Deckle: a long overlooked cut of beef

[Pam R]

<snip>

but it's still has good taste, but if not slow cooked long enough to break down the collegian still is chewier.

To those of us who enjoy chewing out meat it can be enjoyable.

<snip>

You can say that again. Great flavour but after a long, slow moist cooking, still chewy - I'd say bouncy.

[HKDave]

I took a picture, though I'm not sure it's at all helpful:

Looks like a roast.  It's about 3 lbs.  We cut one up for a customer the other day (for stew) and it wasn't very fatty, and was rolled like a spiral (one long piece rolled up).

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Pam, I think that's a rolled chuck square cut (IMPS/NAMP 115) or maybe a chuck roll (116A). If when you unroll them you can see grooves where 2-3 foremost ribs used to be on one side, it's the former; if not, it's probably the latter. They're both essentially a rolled boneless chuck roast.

qrn, boneless short ribs these days - at least in restaurants - are most often chuck flap (116G), which is cut from one end of Pam's roast, above. This cut is a lot cheaper than real short rib, which is rib bones and intercostal muscle from either the chuck primal (130, and in this case it should be called chuck short rib) or the more tender and expensive rib primal (123). True boneless short rib meat is sometimes sold as 'rib fingers'.

Origin of 'deckle'... I am pretty sure this came to North America from Yiddish and/or German. I've heard it used to describe the fatty covering muscle on both rib and brisket in places like Montreal and New York, but it's less common elsewhere. Of the possible origins given here

http://www.doubletongued.org/index.php/dictionary/deckle/

the second - the diminutive of decke, meaning small covering - makes the most sense to me.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Recently I removed the deckle, spinalis dorsi, whatever you want to call it, from a small rib steak -- for the only reason that the whole rib steak was more than I wanted to cook and eat at one time. Now I am wondering what to do with the deckle. It is a pretty tiny chunk of meat, although I'd like not to waste it.

Any suggestions?

[Mjx]

I'd sear it, slice it thinly across the grain, and use it in a salad or wrap.

[scubadoo97]

Spinalis Dorsi, one of my favorite parts of a cow<br /><br />It's so nice and rich I'd tend to just eat it with little else to enjoy the texture and flavor

[Paul Bacino]

I call it the " Rib Cap" Far right pieces

I do a hot sear and finish in oven!!

Or make it into a rib Cap Roll

Here is the key to cooking this cut of beef,, for the most part, it depends on your meat source. For the most part this is a highly marbled piece of meat and you need to take the temperature of the beef higher than you would think, I usually finish to 145. This helps melt the fat and the cut will taste much better.

Paul

[rotuts]

Ah, yes the King of Beef has Spoken. We listen.

I see the rib cap as an upper extension of the sirloin 'tips' My Stop&Shop will cut me the sirloin tips as a single cut of meat which is my next project.

as it lends to stuffing.

what your view of this cap muscle as it relates to the lower sirloin tips?

Im eager to learn from the Master of Beef !

[Paul Bacino]

Here is a good example of what RT is talking about!!

http://www.beefinnovationsgroup.com/ValueCuts/round/data_pdf/fullSirloinTip-How_to_Cut.pdf

The lower cut of the Sirloin "C " I believe.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

My piece is small, but having just looked at it, not as small as I remembered. I think I'll take the suggestion to curl it up and pan broil. Besides, I have leftover hollandaise.

Thanks!

[mmille24]

Here's some more of the topic.

http://www.seriouseats.com/2012/05/meet-the-ribeye-cap-the-tastiest-cut-on-the-cow.html

[furzzy]

When get a rib-eye, my husband has the "eye" part & I have the "deckle" (as I've learned here that it's called) - I've known the triangle half of the brisket as the deckle. But whether we buy the rib-eye bone-in or not, it always has that piece. Wouldn't even buy one without it.

Whatever it's called, I take the deckle because it's the tastiest, most tender part of the steak (my spouse is always so good to me!) I've never found it to be "chewy" - in fact IMHO it's the very best bit of the whole cow!

Edited July 30, 2013 by furzzy (log)

[heidih]

It means lid - makes sense.

[sgruenstein]

Deckle is my favorite cut of meat cooked as a brisket. First seared on all sides on very high heat. It is much fattier than the standard brisket but much more flavorful. Cheaper too. Overlooked always as the fatty, cheap alternative to brisket but in my opininion much tastier. Need several pieces as they are smaller and less presentable than a brisket. Sliced cold and then reheated, it can make a beautiful presentation. The test is in the tasting and it is delish.

[Jaymes]

The deckle is certainly not "overlooked" here in Texas. It's many Texan's favorite part to order at our many barbeque joints, although it goes by a long list of names; as in, "Mr. Pitmaster, please slice my brisket off the high side, the fat cap, moist, wet, loose, fatty, deckle."

Or, if you're north of Texas, toward Kansas way, you ask for 'burnt ends."

And, by the way, it's not true that the deckle is cheaper in barbeque country. It's usually more expensive. It's most everybody's favorite part and there's a lot less of it.

It used to cost the same whether you ordered "lean" or "moist," but no more.

Now, if you want it, it will often cost you more.

[Norm Matthews]

This thread is about this cut of meat from the rib eye:  http://www.seriousea...on-the-cow.html

 

The brisket deckle is another cut of meat. And yes, brisket burnt ends are very popular in Kansas City.  They are different than the kind prepared originally at Arthur Bryants. 

[scubadoo97]

Spinalis dorsi AKA rib cap is my favorite part of the cow. I never see a full one locally but have visited a few online butcher shops that sell it. It's quite pricy.

A friend brought one to a get together and it was tossed on the grill briefly. It disappeared in record time. As fast as we could cut it into bit sized portions.

[Jaymes]

This thread is about this cut of meat from the rib eye:  http://www.seriousea...on-the-cow.html

 

The brisket deckle is another cut of meat. And yes, brisket burnt ends are very popular in Kansas City.  They are different than the kind prepared originally at Arthur Bryants.

Well, in the immortal words of Rosanne Roseannadanna, "Nevermind."

[flacoman]

I'd heard it referred to as the shell steak. Delicious any way you name it .

[Norm Matthews]

I have always heard of shell steak as another name for strip steak. 

[KennethT]

I have always heard of shell steak as another name for strip steak.

I've heard the same thing - but I always thought of the shell steak as more of a roast made from a at least a few inches thick of strip steak.

[Norm Matthews]

Different cuts of meat can have a lot of different definitions. I think sometimes individual stores or restaurants can be pretty creative and invent names at will. Last year I ordered a London broil steak and they brought me what I'd call a cube steak.  This whole thread is a good illustration of the many differences a cut can be called, but generally the differences between a steak and a roast is how thick it's cut.  The whole short loin is a roast. A slice of it that is big enough for one person is a strip or shell steak.  A steak can be pretty thick but if big enough to need cooking in the oven, it is a roast.  Also a Porterhouse or T-bone has both the filet and shell connected by the bone. 

Edited November 6, 2014 by Norm Matthews (log)

[flacoman]

I have always heard of shell steak as another name for strip steak. 

Bern's steak house in Tampa named it as such ,so I deferred to their kmowledge.