realfood

[Photographs: Clay Larsen]

What the hell is Dante Gonzales up to now? For almost a decade, he threw underground art/music/food parties in New York and all across Europe. Then, a few years ago, he started slinging fried chicken out of a food truck in Los Angeles. Tagged with a 90's-inspired Ride Or Fry logo, the mobile eatery quickly started amassing awards and an eclectic group of followers. Eighteen months in, and the whole thing disappeared altogether. Well, if you believe the KFC Crip himself, it's all part of the plan.

Recently, Gonzales has been showing up in a few downtown kitchens, usually pushing out brunch plates with a soul food bent. That fried chicken of his is never far away. Then came a subtle announcement last week; something about a semi-permanent weekend taco pop-up, in the parking lot of a barber shop on Santa Monica Blvd., called DFC Taco. And, surprise, there's a fried chicken taco on the menu.

Well, "menu" might be a stretch. More like some chalkboard paint and three taco options—you'll have to forgive the operation if it's a little barebones. With nothing more than a prep station and a side table, plus some hot oil for frying, Gonzales is able to pump out flavors you never thought your everyday taco had in it.

The first thing you'll notice about these tacos are the tortillas. Thick, hand-patted discs of corn masa are practically overwhelmed with black sesame seeds, giving off a crunchy, poppy taste with each bite. It's already getting funky in here. Then, there are meat options. The first is a blueberry Guiness brisket, deeply browned and pulled into thin, tender bites. The operative word here is definitely 'blueberry', as the moist meat gives off a sweet, almost slightly syrupy taste. Of course, the Guiness might have had something to do with the dark brown coloring and syrup too.

As you can imagine, adding a hefty helping of sweet fruit to a braising hunk of meat can sort of mess with your senses. Toss on a simple pile of chopped lettuce, cabbage and carrots and you've got a sweet, crunchy, meaty, carb-y overload that may actually be less than the sum of its parts. This certainly isn't a stunt taco, compiled just for show, but it certainly ain't no everyday eats.

On the other hand, the fried chicken taco screams "where have you been all my life?!" It would be wrong to even call this fusion, as there really isn't a base on either side of the border that would recognize what this concoction has become. Strips of chicken breast are pounded down like a schnitzel, and then left to crisp up in Dante's proprietary batter blend of spices, good vibes and magic. The emerging breast is fried to a golden brown, and even a cursory slice reveals plenty of juice throughout the all-white interior. Thick ribbons of the fried chicken are sliced off and tossed into a waiting tortilla before being given a splash of greens and a healthy drizzle of hot sauce. Crispy and tangy and slightly spicy and all wrapped in a fresh, thick, warm tortilla? Yes, please!, says everyone ever.

Despite his sometimes meandering ideas, Dante Gonzales remains a man with a singular passion: make amazing fried chicken. On that front, he's been proving himself for years, and his new taco pop-up is no exception. It's just that not everything else works out the way he had in mind. Then again, with fried chicken this good, there's no shame in doing what you're good at.

DFC Taco

4619 Santa Monica Blvd., Silver Lake CA (map) Open from Noon until 6 p.m., or until everything runs out.

Editor's Note: We're teaming up with our friends over at Food52 to bring you even more easy weeknight recipes. Food52 recipes will appear on this site every Tuesday and Thursday, and are carefully curated by the Serious Eats team. Check back on Serious Eats every weekday afternoon for a new quick and easy weeknight dinner idea from our own test kitchens, or from the good folks at Food52.

There's nothing like picking shrimp with your hands and sucking the delicious shrimp juice off your fingers. Boost up the flavor a notch by adding spices like paprika and cayenne pepper, which results in a fiery, yet completely satisfying dinner. It's fast and easy to make, just be sure to lay down plenty of newspapers on the table!

Get The Recipe!

Flamin' Cajun Shrimp »

It's time for another round of The Food Lab. Got a suggestion for an upcoming topic? Email Kenji here, and he'll do his best to answer your queries in a future post. Become a fan of The Food Lab on Facebook or follow it on Twitter for play-by-plays on future kitchen tests and recipe experiments.

[Photographs: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt]

Of all the inexpensive cuts on the cow, the skirt is probably the greatest dollar-to-flavor value out there. Riddled with plenty of buttery, beefy fat with a deep, rich flavor and a tender, juicy texture, it's a tough cut not to like. Indeed, I'd say that its flavor is even better than the ribeye and far superior to a relatively bland tenderloin or New York strip.

That is, it's a tough cut not to like if you've had it cooked and sliced properly. All too often you'll head out to a mid-rate taqueria where the skirt steak (known as fajitas—"little belts"—in Mexican Spanish) sits around in a piles on the edge of the griddle, slowly overcooking and turning from tender, juicy, steak-fit-for-a-king into your typical tough, leathery, livery-flavored taco stuffing.

Equally bad is the uncle who throws it onto a too-cool grill, forgets to rest it, then slices it improperly, reducing it to inedibly tough rubber bands.

Do NOT be this uncle. Your family may still love you, but they certainly won't like you.

Here's how to treat skirt steak right.

How To Buy It and Trim It

Alternative Names: Fajita meat or Roumanian Strip (New York).

Where it's Cut From: The outside skirt is the diaphragm muscle of the cow, cut from the plate. It is the traditional cut for fajitas, and is generally sold to restaurants. It comes with a tough membrane attached to it, which needs to be trimmed before it can be cooked.

Inside skirt is part of the flank, and is the more widely available form of skirt steak. Luckily for consumers, it generally comes with the membrane removed, making trimming an easy job at home. All you've got to do is remove some of the excess fat from the exterior, and you're good to go.

Use a sharp knife, and try and take off the fat without digging into the meat. It's totally fine to end up strips of fat still striated throughout the meat. This'll render as the meat grills, basting it as it cooks, giving the steak that much more richness and adding to its intense, beefy, buttery flavor. The photo above shows just about how much you want to trim.

How To Cook It

There's a single rule when it comes to cooking skirt steak: intense, unrelenting, high heat. Forget cooking sous-vide or starting low and slow. Skirt steak should be cooked over the highest possible heat from start to finish, and here's why.

Please ignore the asparagus that fell into the grill

With a normal steak, you have enough thickness that if you were to try and cook it over intense heat the entire time, you'd end up with a steak that's burnt to a crisp on the outside before the center reaches the appropriate medium rare. Skirt steak has the opposite problem. It's so thin that unless you cook it over maximum heat, it'll be overcooked before you get a chance to develop a good sear on the exterior.

I like to light up an entire chimney of coals, pile them all under one side of the grill, then add a few more coals on top just for good measure. As soon as those coals on top are hot, throw the suckers on, cooking them with a single flip.*

*I know I've said to flip your steaks multiple times in the past, but the hastened cooking this produces ends up overcooking your skirt.

