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Cube steaks are not shaped like cubes, which is the often the presumption of someone who encounters the term for the first time. Rather, cube refers to the imprint made on the meat when it is put through a meat tenderizing machine.
Cube steaks are also called minute steaks in some areas of America, primarily because cube steaks can be cooked in a minute and because they are comparatively smaller in size when compared to their classic brothers (T-bone, Rib-eye, porterhouse, etc). A lot of people like cube steaks mainly because they are soft and juicy, and very easy to cook. However, few people know that a cube steak, despite its tenderness and flavor, actually comes from several stringy tough pieces of meat that are otherwise inedible if sold by themselves. The meat is only made soft by stuffing them together and putting them through a meat tenderizer, until it almost reaches the consistency of hamburger meat.
A cube steak is not remotely cubic in shape. It is oval with uneven, jagged edges, and about a third of an inch in thickness. As mentioned before, cube steaks often come from different tenderized bits of meat, though there are some cube steaks that originate from the round part of the cow.
A round cut is a tough meat for steaks. Generally, it is cheaper than the cube steak, particularly because it’s very tough. But with the appropriate tools, one may create a cube steak from the round cut. Even more, a cube steak made from a round cut is a superior quality of steak because it only comes from one part– and not a jumble of tenderized meat strips. You can do this by running the round steak through a meat tenderizer.
In the absence of a meat tenderizer, you may tenderize a round steak by pounding it with a meat mallet. A meat mallet is made of wood, with a small block attached to a handle. One side of the block is flat for beating, while the other side has a waffle-shaped pattern for tenderizing. In the absence of a meat mallet, you may also use a rolling pin to flatten the meat, and a regular, properly sanitized construction hammer to tenderize it. If a hammer is unavailable, then be resourceful– the indented portion of a saucer is also doable for tenderizing. If its something you can beat with, then it will do.
A little arm motion, a little time and effort, and your round steak will eventually become a cube steak superior to any other commercial cube steak in the grocery.
