Secreto steak and other cuts of pork

[rotuts]

I deliciicious example showed up on the dinner thread

 

Google doesn't get farther than the name and how to cook

 

this though :

 

''   

 

so is this the deltoid muscle on a pig ?

 

what would  be the not-so-secret cut of beef ?

 

thanks

Edited August 11 by Smithy
Adjusted title (log)

[weinoo]

The only place I've seen it for sale here is Regalis...

 

Secreto

[rotuts]

@weinoo 

 

thanks .  makes sense 

 

what on the Toro ,the  Rib Cap 

 

cleverly becomes the Credo cap.

 

that's terrific , as a much better cut of meat 

 

esp on a higher end animal 

 

reaches its potential .

 

So  .....

 

what happens to this muscle on 

 

generic pork ?    

 

I( looked up pork rib eye

 

and found this :

 

 

its the darker meat boym of the chop

 

Ive noticed this darker meat on ' country ribs '   

 

pork of course , and its the tasty=est meat on the Pig.

 

 

 

 

[Margaret Pilgrim]

9 hours ago, rotuts said:

...the  Rib Cap 

 

cleverly becomes the Credo cap.

 

So  .....

 

what happens to this muscle on 

 

generic pork ?    

 

It's there.    On larger chops closer to the shoulder.    I always look through the chops in the butcher case and choose those with this cap.   

 

 

Edited July 10 by Margaret Pilgrim (log)

[btbyrd]

This guy seems to suggest that it's from the belly portion, just behind the spare rib bones. But he acknowledges that "there are a lot of opinions about where the secreto comes from."

 

 

Campo Grande, an online purveyor of iberico pork, also suggests that there's a secreto in the belly. But they also sell a jowl secreto. And something just called "secreto." So I don't know...

[rotuts]

@btbyrd 

 

thanks for that ref.   very interesting .

 

possibly its not just one muscle group 

 

but several , depending on actual butchering

 

and some ' marketing '  

 

after all :   its a secreto 

 

 

hopefully its a ' trim ' that isolates a muscle

 

than then gets the treatment  it deserves 

 

rather than its neighbors.

 

with attractive ' margins '

[KennethT]

Wild Fork is now selling secreto...

https://wildforkfoods.com/collections/pork/products/iberico-pork-shoulder-secreto?algoliaHit=true&variant=40135292059714

 

According to them,

Quote

This cut is taken from the shoulder blade of the pig,

 

[rotuts]

the videos cutting out the skirt steak on that pig

 

I do not know if the piece is the inside or outside skirt.

 

the second candidate seems to be the blade roast

 

which has two muscles connected by a thick ligament 

 

between the to muscles running throughputs entire length

 

 

both cuts from beef are very beefy and tender if cooked properly.

 

neither ofnthese two is the cap muscle

 

also delicious

Edited August 5 by rotuts (log)

[Duvel]

Imagine you are a butcher in a small Spanish town. You‘ve got a couple of odd leftovers, that you name secreto and sell to your non-regulars …

 

Some will figure out how to turn that into something delectable by chance („slice it thinly and fry or grill over high heat“ works on almost anything). 
 

No way you‘ll say ? 

[AlaMoi]

unfortunately, this issue is an obvious victim of "local" / "common" / "name"

 

bazillions of "same things" go by local usage names.

 

and "same things" is not identical to "same cut" - a definition of 'wide flat muscle cut' can pertain to a gazillion bits and pieces of an animal.

 

I've seen the same issue with "flat iron steak" - it was "recently invented" - uhmmm, the cow is not exactly "recent" . . .

and the variations offered on-line absolutely prove . . . . just not the same thing here . . .

 

Edited August 6 by AlaMoi (log)

[weinoo]

6 hours ago, Duvel said:

Imagine you are a butcher in a small Spanish town. You‘ve got a couple of odd leftovers, that you name secreto and sell to your non-regulars …

 

Some will figure out how to turn that into something delectable by chance („slice it thinly and fry or grill over high heat“ works on almost anything). 
 

No way you‘ll say ? 

Not that there’s anything wrong with that!

[rotuts]

all three candidates mentioned 

 

by my analysis

 

are tasty cuts.   and each may be a ' secret '  at that butcher.

