eGullet's Brightest and Best!

[maggiethecat]

I've read all you Big Smarties going on about Aesthetic Theory, the Big Bang, Leni Reifensthal, The Sopranos. Now for something Really Hard.

We were enjoying our braised short ribs (coffee, anchos..January "Gourmet") over polenta and started to talk about the meat one really sees daily at a (yes, some of us shop there!) Supermarket!

The loss leader is frequently round steak. Big red lean bloody round steaks.

What the heck do you do with a round steak?

Can't broil it, fry it, grill it, sautee it, boil it, roast it or daube it.

We have found only two acceptable uses. Pound it like mad and make oiseaux sans tetes/bracciole whatever. Or chop it with a knife for chili.

I would be fascinated with any eGulleteers's suggestion for cooking this inedible but wildly popular cut.

And while you're at it...how about the "Thin sliced"pork chops?

[Taboni]

I find it makes an excellent choice for Beef and Guinness pie, or any meat pie for that matter.

[maggiethecat]

Thanks, Taboni. Maybe Salisbury Steak?

[Taboni]

now why didn't I think of that...

[Jinmyo]

Curries.

[vengroff]

Chicken-fried steak with cream gravy. A staple of my youth in West Texas.

[Fat Guy]

Partially freeze it, slice it extremely thin, and stir-fry.

[Jaymes]

Actually, round steak was my Number One "Fall Back" dinner choice when raising a large family.

You can brown it (the whole thing, without slicing, chopping, etc.) with your choice of seasonings and grease/fat/oil in a large skillet with a lid.

Then dump your choice of sauce over (and it doesn't really matter what - whatever you're in the mood for, tomato or brown or mushroom or "ethnic" or whatever - homemade or canned), and some veggies if you like (again, whatever you're in the mood for - onions or garlic or bell peppers or chiles or tomatoes or carrots or celery) put the lid on the skillet, and let it simmer in the sauce until it's done and tender.

Serve it alongside/over a starch of some kind: rice, noodles, potatoes (or you can cut them up and add them during cooking), etc.

It's incredibly versatile and economic.

And delicious as well.

Edited January 6, 2003 by Jaymes (log)

[tommy]

Chicken-fried steak with cream gravy.  A staple of my youth in West Texas.

would one pound the hell out of the meat before making chicken fried steak? perhaps to the point where it was almost "ground'?

[Jason Perlow]

I'd go with all these suggestions and add one more:

Thai Beef curry. Slice up the beef per FG's suggestion and stir fry with veggies, but then put in a few healthy spoonfulls of green or red curry paste, fry it up a bit more, and then toss in a shot of thai fish sauce. Add coconut milk, then serve over jasmine rice.

[vengroff]

Chicken-fried steak with cream gravy.  A staple of my youth in West Texas.

would one pound the hell out of the meat before making chicken fried steak? perhaps to the point where it was almost "ground'?

Yes, that's an essential step.

[=Mark]

Slice thin and marinate in a mixture of 4 parts soy sauce, one part rice wine vinegar, chopped scallions, minced garlic, black pepper and ground coriander.

Skewar and grill, brushing with marinade after every turn (Make sure a crust of the minced garlic, scallions and spices builds up)

Serve as Satay with a spicy peanut dipping sauce (Natural peanut butter, garlic, black and red pepper, soy sauce).

[maggiethecat]

Thanks you all for your great suggestions. The problem we've had using round steak in Asian dishes is that the meat has to be well nigh frozen in order to slice it thinly enough. FG mentions this and we'll give it another shot.

And the marination.

Jaymes: Your post brought my girlhood Thursday night dinners back to me. My mother called it Swiss Steak, and indeed, it was a big favourite with us kiddies. She always cooked carrots with the steak and served it over mashed potatoes. (It would take thumbscrews to make my Foodie Mother admit it now, but I believe a pack of dried Onion Soup mix was part of the sauce!)

[Jaymes]

Thanks you all for your great suggestions.  The problem we've had using round steak in Asian dishes is that the meat has to be well nigh frozen in order to slice it thinly enough.  FG mentions this and we'll give it another shot.

I make lots of Asian beef dishes - pepper steak, stir frys, bulgogi, etc.

I find that if the meat is completely frozen, it works better - for what I'm going for anyway.

[Dave the Cook]

Chicken-fried steak with cream gravy.  A staple of my youth in West Texas.

would one pound the hell out of the meat before making chicken fried steak? perhaps to the point where it was almost "ground'?

Or you can ask the butcher to run it through the cuber.

My mother used to do this, but chicken-frying was too much work, so she just sauteed it and served it with peas and mashers. However, before the saute, she would trim the slivers of fat from around the steak and render them in the pan. No one cared much for the entree (even Mom), but the little crispy bits of fat were much coveted as appetizers.

