Design Awards 2016: Best Cuts
Carnivores are ditching traditional barbecue staples in favour of more offbeat chops, with discriminating diners now hankering for a more mature lineage, for a deeper flavour and richer texture. Dripping and fattier cuts of meat are also staging a return, and butchers are embracing this carniverous experimentation, offering up more adventurous cuts.
Here’s our selection of the ’best cuts’ to look out for in 2016, as sliced and diced for the Design Awards 2016.
Photography: Tobias Alexander Harvey
As originally featured in the Febuary 2016 isse of Wallpaper* (W*203)
Feather blade steaks
These small, sweetly flavoured steaks come from the shoulder blade of the cow and get their name from the feather-like tissue that runs through the meat. They are best cooked rare. Pictured: walnut bread board, from £150, by Jeremy Pitts, from The New Craftsmen. Meat hammer, $45, by Rösle
Oxtail
This might seem like a challenging cut for amateur cooks, but it’s wonderful in soups and stews. It requires slow cooking to release its rich, unctuous flavours. Pictured: Zanmai Elite santoku knife, £219, by The Japanese Knife Company. Black quartz trivet, £70, by Stephanie Tudor, from The New Craftsmen
Fatted lamb cutlets
Well-fatted meat, cooked on the bone, has incomparable flavour. The relatively small size of lamb cutlets means that the fat grills to a delicious brown crispness. Pictured: ’Meissen Cosmopolitan’ rectangular platter, £58, by Meissen. ’Recto Verso’ plate, £43, by Haviland, from Harrods. Butter knife, price on request, by Office for Product Design, for Thomas, from Rosenthal
Marrow bones
Roasted bone marrow has seen a resurgence in recent years. It can be fiddly to eat, but its rich, delicate flavour is a reward in itself. Pictured: slate trivet, £60, by Stephanie Tudor
Dripping
In his Canal Saint-Martin butchery Viande & Chef, Benjamin Darnaud slowly melts beef fat with herbs and spices for a modern take on traditional dripping, while Irish butcher James Whelan makes dripping out of the purest suet from grass-fed Irish Angus and Hereford beef
Venison loin
Lean and tender, venison is one of the healthiest red meats, though it can be dry, so some cooks add another fat layer to keep it moist. Pictured: ’Meissen Cosmopolitan’ square platter, £41, by Meissen, from Harrods. Zanmai Elite nakiri knife, £229; paring knife, £169, both by The Japanese Knife Company