Q & A: I did not see #22 on your chart. How can I prepare it?

A #22 is not twenty-two, it’s a two-two. Because meat in Israel wasn’t confusing enough.

A #2 is a fairly large chunk of meat, 3 kilo or more. Tzirchoni means “consumer,” or more loosely, “retail.” The meat processors in whatever far-away land the meat comes from take a #2 and cut it down to retail sizes, a kilo or so in weight, so that an average household can a) afford it; and b) do something family-sized with it.

So what’s the problem? Well, a whole #2 has lots of different muscles. Some are tougher and need long, slow cooking, while others are closer to a rib-eye in terms of tenderness, which means you can even grill them. There’s no good way to tell what you’re going to get from the frozen brick you’re looking at in the meat freezer at your local supermarket.

If you’re a cautious betting person, treat a #2-2 like a tougher piece of meat, and use longer, slower cooking methods, like stewing and braising. If you want to try grilling or smoking it, brush up on your knife skills and slice thinly.

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