What Are Steak Tips?

[Willy3000]

I can't believe I never found out when I lived back there. What are steak tips, or is that like asking what's in a hot dog?

[jfood]

My steak tips are:

- Buy a good quality cut for two
- Season well with salt and pepper
- Get a grill good and hot
- Cook it perfectly MR for me and Med for DW
- Grab some onion rings, a good ballgame, a really comfy sofa
- Relax with DW

AND ENJOY

[Rubee]

They're a regional thing. Locally, they're sirloin steak tips, or 'tips' or kabobs cut from sirloin 'flap'. From your other Boston posts, I assume that is what you mean by 'back there' in your question. Sorry, I guess I was confused as to how living in Massachusetts for years, this was a mystery as to what it's made of. Anyways, here's some info: Every grocery store has them in the meat case or butcher counter labeled "sirloin tips" whole in strips, or cut. I'm trying to find a picture. They're always grilled. In restaurants, it's usually served as marinated chunks of steak, old-school is over rice pilaf.

Here's one article on flap:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2005/03/16/FDG2BBNBS01.DTL

I guess the closest pic I can find is from that article - steak tips would be this, cut into kabobs instead of sliced:

http://www.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2005/03/16/fd_flapmeat_2.jpg

Found a pic of what they look like whole in strips:

http://www.cbef.com/products/Prod_Beef_Sirloin_185A.htm

Oh, and if anyone is interested, the best tips are found at a Chowhound spot called New Bridge in Chelsea. :

)

http://www.hiddenboston.com/BostonRes...

[RiJaAr]

so comparing a steak tip to a hot dog? ok, steak tips are just another cut of meat, like ribeye, or new york, or sirloin, they're just a cut of steak

[krushdnasty]

So these are not tips of beef filet? I use them (and have generally refered to them as "beef tips") for classic stroganoff, or a quick version of the Cantonese dish "Chinese Sizzling Beef" Usually you can get them *relatively* cheap, or reserve the tip area from the purchase of bulk filet of beef.

So... is this particular item refering only to sirloin tips, or also to filet tips?

[RiJaAr]

got them in canada.. or at least where i live. not the nicest cut of steak, i usually only use them cut up in stews or in strips for stir fry

[wontonton]

I've only heard of steak tips in New England. Is it national or mostly regional?

[Rubee]

Okay - after reading what you posted about what you think of Boston restaurants - I know you're not shy. I think you said you lived in Boston for 11 years. It's a regional cut of meat, and sirloin steak tips were sold in every store in the butcher department (not a mystery meat). It's like somebody asking about the delicious Chicago tri-tip - regional - but just curious why you would compare a cut of beef to a hot dog?

[Willy3000]

"Steak tips" sounds like mystery meat to me. The comparison to hot dogs was sardonic, as in who the hell knows what's in a hot dog anyway?

[krushdnasty]

I'm just guessing, but to me it implied that when a cut of meat is labeled "tips" it implies a mystery meat mashup. After all, why doesn't the name tell us where its really coming from?! Its ambiguous, and thus open to the most negative interpretation. Is it jumbled scraps? Also... it could be from different cuts. Others have mentioned sirloin tips and I was thinking of filet tips.

[FlyFish]

They were "sirloin tips" at one time, and still are in many places. My understanding is that they're cut from the upper part of the sirloin, near where it joins the short loin, so they're something like a cut-up sirloin steak. If they're just marketed as "steak tips" I guess they could come from anywhere.