using utility butter for things like cookies until I made them with Hope. I proved conclusively that there is no reason to use utility butter which is now referred to as emergency butter. Oh yeah, Hope is only $3.40/lb at the Co-op. Hope Creamery.