Flat Iron Steaks

[Mayflour]

Anyone know where to buy a flat iron steak? I've been to all the grocery stores and have not seen them. Are they ever called by another name?

[slade]

Roche Bros in Quincy has them. They have a full service butcher and they will cut one for you.

[D.Bernstein]

I buy it all the time from Fresh Pond Market on Huron Ave in Cambridge.

[Luther]

Yeah you can get top blade in your average Shaw's/Star Market

[xperteater]

i bought them here a couple of times over the summer:

http://www.bostonbeef.com/

[ScubaSteve]

aka Top Blade.

[almansa]

They are labeled Top Blade because NAMP has no code number for flatiron. No code number means that the USDA will not allow processors to label a flatiron a flatiron. I have never seen a flatiron at the supermarket, but they're easy to fabricate. Ask the meat department for a whole top blade muscle. You'll see that it consists of two muscles separated by a sheet of sinew. With a little care and a sharp knife, you should be able to separate the top muscle from the sinew. Then flip it over and remove the remaining sinew as you would the skin on a side of salmon. Now you have two clean muscles from which to cut steaks. Cut across the grain into 8 ounce portions. You should get about 6.

[ARW]

Actually, there is a NAMP number for the flat iron. The NAMP Meat Buyer's Guide is updated every 3-4 years to include the latest and greatest cuts available from the meat industry. The flat iron is 114D PSO 1 and flat iron steaks are 1114D PSO 1. You are right that the technical name is still the Top Blade. www.NAMP.com

[almansa]

You're right. I should have said that there is no NAMP number with USDA label approval for "flatiron."

[itaunas]

Supermarkets tend to offer top-blade steaks which are cut from the same muscle, but contain a long piece of gristle across the steak. Cutting flat iron steaks are more of a specialty thing still. Sometimes Whole Foods has the flat iron, butchers like Savenors or Dewars will be able to cut them, restaurant supply houses have large packs of them of a uniform portion size. McKinnon's only has the top blade on display, but if you pre-order might cut flat-irons.

Some of the recommendations in this thread could be useful.

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/563251