All agree the name sirloin came into usage when a king of England “jocularly knighted,” as one historian put it, a baron of beef split in half along the backbone. But who was the king? Credit has been given to Henry VIII (seemingly the only gourmand ever to hold the throne of that gastronomically impoverished nation), Henry II and Charles II. More plausibly, sirloin is a translation of the French term surlonge, or top of the loin.
At the market, you’ll find sirloin steaks with a round center bone and a long, flat center bone. The one with the flat bone is more tender than that with the round bone. But if you see a sirloin with a mid-sized pin bone, it should be more tender yet. There also may be boneless top sirloin, sometimes called butt steak. It is chewy but may have the best flavor of any loin steak.
I cook a sirloin by broiling, grilling, or panfrying. Since it’s a moderately tender cut, it can be marinated or not, depending on your time and inclination. It’s also large, so a couple of steaks, sliced will feed a crowd.
My Best Ever sirloin, Wine-Bathed Sirloin, is marinated in red wine, then broiled. Another recipe uses the ingredients of a Bloody Mary for the marinade, with enough left over to make a round of drinks. A third, a butt steak is cooked in a crust of salt. I also slice a sirloin tip roast and poach the slices for a beef salad.
There are occasions when you know from the make-up of the guest list, that you’re going to spend more time talking than cooking when the company arrives. This is a recipe for that situation. Lengthy marination in a red wine-flavored dressing provides all the flavor the steak needs. Just cook and slice it. Serve the steak with two or three made-ahead salads, including Couscous Salad with Plum Tomatoes (page 190), and pour a moderately priced Merlot wine, such as Napa Ridge.
2 bone-in sirloin steaks (1½ pounds each), cut 1 inch thick
⅔ cup minced onion
½ cup fresh minced flat-leaf parsley leaves
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper
1 cup dry red wine, preferably Merlot
½ cup olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1. Pat the steaks dry and set aside. Combine the onion, parsley, crushed pepper, and wine in a small bowl. Whisk in the oil.
2. Divide the marinade between 2 large plastic storage bags. Place a steak in each bag and close tightly. Place the bags in a baking dish or pan and refrigerate for 4 to 6 hours, turning the bags occasionally.
3. Prepare coals for grilling or preheat the broiler.
4. Remove the steaks from the bags, pat dry, and let them come to room temperature. Grill or broil until browned and well-crusted on one side, about 4 minutes. Turn, season with salt and pepper, and cook for 3 minutes more for medium-rare or 4 minutes more for medium.
5. Transfer the steaks to a cutting board and let rest for 5 minutes. Carve into thin slices and serve at once.
SERVES 6
Watching friends gathered on a patio sipping Bloody Marys while a sirloin cooked on the grill nearby, I found myself pondering a weighty subject: If they like their Bloody Marys so much, and the steak so much, is there a way to combine the two and, in that way, prolong the pleasurable flavors of both? My solution: I make a highly seasoned Bloody Mary mix and use it for a marinade, a sauce, and a round of drinks (see Note following).
1 bone-in sirloin steak (about 1¾ pounds), cut ¾ inch thick
⅓ cup Worcestershire sauce
¾ cup fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons celery salt
½ teaspoon hot pepper sauce, preferably Tabasco, or to taste
2 tablespoons vodka
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
¾ cup tomato juice
2 teaspoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1. Bring the sirloin to room temperature and pat it dry.
2. To make the Bloody Mary base, combine the Worcestershire, lemon juice, pepper, salt, celery salt, hot pepper sauce, and vodka in a small bowl; you should have about 1¼ cups. Stir well and combine ⅓ cup of the mixture and the oil in a large dish or bowl. Add the steak and turn to coat both sides. Marinate for 30 minutes at room temperature, turning once. (May be prepared up to 4 hours ahead. Cover and refrigerate until 30 minutes before cooking.)
3. Combine another ⅓ cup of the Bloody Mary base and the tomato juice in a nonaluminum saucepan. Stir in the tomato paste and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring often. Remove from the heat and set aside.
