Flat iron steak (US), butlers' steak (UK), feather steak (UK) or oyster blade steak (Australia and New Zealand) is a cut of

steak A steak is a cut of meat sliced across muscle fibers, sometimes including a bone. It is normally Grilling, grilled or Pan frying, fried, and can be diced or cooked in sauce. Steaks are most commonly cut from cattle (beefsteak), but can also ...

cut with the grain from the

chuck Chuck () is a masculine given name or a nickname for Charles or Charlie. It may refer to: People Arts and entertainment * Chuck Alaimo, American saxophonist, leader of the Chuck Alaimo Quartet * Chuck Barris (1929–2017), American TV produce ...

, or shoulder of the animal.

Origin

The origin of flat iron steak began with the

National Cattlemen's Beef Association National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) is an American trade association and lobbying group working for American beef producers. Advertising campaign National Cattlemen's Beef Association is the group responsible for the ad campaign run in t ...

's Beef Checkoff program in 1998, as an effort to reduce waste and promote beef, which was selling at a 25-50% discount in 1996 as compared to 1993. Dwain Johnson at the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences An institute is an organizational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes ca ...

and Chris Calkins at the

University of Nebraska–Lincoln The University of Nebraska–Lincoln (Nebraska, NU, or UNL) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Lincoln, Nebraska, United States. Chartered in 1869 by the Nebraska Legislature as part of the M ...

were given grants to help mitigate these issues. Calkins and Johnson focused on the cheaper parts of beef, the chuck and the round, to see if a desirable steak could be produced from either of these. The research teams at both schools found that the top blade of the chuck, specifically the infraspinatus muscle, contained tender meat, but there was a large seam of tough connective tissue down the middle that had to be removed. Removing this tissue was seen to be too much effort for value for meat processors to bother with, as it wasn't felt that enough meat would be recovered to make it worth the while. Calkins and Johnson found that, while cutting out the tissue did result in a thin cut of beef, it plumped up well when cooked. The NCBA started promoting flat iron steak in 2001 and in the early 2000s

Applebee's Applebee's Restaurants LLC. is an American company that develops, franchises, and operates the Applebee's Neighborhood Grill + Bar restaurant chain. The Applebee's concept focuses on casual dining, with mainstream American dishes such as salads, ...

put it on the menu, and the

Kroger The Kroger Company, or simply Kroger, is an American retail company that operates (either directly or through its subsidiaries) supermarkets and multi-department stores throughout the United States. Founded by Bernard Kroger in 1883 in Cinc ...

grocery store chain started carrying the cut in 2006. In 2012, sales of flat iron steak brought in approximately $80 million USD. The name ''flat iron steak'' comes from the cut's resemblance to an old-fashioned

flat iron Competitor for Canada Flat Iron was a First Nations lacrosse player who competed in the 1904 Summer Olympics for Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territ ...

The Cut

This cut of

is from the

shoulder The human shoulder is made up of three bones: the clavicle (collarbone), the scapula (shoulder blade), and the humerus (upper arm bone) as well as associated muscles, ligaments and tendons. The articulations between the bones of the shoulder m ...

of a bovine animal. It is located adjacent to the heart of the shoulder clod, under the seven or paddle bone (shoulder blade or scapula). The steak encompasses the

infraspinatus In human anatomy, the infraspinatus muscle is a thick triangular muscle, which occupies the chief part of the infraspinatous fossa.''Gray's Anatomy'', see infobox. As one of the four muscles of the rotator cuff, the main function of the infraspin ...

muscles of beef, and one may see this displayed in some butcher shops and meat markets as a top blade roast or informally called a "patio steak". Anatomically, the muscle forms the dorsal part of the rotator cuff of the steer. This cut is anatomically distinct from the shoulder tender, which lies directly below it and is the

teres major The teres major muscle is a muscle of the upper limb. It attaches to the scapula and the humerus and is one of the seven scapulohumeral muscles. It is a thick but somewhat flattened muscle. The teres major muscle (from Latin ''teres'', meanin ...

. Steaks that are cross cut from this muscle are called top blade steaks, or chicken steaks. To make it more marketable, the cut which makes up this steak, which has the

fascia A fascia (; : fasciae or fascias; adjective fascial; ) is a generic term for macroscopic membranous bodily structures. Fasciae are classified as superficial, visceral or deep, and further designated according to their anatomical location. ...

dividing the infraspinatus within it, has increasingly been cut as two flatter steaks, with the tough fascia removed. This method of breaking down the larger cut was creation of the flat iron steak as we know it today. As a whole cut of meat, the top blade usually weighs around two to three pounds; it usually yields four steaks between eight and 12 ounces each. Flat iron steaks usually have a significant amount of marbling. In the North American Meat Processor ( NAMP) meat buyers guide, it is item #1114D Beef Shoulder, Top Blade Steak.

References

External links

* {{cuts of beef Cuts of beef