Badmovies.org Forum

I fired up the grill yesterday to cook up a steak.  
I fired up the oven also and dumped a load of Ore-Ida "Texas Crispers"  (http://www.oreida.com/varieties/) onto a flat baking sheet to go along with my steak.
Both the steak & crispers go good together especially if they're dipped in A-1 steak sauce.
"Yeah, it's that important."
 (http://www.a1sauce.com)

MMM..MMM...Good!

My buddy watched me grill the steak  
He just stood there smoking a cigarette and watching me.
He'd already eaten and wasn't hungry so I didn't feel guilty about cooking and then eating such a manly man's meal in front of him.

When it was done cooking, (I like my steak rare to medium rare...a little blood doesn't hurt) he noticed me eating the gristle that ran alongside the steak and he thought it was the most disgusting thing he'd seen in quite awhile.

I said to him, "You're crazy!  The gristle mixed with portions of meat and sauce is one of the best parts of the steak!...especially if you throw some crispers in with it!"

He just cringed.

Do any of you also love to eat the gristle?
Do you find it as delicious as I do?



Post Edited (06-24-04 03:10)

A coupel of points.

1.  The "gristle" is where the flavor comes from so you are right, to a point.  It is also the source of the most dangerous part of the steak.  Consider that this particular part is pure fat and conective tissue.......yum.

2.  If your steak needs sauce, you are eating meat that is too cheap.  Buy a better cut of meat and don't use the sauce, just salt.

p**s no! I hate gristle! I'm just chewing my sausage or hamburger ,minding my own business, when my teeth clamp down on something weird and chewy. I quickly have to sacrivivce a whole mouthful of food to get rid of this gristle. Plus as George said it's pure fat. So NO I do not eat that evil thing!

He just stood there smoking a cigarette and watching me.

he noticed me eating...he thought it was the most disgusting thing he'd seen in quite awhile.

No comment

Nope.
It doesn't taste good to me.

A good steak is measured my a means called marbleing, which measures the amount of fat that is found throught the meat.  So, if you EVER eat meat you are eating gristle it is just not as thick as the outside part.  The fat that is throught out meat is what holds the juices untill the cooking process.   And you are correct George, if you have a high grade cut of meat and it is cooked correctly, there is no need for sauce.

I'm confused; I always thought of "fat" as that chewy, squishy white stuff that gets crispy when cooked through, and "gristle" as those bits that have the consistency of a piece of hard rubber, like the knuckle on the end of a chicken leg.

For myself, I don't eat either. *IF* the fat is cooked through so that it's crispy and not chewy, then I'll sometimes eat a small amount of it, but not when it's rubbery. The other, hard stuff, like the knuckle, I have never even attempted to eat.

One memory that always makes me gag is of when my mother would make "cube" steak, which basically is like a piece of hamburger, only not as tender. I'd put a piece of it in my mouth and in the process of chewing it for the next 15 minutes or so (minimum amount of time required to get it to a state where you can actually attempt to swallow it), I'd be moving it around my mouth and EVERY SINGLE TIME, I'd end up with a piece of fat stretched over my tongue from side to side. BLECH!!!

It depends on how well I've cooked the steak.  If the fat running along the outside, which I assume is what you mean by "gristle", is nice and tender, than I will eat it along with the rest of the steak.  But if I've screwed it up and the fat is all tough and chewy I don't usually eat it.  I never eat the connective tissue, tendons and the like.

Fat is delicious.

Of course, I also eat salmon skin and have been known to enjoy the skin of ham hocks when cut up in a pot of beans, so take that how you will.

I also agree that a good steak needs no sauce.  However a good sauce does often require a steak.

JohnL is right on about the cubed steak.  I had alot of it as a child because, of course, it was inexpensive.  I still enjoy it once in a while but I prepare it by flouring, pan browning and then baking for a long time.  This really tenderizes it and makes it quite paletable.

MMMmm..Gristle.

Yes, once upon a time, when I was younger. I liked the way the gristle gave my teeth and gums a workout, until it was soft enough, so I could swallow it. Now . . . that I am older, and my teeth are not what they use to be, and i can't chew gristle anymore, so I have to cut it off my meat and throw it away.

Gristle is sometimes good, but most times bad.  Nothing else I can really say about it...


