Hanger Steak, and One Good Way to Cook it | Kenji's Cooking Show
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ก.พ. 2025
- There are many ways to cook a hanger steak, but this one is a good one.
Hanger is a little more difficult to cook than a chop like a ribeye or a NY-strip because of its texture. It's very loose-grained so if undercooked it tastes almost slippery and chewy, while overcooked it gets tough and ropy very fast. You gotta hit that medium-rare to medium range and slice it against the grain before serving. Here's how I do it!
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Kenji a novel idea for cooking steak that I would love your two cents on - Instead of the standard sear-baste-rest, what if you went sear-rest-baste? That way the steak retains its juices, but the quick baste in the pan at the end gives a blast of heat and flavour just before serving, almost like a blast under the salamander?
Good idea!
This article is from March 2017: www.seriouseats.com/the-food-lab-should-i-rest-meat-steak-introducing-the-fat-flash-method
Every day, I appreciate your depth of knowledge more. Also, always helpful on reddit as well!
@@JKenjiLopezAlt damn literally everythings been tested haha
@@JKenjiLopezAlt Haha snap! Of course you have an article on it. Trying it this weekend. Love your work Kenji.
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I love how Jamon just casually wanders in as everything's finishing up....
Dogs know what's up 🙂
11:42 Would love to see a spice rack/pantry staples tour 😊
5:15 On pepper before or after cooking...Why not both? Some pepper before to let the heat develop new flavors, and a heavy dusting of fresh pepper at the end to bring back burned off aromas. I feel like a lot of seasonings benefit from that "before" and "after" use to really bring out the whole spectrum of flavors.
I really like this kind of spontaneous, unfussy cooking with what's on hand.
At first I thought you meant a steak you eat when you are hangry, and I thought "Kenji really outdid himself in being relatable!" It looks delicious!!
😂😂😂 SAME
Yep 😂
Sounds like a hangover steak too. Get that protein in ya.
4:50 Undamaged Flesh would be a good name for a metal band
I was thought naming a band was the name of your first pet and the street that you grew up on thus my band name would be Sugar Sycamore or maybe that is my porn name
I just made this w a hanger steak that’s been sitting in my freezer for a month… dude, you have me feeling like a real chef. I’ve just started getting into cooking steak and I’ve over cooked every single one, but with your advice of moving it around in the pan I absolutely nailed the cook. And the pan sauce you made turned out great when I made it. Thank you for teaching me and giving me the confidence to view myself as capable in the kitchen, im really excited to keep making more food
Ethan Chlebowski recommends cooking splatter prone foods in a wok as the wide opening allows for quick evaporation yet the width contains the splatter. I've been doing the same for about 5 years now and it works especially well when you want to cook with high heat. Alas, my butcher wants $12.99/lb (Euro 27/kg) for hanger and skirt steak.
Yeah that works great for cuts like this that are flexible. I thin a deep ditch oven is actually overall the neatest way to sear if mess is your primary concern (which it often is for me). You can even sear really well with a lid mostly on.
Absolutely with you on the pepper, Kenji.
Always before.
Very flavorful cut of beef combined with a great instructional video. A culinary home run. I first learned about Hanger Steak when taking a French Steakhouse cooking class with the great French Chef Carrie Campbell. Back then you could only find it at butcher shops. Since then Hanger Steak was "discovered" so it is available everywhere yet hard to find at the same time.
Thank you for yet another brilliant video, Kenji! If you can find the time to do it, I would love to hear how and for how long you can store different ingredients in your fridge, including tips and tricks, like the mushrooms, diced shallots, greens, etc.
I thought I was going crazy when I made steak au poivre and the pepper crust turned out a bit sweet. Glad to know it's not just me.
Kenji, you are the best! Love your teaching style and your create-as-you go inspiration using whatever pops into your head in the moment. I find that, most of the time, my best plates are the impromptu creations - and that feels damn good! Cheers
Thanks!
@10:45 ...deglazing with mushrooms! Nice!
I have watched a LOT of your videos. I don't know that I've ever wanted to be there to take a bite more than right now. Oh look, it's lunchtime! Great video!
Looked amazing. Love how you're able to just whip up a pan sauce like that; something I wouldn't have really considered.
Another amazing video Kenji! To be honest, I rarely have bottles of wine at home and frequently have Chinese cooking wine in the fridge, so I’ve used it as a replacement for both white and red wines in more recipes than I care to admit 😅
Years ago I went to a Seattle butcher and asked for Hanger steak and the butcher refused to sell it to me. He said it was a terrible cut and was too tough and livery and he wouldn't sell it to me. A few weeks later I went back to the butcher and his daughter was there but not him. She apologized to me because she'd overheard the previous conversation. She said that her dad loves hanger steak and wantd it for dinner that night and she sold me one at a discount.
