Did New York Steal Kansas City's Steak?

[Norm Matthews]

Calvin Trillin, the noted writer for the New Yorker, in 1998, wrote the article "A Steak Through the Heart" about his hometown of Kansas City It was hilarious and was about the fact that the steak originally known as the Kansas City Strip steak was now called in most restaurants New York Strip. Here are some excerpts.

In the 1970s some of the boosters hired a New York City public relations firm to persuade people that Kansas City was not a cow town....

Eventually they abandoned the campaign, ....Nobody thought the campaign had done any lasting damage; it's not easy, after all, to hurt the feelings of a cow. Then last week I read in the Wall Street Journal that the boneless... (steak)... known for decades as the Kansas City strip, a cut of meat invented in the Heart of America, is now on most steak-house menus as the New York strip--although in Kansas City outraged customers forced Ruth's Chris Steak House to correct the misnomer. In other words, once Kansas City had become accustomed to avoiding the subject of beef, New York snatched our steak.

In Kansas City I guess we are starting to buy into the hype too. Some grocery stores have New York strip Steaks and Kansas City Strip Steaks on the same shelf. Both are boneless shell steaks. I didn't notice but I would not be would not be surprised if the NY strip cost more. Anyone who knows beef knows that there is only one place both steaks are located on the cow. It is the large side cut from a T-Bone. It is additionally confusing because this steak has lots of other names such as shell, top loin, Contrefilet, hotel steak, Ambassador steak, Club steak, etc, but they were the first steak to be named after a place and it was Kansas City not New York.

By the way if anyone ever visits us in Kansas City, please refrain from asking us some questions such as

Where do you keep all the cows?

Where are the cowboys?

Is your home on the range?

Where does Dorothy live? ( My mom's name was Dorothy but she and Toto are no longer with us)

How often do you have to deal with buffalo stampedes?

Why is your airport in Iowa?

Didn't you used to have a major league baseball team?

Edited September 23, 2013 by Norm Matthews (log)

[rotuts]

Is your home on the range?

a personal FAV.

can't stop laughing.

got anymore?

[chileheadmike]

I'm from KC, and I often wonder why the airport is in Iowa.

[liuzhou]

a cut of meat invented in the Heart of America

Haha! Yeah. America - where cows were invented.

That part of the cow was been eaten long before America even existed. America only gave it a name. Not that it didn't already have several.

[gfweb]

LOL

Fly-over state has an airport.

[huiray]

Heh. That Trillin article was published in Time magazine, I just looked up the full article. (it's behind the subscriber wall now, unfortunately, as it is in the archives)

A couple articles to stir the pot:

http://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/12355/is-there-a-difference-between-kansas-city-strip-and-new-york-strip

http://goodtastebook.com/how-did-the-new-york-strip-steak-get-its-name/

Then there's this:

http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/trade/agr/standard/meat/e/Bovine_2004_e_Publication.pdf which talks about "striploin" but (of course?) does not talk about T-bone or porterhouse or KC strip or NY strip.

Professionals here - is this still current, does it reflect practices in your locality? (anywhere in the world)

(Yes, I know of the various pictorial charts/guides around, including the ones shown in *cough* Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cut_of_beef , which also quotes that UNECE report.

Hmm, what if you ask someone in Kansas City (which side?) about it and it happens that their home *is* on the range? (and that they just work in KC during the week, or some such) Besides, isn't "Home on the Range" the state song of Kansas? ;-)

I don't get the 'airport in Iowa' joke. 'Xplain, please? (KCI is on the Missouri side)

[annabelle]

Hey, now. OKC's airport is named after a guy killed in a plane crash. We have all kinds of HOF baseball players (Mickey Mantle is from the town up the highway from me) and no baseball team. At all.

[cakewalk]

Not only did we steal the steak, we stole Calvin Trillin!! (I never knew he was from Kansas City!)

[gfweb]

He has written nice stuff about KC meat and BBQ.

[Norm Matthews]

Huiray, I believe the Delmonico steak is usually a boneless ribeye. Gfweb, another article he wrote was 'The Best Damned Restaurant in the World" It was about Arthur Bryant's, a BBQ place that has served a few presidents. When Bryant died, the Kansas City Star had a cartoon of him entering the Pearly Gates and Archangel Michael excitedly asking him "Did you bring the sauce?" And yes, the flyover state has an (International) Airport. Makes it easier to leave.

However it isn't all that bad a place to live. Here are some images.

https://www.google.com/search?q=cowtown&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS503US504&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=lahBUqfGPNSxqwGWy4C4CQ

NOT. JUST KIDDING. Here are real images.

https://www.google.com/search?q=country+club+plaza&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS503US504&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=n6VBUoiSO9CNrQG774GgCQ&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1845&bih=895&dpr=1

https://www.google.com/search?q=kansas+city&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS503US504&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=TqVBUsDuNI7IqQG3y4GQCQ&ved=0CGQQsAQ&biw=1845&bih=895&dpr=1

Edited September 24, 2013 by Norm Matthews (log)

[gfweb]

I've eaten at Bryant's. Very fine KC BBQ. I lean more to the mustardy Carolina stuff but Bryant's was great. Esp the burnt ends.

[Norm Matthews]

Hoping not to further offend liuzhou, but Arthur Bryant "invented" burnt ends. He used to set out the shredded blackened ends of his smoked briskets for guests to nibble while waiting in line to order. They became so popular that they are on most KC BBQ restaurant menus now. I bet there are more burnt ends are served in KC than there are actual real burnt ends. I'd say Bryants original sauce was more North Carolina style than most KC sauces. It is or was a paprika and vinegar base rather than tomato base. The new owner may have changed it somewhat. I know he offers more varieties. Bryant only had the one sauce.

Edited September 24, 2013 by Norm Matthews (log)

[annabelle]

Norm, I'm perfectly fine with the idea that Flyoverlandia invented cattle. They certainly seem to have invented the cattle drive.

I've only been to KC once and didn't have time to eat any BBQ but it always gets fantastic press.

[Norm Matthews]

I hope I am not becoming a bore now but when the railroads sent spurs down to places like Dodge City and Abilene, Texas cattlemen ended their trail drives there and the trains sent them east. Kansas City was the perfect place to stop when the cattle needed food and water: it was the junction of two rivers, the Grain Exchange was here and meat packing plants for hogs already existed.

Since it was a center now for pork and beef, plus the Santa Fe, California and Oregon trails all began here and travel from the east and south was accessible via the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, it was inevitable, I suppose, that it became a melting pot for all the various BBQ styles from elsewhere in the country.

Edited September 24, 2013 by Norm Matthews (log)

[rlibkind]

If you haven't read Trillin's "Tummy Trilogy ", hand in your foodie card immediately!