If you have hardwood coals, now's the time to break'em out. They burn faster and hotter than briquettes, making them the ideal choice for grilling skirt steak.

Slicing and Serving

Like most of the inexpensive cuts, how you slice the meat is as important as how you cook it. The key, once again, is to let it rest for a few minutes after pulling it off the heat, then to slice thinly against the grain.

If you have a sharp knife and a bit of skill, you can do this pretty easily with a whole skirt. Take a look at the way the grain flows, then slice at a 45 to 60°F angle from that grain. Alternatively, you can slice with the grain to divide the long steak into 2- to 3-inch wide segments, then rotate each one of those 90°F and slice into thin strips to achieve the same end result.

Other Flavorings and Sauces

Like hanger and other loosely-texture cuts, skirt takes well to rubs and marinades. At the very least, you should be using plenty of salt and pepper. A good chili rub or a rub made with dried spices and aromatics like coriander, cumin, and cinnamon are a natural pairing. Take a look at the recipes below for some more inspiration.

Get the Recipes!

• Chili-Spiced Skirt Steak Tacos »
• Skirt Steak Salad with Cilantro-Lime Dressing »
• Skirt Steak Fajitas »
• Skirt Steak with Homemade Steak Sauce »
• Spice Rubbed Grilled Skirt Steak »

About the author: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt is the Chief Creative Officer of Serious Eats where he likes to explore the science of home cooking in his weekly column The Food Lab. You can follow him at @thefoodlab on Twitter, or at The Food Lab on Facebook.

Recipes!

• Spice-Rubbed Grilled Skirt Steak
• Skirt Steak Salad with Cilantro-Lime Dressing
• Chili-Spiced Skirt Steak Tacos
• Dinner Tonight: Skirt Steak with Homemade Steak Sauce
• Grilled Skirt Steak Fajitas

[Photograph: Michael Natkin]

Falafel might be a hall of fame vegetarian sandwich, but after making up a batch of these Kouftikes de Prasa Sandwiches from Michael Natkin's Herbivoracious, we're tempted to declare a new winner.

Awesomely crisp patties full of sweetly sweated leeks are wrapped in warm pita and topped with a quick pickled cabbage, spicy and sour with preserved lemon and harissa. The sandwich is finished with creamy labne, tart sumac, and bright leaves of fresh mint and slices of cucumber. This sandwich has it all going on—salty, sour, spicy, and totally satisfying.

What Worked: We're loving the contrast of crisp oniony leek patties with the sharp, pickled cabbage. Topped off with a dollop of creamy labne and a few mint leaves, this sandwich is a winner.

What Didn't: All's clear.

Suggested Tweaks: If you're looking for a bit more heat, feel free to garnish the sandwiches with a swipe of harissa.

As always with our Cook the Book feature, we have five (5) copies of Herbavoracious to give away.

From Drinks

VIEW SLIDESHOW: First Look: Cocktails at Barwares in Portland, OR

[Photographs: AJ Simpson]

After the successful launch of her Portland Asian-inspired restaurant, Smallwares chef/owner Johanna Ware set her sights on opening Barwares, a casual drinking spot next door. She turned to microlending site Kickstarter to gather funding, and quickly reached (and surpassed) her goal of raising $10,000. The gifts for pledging ranged from a complimentary beverage, an 8-piece oyster plate and round of drinks for your party of four, or a chefs 3-course tasting menu with beverage pairings, and although the backers do not receive their gifts until the project is officially funded on May 23, many have already become regulars, anxious and excited to see their investment succeed.

Chef Ware spent seven years in New York City cooking at Public, Del Posto, and Momofuku before returning to Portland to work at Nostrana for a year and a half while planning to open her own restaurant. She sought out Conrad Vollmer, formerly of Café Nell, to manage the bar program, Taylor Gehrts, who previously worked at Nostrana, as lead bartender, and Sarah MacKechnie, formerly of Momofuku, to manage the front of the house.

The bar is an eclectic mix of Asian kitsch—complete with a carved wooden Fu Man Chu cat, antique sake sets, and vintage cocktail shakers—contrasted with the more traditional industrial-chic look of hanging Edison bulbs and exposed air ducts. Wares confessed that she's a lover of knick-knacks and wanted a dedicated area to enshrine her tchotchkes—as an added bonus, it helps to make the place feel both comforting and unpretentious. A vintage patterned couch sits in front of the centrally located fireplace, where a projector screen hangs above the mantle and plays cheesy 80s movies, silent films, and Saved by the Bell reruns.

The restaurant team collaborated to create their nameless cocktail menu, which simply lists the drinks as The Whiskey, The Scotch, The Gin, etc., along with each cocktail's ingredients. Brainstorming sessions to create captivating cocktail names for a regularly rotating menu were just too time consuming. "I could call my salad The Peashoot in the Forest," said Ware, "But at the end of the night, all that really matters is whether it tastes good."

The kitchen works closely with the bar to craft many of their cocktail ingredients in house, including black cardamom infused rum, a muscovado-demerara simple syrup, and a spicy Thai chili tincture. We look forward to many more innovative drinks as they continue to push the boundaries and blur the line between kitchen and bar.

Want to see what's shaking at Barwares? Head to Northeast Portland, or check out a few of the cocktails in the slideshow above.

Barwares

4605 NE Fremont Street (map) 971-229-0995; Smallwarespdx.com/barwares/

About the Author: Greg Harned lives in Portland, OR, where he enjoys cocktails, drinking and general mischief-making in candlelit speakeasies, swanky cocktail lounges and dingy dive bars. He manages Portland Craft Cocktails where he writes about his various exploits and also dabbles in the spirits trade. You can follow him on Twitter @craftcocktails.

[Photograph: Niki Achitoff-Gray]

I usually come to chain restaurant eating assignments without any agenda beyond minimizing mayonnaise intake and ignoring the confused looks of fellow diners who don't understand why the camera-wielding weirdo is composing a still life with chicken sandwich and notebook.

I love to eat, of course, but I approach food on more of a physical level than an emotional one: I don't root for or against any particular cuisine or restaurant, because I'm not trying to prove a point or validate a prejudice; I'm just trying to enjoy my lunch. If the food's good, then I enjoy it like a normal person. If the food's bad, then I enjoy it like a food reviewer who appreciates the silver lining that negative appraisals are easier to write.

But despite my inclination toward neutrality, I have to confess that I dressed for my date with T.G.I. Friday's new Korean Steak Tacos with a desired outcome in mind. I really, really wanted to like these things. I have no particular love for Friday's or anyplace like it, but as soon as these new tacos were announced last month, the hipper-than-thou blogger backlash began: How on Earth could a chain restaurant serve a credible Korean taco? The foodist part of the Internet simply could not accept the possibility that a Korean taco could be prepared outside of a truck, never mind inside of a place that serves mango huge-a-ritas to people who live in—hold me!—the suburbs.

