Hanger steak tacos

[mitchamus]

Pitiful!

Butchers in the UK and Australia will call a 'hanger steak' 'Skirt Steak' It's the Diaphragm, and is usually fairly cheap.
(until it becomes popular like pork belly did )


and this is a pair of Horns from Darwin... not those miniscule ones you have in Texas!!



I used skirt steak to make Fajitas a while ago - awesome!

Skirt Steak Fajitas

For the Fajita Rub:

2 Tbsp Chilli powder
1 Tbsp Salt
1 Tbsp Smoked Paprika
1 Tbsp Sugar
2-1/2 tsp Chicken Stock Powder
1-1/2 tsp Onion powder
1/2 tsp Garlic powder
1/2 tsp Cayenne pepper
1 tsp Cumin

For the Fajitas:

1Kg of Beef Skirt
1 Pack of Tortillas
1 Onion
1 Red Capsicum
Salsa or Taco sauce
Fresh Coriander
Sour Cream
Grated Tasty Cheese
Juice of 1/2 a Lime

Prepare the Rub by mixing all the spices together and then rub the spice mixture into the Steak on both sides and set it aside.

Cut the Onion and Capsicum into strips and either fry off on the stove, or in a pan over your charcoal grill. set aside and keep warm.
(or directly on your grill if you have a flat plate)

Grill the steak directly over hot charcoal on both sides until well coloured and sealed. (aim for rare)

After the steak has rested, Cut it into thin (1/4 inch) strips across the grain of the meat, and squeeze over the lime juice.

Serve the meat immediately in a warm tortilla, and top with the other ingredients to your taste.

[salumi512]

I want to clear up what a hanger steak is in the US, and more specifically what I used in this recipe. It is not from the skirt/diaphragm/fajita of the cow. That wikipedia reference is inaccurate on several points. It does look similar but it comes from further back on the cow.

Here is the definition of Hanging Tender from NAMP (North American Meat Processors Association)

140 Hanging Tender

The hanging tender is a soft, grainy-textured, elliptical-shaped muscle approximately 7 inches long (180 cm). There is only one hanging tender in a carcass and it is found between the 12th and 13th ribs on the right side of the carcass close to the backbone.

1140 Hanging Tender Steak

This steak is prepared from Item No. 140 by straight cuts across the grain along the length of hanging tender to the specifications of the purchaser for size. The steaks shall be trimmed along the edges and top and bottom sides so that the steaks are free of any heavy connective tissue or loose fat. The steak is sometimes referred to as a "Hanger Steak" or "Onglet Steak".


I hope this helps clear up the definition of Hanger Steak as used in this recipe.

[salumi512]

Pitiful!

and this is a pair of Horns from Darwin... not those miniscule ones you have in Texas!!

Darwin is impressive. I saw him on a TV show recently, and enjoyed hearing the story of how that ranch shipped their Longhorns directly from Texas, to pay homage to what the Texas cowboy did for the beef trade internationally. So Darwin is only a generation or so away from Texas soil.

[saucisson]

Thanks for the recipes as to what to do with my bit of skirt

[salumi512]

Thanks for the recipes as to what to do with my bit of skirt

You can definitely interchange them in recipes, but hanger is much more tender than the diaphragm muscle (what we call skirt in the US). If you are using the diaphragm muscle then I would use an overnight marinade in the fridge.

[saucisson]

Thanks Salumi, I'll post up some pics tomorrow, and maybe you folks can tell me what it is.

[wheels]

Sorry lads, on behalf of Leicestershire I'm pulling rank here. Without our man, Robert Bakewell, you wouldn't have these superb beef breeds:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_f ... bert.shtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Bak ... lturalist)

On topic, I wonder if that's not what we call feather steak, that first picture certainly looks feather-like? Brican will know?

Phil

[salumi512]

Sorry lads, on behalf of Leicestershire I'm pulling rank here. Without our man, Robert Bakewell, you wouldn't have these superb beef breeds

Phil, this is cool information. You Brits certainly have created some specific breeds of hogs (and now I know cattle too). I like connecting all of these dots.

The Longhorn is not a marketable meat these days, and it was brought to Mexico and Texas by the Spaniards. They can survive in this climate with no assistance, which is why they are plentiful. But, they are tuff and stringy to eat, with very little fat.

The Texas cowboy did not do anything to define or enhance the breed of cattle, so that is all credit to others. What they did was define a cattle trade business by gathering millions of head and herding them from Texas to Montana and Wyoming in the mid 1800's to lands that were being settled and had no viable meat source. The law in Texas at the time said that any unbranded free range cattle were free for the taking, so whoever could get them to the northern states first got the millions of dollars that went with the sale.

This all stopped when fences were put up and railroads were built, but it was a critical era economically and culturally that had international impact.

Then came oil...

[Damo the butcherman]

G,day all,
I would call this cut 'belly skirt' this is usally found hanging in the beef forequarter, skirt steak comes from the flap off the end of the tbone/ sirloin. all the shops I have worked in have just put this cut into the mince,
Hanger steak I've learned something new today
Damo

[wheels]

The Longhorn is not a marketable meat these days, and it was brought to Mexico and Texas by the Spaniards. They can survive in this climate with no assistance, which is why they are plentiful. But, they are tuff and stringy to eat, with very little fat.

That's interesting, as one assumes that it was something similar that Bakewell started out with, albeit that the Texas Longhorn and The (English) Longhorn aren't connected(?); the (English) Longhorn was the first breed that he improved and are now very much sought after by fans of good beef.

(I've got where the hanger steak is now - it's not the feather which is from by the shoulder blade!).

Phil

[saucisson]

That's odd mine is labelled Hanger Steak (Feather)

[wheels]

Doh! The info I saw said that hanger was part of skirt and that feather was sort of behind the blade bone. Back to the drawing board...

Phil

[salumi512]

You can see from this picture, where the cut comes from:

[wheels]

Many thanks.

Phil

[SausageBoy]

You can see from this picture, where the cut comes from:

FWIW....
What that doesn't tell you is that the hanger is inside the carcass cavity attached to the last ribs, diaphragm and kidney.