How to Cut Cube Steak

Countless hearty recipes call for cube steak.

Cube steaks originate from tough cuts of meat like top or bottom round steak. When a butcher runs a round steak through a tenderizer once or twice, the meat becomes a thin steak with cube-shaped imprints on the surface. People commonly mistake cube steaks for ground beef or hamburger meat. Even though cube steaks originated from round steaks, they are more expensive due to the tenderizing process. To save money, you can buy the less expensive round steak, then cut and tenderize it to make cube steak. Does this Spark an idea?

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Beef bottom round
Cutting board
Meat tenderizer piercing tool
Chef's knife
Tenderizer mallet
Kitchen scissors

Instructions

Cutting Round Steak to make Cube Steak
- 1
  
  Place the round steak on a clean cutting board.
- 2
  
  Pierce the round steak on all sides repeatedly using a meat piercing tool. While the exterior fat still remains on the meat, make cuts across the grain. This method cuts through the connective tissue that makes the meat tough.
- 3
  
  Cut the round steak into ¾- to 1-inch-thick slices with the chef's knife.
- 4
  
  Pierce each steak slice repeatedly with the piercing tool. Repeat on both sides to completely tenderize the meat.
- 5
  
  Pound the steaks on both sides with a cooking mallet to further soften the meat. Continue pounding until the steaks are ¼ to ½ inch thick. The thinner the steak, the more tender the meat. The final tenderized cut is called a cube steak.
- 6
  
  Cut the cube steaks into portions with a chef's knife or kitchen scissors. Individual recipes call for specific-sized steaks. Chicken-fried steak may use 4-oz. portions, while chicken fingers require smaller strips.