Blade Steak Tacos

The cut of meat I have selected is boneless blade steak. Blade steak, also known as top blade, comes from the top blade muscle in the beef chuck primal cut. Butchers used to cut the chuck primal cut into two pieces, the chuck shoulder clod and the chuck roll, but now it is more likely for them to cut these individual muscles and sell them, like the blade steak. The steak I got was from No Frills, and comes from AA or higher beef. The price of this steak was $21.98/kg, I got 0.370kg for $8.13, the steak could serve 2-3 people in the recipe I will be providing. Blade steaks are usually pretty inexpensive, but has a very beefy flavour. It can be very chewy when grilled, which I learned after grilling, due to the large amount of connective tissue in this cut. This steak would be best prepared with a wet cooking method, such as braising. The braising method breaks down the connective tissue and leaves you with a juicy and tender steak. After grilling, the grain in this steak was hard to follow as it seemed to be going in multiple directions. There was also a lot of chewy fat that did not make it easy to cut or eat. I had never heard of blade steak before and thought I would make some tacos with it. I decided to go with a grilling method on a cast iron skillet, as most steak tacos I have had are with grilled steak.

Looking back I should have braised this steak as it would have came out much more tender and enjoyable to eat. It was also difficult to grill, as it was cooking very uneven and came out with some spots medium rare and some much more rare. Before grilling I seasoned with salt and freshly ground pink, white and black peppercorns. I put the steak on some warm corn tortillas with an avocado and cilantro sauce, topped with some diced onions and fresh cilantro. The flavour of these tacos came out really nice all together and the seasoning was nice on the steak, but it was very chewy. I wished I had braised it! For the recipe I will have the steak braised as that is the proper cooking method.

Blade Steak Tacos

Ingredient List

For steak;

1 cut of blade steak

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 onion, small diced (save 1/3 cup for garnish)

1 can diced tomatoes

1L beef broth

1 lime, juiced

1 tsp, ground cumin

1tsp, ground coriander

2 chipotle peppers in adobo, finely chopped

salt and pepper to taste

For avocado and cilantro sauce;

1 large avocado

1 lime, juiced

1/2 lemon, juiced

1/2 bunch of cilantro

1 tbsp water (if needed)

salt and pepper to taste

for tacos;

8 corn tortillas

1/3 cup, cilantro roughly chopped

1/3 cup onion, small diced (from steak prep)

Preheat oven to 350F with convection on. Start by sweating your onions over medium heat in a medium sized pot, add garlic once translucent. Add the spices and toast for a few seconds, then add chipotles and tomatoes. Cook for a few minutes and then add in the beef stock and bring to a simmer. Add lime juice and steak. Place a lid on the pot and place in the oven for an hour to an hour and a half.

For the avocado and cilantro sauce, add al ingredients to a blender and pulse until smooth, if consistency is too thick you can add a tablespoon of water.

The steak will be fork tender once done. Once removed from the oven, bring a nonstick skillet over medium high heat and warm the corn tortillas until they can fold and not break.

Slice the steak and place on the warm tortilla, top with avocado cilantro sauce, some diced onions and roughly chopped cilantro. The liquid the meat was braised in, can be strained and put into a ramekin for dipping the tacos, it has a rich beefy flavour from the render of fat which compliments these tacos perfectly.

Although I grilled these tacos and they didn't turn out perfect, I learned what methods are best used and I learned why it is so important to follow these recommended cooking methods.

References

Alfaro, D. (n.d.). Blade Steak: The best steak for Braising. Retrieved February 05, 2021, from https://www.thespruceeats.com/what-is-a-beef-blade-steak-995581

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