Chuck Eye Steaks - Finding Them

[Porthos]

Until the first time I started reading SnowAngel's thread The Cabin I had never heard of this cut. It was several years before I saw some in an ad for a local market. It was love at first bite. This week the same store had them on ad, in the Family Pack size,  so I went and bought a package last week. Put one meal's worth in the freezer and SVed the rest. I just went and bought one more package and again split it into two meals, one is now in the freezer, the other will be tomorrow night's dinner (or Thursday if I don't get back from Anaheim in time tomorrow).

 

I realize that there are only 2 Chuck Eyes per cow, but that is still 2. Given the amount of meat my local megamarts sell, I wonder what they do with the chuck eye steaks? I am going to do my best to start asking the meat cutters at the supermarkets what they do with the chuck eye steaks. Does anyone here on eGullet have any ideas/insights on why they are so hard to come by here in Southern California.

 

For me, marinated, SVed mediium rare and seared, they are a real taste treat.

[Anna N]

 Don't believe I have ever seen them in Canada either. I am lucky that someone brings me some occasionally from Wegmans in Buffalo.   It is indeed one of my favourite cuts of beef.

[Dave the Cook]

One of our favorites, too. 

 

There are more than two chuck-eyes per steer. The steaks are cut from the chuck-eye roll (NAMP 116D), and two or three steaks can be cut from each roll. I found this out by talking to a meat dude at a grocery I used to frequent, when I was looking for a chuck-eye roast (in many quarters, considered the best of the chuck roasts), and the guy said, "Oh, that's easy. I just won't cut the roll into steaks How big a roast you want?"

 

1) It's not quite that simple, as the link shows, but neither is it that difficult; 2) as it turns out, the chuck-eye roast is easy to find at kosher markets, but I didn't know that at the time.

[fledflew]

When I lived in Phoenix, the local Fry's grocery store (Kroger) would put chuck roast on sale a few times a year.  I would stock up on a couple dozen chuck-eyes whenever that happened at 2.99-3.99 per lb.  After I bought out the location, I'd go to other locations to look for more, but they didn't offer them at all.  I asked the butchers about it and found out that it was up to each location as to whether they wanted to offer that cut.  Apparently, some would offer it separately as a steak while others wouldn't separate it from the larger cut sold as a chuck roast.  My friends and I refer to it as the poor man's ribeye.  I do like that the chuck-eyes run smaller than a ribeye so it makes for a good meal without eating too much meat in one sitting.  I haven't really seen it out here in northern California since moving here a couple years ago, but I haven't been looking for it that hard either. 

[Porthos]

Talked to a butcher at Ralph's (Kroger). I can ask for them in advance. They put Chuck eyes into the pile for ground beef. Ouch.

[Anna N]

1 hour ago, fledflew said:

My friends and I refer to it as the poor man's ribeye. 

 Then I'm awfully glad I'm poor if not male!

[Dave the Cook]

Modesty does not prevent me from linking to this nearly nine-year-old Daily Gullet article: The Chronicles of Chuck.

[weinoo]

A dearly departed butcher (RIP Jeffrey) I used to frequent would sell the chuck-eye to me on request, to take home and grind for a really great hamburger. He would also sell them to Shopsin's, ground up for their hamburgers.

[Anna N]

12 minutes ago, weinoo said:

A dearly departed butcher (RIP Jeffrey) I used to frequent would sell the chuck-eye to me on request, to take home and grind for a really great hamburger. He would also sell them to Shopsin's, ground up for their hamburgers.

Sad. 

 

[rotuts]

can you get these at Costco ?

[lindag]

21 minutes ago, rotuts said:

can you get these at Costco ?

Not at mine.

I've never seem  this cut anywhere, but then I wasn't looking specifically for it.

This is beef country but so many cuts are regional and under different names, it can be confusing.

[TicTac]

Curious about this cut now.

 

I am a huge fan of Rib Eye, and my favourite cut is mostly deckle at the end of the Rib Eye.

 

I wonder how this cut compares.

 

Might have to ask my guy at Cumbrae's

 

 

[rotuts]

@TicTac  

 

love to hear what they say.

[Porthos]

I checked at Stater Bros and they had them for $8/lb. That's twice what I pay and I get respectable meat.

