What cut of steak is this?

[Mosca]

Sold as Australian Wagyu chuck steaks of medium marbling. One is about 9oz, the other 7oz. I’d guess teres major, cut into smaller pieces? I don’t think it’s a flatiron, it would have been called that. No reason to not call it a teres major, for that matter, but who knows.

[Spinaker]

My first thought was TeresMajor as well.

[Jfrosty27]

Maybe a Denver steak? I’ve seen that cut on Porter Road and other online meat retailers.

[Jfrosty27]

And I think the Denver is from the chuck area

[Mosca]

Maybe a Denver steak? I’ve seen that cut on Porter Road and other online meat retailers.

I checked that, the cut of the grain is different on a Denver. They look damn good though.


​​​​​​​

[shify]

It almost looks like they squared off or cut a tri tip into individual steaks

[Jerod Broussard]

The "ribeye of the chuck"

[Jfrosty27]

I looked on the Porter Road site. These sure look like the flat iron steak shown there. But as you said, why wouldn’t they just call them that? Confusing. 🤷‍♂️

[Mosca]

I was looking for that piece of connective tissues that runs through the flatiron, I couldn’t find it on 4 steaks I have. I guess these could be top blade? Whatever. They’re probably really good.

[JCBBQ]

Very grainy. Looks a little like flap meat.

[Donw]

My first thought when seeing the photo was Flat Iron too. (infraspinatus muscle)

[barelfly]

That’s my thought. Flat Iron

[Mosca]

I asked the owner of the store it came from (Meat Artisan) and he answered, "chuck roll". Well, chuck roll could be anything, including Denver steaks. So I looked at what made up a chuck roll, and I think these are what are called Sierra steaks (no, I’ve never heard of them either):

“The chuck under blade consists of three muscles, the rhomboids, the serratis ventralis, and the splenius. The rhomboidius is extremely tough, so the first step is removing it for ground beef or stew meat. The splenius can then be detached from the serratis ventralis.

The splenius is a small, flat muscle with long, thick-grained muscle fibers similar to what you'll see in a flank steak. It can be sliced into steaks, which are lately described as Sierra steaks.”

And if you look at the muscle grain, it’s like a mini flank steak. I’m going to cook them like that, fast and hot. They should be pretty good I think.

[Jfrosty27]

OK! So now we know that! Let us know how they turn out.

[radshop]

I asked the owner of the store it came from (Meat Artisan) and he answered, "chuck roll". Well, chuck roll could be anything, including Denver steaks. So I looked at what made up a chuck roll, and I think that what these are what are called Sierra steaks (no, I’ve never heard of them either):

“The chuck under blade consists of three muscles, the rhomboids, the serratis ventralis, and the splenius. The rhomboidius is extremely tough, so the first step is removing it for ground beef or stew meat. The splenius can then be detached from the serratis ventralis.

The splenius is a small, flat muscle with long, thick-grained muscle fibers similar to what you'll see in a flank steak. It can be sliced into steaks, which are lately described as Sierra steaks.”

And if you look at the muscle grain, it’s like a mini flank steak. I’m going to cook them like that, fast and hot. They should be pretty good I think.

That is some quality sleuthing. Love it!

[JoeSousa]

Looks like you got it! Porter Road has some Sierra Steaks: https://porterroad.com/products/sierra-steak and those look pretty similar. I have had them before and they are good. Not the best steak you will ever eat but still tasty.

[treesmacker]

Looks like that to me!

[Mosca]

Hot cast iron, constant flipping to 120*. Taste is good, but these are tough, even cut thin against the grain. In fact this steak was hard to cut, period. I wouldn’t get them again.

[treesmacker]

Probably great if sous vide first... otherwise pass! Looks good though!

[DaveD]

Thanks for doing the experiment (so we don't have to)!

[Mosca]

treesmacker

​​​​​​​I’m trying something else with the second steak. I have it marinating in a black pepper marinade. I’ll try that one sous vide with a fast sear at the end, see if it comes out better.