I am also reminded of an old Mad Magazine bit (sung to the tune of Petula Clark's Downtown:

When eat meat,

But hate the meat that you're eating,

Then you've surely got

Ground Round.

Perhaps I should be ashamed for remembering this (not to mention Petula Clark, though she was quite the babe in her day), but strangely, I am not in the least.

edit: to correct typos as result of mandolined thumb

Edited January 6, 2003 by Dave the Cook (log)

[project]

  maggiethecat:

 

  Congratulations! You successfully passed the

  junk cookbook nonsense test where many

  cookbooks are seeded with blithe recommendations

  to get a romantic dinner by the fire with red

  wine and succulent juicy fork-tender Beef

  Burgundy ('Boeuf Bourguignon') made with 1 1/2"

  cubes of beef round roast. Congratulations!

 

  These recommendations may have been planted by

  the AARSSS -- the American Association of Rural

  Septic Sucking Services.

 

  Not very romantic. Better call out for a pizza

  or Moo Shi Pork.

 

  You're right: It doesn't work. Sorry Julia,

  Jacques, NYT, among others -- all of you are

  just flatly wrong. I repeat: It does NOT work.

  Period.

 

  Moreover, you did actually cook those recipes,

  right? And you got good results? Right? To

  your esteemed erudite elegant epicurean

  standards, right? You never just wrote down

  recipes because they just sounded good, did

  you?

 

  Been there; done that; got the T-shirt; many

  times. Have you? Really?

 

  Yes, I know: The 'belle lettre' types that

  run cookbook publishing want to have lots of

  photographs of landscape scenes from the south

  of France, dusty bottles of wine in old chateau

  cellars, picturesque pastoral scenes of old

  rustic farmers holding young pigs on leashes

  looking for truffles, communicate a fantasy

  emotional experience and not be constrained by

  times, temperatures, weights, volumes,

  viscosities, and the actual quality of the real

  results.

 

  I know that stuff doesn't work: I tried off

  and on for over 30 years.

 

  Finally I called one of the beef industry trade

  associations, and they kept saying to make stew

  from chuck, not round. No way were they going

  to guide me to using round in stew. Nope.

 

  Farmers? Yup! Stupid? Nope!

 

  It might be possible to make some progress

  starting with a LOT of larding and then

  braising the whole piece -- try Escoffier.

 

  I tried marinading and couldn't make any

  progress that way.

 

  But, for some possibilities:

 

  o Stew. I worked really hard on making

  stew from cubes of beef bottom round

  roast.

 

  The challenge is to get the meat

  'succulent', that is, flexible,

  elastic, moist, and tender. The

  problem is, early in the stewing the

  meat is too tough. Later too easily,

  and with nothing good in between, the

  meat is dark, hard, dry, and brittle.

  Realistic? Yes! Romantic? No!

 

  In the shortest terms I have two

  secrets: First, for a

 

  6.5-7.0 pound well trimmed beef

  bottom round roast

 

  include in the stewing liquid

 

  1 1/2 C Heinz distilled white

  vinegar

 

  Second, drawing from TX beef BBQ

  lessons, do the stewing keeping the

  temperature above 160 F so that are

  really cooking but below 180 F so

  that don't overcook the muscle fibers

  before the collagen has melted out.

 

  Then, stew for 24 to 36 hours.

 

  Then I've actually had decent

  results.

 

  o Roast. It's actually possible just

  to roast round, say, eye of round or

  bottom round. I used to roast eye of

  round routinely, refrigerate the

  result, and slice it thin for

  sandwiches. It was okay.

 

  o Swiss Steak. Top round steak is a

  standard source of Swiss Steak. I've

  had some excellent examples, but I've

  never done it myself.

 

  o Sauerbraten. Partly my ideas for

  including vinegar when stewing beef

  bottom round came from some

  traditional recipes for Sauerbraten

  that use beef round and vinegar.

 

[Suzanne F]

And while you're at it...how about the "Thin sliced"pork chops?

Tonkatsu?

[maggiethecat]

And while you're at it...how about the "Thin sliced"pork chops?

Tonkatsu?

You got it in one, Suzanne! That is the one and only purpose we have found for the thin-sliced pork chop.

[maggiethecat]

Dave: You utter wretch! I will be humming "Downtown" for at least three days now. However, as usual, you made me laugh, so all is forgiven. (Sorry about the mandoline wound. My husband wears its scars proudly. But then, he has run an index finger through a table saw.)

Project: Thanks for reminding me of the uses of vinegar for tenderizing. Hmmm...perhaps a "Swiss Steak" sauerbratren-style?

