Hello there, and Happy New Year! I hope the first few days of 2016 have treated you well!

One of my goals for the upcoming year is to really focus on getting better at the things I’m already good at. That probably sounds a bit silly, but sometimes I think we get lost in wanting to add new things to our lives, when we really should be working to perfect the skills we already have. I’m the kind of person who likes to be the best, so why not work on bettering the things I’m already pretty decent at?! For instance, although my husband continually tells me I’m a great cook, I know I have a lot of room for improvement—and I know exactly how I can channel my inner Ree Drummond.

At the tail end of last year, our ranch had two animals butchered, which we split three ways. The great part about butchering your own animal is having a freezer full of beef. The somewhat unfortunate part of that is the daunting feeling of “What am I going to do with all of this?” This isn’t a bad thing if you know how to cook it all; but that my friends, is where I fall short. While I know I’ve eaten every traditional cut of beef, I also know that cooking them all (on my own) is something I have not accomplished in my 25 years of life. Until now!

In an effort to keep my cooking creative (and my husband’s stomach full), each week or so for the rest of the year I plan to write about my culinary experiences with a new cut of beef. Some cuts will be repeated over the course of the year, but each cut will be guaranteed to feature a different recipe. I also plan on enlisting your help every now and then—asking for your tips, tricks, and fabulous recipes!

Join me on my quest for 2016, as I take on beef—one cut at a time!

~J

…not to be confused with Finger Steaks if you’re from the West. I’m from the Midwest so I didn’t know what Finger Steaks were until I moved to Idaho. Technically these aren’t the traditionally Finger Steaks recipe, so I’m sticking with calling them Steak Fingers. These Steak Fingers use Cube steak, whereas I believe Finger Steaks use Sirloin steak. Okay, best to just get to the recipe…

If you do an Internet search for recipes for Cube steak, a lot of times you’ll come up with Chicken Fried Steak. I call these the junior version of that.

Cube steak is tenderized, rectangle in shape and thin. It’s also economical and relatively lean as it comes from the round. I’ve actually been experimenting to come up with some other recipes to use this cut of beef. I admit, it’s one of the last used in our freezer, but it’s worth giving it a try.

Chicken Fried Steak can seem a little thick and bulky to me at times, so one night I decided to slice up the meat before breading it. It was definitely a good choice. These turned out delicious!

Even though this cut comes tenderized, slicing it helps break down the cut even more. I found the Steak Fingers to be really tender and easy to eat.

I dipped the meat in a egg wash. I used a 2-3 eggs with dashes of seasoned salt and pepper. You could throw in some cayenne or any other spices you like. This is how I love to cook. A little of this, a little of that. Fortunately this is a recipe that you don’t need exact measurements.

Next I dipped the meat into flour and the same seasonings. Then back to the egg wash and into a third bowl of Panko bread crumbs. You don’t have to do the second dip, but I love the crunch the Panko adds.

Into the oil they go. Try not to put too many in at once as adding the meat lowers the temperature. You don’t want to crowd them either and have them stick to each other. I just kept an eye on them and turned them when they were golden brown.

Oh my goodness; just looking at this photo makes me hungry again! They were so, so good.

I usually buy large bags of potatoes, but as a busy mom of four, sometimes convenience is the winner. I’ve found these Steamables on sale a few times and decided to give them a try. They were really good, and I did love how quick they were. 6-7 minutes in the microwave. Can’t beat that! They are easy to throw some seasonings on and serve right after cooking. I’ve also smashed them after they were cooked and put them in the oven to crisp them up a bit.

Feel free to pin!

If you haven’t tried cooking with Cube Steak, I suggest you give it a try. I’ll have a few more recipes to sharing using this cut of beef too. So whether they are Steak Fingers or Finger Steaks to you, these are definitely good to eat!

~Maggie

One cut of beef that isn’t talked about a lot, but is delicious and easy to prepare is skirt steak. This cut is sometimes called Hanger steak. In fact, it’s one of our favorites of the less utilized cuts of beef. Skirt steak comes from the plate or the belly of the beef animal. It’s great for making stir-fry or fajitas, or just slicing thinly and eating. Skirt steak isn’t super tender, but it’s flavorful. It works best if it’s marinated prior to cooking. Most of the time I just pour some things together to form a marinade—some spices, a little oil and some sort of acid like juice or vinegar. This time I asked my daughter to look up a recipe and see what she could find. She found one on the Food Network and it basically is everything I already used, but it gives some actual measurements. Here are the ingredients:

1/2 cup olive oil (I don’t use this much-more like 1/4 c.)
1/3 cup soy sauce
4 scallions, washed and cut in pieces
2 large cloves garlic
1/4 cup lime juice
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
3 tablespoons dark brown sugar or Mexican brown sugar (I used light because it’s what I keep on hand)
2 pounds inside skirt steak, cut into two equal pieces

The directions say to mix all ingredients then blend until smooth. We’ve actually made this recipe twice so far. We really like the combination of flavors in this marinade. It has a little sweetness, but with a kick. *The second time I made it I didn’t blend the ingredients, which I really do recommend. They combine better and give the meat even better flavor.*

This is what the skirt steak looks like. I usually slice it in two pieces. It makes it easier to fit in the plastic bag to marinate and it fits on the grill better. In the essence of full disclosure, we have a freezer full of beef, so I don’t have to buy meat at the store. I do, however, enjoy looking through the meat counter to see what they are offering. I did look at one of the local groceries this week and skirt steak was selling for $6.98/lb. I saw packages ranging from .87 lb. to 1.28 lbs. Two pounds of meat easily feeds our family of six.

After meat is split, I drop it into a large plastic baggie then pour in the marinade. I close it up tightly to get all the air out, move the bag around to coat all the meat, then place it on a plate in my fridge to marinate.

I usually marinate meat either all day and sometimes overnight. I try to plan meals so that I thaw meat first thing in the morning, then it can marinate in the fridge during the day so we can cook it that night. Sometimes I’ll prep a few meat dishes at the same time then all I have to do is grab them from the fridge each night and they are ready to cook. This recipe said to marinate at least one hour.

We have a gas grill so my cooking method was different than the original recipe. I took the bag out of the fridge to come up in temperature while I lit the grill. You don’t want very cold meat to be thrown directly onto a hot grill. I light the grill and let it heat up to 375-450 degrees. If you can hold your hand about five inches over grill for about 4-5 seconds, it’s hot enough. I put the meat on then I DON’T TOUCH IT! I want to wait long enough for the meat to get a good sear on the first side and not stick to the grill before I turn it. This usually takes 7-8 minutes, depending on the thickness of the meat. Once it is nice and brown, turn it over and repeat on the other side. You can use a meat thermometer to get an accurate measure. (For rare, remove the steak(s) at 120°F – 125°F; medium rare 125°F – 130°F; medium 130°F – 135°F.)

If the meat is browned properly on both sides, but not quite cooked enough in the middle, I’ll place it to the side and shut off one burner then close the lid to let it cook a little longer.

Once it’s ready (we like our meat medium to medium rare), I’ll take it off grill and let it rest on a platter so juices can redistribute. Then I slice it thinly and against the grain of the meat. (If the meat gets long and stringy, chances are you’re cutting with the grain.) Now you’re ready to enjoy!

 

I hope you try this recipe and enjoy!

We found the original recipe here at this link, and we adapted from it.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/skirt-steak-recipe.html

From our ranch to you, we wish you a fun weekend!