What a gem that daughter turned out to be despite a father lacking integrity. Butcher could be have just said it's not available and left it at that. I wouldn't go back to a dishonest business
@@jeffreyschmidt3997if he had said he didn’t have it that would also be dishonest….
Well, the butcher could have said it was sold already.
It was in the case.@@Pammellam
Hardly an egregious act let the butcher have his steak lol@@jeffreyschmidt3997
I've only gotten this once at my butcher and have been craving it ever since! I used some demi-glace and butter and wine for a simple pan sauce and it was delicious!
Love these videos and the practical approach you take to cooking! It has helped me make the right guesses in the kitchen many times with ingredient swaps and being intuitive with technique. Makes cooking so much more fun and creative. So, thank you! Something I still struggle with is expected temperature carry over after pulling a cut off meat or fish from the pan. Any rule of thumb or tips? I’d love to make an informed guess instead of last second googling!
The first time we did Hanger steak, we ended up with it at medium-well and (foolishly) sliced with the grain. It had a texture I can only describe as elongated liver strands. The cut is still insanely cheap here in Germany, as it's not popular, so we've bought it qu ite a bit. As an aside, I think I have the same enamelled dutch oven as Kenji.
We made fajitas out of hanger steak all the time about 25 years ago. Well, we still do here in Texas anyway. I actually won 1st place in a fajita contest years ago. I just marinated it overnight and made sure to plate it really nicely.
Excellent video. Thanks for sharing
Ah man, I’m so glad you talked about cooked pepper. I’ve been wanting to ask you in an AMA or somewhere else whether it’s okay to add pepper at the beginning and toast it.
i mean, you dont need kenji to approve it for your own plate. Have you ever tried it? did you like it? then do it. never tried it. then try it. just cause he likes it doesnt mean you are going to.
Seeing a new video of yours is always a highlight of my day !
Kenji demonstrates the art in the culinary arts
RIGHT when my hanger steaks I bought online are due for arrival (I'm based in Europe) you upload this. It still hasnt arrived yet but once it does, I'm gonna use your recipe for it, and modify it to my tastes for the remainders! 😋😋
God damn I love me some Kenji cooking vids! Very informative but also is very open minded on different cooking techniques. He realizes that people have different ingredients and tools in the kitchen and adapts that so the average cook can create an amazing meal with little fuss
Here in argentina we call that cut "entraña" and its quite popular. it has many uses if you know how to handle it.
Al fin encuentro otro Argento viendo a Kenji 🥲
Vamos Argentina 🇦🇷👍🏼
I absolutely adore hanger - people are put off by the shape.
I hung around long enough for you to give Jamone a treat, I always remember Shabu at the end of your videos. Your food always looks yummy.
If you cut up your marinade more finely, could you turn the aromats into a pan sauce? Or would the green herbs be too tender?
Did one a few weeks ago with the “cold sear” method from Lan Lam and it was fantastic. Not super dark on the exterior but a wonderful uniform Maillard crust.
Kenji, if you see this, could you let me know where you got that plate you served the dish on? I love it!
looks really good, perfect cook in my opinion... i gotta try that pan sauce. i always feel bad after i cook steak and waste all that goodness in the pan
I always find it best to pepper after you cook because peper tends to burn by the time it's done cooking and burnt pepper isnt so tasty
I do hate oil splatter when i am searing indoors but i just toss my mesh splatter screen over my pan just for the first few seconds of laying the meat in and again when turning it. Helps cut like 80-90% of the oil splatter on the counter
Which one do you use? I have never heard of a splatter screen before. I could really use one lol.
So many different brands. You can use anything from a cheap target or Walmart screen to le Creuset. I have both and there's no real performance difference. I will sometimes lay damp paper towels over the top to further capture grease. This catches the last 10 to 20% while also letting out steam
@jeffreyschmidt3997 Got it! I will take a look at those. Thanks for the info!
What kinds of practices do you follow for handling meat at home? I see in the video that you mostly wipe hands on a towel, but do you keep separate towels for certain uses only?
Hey Kenji would you consider doing a video on “steak juices” and the flavor profiles of the inside of different cuts at different levels of doneness?
I think it would be interesting to highlight this specific component of steak as opposed to the importance of developing a crust that’s been well emphasized again and again.
Kenji can you describe how not to burn your butter when doing a butter baste?
Honestly not fair, your knowledge and ease when cooking. I've learned much from you but am admittedly still jealous watching you cook. Well done chef, well done. Very nice pan by the way, you should do a video on pans for searing because there's so many out there and it's hard to tell which ones are good and which ones are simply hyped up.
Airfryer 135C 10 mins each side. Perfection. Try it.
Really enjoyed this video. Cheers.
I like a rubber sptaula for the pan sauce. Hate to let any of it go to waste.
