What's In A Name? When It Comes To The New York Strip Steak The Political Connotations Matter
A 16 oz. New York Strip steak at Duke's Chophouse in Rivers Casino. (Photo by John Carl ... More D'Annibale/Albany Times Union via Getty Images)
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.
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