4. Ten minutes before serving, make a slurry by stirring the water into the cornstarch in a small bowl. Reheat the sauce to a boil, pour in the slurry, and stir until sauce thickens, 1 minute.
5. Preheat the broiler or prepare coals for grilling.
6. When ready to cook, remove the steak from the marinade and pat dry. Broil or grill the steak until seared and nicely browned on one side, about 4 minutes. Turn and cook for 3 minutes more for medium-rare or 4 minutes more for medium.
7. Transfer the steak to a cutting board, let it rest for 5 minutes, then slice into 1-inch-thick strips. Spoon 2 tablespoons of the sauce onto each of 4 plates; pass the rest in a sauceboat.
SERVES 4
Note: For the drinks, combine the remaining Bloody Mary base with 2 cups additional tomato juice and additional vodka, to taste, in a pitcher. Stir and pour over ice in each of four glasses. Garnish with celery or pickled okra.
TOMATO PASTE IN TUBES
For those of us who cook in small quantities, it is well worth seeking out tomato paste sold in tubes. The cost per ounce is higher than for canned tomato paste, but you can squeeze out as little as a teaspoon from the tube, screw the top back on, and put it away for another day.
The flavors of charcoal, black olives, and ouzo evoke the lively tavernas of Greece. To add to the culinary ambiance at home, offer ouzo as a cocktail, start the meal with a Greek salad, and serve rice pilaf with the steak. Also look for a Greek red wine from Boutari or Boytris.
1 bone-in sirloin steak (about 1½ pounds), cut 1 inch thick
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped imported black olives, preferably Kalamata
½ teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon ouzo or other licorice-flavored liquor, such as Pernod
4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into 4 pieces
Salt, to taste
1. Prepare coals for grilling.
2. Pat the steak dry, coat lightly with the olive oil, and set aside.
3. Combine the olives, oregano, and ouzo in a small bowl and whisk together. Add the butter and continue to whisk until the mixture is homogeneous. Refrigerate for 10 to 15 minutes if the butter is very soft. (Composed butter may be made ahead and stored, covered, in the refrigerator. Return to room temperature before serving.) 5. Transfer the steak to a cutting board, let it rest for 5 minutes, then cut it into 4 serving pieces. Slather 1 tablespoon of the composed butter on each piece and serve.
4. Grill the steak until seared and nicely browned on one side, about 4 minutes. Turn, salt the meat, and cook for 4 minutes more for medium-rare or 5 minutes more for medium.
5. Transfer the steak to a cutting board, let it rest for 5 minutes, then cut it into 4 serving pieces. Slather 1 tablespoon of the composed butter on each piece and serve.
SERVES 4
The Japanese have a talent for making steak especially appealing by flavoring it with marinades or sauces that contain counterbalancing amounts of sugar and salty soy sauce. In this recipe, fragrant sake is added to give a simple dish an exotic flair. Serve this dish with a Japanese or other Asian beer.
1 boneless sirloin steak (about 1 pound), cut ¾ inch thick
8 scallions, white and some green
8 ounces napa cabbage
1 cup short-grain rice
4 ounces bean sprouts
1 tablespoon sugar
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons sake or dry sherry
1½ tablespoons vegetable oil
1. Ask the butcher to cut the steak into very thin slices or partially freeze it at home and slice it yourself. Cut the slices crosswise so they are no more than 2 inches long. Cut the scallions on the diagonal into 1½-inch pieces. Coarsely chop the cabbage. You should have about 2 cups. (The recipe may be prepared ahead to this point. Cover the meat and vegetables with plastic wrap and refrigerate.)
2. Cook the rice according to package directions. While the rice is cooking, place the meat and vegetables, including the bean sprouts, near the stove. Combine the sugar, soy sauce, and sake in a small bowl. Set aside near the stove.
3. Heat an electric frying pan, wok, or large skillet over medium heat. Add the oil, then about half the steak slices. Do not crowd the pan. Stir until the meat changes color, about 1 minute. Move the meat to the side of the pan and cook the remaining steak. Push it to the side. Add the scallions to the pan and stir until they begin to wilt, about 30 seconds. Push to another side, add the cabbage and bean sprouts, and stir until they begin to wilt, about 1 minute.