Question re: neutral oils
I know there are a lot of neutral oils, and when I'm at the grocery store I always get vegetable, peanut, or canola because its the cheapest, however I always see chefs like you with fancier neutral oils like rice bran, grapeseed, safflower, etc. Is there a benefit to these over regular vegetable oil? They're all neutral with high smoke points, right? So when should I reach for the rice bran vs the grapeseed vs the vegetable oil?
So, if you can't use tongs to move the steak around because it ruins the flesh, what would you use? It needs to be move to evenly sear.
I'm freaking dying over here. That looks so good.
Fresh pepper tastes so good
Properly handled, this is my favorite cut on the animal. It practically begs for sous vide.
Fantastic cut of meat. Very flavorful, super tender, quite forgiving, and most of all much cheaper than other quality cuts. Discovered it in Paris 10+ years ago and had to go to a local butcher to find it back home, but now it's thankfully common.
"and most of all much cheaper than other quality cuts."
Where? All of the groceries, specialty stores, and butchers in my city have all discovered how popular these "cheap" cuts were / are and have long-since doubled or tripled their price.
The price of beef generally has doubled or tripled
@@listofromanticsother ‘quality’ cuts is the driving word here. Is hanger cheap? Not really. It’s more expensive than brisket or chuck roast. But it’s cheaper than the other cuts that steaks are usually made from. It’s definitely cheaper than flat iron, ny strip or ribeye for example
It is soooo gross.
Best steak to give someone that want to become vegetarian!!! Or to a teach a dog not to eat table food, or bother you when you are BBQ ing. The dog will bite and eat the first part you throw at it (reflex), then it will turn around, probably puke and never ask for meat again.
Dont believe me? Go to any farmers market 1 hour and half from any big city, look into their freezer of meat to sell, notice how many "hanging steaks" there is, at an extremely low price? (a shit load). There is a reason for this, locals know better. Its called hanging steak for a reason: Taste so gross that you want to hang yourself after eating it. Wondering how it is even legal for butcher/farmer to sell this part, cant be healthy.
What would you use to move it around in a restaurant?
Oh boy that crust should be tagged NSFW. Beautiful cut of meat. I cooked this once about 10 years ago and it's still one of the best steaks I've ever eaten.
The first (and still only) time I ever had a hanger steak was in Las Vegas around 10 or more years ago. A very nice place, one I wish I could go back to, with my wife.
Since that time I’ve watched for the hanger steak at the grocery stores in my area and haven’t found one.
In New Mexico, 3 years ago a skirt steak at Safeway cost me roughly $10, back in Madison Wisconsin nearly $15-20. Similar sizes. Flank, same story. Seems like it’s a seasonal thing, like the cows weren’t offering up this part except in the (whatever season) mating or frolicking seasons. IDK.
A butcher shop will likely have some, so I guess that’s where I should go.
Cost is my first priority. Cooking a cheap cut of meat and making it delicious is my favorite part of cooking. Making a costly steak taste good, doesn’t require much, just money and not completely screwing the pooch.
Love this technique. You mentioned some old chefs of yours would chastise you for using tongs on a steak. What tool were you "supposed" to be using?
Dab of Dijon is now going into my vernacular. Thank you for that
I don't see that cut at my publix in Tampa but a good substitute is outside skirt steak you will all see inside skirt but stay away from that because it is very tough.
I like those prepping plates he uses. Anyone know where to get them?
If the Alt makes a mushroom pan sauce, what sauce would the Main make?
Kenji what brand is that pan? Looks magical in the way it cooks! Is it a Mauviel?
So what do you use as a chef/cook in a restaurant to manipulate the steak/fish if you can't use tongs?
Hey Kenji, is that wine bottle of oil just a repurposed vessel or is it the bottle that the oil comes in?
Hanger steak is one of those great, "poor man's" cuts of beef that USED to be very inexpensive as the general American public / non chefs / non butchers didn't hear about them, compared to the "prestige" / "rich man's" cuts of beef, e.g. NY strip, rib eye, t-bone, filet, prime rib, etc. that got all the post-WW2, boom-economy advertising and marketing.
Now, thanks to the proliferation of the internet and modern foodie culture, all these previous bargains / cheap cuts of great beef, that no one wanted and butchers couldn't sell, aren't cheap anymore.
The price of flat iron steaks where I live has damn near tripled in the last 5-10 years because it seems like people have realized how great of steak it is.
Happy to see people enjoy it but not happy about the rise in price lmao
@@bbcpfghsSame. I frankly wouldn't be surprised if there exists a decades old marketing campaign by the beef industry, starting with all the food tv networks that trickled down into internet foodie culture, to highlight these previously unknown cuts of beef, cuts they couldn't readily sell at a good markeup / increase profits--from worthless to worthy.
Anecdotally, I recall when these lesser cuts of beef were being used / highlighted on cooking shows and recipe sites, touting them as "cheap cuts" of great beef. And, like you, to see the price and popularity of these cuts skyrocket.