So I wanted to like the T.G.I. tacos, because I wanted to advance the idea that you can make a nice meal without making a fashion statement or joining (or killing) a movement. But alas, this was not a nice meal. I still say the foodists are wrong in their belief that a Korean taco can't be good unless it's served from a truck with a line of skinny beardos making a scene in the front and a grandma making kimchi in the back, but T.G.I. Friday's did nothing to advance my cause, and for that and a crappy batch of tacos they must be punished.

For $9.99, T.G.I. Friday's brought me three corn tortillas fairly well loaded with cubed steak ("Black Angus flat iron," to be pretend-exact) that was topped with a couple chunks of cucumber, what appeared to be a bean sprout or two, a few shreds of pickled carrot that the menu calls "ginger-lime slaw," and a handful of whatever comes out of the salad station's Mixed Greens bag. There was also basil and cilantro in the reading, though none was evident in the chewing. Two of the tacos had cursory squirts of Sriracha, the third had none.

Let's start at the bottom. The tortillas were disconcertingly thick and squishy, more injera-like than one expects from a taco, but that's all right, I didn't mind them. Next up was the beef, which was tender and plentiful and otherwise forgettable. It was soaked in soy and sugar and had the precise big, dumb, generically pan-Asian flavor the foodists knew it would.

The cucumber chunks were very good, much better than the grocery store cukes I've been sighing my way through for the past six months. T.G.I. Friday's rooftop cucumber garden doesn't seem to have any room for greens though, because the rest of the vegetables were fresh but flavorless. As mentioned above, two of the three tacos featured little dots of Sriracha that served, as Sriracha does, to make the bites they touched taste like nothing but garlic hot sauce. All three tacos were overdosed with a blinking neon ginger-lime sign of an Asian Dressing™.

And yes, foodists, the platter did indeed arrive audibly sizzling, and yes again, they came with jasmine rice (or if they run out, your Korean tacos will be served with a side of French fries).

About the author: Will Gordon loves life and hates mayonnaise. You can eat and drink with him in Boston or follow him on twitter @WillGordonAgain.

I don't know how many times I've plopped some part of an animal into a pot with no specific intent in mind. I just know that if I tenderize the piece of offal or meat, I will figure out the rest later. Trippa alla Romana requires long-simmered tripe. Pig's ears salad (see versions here and here), or pig's ears seared in a cast iron, both require the ears to be simmered beforehand.

Once tender, you can do anything you want to finish the dish and give it character—by deep-frying or pan-frying to crisp up skin and flesh, by roasting or broiling, and so forth. When cooking the cheaper cuts of the animal: necks and feet, stomachs, tails and tongues, be sure to: a.) Make tender b.) Add flavor and texture.

Now that the weather is getting so nice, you may not want to spend too much time in the kitchen at all. You may simply want to take your well-simmered animal part and move it to the grill. Here are just a few options.

Tongue is a stress-free option for the grill. You simmer the tongue in water or stock, adding aromatics and spices. If I'm really pressed for time and mental reserves, I may do nothing more than plop a tongue into a pot with water and keep the heat on low. A few hours of simmering does the bulk of the work. Once simmered, you peel the tongue and cut it into thickish slabs, perfect for tossing on the grill. Because tongue is so fatty, you don't have to worry about it getting tough or dry.

Once grilled, serve the tongue in taco form, or drizzle on some kind of sauce or garnish, which could be more than a mixture of olive oil, salt, and scallions. (Or, in chimichurri sauce, if you are so inclined to whip up a batch.)

Option two: Grilled Pig's Tails. Same principle here. Simmer, then toss it on the grill. The only difference here is you want to use a more indirect flame so you don't get too many flare-ups when the pork fat drips down into the grill. Serve with a sauce of some kind, or just freshly ground black pepper and salt.

Other suggestions: Grilled trotters, grilled ears, grilled snouts, grilled hocks.

Recipes!

• Crispy Grilled Pig's Tails
• Crispy Grilled Beef Tongue

In this great nation of ours, one could eat a different sandwich every day of the year—so that's what we'll do. Here's A Sandwich a Day, our daily look at sandwiches around the country. Got a sandwich we should check out? Let us know. —The Mgmt.

Subtlety is not an adjective used often in reference to Vietnamese sandwiches, but the lemongrass chicken sandwich at Sub Sand is not your run-of-the-mill bánh mì. It looks, from the outside as if it might be. It's on the usual bun, but this one's toasted inside for extra-sturdiness up against the house sauce.

The light scent of lemongrass on the chicken is tempered only briefly by the sandwich format, so it takes a few bites for it to build up, before suddenly punching you in the face with flavor. The finesse floats away and halfway through the sandwich, that chicken is standing up to the pickled carrots and daikon, waging friendly battle with the jalapeños.

Depending on the battle you'd like your sandwich to fight, Sub Sand does a variety of takes on the Vietnamese sandwich. Some, like the lemongrass chicken, stay Asian-inspired, while others, like the buffalo chicken, go down another path. Most people patronizing the tiny International District storefront grab theirs to-go, but if you feel like sitting, this is about the cheapest table-service option you'll find, and you'll be able to order your Hong Kong-style egg puff fresh for dessert.

Sub Sand

416 6th Ave S., Seattle WA 98104 (map) 206-682-1267 subsandseattle.blogspot.com

About the author: Naomi Bishop is a Seattle based food writer and marketer. Find more of her musings on her food blog, TheGastroGnome, where she claims that being a GastroGnome is not about sitting idly on the front lawn of culinary cottages. You can also follow her explorations of cooking and culture around the world at @GastroGnome.

From Drinks

My mom came into town this weekend. And she came to our Serious Eats wine tasting. The low-down on my mom is that she lives in a suburban town in the Midwest, is vegetarian, and doesn't really drink. We're still trying to figure out if I'm actually related to this person.

Since I have yet to see or even hear of my mom finishing an entire glass of wine, I wasn't really expecting her to wow us with her highly attuned wine palate and precise comments on a wine's nose and flavor profile. But I've got to say, she nailed it. A sip or two in, and she'd say the word that everyone was thinking. I've never been so proud.

I figured a lineup of Barefoot whites would actually be very appropriate for my mom, as most of what I've heard is that they tend to be light, fruity, and sweet (and inexpensive, at about $7 a bottle). Most of them definitely fit the bill, but a couple stood out as much more palatable compared to the rest of the lot.

The Winner: Pinot Grigio

This Barefoot Pinot Grigio had tart aromas of lemon and green apple balanced by a sweet honey scent. We tasted peach candy flavors followed by a little tang of guava on the finish. While it still is on the sweet side, this wine has enough acidity to keep it in check—either with or without food. And something I've never seen before, this wine was classified as "American", with no more geographic specificity other than the fact it was bottled in Modesto, California.

