The Cut of Meat You Didn't Think of for Australia Day....

It can be a wonderful, yet crazy time during the month of December for a butcher shop in Sydney. The summer is just getting started & people are slowly winding down for the year, while we, the fresh meat people are just warming up! Families across Sydney are planning between each other who will be hosting Christmas & what should they bring. (Trust us, we have heard all the stories relating to multiple people in one family buying Christmas hams & the arguments that stir up).

Then it doesn't stop there. As we finally make it through the Christmas lunch, we then need to start organising the NYE & NYD BBQ's!

This sometimes can be even harder to navigate with Sydneysiders being in the peak of their horizontal season, & asking the big questions.

''when does the butcher open over the break?''

 

So here we are now in January 2023, there is a nice lulling presence that comes on with the Sydney summer heat. This lull is to be enjoyed before we start up work again & the kids are heading back to school. Though we have one more event to wrap up our Summer holiday mode, & the experts would say that it is our biggest barbecue day of them all, Australia Day. The cut of meat I have decided to choose for your 2023 Australia Day spread is........Chuck Steak!

What is Chuck steak?

The name may be deceiving to some as this cut of meat is not meant to be grilled or cooked on the bbq. The chuck steak piece is located around the shoulder area of the cattle where it is broken up into different muscle groups, where there is a fat layer in between. This provides extra flavour & aids in keeping it from drying out when cooking, as well as the naturally marbled meat.

All these factors are what makes it such an amazing cut of meat to use for Australia Day & I am going to show you why. Firstly, you need to make your way down to The Meat Store. You can come see us either down in our Caringbah meat store, Bondi Junction meat store, or if we aren't near you we also do home delivery, a butcher online!

Then you can ask one of our friendly butchers to cut you 2kg of chuck steak in big cubes, roughly the size of a tennis ball. Once you get home preheat your oven to 200 degrees on the fan forced setting. Once that's done, you add your favourite dry rub or marinade to the chuck steak & mix well in a bowl. Then on the stove top heat up a cast-iron pot with a lid & brown off the chuck steak inside until cooked off on all ends.

Once this is done add about 2 litres of stock until most of the chuck steak is submerged in the liquid & put the lid on. Cook your chuck steak for 30 minutes at 200 degrees, then turn down to 160 degrees & slow cooked for 2- 2.5hrs. Once this time is up, remove from the oven & pour off the excess juices into a bowl.

By now the chuck steak will be so tender that it falls apart when you start to shred it. Once all the meat has been shredded you can either add some of the extra juices back in to add some a rich consistency or your favourite wet bbq sauce marinade.

Add the pulled chuck steak to an extra plate & serve up in soft white bread rolls with a homemade coleslaw. See what I mean! Why just have grilled sausages & lamb chops, when you can have a beautiful slow cooked beef chuck steak that pretty much cooks itself!