Denver Steak

The Denver steak, also sometimes referred to as a “Zabuton Steak” is an increasingly popular cut of meat that comes from the beef chuck primal cut, which is known for rich roasts, but which also produces some lesser well-known high quality steaks including the Denver Steak, the Flat Iron Steak. and the Chuck Eye Steak.  The Denver Steak looks somewhat like a strip steak, but somewhat narrower as compared to length.  Denver steaks are relatively tender, with a good, beefy flavor, and they usually have good levels of marbling. As long as they’re trimmed and sliced properly, Denver steaks are great for cooking on the grill.  Denver steaks are made from the serratus ventralis muscle, which comes from the under blade portion of the chuck roll. The beef chuck is the shoulder of the animal and it gets a lot of exercise, which generally means beef from muscles in the beef chuck are not the most tender of cuts. The serratis ventralis, however, is one of the exceptions; it’s situated directly underneath the shoulder blade bone and does not see heavy use, which results in it being one of the more tender muscles in the beef chuck.  The Serratus ventralis muscle is one of the major muscles in the classic 7-bone chuck roast. The only difference is, in a chuck roast, you’re getting a cross-section of the muscle; historically, an entire beef chuck primal would be cut into slabs on the meat saw and sold as pot roast. To produce a Denver steak, the serratus ventralis is extracted all in one piece, which makes some skilled knife work, even for an experienced butcher.