What's In A Name? When It Comes To The New York Strip Steak The Political Connotations Matter
It would seem to be one of the more mundane facts of history, but food names have long carried political implications. Italians insist they created the first breaded meat cutlet under the name costoletta alla milanese, but the Austrians say their cooks created it under the name Wiener Schnitzel. Baked Alaska is called Omelette norvégienne in France; during World War I, out of anti-German sentiment, American cooks changed sauerkraut to 'liberty cabbage'; in World War II, the soup vichyssoise (created at New York's Ritz-Carlton) was re-named 'crème Gauloise' as a rebuke to the Nazi-allied Vichy government in France. And in 2003 the U.S. House of Representatives changed the named 'French fries' to 'freedom fries' in its cafeteria because France opposed the Iraq war.
Wiener Schnitzel (Viennese Schnitzel) and Wine served in a tradtional open air restaurant in ... More Unterloiben in the Wachau. (Photo by: Martin Zwick/REDA/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Then last month Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick proposed on X that the 'New York strip' steak be re-named 'Texas strip,' because 'Liberal New York shouldn't get the credit for our hard-working ranchers.' Noting that New York has more dairy cows and Texas more beef steers, 'Just because a New York restaurant named Texas beef a New York Strip in the 19th century doesn't mean we need to keep doing that,' and said the Texas Senate 'will file a concurrent resolution to officially change the name of the New York Strip to the 'Texas Strip' in the Lone Star State,' asking restaurants and grocery stores to do the same. Full of Texas gumption, Patrick went on to say that 'We want this to catch on across the country and around the globe. In a world filled with serious issues that we address every day at the Texas Capitol, this simple resolution will help better market Texas beef.' As of now, the bill, Resolution 26, has been referred to Water, Agriculture & Rural Affairs, which seems unlikely to fast-track it. This is from the state that passed a law that requires all vehicles have working windshield wipers but does not require that vehicles have windshields.
HOUSTON, TEXAS - FEBRUARY 5: Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick (Staff Photographer/Houston Chronicle ... More via Getty Images)
The beef cut in question has long been called simply a 'strip steak,' which is a boneless, marbled, tender cut from the short loin. The USDA has a long list under its Standards of Identity of beef cuts, ranging from primal brisket to prime loin to primal shank to primal sirloin. Primal short loin is cut from the hindquarter between the pinbone of the primal sirloin and the small end of the rib. A porterhouse includes the top loin, the tenderloin and the tail and retaining the 'T-bone'; the tenderloin is also called 'filet mignon,' 'tournedos' and 'chateaubriand,' while the 'club steak' has no tenderloin or flank attached and is often called the 'Delmonico steak.' (More below.) The 'strip steak' or 'strip roast' contains the top loin muscle and bones, called in some parts of the country 'New York strip,' in others 'Kansas City strip,' and 'shell' in others. Got all that?
QUEMADO, TEXAS - JUNE 13: Farmer Jose Esquivel surveys his field of cattle on June 13, 2023 in ... More Quemado, Texas. Ranchers and farmers have begun culling their cattle herds due to drought and high costs in the region, threatening a potentially steep climb in prices for the country's supply of beef. (Photo by)
None of which Patrick seems to have taken into account. His claim that Texas raises a lot of beef cattle––4 million cows and heifers––ignores that they account for only 14.6% of all beef cows in the U.S. Even so, most of those cows are slaughtered outside of Texas: Nebraska slaughters more than 20% , along with South Dakota, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri and Colorado. A 'cut' refers to the part of the slaughtered cow and has nothing to do with where it was raised.
Delmonico's, opened in 1831, is the oldest restaurant in the U.S. and still thriving in downtown New ... More York.
The Delmonico steak has a distinct history, dating back to Delmonico's restaurant in downtown New York in 1831, where it still stands. 'Del's' was a Gilded Age influencer whose multi-page menus were copied by competitors, which included the Delmonico steak, Delmonico's potatoes gratin, lobster Newberg, Manhattan clam chowder and Baked Alaska.
