Hanger Steaks

If memory serves me correct, this is where I first tasted a hanger steak. 

Several years ago on a trip in New York I saw something on a restaurant menu I had never seen on the west coast – a hanger steak. I was intrigued by the concept of an obscure steak, so with the encouragement of the waiter, I ordered it. Bottom line - I enjoyed its full flavor and didn’t mind the grainy, somewhat chewy texture.

The size and shape are very similar to a pork tenderloin.

My trips for work now take me only as far as Fresno so I had almost forgotten about the hanger steak until recently when I started seeing it appear on west coast menus. I ordered it at Route 246 in Solvang and it was terrific, much better than I remembered. A few weeks later I saw a scrap of paper on the meat case at our local butcher shop advertising “Butcher Tender or Hanger Steaks” for $8.99/lb. The butcher informed me that it comes from the diaphragm area of the cow and is close in proximity to skirt steak. This dispelled my misunderstanding that it came from the neck (courtesy of my waiter in New York).

I purchased two for the wife and I to enjoy as our Friday night dinner. Turns out what I got was the entire muscle divided in half with the membrane removed. Each steak weighed about 8 oz. They were so good that I bought two more the next Friday for a repeat performance. They were boneless with no exterior fat or silver skin and required no trimming whatsoever. I simply coated them in olive oil, kosher salt and pepper and grilled them over an oak wood fire the same way I would a normal steak. They seem to have the best flavor and texture at medium rare but the ends that reached medium were good too.

The texture and flavor are like flank steak or skirt steak. In fact, this is one of the most flavorful cuts of beef I’ve had after a rib eye or a prime grade steak. Last week I gave some a brief marinade before grilling them for tacos with my friend Brian, but I’m not sure it really improved the flavor. Much like some other newly popular cuts, the French have valued this cut for years and call it ‘onglet’. I categorize it with the flat iron, baja and the chuck eye steak as an undervalued treasure. Hopefully it will not be co-opted by the pop gourmands who start the food trend bandwagons that drive prices up. Maybe I shouldn’t have written this…