Learn how to prepare the more uncommon cuts of beef.
Ordering a whole, half, or quarter of an animal can sound intimidating. When grilling, many meat-lovers love to impress family and friends with incredible dry-aged hamburgers. Who doesn’t love to take fresh ribeyes out for a delicious meal? Or cooking a tender filet for their better half?
If we had to guess, we would say we all love to have fresh meat on hand. But, what happens when you get to the recipe-specific cuts of meat such as the shank or soup bones? How about the skirt-steak and heart?
You can enjoy these other cuts, too!
Well, we’re here to tell you to stop stressing and to stop wasting these great cuts! We got you covered. In this next blog series, we are going to go over a few easy ways to cook up all the odd cuts of meat that may have once made your head spin. Watch out, though… they might become your favorites!
Here at Designer Beef, we don’t want you to waste any of your nutritious, dry-aged meat. There are so many health benefits to dry-aged beef, so be sure when grilling to use it all up and let your bodies benefit from its nourishment.
Once your cow at Designer Beef is at its goal weight, our team will contact you and ask which parts of the cow you’d like us to harvest. We would encourage you to try out some different cuts than normal, so you can discover and invent new recipes catered to your unique palette.
Here are several unusual cuts of meat they will ask you about: the soup bones, shank, liver, skirt steak, and beef ribs.
- Soup bones
Soup bones come from the shin – or neck area of the steer. You can use these to make bone broth. Because bone broth is so healthy for you, it can be used in soups, and stews, however it is also drinkable by itself! In the bones, there are many vitamins and minerals that our bodies need. Some of these nutrients include vitamins A & K, various fatty acids, selenium, zinc, and manganese. They also contain gelatin, which turns into collagen in the body and helps reduce stress in the joints.
We will soon be publishing a blog post on how to make bone broth out of your cow’s soup bones. Stay tuned to learn more about it!
- The shank
The shank from cows comes from beneath the brisket. It is cut from above the knee to the shoulder. Shanks are usually cut about 1 to 1 ½ inches thick, and they look like a traditional steak, but with a circular bone inside the middle. Because of the bone, and its marrow, they are considered nutritious cuts of meat.
You can make beef shanks into an Italian favorite, called Osso Buco. We will be sharing this recipe first with you in this blog series, so be on the lookout for it! We will also be sharing our personal twist to the recipe, so you can see how our guy Mike likes to prepare his beef shanks.
- The liver cut
Similar to us and other mammals, the liver is an organ of the cow. This, too, is high in protein. For example, in a 100-gram piece of liver, there can be up to 20-grams of complete protein, as well as Vitamin B, C, D, and diverse Omega’s.
Whether you enjoy it or not, it’s a controversial piece of meat, but we will still be sharing a tried-and-true recipe for you to experiment with!
- Skirt steak
Skirt steak is a fantastic cut that is often overlooked. This meat is oftentimes used to make amazing fajitas and can be so tender when prepared the correct way. The skirt steak is found on the plate area, which is located below the rib area on a cow. It always needs to be trimmed before preparing, as it is covered with a membrane that serves to protect the meat.
Once that membrane is removed, it’s ready to go! Your family will really enjoy the recipe we will share on this one.
- Beef ribs
Beef ribs are another great cut that will come with your purchase at Designer Beef. To start, there are basically two types of beef ribs found on your steer: the back ribs and short ribs.
The back ribs are what surround the prime rib, or, the ribeyes. If you choose to cut away the ribeyes from the bone, then the meat left on the ribs which protect that meat are converted into back ribs.
These can be very tender. Short ribs, however, are found towards the front of the cow. Aptly named, the short ribs are shorter than the back ribs. Again, we have a chef here at Designer Beef, and she has offered us her incredible rib recipe to share with you all in an upcoming blog post.
These are just a few of the alternative cuts of meat that are all options for you when you order your customized and designed beef with us. We hope you enjoy grilling all your delicious and healthy dry-aged meat. Make sure to have fun trying new recipes, and stay updated on our blog for more to come!