Do you miss cutting into a nice piece of juicy, steak? Well, before you reach for those ridiculous hockey pucks they call “steak” in this country, or shell out a couple hundred shekels for ribeye roast, put a #5 Minute Steak Roast in your cart and fire up the grill, cause we’re having steak for dinner tonight!
Yeah yeah, there’s a big fat piece of gristle in the middle. So what?
If you’re just joining us here at Culinart Kosher, I recommend you take a look at a few previous posts regarding the general handling of a #5 Minute Steak Roast. It would seem that this particular item in the butcher’s case is quickly becoming the darling of this blog, however it is only a matter of economic happenstance, nothing more. They’re still twenty shekel a kilo around here, so it’s cheaper than, well, everything. And while I don’t take great pains to promote frugality on the blog, no one in their right mind would pass up this kind of bargain.
Interestingly, it is the Jews alone who call these Minute Steaks. The rest of the world called them a variety of names, including (but not limited to): Blade Steak, Book Steak, Butler Steak, Lifter Steak, Patio Steak and Petite Steak. They call Minutes Steaks a cut from the back of the beef where we Jews fear to tread.
The #5 Minute Steak Roast
By now you are familiar with this piece of meat. Fat on one side, thin on the other. The first thing is to trim away the connective tissue.
The Trimmed Roast
Your roast should be free from any connective tissue on the outside.
Squaring the Roast
In order to get nice, even steaks, you need to trim off the ragged end from the fat side of the roast.
Portioning the Steaks
The roast was cut at roughly 2cm intervals. I used a very sharp knife with long, rounded strokes.
Grilling the Steaks
The steaks were seasoned simply, with salt and pepper, and grilled quickly, about three minutes a side.
The Finished Steak
The steaks cooked in no time, hence the name Minute Steaks. These steaks can also be pan fried with the same delicious results.
The Cross Cut Steaks
The steaks don't dry out, because they cook so quickly and have a bit of intramuscular fat.
I portioned these into 100 gram steaks, at two per person, for a total of six portions. As a main dish, that’s about what you would expect to get from a whole roast. Three portions were grilled, two were turned into steak sandwiches, and one more portion remains for stir-fry or any other preparation that calls for fast cooking.
I realize now that I probably should have posted this before the Flatiron steaks article, given that this fabrication is considerably less complex. But I have complete faith that you will manage both preparations flawlessly, should you follow my instructions. And you can always reach out to me if things go awry.
A Note About Beef Trimmings and Frankfurters
This roast weighed in at 1850 grams. I trimmed the inedible gristle at a net of 300 grams, which delighted the cats. There is a small muscle on one side that I pulled off, and the chunk I removed to square the roast. These two hunks of meat, about 400 grams total, are now in the freezer waiting to be turned into sausage. These are the pieces that go into sausages. Not the disgusting bits and unmentionable parts that people think of when they think sausage. That’s nonsense. The pieces used in sausage are perfectly normal and respectable pieces of beef, simply trimmed away for presentation of the main beef product.
Enough about the gristle already! You don’t eat bones, you don’t eat pits… so don’t eat it! Cut around it. Seriously, I just showed you how to butcher a two kilo chunk of cow, and you’re going to get all icky about a little thing like that?