cube steak

[Alice Faber]

Mark_Mandel at DRAGONSYS.COM said:
>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.

This is exactly the implement I had in mind. I've seen them in some kind of
metal also (cast alumimin(i)um?). They're obviously easier to describe if
you've seen an exemplar relatively recently.
--
Alice Faber                                       tel. (203) 865-6163
Haskins Laboratories                              fax  (203) 865-8963
270 Crown St                                   faber at haskins.yale.edu
New Haven, CT 06511                               afaber at wesleyan.edu