Runner-Up: Sauvignon Blanc

On the drier side, the California Sauvignon Blanc's scent reminded us of bright green grass or herbs with a little smokiness. The wine had a clear limey flavor (which made a few of us recall the flavor on Hint of Lime Tostitos.) It has an abrupt finish and isn't complex by any means, but it's not offensive.

The Rest

Of the remaining bottles, our tasters' main complaint was that the wines were too sweet, although some were clearly more off-putting than others. Here's a play-by-play of the bottles that you might stumble upon in a store. In general, these might be better dressed up in sangria or a cocktail, as we saw with the round of Three-Buck Chuck.

Riesling (California): Very sweet, slightly effervescent, dripping with honey and pear. Would recommend if you like—and I'll differentiate here between "like" and "tolerate"—really sweet things. Could also be a decent base for a pitcher of white Sangria, but skip the sugar.

Chardonnay (California): If there was such thing as vanilla juice, this wine could be a good proxy. A little too much oaky flavor (probably not from oak barrels) made the sweetness come off as overripe tropical fruit.

White Zinfandel (California): Smelled like strawberry rhubarb jam, and tasted like diluted watermelon Jolly Ranchers.

Moscato (Argentina): Had a strange chemical-like flavor to it, like orange blossom Windex.

Have you tried the Barefoot line of wines? Are there any bottles that you particularly like and buy frequently? We'll be hitting the bubbly and red lineup next.

About the author: Seema Gunda is an avid wine traveler, collector, and student with a background in chemistry and a day job in consulting.

VIEW SLIDESHOW: Snapshots from Vietnam: The Best Things I Ate

Vietnam was the second leg of our trip (see the first leg featuring Hong Kong, Chengdu, and Shanghai here). The food, the hospitality, the landscape, and the sheer energy of the two cities we visited—Hanoi (the north) and Nha Trang (southeast coast)—blew me away.

Most of the credit goes to our incredible guides, Tu Van Cong and Mark Lowerson, who led us up winding staircases, through back alleys, and to remote, out-of-town destinations for the best eats around. (Anyone traveling to those areas who wants to check out the food scene, I can't recommend them enough.) But as my coworker, Hannah, also mentioned to me before I left, part of Vietnam's charm is that it feels like it hasn't yet been taken over by the rest of the world. I couldn't agree more.

From Drinks

Editor's Note: Food is even better with beer, and beer's even better with food. But what will taste particularly delicious with each beer style? We asked Certified Cicerone Michael Agnew to help us sort it all out.

The official start of summer is still a month away, but in many places summery weather has already arrived. Even up here in the frozen north where I live, shorts weather is here. It's time to break out the wheat beers.

Wheat beers tend to be a love-'em-or-leave-'em proposition. People either like them or they don't. For some it's the sharp taste of the wheat that turns them either on or off. For others it's the banana and clove flavors of the yeast used in German varieties. But it's these very peculiar properties of wheat beers that make them fantastically food friendly and perfect for lighter summer fare.

Summery wheat beers come in three main types: American, Belgian witbier, and the cloudy German varieties hefeweizen and dunkelweizen. They're each a little different, and each one has its own particular strengths when pairing with food.

American Wheat Beer

[Photo: Erin Zimmer]

American wheat beers are perhaps the blandest of the bunch and also the least defined stylistically. They can be cloudy or brilliantly clear. Sometimes they are loaded with fruit flavors and sometimes there are none. On the beer flavor scale, many fall somewhere in the vicinity of American blond ale or cream ale with a bit of bready wheat sweetness and citrusy American hops.

American wheat beers are delicious to drink with fresh summer salads. They take well to the flavors of leafy greens, cucumbers, and bean sprouts. They can handle vinaigrette or creamy dressings. The addition of some boiled egg or sliced turkey and ham won't detract a bit from the pairing. Goose Island's 312 Urban Wheat is a great choice with a hearty chef's salad, but go light on the stronger tasting cheeses. Stick with something more delicate like chevre or fresh mozzarella. If you want a beer with a bit more bite, pick up a bottle of Three Floyds Gumballhead. This hopped-up American wheat will chew through heavier cheddar.

Lighter fish are also a good match for American wheat beers. They are evenly matched in flavor and weight, and a squeeze of lemon will really set these beers off. Try a poached sole or halibut filet with Anchor Summer Ale. For a real treat add a citrus salsa and pair to Bell's Oberon. The salsa will tie into the orange flavors in the beer.

Belgian Witbier

[Photo: Jennifer Segal]

Belgian witbiers are the next step up the intensity scale for wheat beer flavor. Still super light, banana flavors from the Belgian yeast and the subtle use of coriander and bitter orange peel give these beers depth and complexity. They are refreshingly fruity with background hints of flowers and spice.

Witbiers are great with fruit salad. It couldn't be simpler. Cut up oranges, bananas, and melons, or whatever fruit you want, and serve it with a cold glass of Ommegang Witte. This beer has more pronounced orange flavor that will complement the salad beautifully.

Deeper flavors allow witbiers to stand up to slightly heartier foods. Wittekerke or Hoegaarden are classic with steamed mussels. You can even steam them in the beer. These beers work with other shellfish as well, like shrimp, clams, or lobster, especially if you add a squirt of lemon to the dish. The fizz in these beers will counteract the richness of the dish, whisking butter off your tongue.

You may not think of beer as a brunch drink, but eggs and wheat beers have a natural affinity. Try a bacon, sausage, or salmon omelet with Unibroue Blanche De Chambly. This beer has a slightly fuller body that can stand up to heavier foods.

German Wheat Beers

[Photo: Erin Zimmer]

German wheat beers are the ultimate expression of yeast in beer. The yeast-derived banana and clove flavors are what define them. Suspended yeast gives them their characteristic cloudiness. Yeast is so important to the flavor and mouthfeel of these beers that it's recommended to gently turn the bottles before pouring to rouse the sediment off the bottom. The classic hefeweizen has lemony highlights sitting on a bready base. The less common dunkelweizen, or dark wheat, has deeper caramel flavors with subtle hints of chocolate. Both are light and refreshing, but with a mouth-filling fullness that comes from wheat proteins and yeast.

Hefeweizen is a fantastically versatile food beer. It's light enough that it won't overpower salads, but that full mouthfeel make it able to stand up to heftier fare. The yeasty fruit and spice complement a wide range of food flavors. One place they really shine is with Mexican dishes. They work well with everything from flour tortillas to black beans, simple chicken to spicy barbacoa. And high carbonation lets them cut straight through cheese and guacamole. Try Franziskaner or Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier with tacos, burritos, or flautas. The darker flavors of dunkelweizen are perfect with the darker flavors of mole-smothered dishes. Try Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier Dunkel with enchiladas.

