This morning chef Brett McKee and his business partner Steve Palmer led a group from their Charleston restaurant group to their Atlanta-based meat supplier, Buckhead Beef, to check out alternative beef cuts.

McKee and Palmer made their names at the grand, successful Oak Steakhouse on Broad Street in central Charleston and then opened the more casual and inexpensive farm-to-table concept, 17 North Roadside Kitchen, on the city’s outskirts.

McKee and Palmer were mainly interested in finding tasty but value-priced beef cuts to serve at their second restaurant. I came along to observe and got lessons in both restaurant economics and butchery.

As Buckhead Beef’s Chad Stine walked them through the possibilities in the 30-degree meat-cutting room, a butcher tore into vacuum-packed sub-primal cuts and went to work with a ferociously sharp knife to demonstrate the possibilities.

First off, the butcher cut thick New York strips — trimming away the fat cap, the uneven edges and the side of the strip that had a thick stripe of connective tissue running through the center. It was startling: the yield was four usable steaks; a full two-thirds was scrap. Hence, the $46 price for a New York strip at Oak Steakhouse.

boneless rib eye

Next, Stine and the butcher talked about better value with other types of beef. Cutting straight through the center of this boneless rib eye, we looked at the distinct muscles. Generally, these steaks are trimmed to contain the center “eye” (or Longissimus) and the “cap” (or Spinalis). But Buckhead Beef is increasingly selling a “filet” of the trimmed eye, which is cheaper than tenderloin and holds its temperature longer. It is also a fair bit tougher than tenderloin, so it should be cooked to a minimum temperature of medium rare.

rolled Spinalis

So what happens to the Spinalis? This rich and extremely flavorful muscle (as every steak lover knows) can itself be sold as a steak — either to be pounded thin and stuffed or rolled and seared.

The butcher then trimmed out these alternative steaks:

• Chuck flap: Also known as the paleron in French, this cut from the shoulder is the extension of the short rib and can be braised into shreddy tenderness.
• Top sirloin cap steak: Also called the culotte in French, this boneless cut yeilds three bias-cut steaks.
• Hanger steak: The now-popular “butcher’s cut” (so named because the butcher often saved it for himself), this long piece of meat is bisected by a strip of connective tissue that must be trimmed. Like the culotte, it has a great flavor and slightly tough texture, and is best cooked past rare. The French (who know their value-priced meats) called it the onglet.

We also looked at “pork steaks” cut from the shoulder, different cuts of boneless and bone-in short rib and both grass-fed and milk-fed veal.

It will be interesting to see which cuts show up on 17 North Roadside Kitchen’s menu.

Oh, and by the way, as we were touring the facility I caught sight of the “pork area,” mentioned in the last post.