I spoke previously about the many varieties of cuts of meat, depending on the country doing the butchering. In Israel, most of our meat comes from South America, so we’ve borrowed a few things from that region. Asado, from Argentina, is both a type of meal and a cut of meat. An Argentinian asado is a meal that consists of a progression of various types of grilled foods. The asado de tira is the short ribs cut, which we call asado for short, and which is what this article is going to be talking about.
Not to miss out on the irony, what we call asado here in Israel is what most of the English-speaking world calls flanken, which comes from Yiddish.
An asado (referring to the cut now) is known here in Israel as a #9. Cut from the plate section of the bottom of the ribs, it is a constantly worked piece of meat, which means that it is pretty tough. The piece that we get retail in Israel may or may not be bone-in, and may or may not include the flank steak. The piece I’m demonstrating on has no bones, but came with the flank steak.
The Whole Cut
Directly from the package, this asado is a combination of two different pieces of meat, without bones.
Separating the cuts
By following the seams of the meat, the flanken and flank steak are easily separated.
The Two Pieces
On the top, the bone-out flanken or asado meat. On the bottom, the untrimmed flank steak.
Flank Steak Untrimmed
The flank steak with the connective tissue. The thin white covering must be removed before cooking.
Trimmed Flank Steak
The flank steak with the thin connective tissue removed. This is ready for pan cooking, grilling, or marinating for a london broil.
The Asado
With the bones removed, the meat can be quickly cut up into meat for long slow cooking.
Cutting the Asado
Cut the meat in the same direction on the short side of the meat.
Ready for Cooking
The sliced asado can be further cut for stewing or braising.
Use the asado for chulent, boneless barbecue ribs, or you can even marinate them and cook them on the grill.
The flank steak makes a perfect London broil, but that’s for another post.
Yer jes' good at this. Thank you. You make even flanken look like a good thing.
even?
Never liked working with it. Maybe if I'd gone to the School of Marc Culinary Institute, it wouldn't have annoyed me so much. We'll never know. Now, I'm busy with Numbers 3, 4 and 8. :-)
What do you do with a #4?
Wine, olive oil, a head of garlic, thyme, salt and pepper marinade. I'm a simple gal.
Thanks for solving the riddle of the missing Flank steak cut for me. How big a peice of asado would I have to buy to get that peice of flank steak from it?
2-2.5 kilo. It came frozen. I'm pretty sure it was Fleish brand.
saw a teak in the US called oyster steak, also called shell steak, comes from under the London broil. Anyone know this steak. Please email me, thanks very much. ruchelk@gmail.com