MAD MEAT GENIUS

MAD MEAT GENIUS
Chilebrown at home

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

SPIDER STEAK


The beanie wearing bonafide hipster butcher said they are well known in the meat cutters world. We are talking about the 'Spider' steak. They also may be known as the "Oyster' or the 'Pope's Eye' steak. We are at the Clove & Hoof Butchery/Restaurant to explore a cut of meat that usually ends up ground up into hamburger. The Spider steak is located inside the hip on the Aitch bone, It is a little semi-circle of meat that is weaved with a web of intramuscular fat. I asked the butcher for cooking suggestions. He replied, this cut should be cooked similar to a flank steak. I paid dearly for this Mad Meat Genius experiment with a sticker shock of 25 dollars/pound.


This steak is on the small size weighing approximately 7 ounces. Our butcher verified the smallness and said they are usually bigger. We were on a mission and really only wanted to taste this Spider steak. The seasoning will be simple with a dusting of salt & pepper. The fire will be smoking hot for a quick sear on both sides. A five minute rest and we are ready to sample.



We slice the Spider steak against the grain into strips. Oh my! This was a flavor bomb in beefiness. The texture is similar to a flank steak but our specimen was oh so tender. Ms. Goofy exclaimed how much flavor this richly marbled cut has. I pined for more. This little Spider steak was small but huge on luscious beef flavor. What a shame this cut usually ends up ground into hamburger. If it were not for the twenty five dollar/pound sticker this would be a go-to cut of beef. Yummy!!!!!!


3 comments:

Chris said...

I've never heard of this little bugger. I'll have to see if my butcher can get it. For $25 a lb I bet he can! ;)

Chilebrown said...

Chris, Any butcher that deals with whole carcasses should have them. As far as the premium price of 25 dollars a pound it is a penalty you pay for Hipster take-over of a neighborhood. Granted it is quality beef, you are paying for exorbitant rents, the concept and good feelings associated with "Nose to tail' and possibly the hipster mentality of if it costs more it has to be better. Living in the Bay Area is a foodies paradise but it ain't cheap.

gplunk said...

I wonder how many $25/lb. burgers I've eaten?