In those heady days of Diamond Jim Brady and Jay Gould, Delmonico's would roast a 150-pound baron of beef for huge parties, and they still have roast prime rib on the menu with Yorkshire pudding. For its steaks they use only USDA Prime beef fattened on grains like corn to give them more marbling and richer flavor. Since the kitchen gets its beef from various sources, there's no rationale for changing its eponymous name. According to the current head captain, Branko Vinski, 'A Delmonico steak is cut from the short loin, between the sirloin and the ribs, which is the most tender and flavorful cut.'
According to the restaurant's history,
Dining at Delmonico's contains the recipe for making its famous signature steak.
'We use a boneless 20 ounce prime ribeye steak that has been aged for at least six weeks. It is finished with what we call 'meat butter,' a herbaceous compound butter.'
A 'Kansas City Steak' usually refers to a short loin with the bone. The current fad in steakhouses is the ostentatious 'Tomahawk,' which is a ribeye with a six- to eight-inch long bone handle, for which you pay in weight, despite all its meat being trimmed from it.
It would seem that Lt.-Gov. Patrick has his work cut out for him, not least at a time when there would seem to be more important legislation to consider in the state. 'In a world filled with serious issues that we address every day at the Texas Capitol,' he wrote on X, 'this simple resolution will help better market Texas beef. That's good for the Texas cattle industry. The Cattle Associations sure liked the idea.'
Of course, no one else anywhere––not least the other beef producing states––could care less about this kind of silliness. Perhaps Patrick would have more luck changing the name 'London broil' to 'Texas broil,' even though the name has as much to do with London as Canadian bacon does with Canada.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
2 hours ago
- New York Post
Melania Trump sends letter to Putin about abducted children
US President Donald Trump's wife, Melania Trump, raised the plight of children in Ukraine and Russia in a personal letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, two White House officials said on Friday. President Trump hand-delivered the letter to Putin during their summit talks in Alaska, the officials told Reuters. Slovenian-born Melania Trump was not on the trip to Alaska. The officials would not divulge the contents of the letter other than to say it mentioned the abductions of children resulting from the war in Ukraine. 3 Melania Trump raised the plight of children in Ukraine and Russia in a personal letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Getty Images 3 Russia's President Vladimir Putin speaks during a joint press conference with President Donald Trump at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, on Aug. 15, 2025. AP The existence of the letter was not previously reported. Russia's seizure of Ukrainian children has been a deeply sensitive one for Ukraine. Ukraine has called the abductions of tens of thousands of its children taken to Russia or Russian-occupied territory without the consent of family or guardians a war crime that meets the UN treaty definition of genocide. Previously Moscow has said it has been protecting vulnerable children from a war zone. 3 People from U.S.-based nonprofit organization avaaz light candles beside teddy bear in Schuman Roundabout, the heart of the EU district on February 24, 2023 in Brussels, Belgium. Getty Images The United Nations Human Rights Office has said Russia has inflicted suffering on millions of Ukrainian children and violated their rights since its full scale invasion of Ukraine begun in 2022. Trump and Putin met for nearly three hours at a US military base in Anchorage without reaching a ceasefire deal in the war in Ukraine.