 

Im just curious to know th actual muscle name

 

from each butcher

 

which brings m to :

 

what happens to the skirts of th Pig ?

 

inside //outside totaling 4 pieces of meat ?

 

very very few butchers these days butcher a whole hog.

 

thy are factory processed.

 

but if you harvest a pig in the fall

 

probably by sending th pig out

 

are th skits kept by the butcher as a ' home treat ? '

[gfweb]

So secreto steak is either a mystery treat or a scam. 

 

I prefer the idea of a mystery treat that butchers have saved for  themselves all this time

[weinoo]

Check this out...Campo Grande

[gfweb]

20 minutes ago, weinoo said:

Check this out...Campo Grande

 

There's a link on that site     "Need cooking inspo?"

 

Good grief.

[weinoo]

1 hour ago, gfweb said:

 

There's a link on that site     "Need cooking inspo?"

 

Good grief.

 

What'so wrongo with thato?

[rotuts]

Idont think this relates so much to Spain

 

as it does to an area that still butchers whole or at least 1/2 hogs.

 

most meat in my area is butchered in large facilities 

 

and ends up as ' boxed meat '      cryovac'd large hunks

 

that are them broken down by vendor.

 

MarketBasket , Stop&Shop , RocheBros   all have active meat departments 

 

that break down the Hunks.    Beef  for sure

 

probably not pork.

 

in your area(s)   do they butcher whole hogs ?

[gfweb]

25 minutes ago, weinoo said:

 

What'so wrongo with thato?

 Besides  the general barfyness of it?

 

Someone who  is looking for "cooking inspo" generally is searching for a can of mushroom soup not $300 of iberico pork

[rotuts]

in @weinoo reference

 

a standard box of Iberico  has 4 cuts :

 

 

 

the secreto  is 14 - 21 oz  and the porkbelcy steak is  21 to 28 oz

 

  eliminating the chops and the roast 

 

so the secret is the smaller of the two diagonal thiner cuts  

 

thus 

 

 

based on the striated muscle fibers 

 

this is one of the skirts , the same one demonstrated in 

 

@btbyrd   excellent video reference.

 

so its a skirt.   

 

maybe @Duvel can find out which one , and what happens to the other.

 

[weinoo]

1 hour ago, rotuts said:

in your area(s)   do they butcher whole hogs ?

 

The butcher I use for high quality stuff does - if he's around next time I visit, I'll ask.  However, they make a lot of different sausages, so I wouldn't be surprisedif they don't sell it separately.

 

Regalis supplies some high-end stuff to restaurants and consumers. This page shows some of the Iberico cuts available...https://www.regalisfoods.com/collections/2023-spanish-iberico-pork

[rotuts]

one last thought :

 

you can figure out inside // outside skirt if you study this :

 

https://barbecuefaq.com/inside-vs-outside-skirt-steak/  

 

ive tried.

 

it just makes me dizzy.

 

 

[clarkvisits]

It's the muscle taken from shoulder side. 

[Duvel]

4 hours ago, clarkvisits said:

It's the muscle taken from shoulder side. 

As it was stated in the initial post ... can you cite any valid source for your claim* ?

 

___
* e.g. "personal communication from my good friend Jordi from Xarcuteria Felipe & Moreno in Canet de Mar" ?

[clarkvisits]

I dont know if this counts as valid source but look at these article for reference https://barbecuebible.com/2014/10/14/secreto-secret-cut-pork/  and https://www.secondcityprime.com/products/pork-iberico-secreto#:~:text=The pork secreto is cut,heavy flavor of its own.

[Duvel]

19 minutes ago, clarkvisits said:

I dont know if this counts as valid source but look at these article for reference https://barbecuebible.com/2014/10/14/secreto-secret-cut-pork/  and https://www.secondcityprime.com/products/pork-iberico-secreto#:~:text=The pork secreto is cut,heavy flavor of its own.

 

Well ... to cite the first link 🙄:

My conclusion? There is no definitive answer. A butcher’s “secret cut” may depend on the butcher. This Spanish anatomy chart confirms my suspicions by labeling three disparate parts of the pig secreto or presa de paleta (see the cheek, shoulder, and front loin).