Where's a good place to purchase flat irons? I've tried WF, Wegman's, and even the Springfield butcher shop (recommended elsewhere on DR.com), and nobody seems to have them or know what they are. The butcher (!) tried to convince me that any steak cut into a triangular shape would be considered a "flat iron."

Magrauders has them, sometimes on sale for really cheap. Check their ad in the Wednesday food section,

The Tenleytown Whole Foods has been carrying them pretty regularly for several months now.

Which location? I used to shop at the Magruders on Duke St., but I think it's now closed.

Right off of Seminary and 395, above the bowling alley.

I get mine at the Clarendon WF, regularly $5.99 a pound.

Attention meat geeks!

Flat-iron is part of the shoulder, or chuck. Does it go by any more prosaic names? (Say, blade steak or the like.)

Top Blade Steak. Cut your own.

Safeway often has it, labeled as such. Sometimes it's even on sale for $1.99 (!). I've been pretty happy with it the times I've bought it there-- tender and beefy (other these blades, I never buy steak at Safeway)

Rob, Union Meat in Eastern Market also has flat irons. $5.99/lb, I believe.

I think the ones at Canales looked better, and they were damn tasty too, seared in a pan after coming to room temp with a good bit of salt on them.

I buy my flat irons at the WF in Clarendon and have generally been happy with them. Yesterday I bought two and when I took them out today, saw that one had a wide swath of silver skin running through it. I started to trim it off but realized that I'd be cutting off about 15-20% of the steak to get at it. I took it back to WF where they trimmed it off and gave me an additional flat iron for my trouble.

The question I have is whether it's reasonable for me to expect that this connective tissue be largely trimmed off of flat irons I buy. I would say that out of the last 7 I've purchased, one had a small strip of connective tissue that I just trimmed off at home, one had a lot that I brought back, and the other 5 were fine.

I just want to make sure that I'm not doing the equivalent of buying a shoulder roast and bringing it back because I want all the fat pockets cut out.

I think $6/lb for what is essentially beef chuck is excessive.

JG - Thanks for the tip! I went to Magruder's today and they had lots of flat irons -- $4.59/lb for those keeping score.

They go on sale occasionally for around $2.59/lb. Watch the ad in the Wedensday food section. They have a lot of hard to find cuts at that store. I was in there on Saturday and noticed that they carry veal stew meat and lamb shoulder.

Paying for prep and possibly better meat than at the mega-markets...

On sale at the Old Town WF for $4.99/lb at the moment...

I think it is on sale at Magruders for $2.69/.

Anyone know a good source in the downtown SS area?

I usually see it at Whole Paycheck. Haven't noted the price, but it's likely more expensive than any of the options noted so far in this thread.

Was planning on doing a Thai-style beef with basil, and walked from the Dupont farmer's market over to Whole Paycheck in search of beef (places at the farmer's market were pretty much out of beef at that point) . Flank steak is now $15/lb there! That's when I spotted flat iron steaks for $5.99/lb. This was some of the best beef I've had from a grocery store in a while-- really flavorful and tender.

I was doing some web searching over the weekend as I bought some more flat irons from WF to cook and was still unhappy that they keep the connective tissue in the center of each steak. Why can't they spend the time to butcher them like this, instead of this? I seem to remember Landrum doing it that way when he had them at Ray's.

The ones they sell at Magruders appear to have been butchered properly.

The Clarendon WF doesn't butcher them in the second picture shown in your post. They split it in the manner of the first picture, but don't remove all of the connective tissue. You see pieces that have little or no connective tissue, and other pieces that look like it was the other half that got all the connective tissue or that they only removed about half of it. It's bad. How to fix this situation? Would printing out the picture of a properly butchered piece of meat and comparing it to what they've got in the case too insulting?

I got some flatiron steaks at WF in Springfield, and marinated all day in a commercial marinade (Wegmans Zesty Savory), and pan-seared them to medium rare.

We didn't like them. We're both big fans of steak and beef, and love cuts like skirt and hanger steak. But these had a real gaminess to them. I didn't finish mine.

Is this typical of the cut? Or did I get an off-package? I want to know whether to try again or not.


I got some flatiron steaks at WF in Springfield, and marinated all day in a commercial marinade (Wegmans Zesty Savory), and pan-seared them to medium rare.

We didn't like them. We're both big fans of steak and beef, and love cuts like skirt and hanger steak. But these had a real gaminess to them. I didn't finish mine.

Is this typical of the cut? Or did I get an off-package? I want to know whether to try again or not.

Gaminess doesn't sound right. Have you tried other meats in that marinade before and liked them? I'm inclined to think that your perception was right and that you got an off package.

Flatiron steaks on sale at Magruders for $3.49 a lb.

I'd venture that you purchased an off-package. While not familiar with Wegman's Zesty Savory, any acid-based marinade should reduce gaminess.