The beef clod or shoulder clod is one of the least expensive
cuts of
beef
Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). Beef can be prepared in various ways; Cut of beef, cuts are often used for steak, which can be cooked to varying degrees of doneness, while trimmings are often Ground beef, grou ...
and is taken from the shoulder (chuck) region of the
animal
Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Biology, biological Kingdom (biology), kingdom Animalia (). With few exceptions, animals heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, ...
. Beef clod is a large
muscle
Muscle is a soft tissue, one of the four basic types of animal tissue. There are three types of muscle tissue in vertebrates: skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle, and smooth muscle. Muscle tissue gives skeletal muscles the ability to muscle contra ...
system, with some
fat
In nutrition science, nutrition, biology, and chemistry, fat usually means any ester of fatty acids, or a mixture of such chemical compound, compounds, most commonly those that occur in living beings or in food.
The term often refers specif ...
that covers the muscles. The clod's composition is mainly three muscles: the shoulder tender, the top blade and the clod heart and is one of two chuck subprimal cuts. It is often divided into its three separate muscle cuts for retail sale.
Beef clod, along with beef brisket, is historically the foundation of Central Texas-style
barbecue
Barbecue or barbeque (often shortened to BBQ worldwide; barbie or barby in Australia and New Zealand) is a term used with significant regional and national variations to describe various cooking methods that employ live fire and smoke to coo ...
, as epitomized by Kreuz Market in
Lockhart, Texas, where the clod has been prepared since 1900 by long, slow smoking. Beef clod may also be prepared with moist heat or
braising
Braising (from the French language, French word ''braiser'') is a combination-cooking method that uses both wet and dry heats: typically, the food is first Browning (cooking), browned at a high temperature, then simmered in a covered pot in cook ...
.
Shoulder tender
A shoulder tender
also called beef shoulder petite tender,
beef shoulder tender petite roast,
bistro filet, rat or teres major steak
is a US cut of beef of the
teres major muscle
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 ...
from the blade of the shoulder (chuck). It is one of the tenderest beef muscles and is said to be "white-tablecloth quality",
being a similar quality to
filet mignon, but less expensive.
It is seldom used, as it requires skill to extract.
It is known as petite tender medallion, petite tender
or tender medallions if sliced into medallions (after being roasted or grilled whole).
It is shaped like a
pork tenderloin,
and weighs .
The
flat iron steak lies above it, and is distinct from this steak, as it is formed from different muscles:
teres minor and
infraspinatus.
See also
*
Blade steak
*
Chuck steak
*
Cuts of Beef
During butchering, beef is first divided into primal cuts, pieces of meat initially separated from the carcass. These are basic sections from which steaks and other subdivisions are cut. Since the animal's legs and neck muscles do the most work ...
References
External links
Contains information, recipes, cooking instructions and nutritional information
{{Beef
Cuts of beef