4. Sprinkle the sugar-soy mixture over the meat and vegetables, keeping them separate. Cook for 1 minute, stirring liquid into each ingredient.
5. Spoon the rice into 4 bowls or soup plates and top with equal portions of the meat and vegetables. Bring the liquid in the pan to a boil, reduce for 1 minute, and pour some over each portion. Serve at once.
SERVES 4
The audience for Vietnamese food, often so complex and haunting, is growing in this country. Scanning the menu at a Vietnamese restaurant reveals the frequent mating, in soups and salads, of beef and noodles. In Vietnam, as elsewhere in Asia, noodles made from rice flour are popular. Available at Asian markets and health food stores, they come in various widths. For this recipe, flat noodles about the width of fettuccine noodles are best. You could, in a pinch, substitute regular wheat-flour pasta, but be warned—it won’t taste very Asian. Even though the meat is beef, an off-dry white wine such as Riesling or Chenin Blanc works here.
1 stick (about 3 inches) cinnamon
4 tablespoons soy sauce
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
4 slices fresh ginger, each the size of a 25-cent piece
2 cloves garlic, crushed with the side of a knife
1 boneless sirloin steak (about 1 pound), cut ½ inch thick
1 teaspoon minced ginger
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
¼ teaspoon dry mustard
¼ teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons sesame oil
8 ounces banh pho (flat rice stick noodles)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 ounces snow peas, cooked and chopped (about ¾ cup)
⅔ cup chopped scallions
½ cup rinsed and coarsely chopped water chestnuts (from a 4-ounce can)
1 medium carrot, peeled and shaved into strips with a vegetable peeler
1. Combine the onion, cinnamon stick, 2 tablespoons of the soy sauce, red pepper flakes, chicken broth, sliced ginger, and crushed garlic in a 10-inch sauté pan or other pan just large enough to hold the steak. Bring the liquid to a boil over high heat, lower the heat, and simmer until the onions are soft, about 10 minutes.
2. Pat the steak dry, place it in the broth, and poach it at a bare simmer, turning once, until cooked to medium, 8 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and leave the steak in the broth until cool.
3. Meanwhile, combine the remaining 2 tablespoons soy sauce, minced ginger, minced garlic, sugar, lemon juice, Worcestershire, dry mustard, white pepper, vinegar, and sesame oil in a small bowl. Stir and set aside.
4. Transfer the steak to a cutting board; reserve the broth. Cut the steak across the grain into ¼-inch-thick slices. Cut the slices into 2-inch pieces.
5. Strain the broth, return it to the pan, and bring to a boil. Add the noodles to the broth and simmer for 2 minutes. Pour the noodles and broth into a colander set over a bowl. Save the broth for soup or another dish.
6. Transfer the noodles to a large bowl, add the vegetable oil, and toss. Add the steak, snow peas, scallions, water chestnuts, and carrot strips and toss to combine. Stir the reserved sauce, pour it over the salad, and toss to combine. Stir the reserved sauce, pour it over the salad, and toss again. Serve at room temperature.
SERVES 6
If a little barbecue sauce added late is good for a steak, I reasoned, a lot added early should be better. And it is! This may be the easiest recipe in this book. If you want to make it more complicated, fashion a barbecue sauce to call your own (page 175).
1 sirloin butt (boneless top sirloin) steak (about 12 ounces), cut 1¼ inches thick
1 cup commercial barbecue sauce, such as K.C. Masterpiece hickory
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
¼ cup water
Soft white bread, hamburger rolls, or steamed brown rice
1. Pat the steak dry and place it in an 8-inch square baking dish. Add the barbecue sauce, coating both sides generously, and cover the dish with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 2 hours, or marinate at room temperature for 1 hour, turning once.
2. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
3. Lightly coat the bottom of a skillet with oil and heat the skillet over medium-high heat. Remove the steak from the dish, scraping sauce from the steak back into the dish. Pat the steak dry, place it in the skillet, and cook until brown, about 2 minutes. Turn and sear the second side for 2 minutes. Meanwhile, add the water to the marinade and stir to mix well.
