Cube Steak
I will be up front with you… I am only including cube steak so I can talk about chicken fried steak later. I just wanted to get that out of the way up front. When I hear cube steak (aside from chicken fried steak anyway) for some reason I think of the 70s. I have no idea how a cut of beef can seem dated like this and I really have no idea if it was popular in the 70s. For some reason it brings to mind salisbury steak tv dinners and a swiss steak dish my mom made a couple times.
Where does cube steak come from?
Cube steak in some ways isn’t necessarily a specific cut. It is technically more of a method of taking a tough, inexpensive piece of meat and making it more edible. That said, most of the time the cube steak you see in the store comes from the top round. Located near the back hip of the steer the top round is a muscle that does a lot of work and as a result it is a fairly tough cut of meat.
A cube steak is a thin slice of the top round that has been run through an industrial meat tenderizer (sometimes called a “swisser”). The name “cube steak” comes from the cube shaped indentations these tenderizers leave in the meat. Sometimes a cube steak can even be “knit” together from a few smaller pieces of round steak. At first glance it kind of looks like ground beef.
How to cook cube steaks
You can use a cube steak for something like salisbury steak or swiss steak. Cuban cuisine has a dish called “bistec de palomilla” that uses a mojo type marinade with cube steaks. In the southeast and mid-atlantic states they have a dish called “country style steaks” or “country fried steak” that uses more of a brown gravy and usually contains a lot of onions.
Chicken fried steak, in my opinon, is the pinnacle of what a cube steak can be. This dish is a staple of roadside diners everywhere but they have perfected it in Texas and Oklahoma. Keep in mind, however, that in some parts of those states you will get drawn and quartered for suggesting a cube steak for chicken fried steak. Many times they will pound out a piece of round steak themselves and think that a cube steak is too “wimpy”. Tenderizing a round steak at home is definitely doable but if I were making a chicken fried steak at home I would probably just go with a cube steak.
Breaded, fried, and covered with a white peppery gravy a chicken fried steak can be a thing of beauty. Most recipes I have seen are all very similar. Here are a few that look solid.
Serious Eats – How to make the best chicken fried steak: They suggest using a sirloin tip but a cube steak is their second choice
Chicken Fried Steak with gravy: Lots of good pictures with this recipe
Chicken Fried Steak with Southern Style Peppered Milk Gravy: Any recipe that advocates adding bacon grease is OK in my book
Alton Brown’s Chicken Fried Steak: Again, he uses tenderized round steak which is what a cube steak is. The gravy is a bit different though.
The Pioneer Woman Chicken Fried Steak: Pretty straight forward Chicken Fried Steak
And as a bonus Ree Drummond has a couple other cube steak recipes that look pretty decent: Marlboro Man Sandwiches and Steak Fingers
Where to buy cube steak
Every grocery store should carry some cube steak. It is readily available across the country so you shouldn’t have any trouble finding it. Most butcher shops will also have it. If you buy some weekly meat packs from your butcher most likely they will include some cube steaks. Cube steak is generally inexpensive coming in around $5 or 6 per pound. You can find it cheaper than that also.
Like what you read? Be sure to share it with your friends and come back tomorrow to learn about another cut of beef.
