Also sold as: Butcher’s steak, hangar (this is an incorrect spelling but appears frequently), arrachera (Mexico), fajitas arracheras (south Texas), bistro steak, onglet (France) Where it’s cut from : From the plate section of the cow (the front of the belly); it “hangs” off the cow’s diaphragm, hence the name Shopping: Hanger steak can be found in a few different forms in the market Straight from the steer, it comes as two rather large, loose-grained muscles stuck together with a ton of connective tissue and silverskin surrounding it If you’re lucky, you’ll have a good butcher who knows how to break it down into two well-trimmed steaks Each one will be about a foot long and weigh in at to 10 ounces, with a triangular cross section I’ve seen these individual steaks butterflied into wider, thinner steaks, supposedly to make for more even cooking Really, though, a butterflied hanger steak is too thin to cook to medium-rare while still developing a nice crust, so I’d avoid them Instead, stick to a regular trimmed steak or buy it untrimmed and do it yourself Trimming: You’ll want to start by removing all the silverskin and excess fat from the exterior with a sharp, sharp boning knife: Slide the tip of the knife under the silverskin, grab the skin with your free hand, and then carefully pull the knife under it, taking off as little meat as you can Eventually you’ll end up with a piece of meat with two muscles attached by a thick sinew that runs down their center Cut the steak in half along that sinew to separate it into two individual steaks, then trim each one, and you’re ready to cook Cooking: There are a several ways to cook hanger, both indoors and out, but no matter where you cook it, you want to make sure that you cook it to medium-rare or medium, no more, no less Unlike, say, a rib-eye steak, which will still be pretty tender and juicy at medium and beyond, a hanger steak has a very coarse texture with a distinct grain running through it Anywhere beyond medium, and it gets too rubbery to chew Undercook it, on the other hand, and you get meat that is mushy and slippery Rare hanger steak is simply not the same as rare tenderloin, rib-eye, or strip steak Use a thermometer, and cook it to the sweet spot between 125° and 130°F (this gives it some leeway to rise in temperature as it rests) Very high heat is essential Hanger steaks are relatively thin, and you want to give them a nice char before they get a chance to start overcooking On the grill, I’ll pile up a full ...center Cut the steak in half along that sinew to separate it into two individual steaks, then trim each one, and you’re ready to cook Cooking: There are a several ways to cook... steak has a very coarse texture with a distinct grain running through it Anywhere beyond medium, and it gets too rubbery to chew Undercook it, on the other hand, and you get meat that is mushy and slippery Rare hanger steak is simply not the same... essential Hanger steaks are relatively thin, and you want to give them a nice char before they get a chance to start overcooking On the grill, I’ll pile up a full