Ignorant Northener asking...and yeah, I'm sure there is a thread out there somewhere but I'm lazy. Chicken fried steak. I have never seen or tasted one. Is it breaded and deep fried? Can it ever be good? I'm assuming the good steak cuts are not used for chicken-fried steak.

[Jaymes]

  maggiethecat:

 

       Congratulations!  You successfully passed the

       junk cookbook nonsense test where many

       cookbooks are seeded with blithe recommendations

       to get a romantic dinner by the fire with red

       wine and succulent juicy fork-tender Beef

       Burgundy ('Boeuf Bourguignon') made with 1 1/2"

       cubes of beef round roast.  Congratulations!

 

       These recommendations may have been planted by

       the AARSSS -- the American Association of Rural

       Septic Sucking Services.

 

       

Project -

Wow -- I mean, regarding your somewhat unusual "style."

Are you beaming that down from the Mother Ship?

Edited January 6, 2003 by Jaymes (log)

[Dave the Cook]

My husband wears its scars proudly.  But then, he has  run an index finger through a table saw.)

OWW! Your hubby and I need to trade stories. I'll tell him about getting my hand caught in an offset printing press.

Ignorant Northener asking...and yeah, I'm sure there is a thread out there somewhere but I'm lazy.  Chicken fried steak.  I have never seen or tasted one.  Is it breaded and deep fried?  Can it ever be good?  I'm assuming the good steak cuts are not used for chicken-fried steak.

CFS is a great excuse for deep frying. I'm not saying it can be sublime, but with mashers and cream gravy, it can be very satisfying. I find it too much trouble to do it right at home, so it's on the list of things I eat when we're out ("The lady will have the truffled foie gras salad in balsamic reduction, tagliatelle with parsnips and pancetta, seared duck breast and dried cherries. I'll have the, um, chicken fried steak...")

I'd bet Jaymes knows a way to do it right.

As for "Downtown," I'm sorry. Couldn't help it.

[vengroff]

Ignorant Northener asking...and yeah, I'm sure there is a thread out there somewhere but I'm lazy.  Chicken fried steak.  I have never seen or tasted one.  Is it breaded and deep fried?  Can it ever be good?  I'm assuming the good steak cuts are not used for chicken-fried steak.

CFS is one of those things that can be a lot better than you might imagine. This sort of cuisine is often called "comfort food," a sort of hybrid kitschy/derogatory-but-in-a-good-way term. I don't like this description because I think it misses the essence of what CFS and it's country cousins are all about. The point of this sort of dish is that it makes the best possible use of cheap, commonly available ingredients. However, that doesn't mean it was just thrown together one day. If you have ten cheap ingredients around the house, or chuckwagon even, you can still make a thousand different combinations, and there are endless variations on those. A cook with a good creative mind can come up with the few of those that work at some level. The best of these become classics, like chicken-fried steak.

I haven't made CFS more than once in the last five years, but here's the basic idea: Save up a week's frustrations, get a big tenderizing mallet and let loose on an inch thick round steak. By the time you're done it should be about 3/8" thick and barely hold itself together as a steak. Soak in buttermilk spiked with tabasco for 20 minutes, then salt it and dredge in flour seasoned with cayenne, black pepper, or other spices of your choice. Dip in beaten egg, then back in the flour again. Pan fry, preferably in bacon fat left over from breakfast, turning once. Pour off most of the fat, add flour to make a roux, then add cream and lots of black pepper to finish the gravy. Serve with mashed potatos or french fries, if you prefer, and biscuits or soft yeast rolls.

You are right about needing a cheap steak. I've seen it attempted with better cuts, but that's just foolish. Chicken-fried sirloin makes no sense at all.

[Jaymes]

I'd bet Jaymes knows a way to do it right.

Yeah - like I'd admit it here.

I'm still recovering from the "canned sauerkraut" flap.

[maggiethecat]

Vengroff: Thank you so much for your detailed description of CFS, the recipe and its raison d'etre. Next time the hated round steak is on sale, we definitely going to try this. Buttermilk. Hmmm.

Jaymes: Any comments/additions, darlin'? Have you eaten one recently? A girl has to keep her strength up when debating a certain immovable object!

[Jaymes]

Vengroff:  Thank you so much for your detailed description of CFS, the recipe and its raison d'etre.  Next time the hated round steak is on sale, we definitely going to try this.  Buttermilk.  Hmmm.

Jaymes: Any comments/additions, darlin'?  Have you eaten one recently? A girl has to keep her strength up when debating a certain immovable object!

Acht-ooly, had one last night. At a great little roadside joint in Blanco, Texas - the Sunset Restaurant & Bar - on the way back from Mexico.

Yum.