New York Post
4 hours ago
- New York Post
Trump's ‘quiet' stance after Alaska meeting with Putin suggests there's still ‘sticking points' to Ukraine peace, officials say
President Trump's vague, post-meeting press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska demonstrated that 'significant roadblocks' stand in the way of peace in Ukraine, several officials suggested Friday. 'That was different,' former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo quipped shortly after the Trump-Putin presser, where neither leader took questions from reporters — or offered details about what a possible cease-fire to halt the two-and-a-half-years-long war would entail. Pompeo, in an interview with Fox News host Brian Kilmeade, noted that Trump is usually 'very straightforward,' 'very forward leaning' and shares 'all the things that he can' with the press — but didn't in Anchorage. 'Clearly he felt in this instance, to deliver on behalf of America, the best thing to do was to be quiet,' the former Trump Cabinet official said. 4 Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo believes that President Trump was deliberately guarded after his meeting with Vladimir Putin. AFP via Getty Images Pompeo insisted that Americans shouldn't 'over-read that' but maintained Trump was 'pretty non-transparent,' suggesting, 'there are significant roadblocks along the way that remain. 'I think there's still significant sticking points along the way,' he added. 'They may have identified interests that they can work their way through, perhaps on economic matters and the like, but it sounds to me like sort of the central issue … Vladimir Putin's willingness to conduct a cease-fire with no condition … it doesn't sound like Putin showed up today ready to concede that core point.' House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast (R-Fla.) argued that Trump seemed to be 'clear-eyed' about negotiations with the Russian president at the summit. 'I think his posture showed that he was clear-eyed about what Vladimir Putin was saying and where Vladimir Putin was wrong,' Mast told Fox News. 'It is just crystal clear that Putin's back is against the wall,' the congressman continued. 'And I think [Trump] demonstrated that clearness with his very first action, before saying a word, with the fact that he flew B2 bombers over [Putin's] head.' 4 Congressman Brian Mast said it's clear Putin's 'back is against the wall.' REUTERS Mast argued the flyover was 'not an accident' and that it sent a message to the Russian strongman. 'It was a signal to [Putin] that when President Trump says, 'Hey, there could be very serious consequences,' he's saying that these serious consequences can be very far reaching,' the Florida Republican said. 'Maybe it's fires that we sell to European countries or other NATO countries that can reach Moscow or St. Petersburg or oil refiners or other things, or maybe it's other weapon systems that we get into the hands of the Ukrainians,' Mast said of potential consequences Russia could face. Razom for Ukraine, a nonprofit humanitarian aid and advocacy organization backing Kyiv in the fight against Russia, said in a statement that the meeting 'reaffirms that the only way to achieve a genuine peace is by pressuring Russia, not by believing Putin's lies that he wants peace.' 'Putin remains the sole obstacle to peace,' CEO Dora Chomiak said in the statement. 4 Mast also argued that the choice to fly B2 bombers was not an accident. AFP via Getty Images Chomiak noted that 'just before Putin landed in Alaska, Russia launched another massive air strike on Ukrainian civilians, reminding us all that he won't end Russia's invasion until he's forced to.' 'The idea that Putin believes there is a positive deal for him in the near future is deeply alarming,' she added, calling on Trump to 'immediately get Ukraine the weapons it needs to save innocent families from Putin's brutal attacks. 'Putin still has hope that he can conquer Ukraine. President Trump must prove him wrong.' Ukrainian Parliament member Oleksandr Merezhko argued that Putin came out the winner of 'the informational war' after the meeting, but appeared as an equal to Trump. 'He used Trump to show that he is not isolated,' Merezhko said, according to the New York Times. 4 Some officials said Putin remains the chief obstacle to peace. REUTERS Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky criticized Putin for repeating the 'same propagandistic clichés about the 'roots of the conflict' that his state television keeps repeating,' according to Reuters. 'The problem is Russian imperialism, not Ukraine's desire to live in freedom,' Lipavsky said. 'If Putin were serious about peace talks, Russia would not have been attacking Ukraine all day today.'
New York Post
5 hours ago
- New York Post
Alaska meeting was a start, but Putin is still up to his old tricks — and Trump knows it
As the people of Ukraine know, neighborliness is not among Putin's great qualities. Still, it was with a reference to the US and Russia being neighbors that Putin kicked off his conversation with President Trump in Alaska yesterday. On the red carpet at the airport he apparently said to Trump: 'Good afternoon, dear neighbor. Very good to see you in good health and to see you alive.' Advertisement 6 President Donald Trump greets Russian President Vladimir Putin on the tarmac after they arrived at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, on August 15, 2025. AFP via Getty Images When relaying this at the joint press conference later on, the Russian president commented about his own earlier remarks: 'I think that is very neighborly.' Of course the two leaders were only meeting because of Putin's lack of neighborly qualities. Advertisement Since Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 there have been no face-to-face meetings between the leaders of Russia and the US. Partly because Putin has been unwilling to stop the war he started. And partly because there has been very little for the two to agree on. Putin's invasion has led to more than a million deaths. Perhaps just on his own side. Advertisement Figures vary as to the number of Ukrainians killed since the conflict began. Trump came into office saying that the war would never have started if he had been the US President in 2022. 