4. Return the steak to the baking dish, spooning sauce over the top and sides to encase it in the sauce. Bake until cooked to medium, 35 to 45 minutes, turning the steak once.
5. Transfer the steak to a cutting board. Stir the sauce and keep warm. Carve the steak into slices ¼ inch thick or thinner. Place on bread, inside rolls, or on top of the rice and cover with sauce. Serve at once.
SERVES 3 OR 4
Even food purists have learned not to ignore back-of-the-box recipes. They may be self-serving for the manufacturers, but they also can be astonishingly tasty I bit on one that appeared on a box of Morton’s coarse (kosher) salt. It was for herbed beef in a salt crust and seemed to fill the gaps in a recipe from Charles H. Baker’s The Gentleman’s Companion that I’d long admired but never tried to make. A cup-and-a-half of salt later, Charlie’s Butt Steak was encrusted in salt and in the oven. I recommend horseradish oil with this and mashed potatoes. The wine should be fruity and spicy, a Côtes du Rhone, Châteauneuf-du-Pape, or perhaps a Zinfandel from Sonoma County.
⅓ cup olive oil
¼ cup grated onion
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon dried basil
½ teaspoon dried oregano
½ teaspoon dried thyme
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 sirloin butt (boneless top sirloin) steak (about 12 ounces), cut 1¼ inches thick
1½ cups coarse (kosher) salt
½ cup cold water
Infused Horseradish Oil (recipe follows; optional)
1. Pour the olive oil, onion, garlic salt, basil, oregano, thyme, and pepper into a Ziploc bag. Mix well. Pat the steak dry, place it in the bag, and massage the marinade over the meat. Close the bag tight, place it on a plate, and refrigerate for 6 to 8 hours, turning at least twice.
2. Preheat the broiler and set the broiler pan or rack about 3 inches from the heating unit.
3. Take the steak from the marinade. Pat it dry, but don’t fuss too much over removing bits of onion or herbs. Set the steak in the middle of a baking sheet or other pan (a pizza pan, perhaps) that will fit under the broiler.
4. Pour 1 cup of the salt into a small bowl. Add about ¼ cup of the water, just enough to make a paste the texture of packable sand. Mound this paste over and around the steak. Place the steak under the broiler and cook until the top is firm, cracked, and starting to brown, about 10 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, combine the remaining ½ cup salt and 2 tablespoons or a bit more water to make more paste. Remove the pan from the broiler. Turn the steak, push the salt that falls away back in place, and coat the second side with the new paste. Broil until brown in spots and cracked, about 10 minutes. Remove from the broiler.
6. Crack the salt casing, quickly rinse the steak under warm running water to remove any remaining salt, pat dry, and transfer to a cutting board. Carve into slices no more than ⅛ inch thick and serve. Pass the horseradish oil in a cruet to drizzle on the steak, if desired.
SERVES 2
Beef and horseradish are a marvelous combination, and by infusing oil with the bite and flavor of horseradish you have a condiment that will enliven sliced steak, hot or cold, served by itself or in salads or sandwiches. Try it, too, on steamed new potatoes, green vegetables, or smoked fish.
3 ounces fresh horseradish root
½ cup olive oil
½ cup vegetable oil, preferably corn
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
¼ teaspoon salt
1. Peel the horseradish root and cut it into small pieces. Turn on a food processor and drop the pieces through the feed tube, a few at a time, and process until evenly ground.
2. Combine the olive and vegetable oils, and with the machine running, pour through the feed tube in a steady stream. Add the lemon juice and salt. Pour the horseradish oil into a jar, cover tightly, and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight.
3. Line a strainer with dampened cheesecloth. Place the strainer over a bowl and pour the oil into the strainer. Refrigerate the bowl and the strainer for about 4 hours to allow all the oil to drain into the bowl. Discard the contents of the strainer. Refrigerate the oil, tightly covered, for up to 2 weeks. Return to room temperature before using.
