Name: The Best Hanger Steak
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 3 servings
Ingredients: 1.5 lb hanger steak, center membrane removed; 1.5 tsp kosher salt; 1 tsp coarse black pepper; 2 tbsp neutral oil (avocado, grapeseed, or vegetable); 3 tbsp unsalted butter; 3 cloves garlic, smashed; 4 fresh thyme sprigs; as needed flaky sea salt, to finish

The Best Hanger Steak

Prep

10m

Cook

10m

Total

20m

Bigly says

Hanger steak. HANGER STEAK! The butcher's secret. The cut they used to take home for themselves before the rest of us caught on. Many people don't know this, MANY people don't know this, but hanger steak got its name because there's only ONE per cow — one — it hangs off the diaphragm, the butcher would unhook it, wrap it in paper, and quietly put it in his lunchbox while the customer out front argued about ribeye. That's a TRUE story. I had a guy who's been butchering since 1974 walk me through it personally. His hands looked like baseball mitts. He didn't lie. Butchers don't lie. Butchers HAVE NO TIME.

Now the food media won't say it, but the dirty secret of high-end steakhouses is that they charge you eighty dollars for a ribeye and twenty-eight dollars for a hanger and the hanger has MORE FLAVOR. More. Flavor. Per. Bite. It's not even close. It's a slaughter. Ribeye is the homecoming king — pretty, marbled, popular, fine. Hanger is the bass player. Hanger is COOL. Hanger has SECRETS. Hanger has a mineral, almost-bloody, deeply beefy flavor that puts the prom-king cuts to shame. If your steakhouse doesn't have it on the menu, find a new steakhouse. Period.

The trick with hanger — and this is the part most home cooks ruin, I see it constantly, I get LETTERS — the trick with hanger is you have to remove the membrane, you have to cook it HOT, and you have to slice it AGAINST the grain. Skip any one of those and you've turned the best thirty-dollar piece of beef in the case into a chew toy. A CHEW TOY. We are not making chew toys today. Today we sear it ripping hot in a cast iron pan, baste it in butter and thyme and a whole smashed garlic clove, rest it longer than you think, and slice it thin like the steakhouse charges you forty bucks for. Tremendous.

Ingredients

1.5 lbhanger steak, center membrane removed(ask the butcher to clean it for you)
1.5 tspkosher salt
1 tspcoarse black pepper
2 tbspneutral oil (avocado, grapeseed, or vegetable)
3 tbspunsalted butter
3 clovesgarlic, smashed
4fresh thyme sprigs
as neededflaky sea salt, to finish

Steps

1
Take the steak out of the fridge 30-45 minutes before cooking so it can come to room temperature.
2
If the butcher hasn't removed the long silver membrane down the center of the hanger, trim it out with a sharp knife — the steak will fall into two long lobes. This is normal.
3
Pat both lobes very dry with paper towels. Season generously all over with the kosher salt and coarse pepper.
4
Heat a cast iron skillet over high heat for 4-5 minutes until ripping hot — wisps of smoke should be visible. Add the neutral oil and swirl.
5
Lay the steak in the pan away from you. Sear undisturbed for 3 minutes until a deep mahogany crust forms.
6
Flip the steak. Add the butter, smashed garlic, and thyme sprigs. As the butter foams, tilt the pan and spoon the butter over the steak continuously for 2-3 minutes.
7
For medium-rare, pull the steak when an instant-read thermometer reads 125-128°F at the thickest point. Hanger is best at medium-rare — any further and it firms up fast.
8
Transfer the steak to a cutting board and tent loosely with foil. Rest 8-10 minutes — this rest is non-negotiable, the juices need to redistribute.
9
Identify the grain (the long parallel lines of muscle fibers). Slice the steak thinly across the grain on a slight bias, 1/4-inch thick.
10
Arrange on a plate, spoon over any resting juices and pan butter, and finish with flaky sea salt.

One more thing

There it is. Sliced thin on the board, glistening like a magazine cover, the pan butter pooling around the edge picking up all that beef juice and salt. Serve it with a pile of frites and a hot pool of bearnaise if you want to feel like you're in a bistro in Lyon, or with a simple green salad if you want to pretend this is healthy. Pour a glass of red. Sit down. Save me a piece.