 

I actually was armed with one of Dave the Cook's photos to try looking at chuck roasts and spot the Chuck eye. That didn't pan out. Stickers all over the packages.

[IndyRob]

On 6/21/2017 at 0:14 PM, TicTac said:

Curious about this cut now.

 

I am a huge fan of Rib Eye, and my favourite cut is mostly deckle at the end of the Rib Eye.

 

I wonder how this cut compares.

 

 

They have a very similar flavor to ribeye, and even have a bit of the fibrous look of the deckle, but are tougher.  Still very good, but you're in for a little more chewing.

 

It must be a midwestern thing because I can buy them off the shelf at most of my local groceries.  Cheap too -- usually around $3/steak.

[Porthos]

21 minutes ago, IndyRob said:

... but are tougher.  Still very good, but you're in for a little more chewing.

 

@IndyRob Do you cook your SV or another technique. For me SV has yielded tasty and tender steaks.

[IndyRob]

5 minutes ago, Porthos said:

 

@IndyRob Do you cook your SV or another technique. For me SV has yielded tasty and tender steaks.

 

I've cooked them SV and traditional.  Haven't noticed a difference.  Unless you need to SV it a long time like a chuck roast,

[Martin Fisher]

I'm surprised they're not readily available in other areas. 

Wegman's carries both chuck-eye steaks and chuck-eye roasts.

[Porthos]

45 minutes ago, DiggingDogFarm said:

I'm surprised they're not readily available in other areas. 

 

My only guess is that since they are not a "pretty" piece of meat most people don't buy them.

 

I'm in my 60's, have been cooking for 50 years and, happily, still get to keep learning and discovering.

Edited June 23, 2017 by Porthos (log)

[kayb]

I dropped into Aldi today, to pick up a couple of things I always go there for, and glanced at the meat counter (hoping they will have eye of round on sale again, so I can get one and corn it). No such, but I actually thought I spotted chuck eye steaks. Until I looked more closely and saw they were, in fact, eye of round steaks.

 

Sigh.

 

[ojisan]

The Chuck is the front shoulder, next to the Rib section, and the cut called Blade Cut Chuck Roast, which is right next to the rib, contains a portion of the rib eye muscle. On top of the blade bone is the cut called the Flatiron, and the section below the bone contains the Chuck Eye. So the cheapest way to buy an Chuck Eye is to buy a Blade Cut Chuck roast, separate out the Eye (and the Flatiron) and use the remainder for chili or burgers. The hardest part is identifying that particular cut next to the rib section.

 

[I learned everything I know about meat cuts from a 1975 book by Merle Ellis called Cutting-Up in the Kitchen.]

[rotuts]

@ojisan  

 

Merle Ellis called Cutting-Up in the Kitchen

 

best meat book Ive read

 

you have to buy it used.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Cutting-Up-Kitchen-Butchers-Poultry/dp/0877010714

 

$ 1.49

 

 

[paulraphael]

The chuck eye usually isn't cut into a steak; it's sold as part of a chuck roast. You probably have to know a real butcher and work something out. I'm assuming you're using chuck eye as a synonym for the chuck roll? I'm thinking of the continuation of the ribeye muscle that goes into the chuck section. It's a bout a foot long, and can be cut into several 1-1/2" steaks.

 

It's simple if you're willing to buy the whole chuck section, or if your butcher sells the chuck roll separately. Then you have a lot of options, including getting a bunch of cheap pseudo-ribeyes out of the eye, and using the rest for stewing or braising or making a ton of chili. 

 

I've had the whole prime chuck roll dry aged and then cut it into steaks. 36 to 48 hours of sous-vide later, you have something that's about 90% as good as the best ribeye, for about $10/lb. You can feed 15 or 20 people with a chuck roll.

Edited July 2, 2017 by paulraphael (log)

[IndyRob]

18 hours ago, paulraphael said:

The chuck eye usually isn't cut into a steak;

 

 

I hate to disagree, but that's not true in this part of the country.  Not only are they routinely cut into steaks, here's an advertised special.

Edited July 3, 2017 by IndyRob (log)

[Martin Fisher]

Via Wegman's website....