Tonight I stopped by the butcher on the way home and picked up a couple of ribeyes for dinner. These were nice and thick and about 18 ozs each. As I was looking at them in the butcher case I saw two particular steaks that stood out to me for one particular reason: The Cap of Ribeye.
The Cap of Ribeye is the thin muscle (also called the spinalis dorsi) that is on the outside of the ribeye opposite of where the bone would be. In the image below you can see the arrows pointing to this particular muscle:
The ribeyes are cut from the rib primal which sits right behind the chuck and in front of the strip loin and goes from the 6th rib through the 12th rib. The spinalis dorsi muscle runs along this primal and you can generally get between 6-8 pounds of Cap of Ribeye meat per steer. To give you some idea how little meat that is and how special this muscle is you get about 12 pounds of tenderloin, 25 pounds of NY Strip, and 26 pounds of brisket per steer.
If you have a choice (ask your butcher) try to get your ribeyes from the anterior (aka front) of the primal as opposed to the back since the cap of ribeye will be bigger. These above are from the front and if you were to compare them to a ribeye from farther back on the steer you would notice the difference. This is one big reason I like getting meat from a butcher as opposed to the grocery store.
You will rarely (if ever) find the cap of ribeye removed from the ribeye steak since most people have grown accustomed to seeing it on there and the butcher would be left with a less valuable steak to try and sell. Don’t get me wrong the “eye” of the ribeye which makes up most of the steak is an awesome piece of meat by itself but having the cap of ribeye on it makes this steak even better.
The cap of ribeye is much more tender than the rest of the ribeye and texture-wise I think it is an awesome combination of a filet mignon and a skirt steak in that it is super tender like a filet and has the muscle fiber definition of a skirt steak. It doesn’t, however, sacrifice flavor for tenderness. It has a wonderful beefy flavor as well as a good amount of marbling which all adds up to an awesome piece of meat.
Like I mentioned earlier, you will probably never see this cut in your grocery store meat case and you would need to find a very high end butcher who could get you one or you can order online. Snake River Farms has them and while they aren’t cheap they are amazing. You probably won’t want to drop $100+ on a steak every weekend but the cap of ribeye is a special cut you should splurge on at least once for a special birthday dinner, anniversary, big promotion, or something along those lines. BTW, if you buy at Snake River Farms through these links I make a few bucks which allows me to buy more steak. It really is a win-win. You get steaks and I get steaks!
Another option would be for you to talk to your butcher, buy the whole rib primal (this is actually an awesome way to save money on steaks... more on this in another post), have them cut off the cap and cut the rest into some great steaks.
The next time you have a ribeye steak be sure to take a couple minutes to really savor this delicacy. It has a flavor and texture you won't find in any other cut of meat.