MAKES ABOUT ¾ CUP
Mention the Mediterranean, meat, and yogurt and everyone thinks lamb. But the Greeks, with their superb olive oil and magnificent lemons, perfected many marinades and often use a quantity of onion along with the oil and lemon to tenderize beef. Serve this meat along with a yogurt sauce, Wild Rice with Wild Mushrooms (page 212), and one of the much-improved dry red wines from a progressive Greek producer such as Boutari. For a family meal, cook the marinade until the onions are soft. Spoon the mix onto pita bread along with some of the yogurt sauce and two or three pieces of the steak, cut into thinner pieces.
1 large onion, cut into thin slices
¼ cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
3 sprigs of fresh thyme, coarsely chopped, or ½ teaspoon dried thyme leaves
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup julienned fresh basil leaves
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
¼ cup red wine
¼ cup olive oil
¼ cup vegetable oil
2 boneless sirloin steaks (about 1½ pounds each), cut 1 inch thick
2 lemons, each cut into 9 slices
18 bay leaves
36 whole fresh basil leaves
Salt, to taste
Yogurt Sauce (recipe follows)
1. Combine the onion, parsley, thyme, pepper, and julienned basil in a medium-size stainless steel or glass bowl. Combine the lemon juice, wine, olive oil, and vegetable oil in a small bowl. Stir well, pour over the onions and herbs, and stir until well mixed.
2. Cut the steaks into 1 × 1½ × 1½-inch pieces, cutting away fat and gristle. You should have about 30 pieces. Toss the steak pieces with the marinade, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 6 to 8 hours, turning the meat at least once.
3. When ready to cook, thread the meat onto 6 metal skewers. Start each skewer with a bay leaf, then alternate each piece of meat with either a lemon slice, basil leaf, or bay leaf, so that each piece has a flavoring agent on each side. Each skewer should have 3 bay leaves, 3 lemon slices, and 6 basil leaves spread evenly among the meat pieces. Set aside on a platter.
4. Prepare coals for grilling or preheat the broiler.
5. Cook the kebabs until one side is seared and nicely browned, about 4 minutes, then give each skewer a quarter turn every 2 minutes. Move skewers from the center to the edge of the grill or broiler pan as needed so the meat cooks evenly until it is medium-rare, about 10 minutes, or medium, about 11 minutes.
6. Remove the meat from the skewers, season with salt, and serve with the yogurt sauce.
SERVES 6 TO 8
2 cups plain lowfat yogurt
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
3 tablespoons shredded fresh basil leaves
½ cup diced onion, preferably red onion
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Combine the yogurt, parsley, basil, and onion in a small bowl. Whisk until well combined. Add the lemon juice and salt and pepper. Whisk well. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to serve.
MAKES ABOUT 2½ CUPS
This is a mainstream dish, steak and cabbage, made intriguing by blending salt and sweet and tart flavorings in the manner of Thai cooks. Cut thin and poached, the beef emerges tender and flavorful with no added fat. Serve this as part of a buffet. Only the fish sauce requires a trip to a specialty food store or Asian market. Once purchased it keeps nearly forever and will inspire experiments with other Thai and Vietnamese dishes, such as Asian Beef Salad with Cucumbers (see Index). I use relatively mild jalapeños in this recipe, adding a few of the seeds when I want extra zing.
1 sirloin tip roast (1 to 1¼ pounds)
2 tablespoons Thai fish sauce (nam pla; see Note)
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1½ teaspoons sugar
½ cup beef or chicken broth
1 medium shallot, sliced thin and broken into rings
4 scallions, white and 3 inches of green, cut on the diagonal into ½-inch pieces
2 jalapeños, stemmed, seeded, and cut into fine dice
½ cup fresh mint leaves, torn into small pieces
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 small head bok choy or a combination of red radicchio and bean sprouts, coarsely chopped (about 4 cups)
1. Wrap the sirloin in plastic wrap and chill in the freezer until firm but not frozen, 2½ to 3 hours. Using an electric carving knife or a serrated knife, slice as thin as possible. Cut the slices into 2-inch strips. Set aside.