I guess we can all 'chew the fat' with ash any day...


Sorry everyone who read that really bad joke, but that's my mood today: really bad jokes.

Ever here the one about the chicken that crossed the road?

gristley adams!

Gristle is nasty.. feels like chewing on a malignant tumor or something. ugh

Does eating the cruckhy part of a chicken leg bone count?
You know, where the knee joint bends?
Yummmmmm.....

>Does eating the cruckhy part of a chicken leg bone count?

Count for what? Making people think you're strange? Making people gag? Yup, I'd say it counts. :)

I stated in a previous thread about if any of you knew a trade that I was interested in learning the trade of butchering.

I still think it would be cool to know how to professionally butcher up a cow.
I'm not interested in working in one of those meat factories like in "Rocky".
I want to do the butcher's thing...AFTER the animal has been slaughtered.

My father always told me, "Son, always learn a trade because if your primary career of choice happens to fail for whatever reason, be it a bad economy or whatever, you'll always have your trade to fall back on."

I have looked and looked on the internet and have found nothing on how to go about learning that particular trade.

Can any of you find something for me?
I'd really appreciate it.

  Ash I found a nice article on how to butcher a cow.  Some good pics too. :) So enjoy
http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles/geissal23.html

I eat everything that I can get to. Fat, gristle and even that solid white joint gristle in chicken. I have even been known to eat entire wing tips, bone and everything. I'll suck the marrow out of a bone if the opportunity presents itself. It's all just a part of the dining experience to me.

Dang!  I wrote this thread almost 5 years ago!
It's weird to read old stuff I've written.  I look at it and sometimes think I sound like a grade schooler.   :tongueout:
Funny thing is, I was thinking about this thread just last week while eating a steak.

Even funnier is the fact that Vyse (the person who resurrected this thread) was obviously using a search engine and had "gristle" in their search words.   :teddyr:

Fat and Grizzle is the best part.  :cheers:

I usually cut off the excess fat around the edges. 

When I cook a pot roast....or a pork roast...or steak...I have a bad habit of eating the fat left over on the plate when the kids and Tara were done eating...it has all the juicy fatty juices imbedded in all  it's juicy juiciness!  :smile:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ctBIGTQNp4

Now that I'm getting older, I usually trim the fat off the side of a steak before I cook it.
Or, if I leave it on, I never eat it anymore.
Getting diagnosed with somewhat high blood pressure last year kind of scared me.  I don't want to be one of those guys who drops dead of a heart attack at age 50 so I've been keeping an eye on fat, calorie and especially sodium intake.
Just look at the nutrition labels on some foods at the grocery store.  The sodium and fat in some products are outrageous.
For example, one of my favorite Campbell's soups contains almost 45% of the recommended daily intake of sodium per serving.  And there are two servings in a single can.  Just one can of soup gives me almost the maximum sodium for a day.
Facts like that have made me keep a close eye on what I eat.

Nowadays, the gristle goes in the garbage.

I know what you mean...I went to the doc last tuesday...she said I have the highest cholestaral level of anyone she has ever seen. Plus she put me on thyroid meds.

Oh, yes. I eat everything but the bone. Of course, I need a real sharp knife and a fork to cut the gristle into bite size pieces, and even then it is heck to chew, but I'll eat the gristle. No use of letting any part of the steak go to waste.

I say we put this thread in a jar of formaldehyde and try to bring it back in another 5 years!

Hell yes! When I cook a pot roast, and my kids don't eat the fat, I eat it. Best part. You get all the good fatty,greezy flavor that way. With some bread and butter....maaaan! Life don't get no better!  :wink:

Did you have low thyroid activity?  I did and started taking thyroid meds, and after two days, I felt like I could take on the world. I lost my fear of everything, except Polonia Brothers films. That feeling went away after a month, but I feel better.

And your cholesterol isn't based purely on the fat you are eating, but you should reduce the saturated fats. Boost your protein, cut the flour intake way down and keep an eye on your sodium.

Having said that, I don't eat the gristle, but I will eat nicely seasoned fat cooked with a chunk of meat, as long as there is far more meat than fat.

Yeah...mine was VERY low. I used to take meds for it...but quit about 12 years ago.
I've already lost ten pounds (now I weigh about 135) and have MUCH more energy...and I've only been on them for about 3 months.