cube steak

[Mark A. Mandel]

sagehen <sagehen at WESTELCOM.COM> (sounds delicious!) wrote:

>>>>>
Alice Faber wrote:
>A. Maberry said:
 >>What does the "cube" in cube steak signify? I seem to recall hearing also
>>"cubed steak".

     [...]

Swiss steak and cube steak are prepared similarly in that both are
subjected to pounding  by some sort of implement to break down the
connective fibers.
<<<<<

At home I have an implement that I'm pretty sure is designed for just this
purpose, though we've never used it AFAIK; it came as part of a set many
years ago. It's a wooden mallet one of whose ends is cut into pyramids,
producing a striking surface covered with points tapering at more or less a
solid right angle, which presumably will break the fibers of the meat
without puncturing the surface and letting the juices run out.

Now, I don't remember whether these are three- or four-sided pyramids;
probably the latter, which would be much easier to shape in mass
production. But a corner of a cube *is* a right-angled three-sided pyramid,
and I suspect that that is the connection between the kitchen operation and
the geometrical name of its result.

                  Mark A. Mandel : Senior Linguist
            Dragon Systems, a Lernout & Hauspie company
 320 Nevada St., Newton, MA 02460, USA : http://www.dragonsys.com