Cuts of meat
Gordon Ker of Blacklock explains which cuts of meat they favour at his London restaurants, and why
At Blacklock, we use the grass-fed meat from Cornish farmer and butcher, Philip Warren. Our beef is dry-aged for 35 days, the lamb 28 days and the pork for 21 days. This gives the meat a greater depth of flavour, a fuller texture and tenderness. These are some of the cuts we use – a few you may not have come across before.
Rump cap
A top corner of the rump of a cow, typified by a large cap of creamy fat, gives our rump steaks great flavour. They’re dry-aged for 55 days to add even more depth, and they have a tender, almost fillet texture when cooked. Grill to medium rare and rest for 10 minutes.
Porterhouse
Perhaps the daddy of all sharing steaks, a T-bone steak with fillet and sirloin is called a porterhouse because of its larger portion of fillet to sirloin ratio. Tender fillet alongside rich sirloin gives a plate of mixed steak textures.
Pork tomahawk
A double-ended pork chop cut from the rib of the animal, but with the belly left attached. Often referred to as a Fred Flintstone chop because of its size, it too is the perfect sharer, with delicious rib meat at one end and naughty pork belly with crackling at the other.
Sixth rib-eye
A cut unique to Blacklock that we came up with our farmer Philip Warren, this uses the sixth rib of the animal and is often overlooked as a steak and used as mince for burgers. Because of the quality of the marbling, this stands up as a great 300g rib-eye steak.
Smoked bacon chop
We cure pork chops using the Wiltshire cure (a wet brine), then cold smoke over beechwood to give it a sweet but smoky note.
Lamb cutlets
Lamb chops should have a layer of fat, which adds flavour as the meat cooks. Aged lamb has a deeper flavour so look out for it when you are shopping. Skinny chops like these need to be seared on the grill to crisp up the outside without overcooking the middle of the meat.
Lamb belly ribs
The belly ribs are a great way to use the fattier belly of a lamb. By using whole animals, there is less waste for the farmer, and we can pass cost savings onto our guests.
Blacklock is located in Soho, Shoreditch and the City. Visit theblacklock.com for more info.