German wheat beers are a Bavarian specialty, so they are a go-to pairing for cured meats, sausages, and hams. The classic combination is hefeweizen and weisswurst. This veal and bacon sausage is often seasoned with mace, lemon, and parsley. A perfect pairing would be Brooklyner Weisse from Brooklyn Brewing. For Wiener schnitzel with a dash of lemon, reach for Sierra Nevada Keller Weiss or Paulaner Hefe-Weizen. Switch to dunkelweizen for heavier dishes like Sauerbraten. Zigeuner schnitzel, breaded veal in a spicy tomato sauce with peppers, mushrooms, and paprika, is perfect with Ayinger Ur-Weisse.

A really special treat with dunkelweizen is a chunk of bacony smoked Gouda cheese. The combination really can't be beat.

Wheat beers are so versatile that the options for food pairings are almost endless. So tell me, what do you like to eat with wheat beers?

About the Author: Certified Cicerone Michael Agnew is the lead educator and owner of A Perfect Pint. He conducts beer tastings for private parties and corporate events. His beer musings can be read in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, his own Perfect Pint Blog, The Hop Press at Ratebeer.com, the City Pages Hot Dish Blog, and in respected national beer magazines. Follow him on Twitter at @aperfectpint

• An observational study by the National Institute of Health made headlines last week by announcing that people who drink more cups of coffee per day live longer than those who drink only one or two cups per day. On average, male and female coffee drinkers cut their risk for death by about 13% with four or five cups. However, coffee drinkers still live shorter lives than non-coffee drinkers. The study attributes this discrepancy to the linked behaviors of coffee drinking and unhealthier activities, such as smoking.
• An advocacy group in California has put a ballot measure up for the November elections that would require labeling of genetically-modified ingredients in processed foods. There has been an ongoing national campaign to achieve GM labeling on a larger scale, but California may be the first state to implement its own labeling policy. Currently 40 countries around the world require labeling of GM products. The FDA has maintained its position that there is no significant difference between GM and non-GM products, and so labeling is unnecessary.
• New York City made a splash a few months ago with anti-soda ads depicting the sugary beverages as glasses full of fat. The stomach-turning image raised a firestorm of protest from the beverage industry. Last week, the newly-formed New York City Beverage Association released hundreds of ads on buses and subways telling their side of the story - that beverage companies provide jobs, help fight obesity by decreasing serving sizes and clearly displaying calories, and promote a healthy lifestyle. Check out the NYCBA's website here.
• A study by the USDA found that it is relatively less expensive to purchase grains, dairy and fruits according to the MyPlate recommendations than it is to purchase vegetables and "protein foods." When calculated per calorie, the cost of vegetables and fruits is high compared to processed foods. However, when calculated on a per-serving basis, the prices for healthier items drops significantly. This finding is important in providing policy recommendations for increasing food affordability.
• Brian Wansink, an influential food researcher at Cornell, released a study suggesting that "stop signs" in packaged foods could help control portion size for consumers. A group of college students was presented with a tube of Pringles that had a red-colored chip after the recommended serving size (seven chips for one serving, fourteen for two). The group of students with colored chips in their tube ate 50% fewer chips than their peers in the control group - 20 chips on average compared with 35 for the control. Could an edible red warning help eaters stop at 7 Pringles?

About the Author: A student in Providence, Rhode Island, Leah Douglas loves learning about, talking about, reading about, and consuming food. Her work has also been featured in Rhode Island Monthly Magazine.

From Drinks

Homebrew recipe writers often take the experience level of their readers for granted. They usually assume that every reader knows the process, acronyms, and abbreviations that they use. Most of the written shortcuts that homebrew recipe writers use are pretty simple to understand, so there's no need to let recipe conventions get in the way of learning how to brew. Today I'll share the basics of how to read any standard homebrewing recipe.

The introduction to a homebrewing recipe usually lists the specifications of the beer you want to make, like the alcohol content (ABV) or bitterness level (IBU). If you're not familiar with the acronyms used in recipe specs, take a look here before reading on.

Grain Bill

The body of a recipe begins with the type of grains and sugars that will go into your beer. This section is referred to as the "grain bill" or "grist". Depending on the level of difficulty of the brew, there could be all extract, a mix of extract and grain, or only grains listed. This section will also include any sugar adjuncts, like Belgian candy, molasses, or maple syrup. If it's not specified, most sugar adjuncts can be added in the last 5 or 10 minutes of the boil. Shorter boil times preserve the delicate aromatics in these ingredients.

For an all-grain recipe, the amount of grain may need to be adjusted to match the original gravity for your specific brewing system. When I brew, for example, I know that 10 pounds of grain will produce 5 gallons of beer with an O.G. of 1.054. For someone else, 10 pounds of grain might make a 1.046 or 1.058 beer. Almost all brewers will be in between these values for 10 pounds of grain. The only way to find the efficiency of your system is to brew a few batches and take careful notes. Once you know your efficiency, you can adjust any recipe accordingly. Making a beer with the right O.G. is an essential step in accurately brewing a recipe.

On a rare occasion, you may run across a recipe that will list the grain bill in percentages, rather than pounds. The more mathematically inclined are welcome to use algebra to figure out the right amount of each grain to get the proper proportions and O.G. The rest of us use a recipe calculator program like ProMash or BeerSmith to do the calculation.

Hop Schedule

After the grain bill, you'll find the hop schedule. A hop schedule tells you the amount of hops to use, what variety they should be and how long they should be boiled.

When reading a hop schedule, the number of minutes listed is the amount of time they should be in the boil. This can be confusing the first time you go through a recipe. If you're doing a typical 60-minute boil and the hop schedule says "2 ounces Magnum 45 minutes", this means you need to add the Magnum hops 15 minutes after the boil starts so that they boil for a total of 45 minutes.

There are a couple of brewer code words that make their way into the hop schedule from time to time. At the beginning of the list, especially if you're brewing all-grain, you might see the acronym "FWH", which means First Wort Hop. Hops labeled FWH should be added during the sparge, before the boil kettle is filled and long before the boil starts. Adding the hops when the wort is cooler allows more flavorful, less bitter compounds to be extracted from the hops. The other phrase that can be used in a hop schedule is "Flame Out". When a hop is added at flame out, it means that you add the hop the instant you turn off the heat, but before you begin to cool. Hops added at the very end of the boil contribute the most aromatics and no bitterness at all.

Yeast and Fermentation

The bottom of the recipe will list the recommended variety of yeast. A good recipe will also give a suggested fermentation temperature. I always give a suggested fermentation time (such as, "transfer to secondary after 2 weeks" or "bottle after a month"), but these should always be looked at as a base guideline. Fermentation is only complete when you have 2 consecutive gravity readings that are equal. A recipe may also recommend an aging period after fermentation is done. Don't skimp on the recommended aging, even if waiting is tough! For lagers or high-alcohol beers, aging will make the difference between a mediocre beer and an excellent one.

