Say flatiron to a New Yorker and a triangular building on lower Fifth Avenue comes to mind. But to a butcher? It’s a prized but underappreciated cut of steak that’s finally having its moment.
The flatiron delivers delectably rich beefy flavor and nice marbling to yield a tender bite, less grainy than flank steak, more succulent than hanger. It’s extremely versatile, excellent to sear or grill but also superb slivered and marinated for a Chinese stir-fry or sliced into a taco. It’s rarely recommended for stroganoff, which is a big mistake. And it can also be braised.
The really good news, though, is that it’s often half the price, or less, than the marquee filet mignon, rib-eye or strip loin steaks. As for tenderness, it’s generally considered to be second only to the tenderloin, against which it’s also juicier, with more beefy flavor.
“With cuts like flatiron you can give people a great meal without it costing a ton of money,” said Joe Carroll, an owner of the St. Anselm steakhouses in Brooklyn and in Washington, D.C. David Lowenberg has been serving it for years for steak frites: “Hanger and skirt have gotten more expensive,” said Mr. Lowenberg, who owns the Beacon and Bell & Anchor in Sag Harbor, N.Y. “Flatiron is delicious and costs less.”
Home cooks can expect to pay about $20 to $30 a pound for the cut depending on the market. Costco’s price is a rock-bottom $10 to $12 a pound. Even at Eli’s Market on the Upper East Side, it’s $30 a pound, less than half the price of strip loin. But it comes with quality more typical of costlier choices. It’s so budget friendly because it’s from the shoulder muscle, a part of the animal usually considered better for stewing than for a splurge.
A flatiron steak is a boneless rectangle of well-marbled meat, a scant inch thick, sometimes called blade steak. The muscle itself is a hefty hunk, suggesting a chuck roast, and great for pot roast. I have been happily buying flatiron steaks from Hudson & Charles, a nose-to-tail butcher in my neighborhood on the Upper West Side, and also in the West Village, for years.
A marinade is often used on the flatiron steak.Credit…Linda Xiao for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini.
But it was only after discussing the cut with Daniel Boulud, who also has flatiron steak on the lunch menu at Le Pavillon and plans to include it at his new Brasserie Boulud at New York’s Lincoln Center, that I realized I grew up eating braised flatiron, or what Mr. Boulud and the rest of France calls paleron.
For stews and pot roast it’s what my mother, for whom the flavor and texture of the more typical brisket wasn’t appealing, called chicken steak. And so did Anthony Bourdain in recommending it for his beef bourguignon. Why chicken steak? No one seems to know. “I have never been able to find out,” said Jake Dickson, another flatiron fan, of Dickson’s Farmstand Meats in Chelsea Market in Manhattan.
The singular drawback is that the muscle has a vein of gristle running up the center. Remove the meat on either side and you have two big flatiron steaks. When you slowly braise the whole muscle, or thick slabs of it sliced against the grain as my mother did, or cut it in pieces for stew à la Bourdain, the gristle is less significant.
At his new Brasserie, Mr. Boulud’s flatiron steak will come sliced with either a shallot and red wine pan sauce or prepared “au poivre,” a preparation favored at other restaurants, including Vaux Social and Lori Jayne, both in Brooklyn. Marinating first is in order at some. “It takes a marinade very well,” Mr. Lowenberg said. At the new Jack’s All Day on Restaurant Row in Manhattan, it’s treated with herbs, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, olive oil and tamari overnight before grilling. Elsewhere, a swipe of chimichurri or salsa verde is another typical flourish before serving. It’s the signature steak, rubbed with coffee and cocoa and finished with smoked chile butter, at Lazy Dog restaurants, a national chain.
At the some places, including St. Anselm and the STK restaurants, salt and pepper is all the steak needs before it hits the grill. Robert Liberato, STK’s executive chef, called it a “rewarding cut” that easily holds its own.
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