6 A B-2 bomber (C) and four F-35 fighter jets fly overhead as President Donald Trump greets Russian President Vladimir Putin on the tarmac after they arrived at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, on August 15, 2025. AFP via Getty Images And yesterday Putin was careful to stress that this was a point of agreement between the two sides. Advertisement He talked about the unresponsiveness of the Biden administration to the warnings he claims to have given them. Still, Trump was careful not to fall for the flattery. Throughout the joint press appearance, while Putin was speaking, Trump maintained his careful, thoughtful listening face. He knows that even a smile in the wrong place can be deadly when dealing with a negotiating partner like Putin. Not just because of the man standing beside him on the stage, but for the world's media camped out in front of them both, many of whom would love to revive the 'Putin puppet' memes about Trump that ran so wild from 2016 to 2020. 6 President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin watch F-35 fighter jets fly overhead at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, on August 15, 2025. Aware that every gesture, word, and handshake would be pored over relentlessly, Trump set up the meeting and controlled it on his own terms. Putin is a famous manipulator of meetings with world leaders. Advertisement He likes to wrong-foot people or make himself look like the bigger man. On the tarmac Trump was careful to make sure that he didn't greet Putin too warmly, and also not to be too austere. Trump was in Alaska to get a deal done. Whether Putin was there for the same thing they were there to see. Advertisement But in an expert piece of stagecraft an American B-2 stealth bomber flew overhead as Trump and Putin walked to the first photo opportunity. Trump stopped to look up and acknowledge the place, as though to say, 'Gee — who'd have thought it. One of those US planes that just took out the Iranian nuclear reactors. Remember them?' 6 President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, August 15, 2025. REUTERS For two-and-a-half hours the leaders were shut behind closed doors and the fact that they both came out together was a signal in itself. Advertisement Trump had earlier suggested that if they didn't both appear after the meeting then it was because there was nothing to talk about. Trump-watchers remember the Hanoi meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un in 2019. Then, too, there was huge build up and high expectations. But when Trump realized there was no deal to be had with the North Korean dictator, he just walked away. Advertisement That didn't happen yesterday. And for every who believes that jaw-jaw is better than war-war that has to be a good thing. Trump's own remarks at the joint press conference were friendly and formal. 6 US special envoy Steve Witkoff speaks with staff at the conclusion of the Trump/Putin meeting. AFP via Getty Images But he acknowledged that while the talks were a start there was no deal. Because there were still a number of small things and 'one which is the most significant' that the two sides had not agreed on. Get opinions and commentary from our columnists Subscribe to our daily Post Opinion newsletter! Thanks for signing up! Enter your email address Please provide a valid email address. By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Never miss a story. Check out more newsletters Presumably that one big thing was whether or not Putin should be allowed to keep the territory of Ukraine that his forces have already annexed. This is a point of contention not only for the Ukrainian people, but for America´s NATO allies, who are united in the belief that giving Putin something of Ukraine will not satisfy his appetite for land, but only encourage it. There are those at home in the US who say that this is fever-dream of war-mongers. But America's allies in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Finland, Sweden and nearly all of the rest of Europe fear it. And for them this is not some theoretical, grand-strategy game. It is a matter of whether their countries will be at existential risk of invasion by Putin next. 6 Putin suggested the next meeting between the two leaders should occur in Moscow. AFP via Getty Images Trump had a careful game to balance in Alaska. He managed to encourage Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table. And he did get Putin to say that he is 'sincerely interested' in ending the conflict. Something that Putin described as 'a tragedy.' As though his land invasion was like a typhoon or a tsunami. Just something that happens in nature, but can be cleaned up afterwards. But it was a start. Trump told the world that the talks had been constructive. At the end of the press conference he called Putin 'Vladimir' and Putin suggested that perhaps the next meeting would be in Moscow. 'I could see it possibly happening,' said Trump, jokily. And wherever it happens, if the two leaders can have further meetings which can help bring an end to the war then that could be a good thing. But Trump needs to keep in mind something else Putin said when they weren't behind closed doors. During his lengthy remarks (much longer than Trump's), Putin talked about how much Russia and Ukraine have in common and what bonds and roots they share. Trump should remember that. Putin can pretend to have the best connection with you. And he'll still try to flatten you.
