So Ray is doing what our clever producer
liked to name this segment a "Swap Meat"
M-E-A-T.
Because you're going to show and share with people
a pricier cut and something that's just as flavorful
that they might be able to get at a nicer price.
Absolutely.
Is that the gist today Ray? Yes.
And you know, Curtis actually runs a butcher shop
as part of one of his restaurants,
so you two boys just have at it.
Okay, love it.
Where are we going to start Ray?
We're going to start over here.
Here you have your typical became very popular,
the skirt steak.
With that popularity, the price also went way up.
So similar to the skirt,
this is called flat meat.
Not the most prettiest of names,
and to a lot of people this is a new cut.
But I would tell you it's really not a new cut,
it's a forgotten about piece of meat.
When I started cutting meat,
when you got Porthouse, T-bone and New York Strip steaks
there was a tail on it,
and a lot of people would tell you that was
one of their favorite parts.
This is those tails because it became a center cut world,
so now you go to the store and you don't see
those tails on the steaks,
That's where it went.
Now this is what this is.
So this is coming back as a cut because it is very similar
in consistency and texture as the skirt steak.
It's not a real dense piece of meat
so marinates really well,
similar to a skirt or hanger steak,
okay it will have that nice flavor coming from the sirloin.
It comes from right here, right,
so you have that nice strong robust beef flavor to it,
again because it marinates so well,
and then you see it actually even resembles it,
and you would use it just like a hanger or a skirt,
cut it the same way against the grain.
And hanger's really pricey too because
it's all the bistro steak.
People see hanger steak on all the fancy, right?
Exactly, like I said, that's where the name
helps keep the price down.
Right, the thing I love about it is that
you can cook it as a steak like you would a skirt,
but you can also slice it up
and use it for fajitas or something like that
where you add a marinade and you cook it fast.
Very quick cooking so it comes out really well,
and it's like half the price of what a skirt steak is.
Beautiful!
Good tip.
Great tip.
Cold weather, braising short ribs,
So popular this time of year of course.
January, February, early March,
everybody wants to make braised short ribs.
And again, the short ribs have gotten very expensive
as the years have gone by.
Now a lot of people don't realize when it comes to beef,
the beef hind shank will react the same way.
You braise that,
and again people don't put the connection together
but they've been going to restaurants
and eating that fancy Osso Bucco meal,
Osso Bucco is delicious.
Which is just veal hind shank that everybody refers to,
and now they're doing it with pork
and calling the pork hind shank Pork Osso Bucco,
but the beef would be the same way.
You braise it and the meat breaks down to be really tender,
Super flavorful.
Very flavorful, and then because you have
the nice femur bone with the big center of marrow
you get that richness from the marrow.
And the gelatin in the sauce, yeah.
So again for a couple dollars less a pound--
I actually would prefer that.
You can utilize this instead of the short ribs
and still come out with a great tasting meal.
That's great advice!
Great advice.
Not only is that less expensive,
but I believe that's actually more flavorful
because you get the marrow going.
Oh absolutely.
Yeah, for sure.
Also great for soups.
Fabulous.
And here's the big one.
Filet mignon.
Everybody loves the filet mignon.
Oh yeah, but you don't like the price!
The price is more like (screams).
And we all know how expensive that is.
Well, it turns out that in the chuck,
and years ago we'd just use this piece for stew,
until they started really looking at these different cuts,
and this is the petite tender,
They call this the petite--
AKA the petite filet.
Yes.
So much better price you're gonna be like,
"Duh, why didn't I know that before?"
You're talking half the price of the filet.
Literally half the price.
But it has that same softness.
It's not a very used muscle so it's very soft.
You see it's light in color.
It's protected and the same thing,
you trim the silver skin, it's beautiful.
And then like I said,
it's about the size of a pork filet.
And then when I cut it you can see,
it looks just like filet mignon.
Same smooth, same flavor, at half the price.
(audience cheering)