About the author: Joe Postma is a homebrewer who is seeking that perfect blend of creativity and science required to make great beer. He moonlights as a consulting actuary during the week.

VIEW SLIDESHOW: 16 Grilled Steak Recipes for Your Memorial Day Grill

There's a long weekend ahead, the weather should be fantastic, and there's a grill in the backyard just begging to be used. I... need... the... beef... it whispers to you. Here's your chance to feed its passions with 16 great Serious Eats-approved recipes for steak on the grill.

Click through the slideshow, or jump straight to the individual recipes below:

Get the Recipes!

• Grilled Spice-Rubbed Skirt Steak »
• The Food Lab's Perfect Grilled Ribeye Steaks »
• Herbes de Provence Grilled Steak »
• Mojo Marinated Flank Steak »
• Grilled Beef Pinwheels »
• Steak Sandwich with Onion-Jalapeño Sauce »
• Steakhouse-style Grilled Marinated Flank Steak »
• Chipotle Rubbed Steaks with Lime Butter »
• Grilled Marinated Flank Steak Fajitas »
• Chili Spiced Skirt Steak Tacos »
• Thai-Style Marinated Flank Steak Salad »
• Nigel Slater's Grilled Beef Salad »
• Yum Neua (Thai Grilled Beef Salad) »
• Grilled Poblanao and Potato Salad with Skirt Steak »
• Beef Satay »
• Grilled Steak Banh Mi »

[Photograph: Nick Kindelsperger]

I'm always surprised by how flavorful sautéing meat in a skillet and then deglazing the pan with wine can be. But as this fascinating recipe from Mario Batali proves, even minor adjusts can dramatically change the outcome.

Here the chops are dredged in flour, and then cooked over high with just a little salt and pepper. Once browned, some ground fennel is sprinkled on, wine and garlic are added in, and the whole skillet is transferred to very moderate oven, where the meat carefully finishes cooking. The fennel seed, along with the fresh fennel fronds that are added as a garnish, add a pleasing floral aroma to this otherwise meaty dish.

Why I Picked This Recipe: Most recipes for pork chops try to bathe them in some kind of sticky, sweet sauce, so I was interested to see what could be done with just a few ingredients. In particular, I wanted to see what ground fennel could do to such a big hunk of pork.

What Worked: Where should I begin? Searing the chops over high heat and then finishing them off in a moderate oven ensures that each chop has a great crust along with a juicy interior. Though only a little bit of ground fennel seed is sprinkled on top, it makes a big impression, lightening up the sauce while also making it aromatic.

What Didn't: No complaints on the actual pork chops.

Suggested Tweaks: The only suggestions I have are for sides to help bulk this out into a meal. Since this calls for using fresh fennel fronds, I also cooked the fennel bulbs and served them on the side. Here's a good tutorial for preparing them. I also served the chops with broccoli, though I imagine some potatoes would also be great.

About the author: Nick Kindelsperger is the editor of Serious Eats: Chicago. He loves tacos and spicy food. You can follow him as @nickdk on Twitter.

From Drinks

VIEW SLIDESHOW: Top Sips from Colorado Beer Week

[Photograph: Sean Buchan]

The 3rd Annual Colorado Beer Week was held May 12-19 across the city of Denver, offering a plethora of choices for craft beer fans. Piggy-backing off of American Craft Beer Week, the goal of Colorado Beer Week is to "host events that bring you great beer and educate everyone on the versatility of this tasty beverage", says founder Scott Kerkmans.

The Opening Ceremonies at Highland Tap & Burger featured beer from 16 breweries, including a few rare surprises if you stuck around long enough. Throughout the rest of the week we visited several breweries and beer bars to take in as much as possible. Here are a few of our favorite sips.

Oskar Blues Brewery: Deviant Dale's This devilishly hopped IPA (85 IBUs) won a Silver Medal at the Great American Beer Festival in 2011. The perfect combination of citrusy hops and malty sweetness make it go down smooth despite it's 8.0% ABV.

Denver Beer Company: Colorado Weiss This spontaneously fermented wheat ale is one of the latest brews from the guys at Denver Beer Co., who turn out new beers like they're going out of style. I went back twice for refills of this crisp, clean, and refreshing weiss beer.

New Belgium Brewing Company: Tart Lychee Definitely the most interesting beer we had all week, Tart Lychee is a great new sour offering from the guys who seriously know their sour beers at New Belgium. By itself, the lychee fruit is incredibly sweet, but it was transformed into something else entirely in this sour beer.

Dry Dock Brewing Company: Green Chili Double IPA Most people wouldn't think of adding green chili to their beer, but the brewers at Dry Dock aren't most people. As part of their Firkin Frenzy for Colorado Beer Week, they created this beautiful combination of hops and heat. The beer provided just enough spice on the back of the throat to make it interesting while staying drinkable.

Leopold Bros. Maryland Rye Barrel-Aged Old Chub This beer is the perfect representation of Colorado Beer Week. Oskar Blues (Lyons, CO) Old Chub aged in Leopold Bros. (Aurora, CO) barrels created one of the most balanced and flavorful beers we've had in a long time. Oh the things we'd do to get our hands on a keg of this...

About the Author: Sean Buchan covers the Denver craft beer scene for Denver Off the Wagon in addition to doing freelance photography for Colorado breweries. You can view his beer photography here, follow him on Facebook or on Twitter at @Beertographer.

[Photographs: Leela Punyaratabandhu]

Perhaps you've already noticed: Thai is a paste-based cuisine. Traditionally, at least.

At the foundation of most traditional dishes is a paste of some kind, comprising fresh and/or dried herbs and spices. Even a stir-fry often begins with the frying of a simple garlic or garlic-chili paste. It's no wonder why a mortar is such an essential tool in the Thai kitchen.

This reliance on paste also spills into the marinade realm as you can see in this recipe.

While there are many different Thai marinades used in various dishes, if you look closely at their ingredients, you'll see that the three ingredients are common to most of them include: garlic, white pepper, and cilantro roots, all pounded into a fine paste. The three ingredients together create a flavor combination so powerful that oftentimes other herbs and spices aren't even needed.

Remember Thai fried shrimp cakes? Those aren't seasoned with much more than a paste of garlic, peppercorns, and cilantro roots plus a bit of salt. Yet, together these simple ingredients create something that is far greater than the sum of its parts.

This baked chicken repeats that same happy theme. We're keeping things simple here. A fine paste of the essential trio works in tandem with fish sauce, the Thai's favorite source of salinity, and honey. Those are pretty much all you need to create this weeknight meal.

Making a paste out of whole peppercorns, garlic, and cilantro roots/stems is best done in a granite mortar as if you're making a curry paste. You can certainly do this in a mini-chopper. But while metal blades can only mince finely, the crushing blow of a granite pestle that brings out the essential oils in the fresh herbs and spices.