2. Combine the fish sauce, lemon juice, sugar and broth in a large skillet. Combine the shallot, scallions, jalapeños, and mint in a medium-size bowl. Place the bowl near the stove.
3. Bring the liquid in the skillet to a boil over medium heat. Add the beef strips without overcrowding the pan. Cook just until the beef loses its red color, turning the strips once, 1 to 1½ minutes. Use kitchen tongs to transfer the cooked beef to the bowl with the shallot mixture. Toss briefly. Add more beef strips to the skillet and repeat the process until all the meat is cooked.
4. Pour the cooking juices into a measuring cup and set aside. You should have ¼ to ⅓ cup. Return the skillet to the stove and raise the heat to medium-high. Add the oil, then the bok choy. Sauté, stirring often, only until it begins to soften, about 3 minutes.
5. Transfer the bok choy to the center of a serving platter. Arrange the beef strips around the bok choy. Pour the juices left in the bowl into the cooking juices. Taste and adjust seasoning. Pour over the cabbage and meat. Serve warm or at room temperature.
SERVES 4
Note: Thai fish sauce (nam pla) is available in Asian markets, specialty food stores, and some supermarkets.
This recipe is adapted from the one given to me by Anne Lindsay Greer, a Texas-based author and restaurant consultant. The ancho chilies, with hints of chocolate and tobacco, and the masa harina thickener give this stew an authentic border taste and texture. My beverages of choice are beer or sparkling wine.
5 to 6 pounds boneless sirloin tip
¼ cup vegetable oil, or more as needed
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 large onions, chopped
3 cups hot water, or more as needed
1½ cups tomato sauce
1 bottle (12 ounces) beer or ale
12 ancho chilies
2 to 3 tablespoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano leaves or 1 teaspoon dried oregano
1½ tablespoons masa harina
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
2 or 3 medium jalapeños, stemmed, seeded, and diced (optional)
2 ounces Longhorn Cheddar cheese, grated, for garnish (optional)
1 large sweet onion, diced, for garnish (optional)
2½ cups cooked and seasoned (or canned, rinsed, and drained) pinto beans, for garnish (optional)
1. Trim the fat from the beef and cut it into ½-inch cubes. Heat the oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat until hot. Working in batches, brown the beef cubes on all sides, 4 to 5 minutes for each batch. Transfer the browned cubes to a colander to drain. Add additional oil, if needed.
2. When all the meat is browned, add the garlic and onions to the pot and sauté over medium heat until the onions soften, 4 to 5 minutes. Return the meat to the pot along with the hot water, tomato sauce, beer, ancho chilies, cumin, oregano, and masa harina. Lower the heat and simmer, covered, for 1 hour.
3. Uncover the pot and cook, stirring frequently, until the chilies have broken apart and the stew has thickened somewhat, 15 to 20 minutes. The chili should have enough liquid to make a rich broth. If necessary, add more hot water. Add the vinegar, salt, and jalapeños, to taste, if you’d like a hotter chili. Serve the chili and, if desired, pass the cheese, onions, beans, and remaining jalapeños.
SERVES 10 TO 12
CHUCK WAGON AND BOARDING HOUSE DINING IN THE WILD WEST
With men in uniform otherwise occupied, cattle herds proliferated during the Civil War. At war’s end there were more cattle in Texas than any state in the Union. Between these cows and consumers east of the Mississippi there was land—lots of land (open range, luckily).
But people wanted steak and enough profit was to be had to make a good many entrepreneurs very hungry. Furthermore, the prospect of new stockyard facilities in Kansas and Missouri and Nebraska as the railroads stretched westward made the dream of driving the Longhorn cattle from grazing land to railhead feasible, if just barely. It meant moving as many as 2,000 head a thousand miles, which took about three months. (More than 200,000 head were driven north in the year immediately after the war ended, with the price per steer nearly doubling between the railhead and New York City.)
Getting them to the stockyards was the task of a caste of men who became, along with jazz musicians in the next century, America’s great contribution to labor folklore. Called cowboys, they combined Mexican riding skills with new techniques of roping, branding, and herding. They were raucous and aggressive and mostly young men, who dressed like dandies when in town and shot off pistols to attract attention—the “brat pack” of the nineteenth century.