Like... I'm happy there's less waste, but damned if it doesn't suck how all the "good deals" quickly become popular and cease to be "good deals."
Can’t even score bones without the steep markup.
The tail bones, cost as much as a ribeye as often as not.
@@listofromantics There's no reason to imagine some weird conspiracy. Rather than have an ulterior motive, it was just people sharing it because it was cheap and good. I have no idea why some people think that it was "their secret" that got revealed or something. If you, random person, knew it was a "good deal" then it's also obvious to everyone else, it isn't secret info.
Luckily Chuck-eye's are still pretty cheap, and are becoming more readily available where I live. I almost wanna say the taste better than ribeyes.
Could you do this in an outdoor pizza oven? What is the general consensus on searing steaks in them?
Kenji have you used your prime rib technique to spatchcock duck in your air fryer toaster oven thing? It is really great, the "air fry" finish on the skin 🤌
I wish I could find this one in the stores, but I don't even see it in the butcher shops here in Indiana. I'll try this for flank steak, though!
Sometimes you gotta find a guy to get what you want. Find out who sells straight from the farm, talk to the butchers at the better places to see if they can make an order for you, if you find it at a restaurant, find out who their supplier is. The hunt is part of the fun. We used to get this at a gastro pub I worked at and we served it as steak frites with Belgian frites, roasted garlic aioli, curry ketchup, and some herb salsa chimi style on the side and when the chef took it off the menu people were upset.
God that looks good. Especially the pan sauce
Onglet is my favourite cut of steak...❤
I cook my onglet (regular) in a mix of A5 tallow, soy and fish sauce...before finishing with some butter and garlic.
Beautiful...🔥
Genuinely curious - If not tongs, then what would you use to flip the steak to avoid “damaging the flesh”?
Spatula. You can slip underneath and not be grabbing at it like the tong. I also had a chef once who would do it by hand claiming it was easier to be tender with it.
Probably my favourite cut of meat!
The T is silent in Onglet, otherwise great prononciation :)
One of my very favorite cuts of meat!
Any chance you'd make a video about Hainanese chicken rice?
Adam Liaw has an excellent video on hainanese chicken rice! Just in addition!
Can you help show us how you clean your stove top and kitchen after making these kind of dishes ?
Looks kind of similar to a skirt steak. Wonder how it would do for a fajita cut compared to skirt. Probably similar I'm guessing, though it looks a bit thicker.
In addition to black pepper, are there any other spices that you think improve when they are cooked/seared in a hot pan like that?
Kenji. Can you do a video on pork tenderloin and maybe a sauce to go with it?
I can smell this video. It smells amazing!
If you salt a steak and leave it overnight, then pat it dry when you plan to cook it, do you still use salt and pepper to season it before putting it in the pan? Or is it already salted enough?
I love how the doggies casually walk into kitchen when something good is in mix.
In my next life I want to come back as one of Kenji’s dogs! You know those doggies are well taken care of 👍🏼
This and Chuck eyes… if I couldn’t eat another cut of steak the rest of my life I would not be disappointed.
Would this be a good candidate to sous vide?
Beg to differ. Hanger steak, and Flat Iron steaks too, are, difficult to find. I occasionally luck out at local butcher shop. Buy them when you can.💯👍
To avoid splatter, I usually brush my steak with oil, instead of adding in the pan. Any reason not to do this?
What pan is that? I've seen Kenji use it before and every time, I like it.
He said at the start it was a copper pan
If you don’t use tongs for this in a restaurant, what do you use?
I always pepper before because my wife hates the sharp taste but you need pepper as much as salt on a great steak
The hanger steak, if you know you know and if you don't this video lets you know. I was so hungry by the end of this video.
subscribed bro, first video i came to , i feel like we can be best friends, i thought you were asian at first then i heard you call your dog hamon then i read your name lol, Im mexican myself, great video bro, pro tip use a rubber spatula to scrape all the sauce out! its so good to not let any go to waste after all
Scrolled down a lot of comments and didn't see the question. Why the comment about using the tongs? What would you have used? I thought forks were the wrong thing to use.
Hey kenji what pan is the pan you’re using in the video?
That is a beautiful knife! Where would I find something similar?
What would the restaurants you worked at prefer you use over tongs?
I also need to light my stove with a lighter. Which is the one you are using?
Does making a bed of the sauce actually has benefits or is it just for presentation?
Hanger Steak, aka Butcher's Steak. Cooked properly, very delicious, and tender.
I was going to ask about the pepper! So glad it was addressed.
Hanger steak is my go to for homemade chinese takeout style beef and broccoli
You should do a bavette video!
Ok obviously your videos are great, in no small part because of their honesty. I would love to see a video of you cooking for 4 to 8 people.
I would love to be one of those 4 to 8 people he’s cooking for!