We'll be seeing a lot more recipes on My Thai Cooking that employs this 3-ingredient paste. So if you're into making Thai food at home, this may be a good time to consider if you can budget or make room for a set of Thai mortar and pestle in your kitchen. It will be worth the investment, I can assure you.

About the author: Leela is the author of the Thai food blog SheSimmers.com. You can follow her at @shesimmers

From A Hamburger Today

VIEW SLIDESHOW: Behind the Scenes Burger Tour with Pat LaFreida, Part 2: The Grilled Burger at the Little Owl

[Photographs: Robyn Lee]

Our Pat LaFreida burger tour continues this week with another small, if admittedly better known more-than-just-a-burger spot: Joey Campanaro's The Little Owl. But for Pat (who you can now check out on Food Network's Meat Men), size doesn't matter. Well, burger size does. But not restaurants.

"We put a lot of effort into little businesses like this. They're important to us," Pat says. Getting the blend of chuck, brisket, and flatiron steak just right took five or six trials, but all that work has made one hell of a grilled burger that Ed has praised to high heaven. And justifiably so: from a visual perspective alone, this may be the perfect American bacon cheeseburger.

The flavor doesn't disappoint either. It's smoky but not charred, ridiculously tender and moist but not greasy, and the mix of fresh beef drippings with slightly caramelized American cheese is pretty wonderful. This burger's really all about balance, in and out and top to bottom, with careful toppings and additions all aimed at elevating, but not hiding the meat. It invites needless debate to call anything "best in class," but this one is definitely in the running for best grilled burger in New York.

We stepped into the kitchen with chef Joey Campanaro to learn what goes into this beautiful beast. Check out the slideshow for a step-by-step guide to how it's made.

The Little Owl

90 Bedford Street, New York NY 10014 (at Grove Street; map) 212-741-4695; thelittleowlnyc.com

About the author: Max Falkowitz is the editor of Serious Eats: New York. You can follow him on Twitter at @maxfalkowitz.

[Photographs: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt]

So y'all read about the four high-end steaks you should know&mdahs;that'd be the strip, the ribeye, the T-bone, and the tenderloin. But today, we're here to talk about something a little different and a lot more exciting: inexpensive steaks for the grill. What I'm talking about is the butcher's cuts.

The pieces of the steer that you won't find in the fancy-pants steakhouses or the styrofoam trays in the refrigerated cases in the supermarket (well, at least not most supermarkets). The pieces that chefs love to use because not only are they more inexpensive, but they've got character.

See, the high-end steaks are all cut from the same general region of the steer—along the ribs and spine on its back. Why? Because the muscles in that area—the Longissimus dorsi and the Psoas major do little to no work during the steer's lifetime. They are large, tender, and remarkably easy to cut into big, juicy, meaty steaks.

The butcher's steaks, on the other hand, come from all over the steer, and they're not quite as easy to extract. Many of them are whole muscles that must be trimmed by the butcher just-so if you want them to be tender and large enough to cook as steaks. There are also not many of them on a steer. For every 20 pounds of ribeyes and T-bones you can get off a steer, you'll get perhaps 1 or 2 pounds of these butcher's cuts.

These butcher's cuts tend to be more packed with flavor because of the work they do, yet because they're not as marketable to the general public and require a bit more skill to cook and serve correctly, they remain much cheaper than their mainstream counterparts. This is good news for you, particularly because all this week, we'll be posting an in-depth look at them. How to shop, how to trim, how to cook, and how to serve to maximize their flavor—and your dollar.

Let's start with a brief overview of my five favorite inexpensive steaks: the hanger, the tri-tip, the short-rib, the skirt, and the flap meat.

Hanger Steak

Also Sold As: Butcher's steak, hangar (this is an incorrect spelling but appears frequently), arrachera (Mexico), fajitas arracheras (South Texas), bistro steak, onglet (France).

Where iI's Cut From: From the plate section of the cow (the front of the belly), it "hangs" off of the cow's diaphragm, hence the name. U.S. meat-cutting classification of NAMP 140.

What It Tastes Like: Strongly beefy with a distinct minerality, it can occasionally come off as tasting livery to those with palates that are sensitive to that flavor. For my money, it's one of the tastiest cuts on the cow. Because of its loose texture, it takes well to marinating. I generally rub mine in a mixture of olive oil with garlic, fresh herbs, and peppercorns for a day or so before wiping it dry and grilling. When butchered into individual steaks, it has a triangular cross-section that can make it bit difficult to cook evenly. It takes well to high heat, and should be cooked no less than medium-rare (otherwise it stays fleshy and wet), and no more than medium (or it gets tough and dry).

Tri-Tip

Also Sold As: Santa Maria Steak, Newport Steak (when cut into individual steaks), aguillote baronne (France), punta de anca, punta de Solomo, or colita de cuadril (Latin America), marinha (Brazil).

Where It's Cut From: The bottom sirloin, from the muscle group that controls the steers back legs (it applies its force to the steer's kneecap).

What It Tastes Like: Very lean with a mild flavor somewhat reminiscent of eye round, though with a more pronounced juiciness and beef flavor. Because of it's severely tapering shape, it can be extremely difficult to cook to the right doneness the whole way through. The smaller end inevitably overcooks to a degree. It's extremely popular in Santa Maria where it is cooked over red oak wood. It takes well to smoke and spice rubs and should not be cooked past medium rare, unless being used in a braised dish such as chili.

Short Rib

Also Sold As: Kalbi (Korean), Jacob's Ladder (U.K., when cut across the bones), asado de tira (Argentina)

Where it's Cut From: The ribs. Short ribs can be cut numerous ways, but come from the area of the ribs a bit further down towards the belly than rib steaks or strip steaks (which come from closer up towards the back). When cut into long slabs with bone sections about 6 to 8-inches in length, they are referred to as "English cut". When sliced across the bones so that each slice receives four to five short sections of bone, they are known as "flanken style." Korean restaurants will often butterfly the meat while still attached to the bone, allowing them to unfurl into long, thin pieces that pick up marinade well and get far more tender than whole ribs.

What It Tastes Like: Extraordinarily rich, beefy, and juicy, it's one of the most well-marbled cuts on the animal. The flavor is very similar to the spinalis dorsi—the ribeye cap, which is the tastiest part of the ribeye steak. Some people may find it to be almost too rich, but I personally love the flavor when served in reasonably-sized portions. Unless sliced very thinly against the grain, short ribs can be quite tough—most people are familiar with them as a slow-cooking cut used primarily for braising. For my money, short ribs are are the greatest steak value available. All the flavor of the best ribeye steak, at perhaps a quarter of the cost

Skirt Steak

Also Sold As: Fajita meat, Roumanian Strip (New York).

Where It's Cut From: The outside skirt is the diaphragm muscle of the cow, cut from the plate. It is the traditional cut for fajitas, and is generally sold to restaurants. Inside skirt is part of the flank, and is the more widely available form of skirt.