On trail drives “the foreman was the stud. Next in rank was the cook,” writes a former cowboy in Home on the Range, A Culinary History of the American West by Cathy Luchetti, an altogether wonderful collection of vignettes. “By tradition the cook was a single man, ornery, with a reputation for pettiness, peevishness, and temperamental displays of anger.”
The cook cooked. He functioned from a “chuck box,” and rode in a “chuck wagon” equipped with canned and dried supplies, a worktable, knives, hooks, cast-iron skillets, Dutch ovens, and logs for cooking. Others did chores for him, ranging from harnessing horses to the cook wagon and chopping wood to peeling potatoes. He did not collect or clean used plates and cups, which the cowboys had to scrape and drop into a communal “wreck pan.” The cook dished up “chuck” for men whose “strong prejudices often included a hatred of mutton, raw greens, or rare meat.” (Eating mutton was considered disloyal to their role as cowhands.)
The filet of the frontier was “mallet-softened” chicken-fried steak, served with freshly baked biscuits and beans and followed by canned peaches. Usually a beef was killed every third day and eaten fresh. The steers were tough from exercise, and so was their meat. One method of tenderizing was to roll the meat in a bedroll and hang it from a tree, cutting off steaks as they were needed. “Son of a bitch” stew contained the bone marrow of a mature cow plus peppers and potatoes.
Jerked beef, often served at ranches, was meat cut into strips and hung from ropes to dry while a smudge pot burned to keep flies away. The beef might be fried or boiled into a stew called a “jowler.”
The cowboys’ meat was cooked, like almost everything else, in cast-iron Dutch ovens. They liked their steaks fried in fat in the manner of this buffalo steak recipe from an unnamed chuck wagon cook: “Render some fat in a hot skillet. Add sirloin of buffalo steak and sear on both sides. Cook as beefsteak at a lower heat until done. Thicken juices with flour and cook gravy until thick. Thin with water or milk and bring to a boil with salt.”
Meanwhile, travelers who stopped at frontier-town hotels and town folk who lived in boarding houses endured a somewhat different regimen. In hotels and boarding houses, the guests ate in a “frenzied manner,” often spending only a few minutes at the dining table. They also came to table early and promptly, in part due to the boarding house practice of putting all the food out at once. There was likely to be nothing left for a latecomer who hadn’t been there at the moment of serving to claim his share. If all this haste weren’t enough, Frances Trollope, the English traveler, complained about Westerners eating with their knives.
Beefsteak was served, but not in profusion. It had to compete with often more accessible and cheaper meat from game, ranging from venison, elk, and buffalo, to prairie dog. And every part of the animal got into the act. The “Texas meats” on a menu would turn out to be offal—sweetbreads, spleen, and the like, plus marrow.
In mining towns, those who struck it rich preferred fresh, unaged beef “off the hoof.” In addition, in a preview of twentieth century Las Vegas, both the rich and would-be rich gorged on lavish free lunches in competing saloons. There was a craving for culture and “continental-style dining,” which prompted a traveler to write, “Every broken-down barber, or disappointed dancing master … sets up as a cook.”
A “willing arm and the ability to simply show up” could assure a man a job. Cooks who had “marginal” cooking skills, were considered unreasonably temperamental, and footloose. For women, at the same time, cooking in a boarding house was a respectable job.
Logging camps were a world of their own. Loggers demanded, and got, better ingredients, a real cook, and a separate cookhouse.
From the earliest days in the then “new” West, meat enticed the hungry. Captain Frederick Marryat, a refugee from France exploring California in the 1830s, offers vivid testimony. His party sleeps, exhausted:
I found it was no easy matter to awake them. At last, I hit upon an expedient that did not fail; I stuck the ramrod of my gun into a smoking piece of meat, and held it so that the fumes should rise under their very noses. No fairy wand was ever more effective; in less than two minutes they all were chewing and swallowing their breakfast.
