Building A Flatiron

It's just a matter of time before someone on the Food Network says "the Flatiron steak is the new Hanger steak" or some other similar pomposity. In a blink of an eye this trendy cut of beef, possibly named after the famous building, is appearing in culinary magazines and high-end menus. The wife had one at a restaurant in Squaw Valley last September and loved it so I figured I better figure it out. The Flatiron building in Manhattan was designed strictly for skinny people I did the obligatory web search and learned that the flatiron steak is a "newly invented" cut from the chuck. If you look at a chuck blade roast at the grocery store you can supposedly see where the flatiron comes from. It is the segment of meat just north of the blade-shaped bone. According to the butcher at the local grocery store they only get two steaks from an entire forequarter, explaining its rare appearance in the meat case. He assured me he'd call me next time they produced a couple. He even took my name and number down on a greasy little notepad but three weeks passed with no call so I gave up hope. The Flatiron is section #1 Even though I knew I would somehow be talked down to, I had to ask the local independent butcher about it. There was no correct way to phrase the question without annoying him so I just asked, "can you get flatiron steaks?". His expression was worth a thousand belittling words. I could sense a little surprise, mixed with confusion at first, as if he had to think for a second to remember what a flatiron steak was. "Well...yeah...we can get it." I think catching him off guard like this initially put him on the defensive but he then instinctually went on the offensive. "To tell you the truth, we don't usually have them because, honestly, it's an inferior cut of meat." He went on to lecture me on the superiority of rib eyes and t-bones in an attempt to marginalize my interest in flatirons and, let's face it, to make me look like a stupid kid. So he was out as a potential source. Watch out for the center piece of impenetrable gristle I had almost forgotten about the flatiron when I came across a few packaged up at the forementioned grocery store. I fried them up for dinner a few nights later with dubious results. The flavor wasn't great and neither was the texture but I wasn't totally confident that I'd given the flatiron a fair shake. I had read somewhere to be aware of a length of tendon or some foreign, gristly body running down the center of these that causes problems and both of our steaks had them. I also let them sit in the fridge too long before preparing them. After this flop the flatiron was once again on the back burner.

Well-marbled and no built-in dental floss gristle running down the middle

A few months later the wife ordered one at The Hitching Post II and loved it. Withing a few weeks I saw them again at the grocery store. This time I found two well-marbled specimens free of any center gristle strip. At home I gave them a quick pound to increase the chances of a tender steak followed by a dusting of salt and pepper. Each one weighed about six ounces and measured a slight half-inch thick so I knew overcooking would be difficult to avoid. I heated the cast iron pan to smoking, poured oil in and seared away. I was able to get a reasonable crust on both sides while keeping them medium rare. While they rested I made a simple red wine pan sauce, in case the steak flavor was marginal.

Sliced on the bias, just like Bobby Flay and Emeril would do - bam.

The verdict - they were good. The texture was a little spongy but fairly tender. The flavor was nice but definitely different than a typical rib or loin area steak. You can't beat the premium steaks for flavor but the flatiron still tasted good and it was a nice change of pace. In the spirit of my fiscally minded friend Tony I'll point out the cost - about $4 per person. The wine we had with them, a split bottle of EOS Reserve Petite Sirah, cost more than the two meals combined. When a restaurant gets $25 for a flatiron steak entree and you can match it for $4 at home, I say don't leave the building. P.S. For information on the famous Flatiron building in Manhattan, check this out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatiron_Building