What It Tastes Like: Extremely rich and buttery with lots of fat and a loose, strongly grained texture. It practically bastes itself as it cooks. Skirt steak is thin, so it must be cooked over very intense heat so that it can char on the outside before it overcooks in the center. Unless it is cut correctly, it can be inedibly tough and chewy. It must be cut into sections, then sliced thinly against the grain. Skirt can also be braised into dishes like Cuban ropa vieja, where it pulls apart into long, stringy strands.

Flap Meat

Also Sold As: Faux hanger, bavette (France), sirloin tip (New England).

Where It's Cut From: The bottom sirloin butt—the same general region where the tri-tip comes from.

What It Tastes Like: Extremely loos in texture with a sweet, beefy, minerality, it can also come across as livery some times, particularly when stored in a vacuum-sealed bag. It's coarse-grained and soft to the point of mushiness when raw or rare, so should be cooked to at least medium-rare. Like skirt and hanger, it must be cut closely against the grain to minimize toughness.

This week we'll feature a different one of these cuts every day with complete cooking tips and recipes. Ladies and gentlemen, start your grills.

About the author: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt is the Chief Creative Officer of Serious Eats where he likes to explore the science of home cooking in his weekly column The Food Lab. You can follow him at @thefoodlab on Twitter, or at The Food Lab on Facebook.

It's time for another round of The Food Lab. Got a suggestion for an upcoming topic? Email Kenji here, and he'll do his best to answer your queries in a future post. Become a fan of The Food Lab on Facebook or follow it on Twitter for play-by-plays on future kitchen tests and recipe experiments.

[Photographs: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt]

Hanger is like that indie band that hasn't quite hit top-40 mainstream status yet, but is big enough that everybody and their mother's heard about it. Most have even given it a try. For a long, long time it wasn't even sold to the general public, reserved mostly for ground beef, or taken home by the butchers (earning it the nickname "butcher's steak." If you lived in France, you would have seen it on bistro menus as onglet—a popular cut for steak frites. In the U.S., however, your chances of running into it were much slimmer.

Then, some time around the late 1990s, early aughts, chefs caught wind of it and it started appearing on menus of American bistros and fancy restaurants alike. They liked it because it offered the full, beefy flavor and richness of more expensive cuts of meat like ribeye or strip, without the hefty price tag.

These days, it's become so popular that it's no longer as dirt cheap as it used to be (after all, there are only two on each steer, and they aren't particularly large), but it still comes in at around half to a third the price of a typical high-end steak at the supermarket.

How To Buy It

Alternative Names: Butcher's steak, hangar (this is an incorrect spelling but appears frequently), arrachera (Mexico), fajitas arracheras (South Texas), bistro steak, onglet (France).

Where it's Cut From: From the plate section of the cow (the front of the belly), it "hangs" off of the cow's diaphragm, hence the name. U.S. meat-cutting classification of NAMP 140.

Hanger steaks come in a few different forms in the market. Straight from the steer, it comes as two rather large, loose-grained muscles stuck together side to side with a tone of connective tissue and silverskin surrounding it. If you're lucky, you'll have a good butcher who knows how to break this down into two separate, well-trimmed steaks. Each one will be about a food long and weigh in at 8 to 12 ounces, with a triangular cross section.

I've seen these individual steaks butterflied into wider, thinner steaks supposedly to make for more even cooking. Really, a butterflied hanger steak is too thin to cook to medium rare while still developing a nice crust, so I'd avoid buying them. Instead, stick to a regular trimmed steak, or buy it untrimmed and do it yourself.

How To Trim It

You'll want to first start by removing all silverskin and excess fat from the exterior with a sharp, sharp boning knife.

slide the tip of the knife under the silverskin, grab the skin with your free hand, then carefully pull the kife under it, taking off as little meat as you can. Eventually, you'll end up with a piece of meat with two muscles attached by a thick sinew that runs down their center, like this:

Cut the steak in half along that sinew to separate it into two individual hanger steaks, then trim each one down, and you're ready to cook.

How To Cook It

There are a number of ways to cook hanger both indoors and out, but no matter where you cook it, you want to make sure that you cook it to medium-rare or medium, no more, no less. Unlike, say, a ribeye steak, which will still be pretty tender and juicy at medium or beyond, a hanger steak has a very coarse texture with a distinct grain running through it. Anywhere beyond medium, and it gets too rubbery to chew.

Undercook it, on the other hand, and you get meat that is mushy and slippery. Rare hanger steak is simply not the same as rare tenderloin, ribeye, or strip. Use a thermometer, and cook it to the sweet spot between 125° and 130° degrees (this gives it some leeway to rise in temperature was it rests).

Very high heat is essential as well. Hanger steaks are relatively thin, and you want to give them a nice char before they get a chance to start overcooking. When going on the grill, I'll pile up a full chimney of coals under one side of the grill grate and cook them full blast from start to finish, flipping occasionally until they're done.

In a pan, use cast iron and go for smoking hot high heat.

Finally, hanger steaks are good candidates for sous-vide cooking, as it guarantees that they cook evenly all the way through. Cook them in a 125° to 130°F water bath, then finish them off with the highest possible heat on a grill or stovetop.

When serving, it is essential to slice the meat against the grain. This will shorten the long, grainy muscled fibers, making it easier to chew. When properly cooked and sliced, a hanger steak is every bit as tender as a ribeye.

Other Flavorings and Sauces

Because of its loose texture, hanger takes well to marinating. I generally rub mine in a mixture of olive oil with garlic, fresh herbs, and peppercorns for a day or so before wiping it dry and grilling with plenty of salt and pepper. The oil helps the seasonings spread their flavor earound the meat, as well as aiding in browning on the grill.

It's one of the best cuts for various South American, Mexican, and Southeast Asian recipes as well, as it takes well to citrusy marinades or dressings, as well as spicy sauces.

Get the Recipes!

• Grilled Garlic and Herb-Marinated Hanger Steak »
• Zak Pelaccio's Hanger Steak Salad »
• Steak with Caramelized Onion-Jalapeño Sauce »
• Nigel Slater's Grilled Beef Vietnamese Salad »
• Grilled Chipotle-Rubbed Steaks with Lime Butter »

About the author: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt is the Chief Creative Officer of Serious Eats where he likes to explore the science of home cooking in his weekly column The Food Lab. You can follow him at @thefoodlab on Twitter, or at The Food Lab on Facebook.

Recipes!

• Grilled Garlic and Herb-Marinated Hanger Steak
• Zak Pelaccio's Hanger Steak Salad
• Nigel Slater's Grilled Beef Vietnamese Salad
• Grilled Chipotle-Rubbed Steaks with Lime Butter
• Steak with Caramelized Onion-Jalapeño Sauce