SC - Cuts of Meat

[ND Wederstrandt]

Melissa Martines wrote:
> 
>      I am cooking a Coronation
>      feast that will include grilled beef as one of the courses.

>      What cut of meat should I try to buy that would be relatively cheap,
>      but not tough?

This is kind of a difficult question. Without knowing what your budget
is like, and something about the personal tastes of your attendees, I
can only generalize. You are going to have a difficult time finding
tender cuts you can afford if you have a lot of people that like rare
steak (I like it still alive, more or less). My expatriate Meridien
friend Lady Gabrielle likes steak to resemble sun-dried plywood. Things
get easier if you have people that like it fairly well done, as a longer
cooking breaks down some of the connective tissue.

The best I can suggest is that something like whole, boneless top rounds
or eye rounds can probably be trimmed and cut into steaks with minimal
waste by your cooks, which will be more likely to get you a decent
product that you can still afford. 

You might be able to find whole short loins ( or loins with the
tenderloin or fillet removed, sometimes known as New York Shell roasts)
which can be cut into steaks, but that would presumably have to be done
by a butcher, which might cost extra money, and which might result in
much less edible meat than the weight of the primary cut indicates. It's
glorious meat, but there's a lot of waste, and the waste that you throw
away still costs 3 or 4 dollars a pound, if you know what I mean. Off
the bone, and trimmed somewhat, this is a secondary cut called a New
York Strip, often incorrectly called sirloin. This will run you
considerably more. I have almost no idea what it might cost far from my
locale, at an unspecified time of year. worth looking into, though, if
you have a big budget and a lot of other inexpensive items on the menu.

The same applies to boneless rib roast, cut into club steaks. There are
several variables that might indicate whether this is within your
budget, but there's no harm in looking into it.

I remember, when I was a kid, being fed both flank steak and skirt steak
pretty regularly, because they were cheap. Now they are fashionable and
expensive, for some reason. Both of these are great for grilling if you
can find them at a good price: they have almost no waste and don't
shrink much if they aren't overcooked. Also they have a nice, assertive
beef flavor, which is often lacking in eye rounds and even tenderloin
steaks.

Whatever you do, stay away from stewing cuts like bottom round and
chuck, unless you want to stew them and then reheat and crisp them on
the grill, which might not be too bad if everyone likes the meat really
well done.

Sight unseen, and everything being equal, I'd be inclined to recommend
top or eye rounds, though.

Good luck!

Adamantius  

 



>      Morgan
> 
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