Hanger Steak/ Hanging Tender

The hanging tender is not very well known but those who know about it and how to cook it are always coming back for more. This is a muscle that hangs from the diaphragm of the cow along the lower part of the belly.  It does very little actual work and as a result is very tender and full of flavor. We wanted to test out a basic recipe to share with everyone to give you a bit of confidence in trying out this wonderful cut.

First, thaw the hanger steak in cool water or the refrigerator overnight. Trim most of the fat off and separate the two muscles so that you have two long pieces of meat.

Marinate:

Place steak in ziplock bag or sealable container.  Add 3 T oil, 1 T soy sauce, 1 T Worcestershire sauce, ½ T Rice Wine Vinegar, 1 T dried minced onion, 1/2T dried minced garlic, ½ T kosher salt, ½ T coarse ground bl. Pepper, ½ T garlic salt, (or your favorite steak rub seasoning).

Massage everything to make sure the steak is well coated and place it in the fridge for a minimum of 6 hours. (we always try to do it overnight)

Grill/Oven:

We highly recommend using a meat thermometer when cooking and grilling beef.  This helps to ensure that you do not overcook.  In our world it is a very sad day when beef is overcooked.

Remove the hanger from the marinade and allow it to come to room temperature while you bring the grill or oven up to a low 200-300-degree temperature.  

Place the hanger in the oven or on the grill until the internal temperature is 10 degrees from your finished temperature. (We did 120 degrees for a medium rare finish)

Remove the steak from the grill/oven and increase the temperature.

If you are using the grill increase temperature to 400-600 degrees (Basically as hot as you can get it)

If you are using an oven/stovetop use a skillet (cast iron would be great) and get it as hot as you can for searing.

Sear all sides to create a nice crust. Warning:  If you are searing indoors be sure to be prepared because it will create some smoke.

Rest: (Do not skip this step if you want a juicy steak)

It is important to allow the steak to rest for 5-10 minutes. (Cover lightly with aluminum foil.)

Then finally cut slices across the grain, serve and enjoy!

A few tips

• Cutting across the grain increases the tenderness and is a very important step
• The Hanger steak does not have a great deal of internal marbling, so it is not recommended to be cooked past medium.  Cooking past medium will cause the steak to become more tough.  Medium rare is the way to go!

If you are looking for something that is absolutely delicious, but completely simple to make I have the perfect recipe.

You want to start with one of our skirt steaks. Skirt steak is found under the rib cage and comes from the primal cut. There is more connective tissue in this area making the skirt steak seem a bit tougher than other cuts, but it holds incredible flavor making it a very popular. Lots of people and restaurants use skirt steak for fajitas. I have an incredible sweet and tangy recipe that was shared with us at the Healthy New Albany Farmers Market that is simply amazing! You just have to do a little bit of pre planning so the steak has time to thaw and marinate.

Our skirt steaks are typically between 1-2.5 pounds and come all rolled up. You want to start by thawing it out. If you are a planner put in the fridge 2-3 days before you plan to eat. If you are like me and planning a day in advance is the best you can do just submerge it in some cold water for 2-3 hours. Once it is thawed and unrolled you can trim some of the connective tissue, but I have found it is easier to trim after grilling.

Marinade:

You will need an airtight container to hold the marinade. I used a ziplock freezer bag for this one but typically like to use a glass pyrex dish with a sealable lid. Dump in the following: 1/3 C olive oil, 2 chopped garlic gloves, 2T apple cider vinegar, 1/3C soy sauce, 1/4 C honey, 1/2 t pepper. Add the steak and make sure everything is mixed together and the steak is covered well. Stick it in the fridge and forget about it for awhile. I like to allow it to marinate overnight, but 2-3 hours would be adequate if your time is limited.

Final step is remove the steak from the marinade and take it straight to the grill, cast iron skillet, or broiler.

A few important points to make for grilling. Skirt steak must be grilled over a very high heat and very quickly. You do not want to over cook this steak. Medium rare is best and you get that by getting the grill as hot as you can get it and cooking the steak for just a couple minutes on each side. Skirt steak will become tough if it is cooked beyond medium rare.

Serving:

When you serve skirt steak you also need to be sure that you slice it thinly against the grain. This breaks up the connective tissue making it very easy to eat and enjoy.

This meal has been an absolute crowd pleaser for our family. Pair it with some vegetables and maybe a baked potato and you have an incredibly delicious and easy meal.

Authored by Doug Baker

So you bought one of our unsmoked briskets and want to know to cook it? This post is for you, and while there are many preparations for brisket, this focuses on using it for a Texas style smoked/BBQ cook.

Every cow we butcher has 2 briskets. Each brisket is composed of two muscles. The muscles are commonly known as the point and the flat. A whole brisket will run 13-19ish pounds and since that is a lot of meat we often have our butcher cut them into smaller more manageable portions. The ones we used today were some of our smaller portions rather than a whole brisket (known as a whole packer brisket).

We first let it thaw out so we could trim some of the fat off. There are two muscles in a full brisket, and the grain runs differently but this method can be used on either of them or on a combination as seen in the photos. How much to trim is up to you and how much fat you want in the finished slices or shredded meat. I trimmed this one pretty thin.

Next, it’s time to season it, I generally keep it simple with salt, pepper, seasoning salt and garlic salt but you can get fancy with other rubs or seasonings if you wish. My suggestion is to keep it simple initially and let the flavor of the beef come through and don’t try to overpower it with seasonings.

While I was doing this I was letting my smoker come up to around 250 degrees. There is not a perfect temperature for brisket but any of the normal barbequing temperatures will work. I have had success cooking brisket on a number of different smokers, it does not matter which one you use as long as you understand how to use it. There are as many opinions on what wood to use for smoke as there are people who enjoy BBQ so enjoy finding out what you prefer. If your smoker requires a water pan, you definitely want to use it to keep a moist cooking environment.

I placed the brisket on the smoker and placed a temperature probe in the middle of the meat. I then sit back and relax while it cooks and just monitor the internal temperature. Once the internal temperature reaches 190 degrees I will begin checking it every 3-5 degrees for doneness. My test is that I can take another temperature probe and when I insert it, there is the initial crunch of the bark (or crust) but then it slides in like going through soft butter. At that point or when it reaches 203-205 degrees I remove it. During the cook you will encounter a time when the temperature plateaus or stalls out. This is what is called “the stall” in BBQ parlance and can be annoying. You can at this time wrap your brisket in either butcher paper or aluminum foil and it will not take as long. I don’t often do this step but many famous and competitive chefs do.

Take it in, and you can cover it and let it rest until it cools down to about 140 degrees. This will enable maximum juiciness and tenderness. Then it is time to slice it up and enjoy. As you cut it up you want to cut across the grain for maximum tenderness. You can chop it up for more of a shredded style also. The flat portion of the brisket is better sliced and the point is often better shredded or chopped up.

This is a simpler technique. You can look up other options such as injecting, mopping, turbo briskets, burnt ends, etc. They are different ways to influence the final product but to us a simple one tastes just as good as one that I do all the extra steps for. Left overs are great in chili, soups, tacos, nachos, sandwiches, portioned then frozen and then reheated gently days or weeks later.

I know spending that much money on one cut of meat can be intimidating but hopefully with some knowledge from here you and your family can enjoy it as much as we do.