Really, that’s about all you need to know, so you have full permission to skip the rest of this sidebar right now But for those of you who, like me, had the greatest geometry teacher in the world in ninth grade and were thus instilled with a preternatural desire to draw triangles and measure stuff, well, in the words of Mr Sturm, get your gas masks, because we are climbing Mount Elegance, and the air up there is quite thin! Quantitatively, how much of an effect does the way you slice a steak actually have? Let’s set up some definitions: • Let w be the distance you move the knife between slices (i.e., the width of a slice) • Let m be the length of the meat fibers in each slice • Finally, let θ be the angle between the knife blade and the meat fibers Given a bit of high school trigonometry, you can quickly come up with the following formula: m = w / sin(θ) So, what are the implications of this? Well, if our goal is to minimize the length of the meat fibers (m), then we need to maximize sin(θ) When the meat is cut into 0.5-inch strips at a 90-degree angle to the direction of the meat fibers, sin(θ) is equal to 1 (i.e., maximized) and the meat fibers are exactly as long as the slice is wide, i.e., 0.5 inch Cut them at a 45degree angle instead, and while their width is still 0.5 inch, the length of the meat fibers has reached 0.707 inch (that’s the square root of 0.5, for all you nerds out there who get excited over 45°–45°–90° right triangles) That’s an increase of almost 50 percent! Now take it to the extreme: if you were to cut perfectly parallel to the meat fibers, then sin(θ) will be equal to 0 and, according to the unbreakable laws of mathematics, your meat fibers would stretch all the way into infinity That’s one big cow! ... Let w be the distance you move the knife between slices (i.e., the width of a slice) • Let m be the length of the meat fibers in each slice • Finally, let θ be the angle between the knife blade and the meat fibers... quickly come up with the following formula: m = w / sin(θ) So, what are the implications of this? Well, if our goal is to minimize the length of the meat fibers (m), then we need to maximize sin(θ) When the meat... 90-degree angle to the direction of the meat fibers, sin(θ) is equal to 1 (i.e., maximized) and the meat fibers are exactly as long as the slice is wide, i.e., 0.5 inch Cut them at a 45degree angle instead, and while their width is still 0.5