Butchers are an interesting lot: there's the slightly morbid nature of their work, their penchant for razor sharp tools, their odd history of keeping certain cuts of ultra tasty meat to themselves. In my mind, I imagine butchers huddled behind closed doors, swapping secret butchering information. If you'd like to feel like part of this clandestine brotherhood the next time you find yourself talking to your butcher, make sure no one is watching, then ask for something they've been keeping under wraps: hanger steak.
Complicated secret handshakes may be required.
Cut: Hanger Steak
Hanger steaks are cut from the muscle on the inside of the beef carcass, attached to the last rib, diaphragm and kidney, right below the tenderloin in the plate primal. The nature of the location makes it look as though the muscle is actually "hanging" off the diaphragm, and is the source of the steak's name. Its purpose is to support the diaphragm, and that effort tends to make for a surprisingly flavorful cut of meat that can easily be overcooked and made tough. Such close proximity to the kidney also imparts extra flavor as well, with some people saying that hanger steaks exhibit liver-esque flavor profiles.
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