Blade Steak: What is it and What do I do with it?

Dear Home Ec 101,

I swear you had a recipe for blade steak, but now that I have one, I can’t find it. What do I do with this cut of beef?

Signed,

Chuck

Heather says:

Well Chuck, this image helps explain exactly where a blade steak comes from. It comes from the upper shoulder of a cow, near the shoulder blade in the area known, oddly enough as the chuck. The name makes sense now, eh? Blade steaks have a tough line of connective tissue running right through their middle.

Because of this piece of gristle, they aren’t a very popular cut. They are quite useful for any recipe that is braised which simply means cooked slowly in a small amount of liquid. Consequently, blade steaks work well in any pot roast recipe. The important thing to remember is to cross cut your beef after it is cut. Each serving will have a small amount of gristle that can be easily cut away.

Here on Home-Ec101.com these recipes work well for this cut:

• Wine braised shoulder roast
• Simple Pot Roast

Just recently, I found a recipe that involved cutting a shoulder roast into chunks and stewing them. I need to make it again, because I hadn’t bothered to photograph the meal and it ended up being fantastic. I’ll work on finding a few more recipes to expand this list.

Good luck with your cut of beef!

Tagged as: Beef, Cooking Basics