Distinctly Montana Magazine
Issue link: https://digital.distinctlymontana.com/i/1457328
D I S T I N C T L Y M O N T A N A M A G A Z I N E • S P R I N G 2 0 2 2 62 I T IS TRUE THAT THE VIKINGS ROBBED, plundered and terrorized the peaceful farmers and fishers of the British Isles for centuries. But after abandoning their aggressive peripatetic impulses, the Vikings settled peaceably with the native Anglo-Saxons, exchanging technology, customs, mar- riage vows, and language. The natives eventually adopted hundreds basic of terms from the Viking vocabulary such as sky, skin, egg, birth, want, root and give. Steak is another on this serviceable roster. The term is de- rived from steik, an Old Norse Viking word meaning "roasted meat," or more specifically, "meat roasted on a stick," and applied to the flesh of any animal. The word was folded into English at least by 1420, when an early cookbook instructed readers how to "make stekys of venysoun or Beef." Throughout the centuries, the word was spelled styke, steke, and steyke, arriving at its modern spell- ing steak by the mid 1600s. Qualified terms such as mutton steak, pork steak, cod steak, veal steak, sea steak and two-eyed steak (facetiously, a red herring) appeared throughout the 18th and 19th centu- ries. Most modern English speakers associate the term steak with various slices of beef. Though the term steak is of ancient vintage, steak vocabu- lary has become increasingly specialized over the last centu- ry as recipes and cooking methods evolved. Here is a brief glossary of recently-coined beef terms, some of which you may encounter at your nearest Montana steak- house. PORTERHOUSE STEAK A classic American steakhouse steak. Some see it as a T-bone with a larger portion of tenderloin. The term, first cited in an American document dated 1842, is thought to derive from pub-like "porterhouses" that served porter and other ales, as well as hearty steaks and chops, to American laborers. CHATEAUBRIAND Perhaps not so much in circulation these days, but etymologically interesting nevertheless. The name refers to a dish of roasted tenderloin served with mustard or béar- naise sauce, romantically prepared for two. The dish, invent- ed by a French chef in 1822, was named in honor of writer and ambassador François René, Vicomte de Chateaubriand (1768-1848). BEEF WELLINGTON Tenderloin or filet mignon covered in foie gras and sautéed mushrooms, wrapped in a puffed pastry, and then baked. Sources offer varying etymologies, but the most W I L D W E S T W I L D W E S T W O R D S W O R D S Nor am I interested in parroting anyone else's views, so I won't mention the eye-wid- ening list of ingredients on the package when the components of my burger are, simply, 100% grass-fed American beef. I've also heard that there's a lot more estrogen in plant-based meat, and that it's giving men bosoms, but that sounds too silly to dignify by bringing it up. Although at my ad- vanced age and with my generous proportions, let's face it, I'm bosomy enough as it is. No, the main reason I'm not going to eat an Impossible Burger, a Beyond Burger, or any other fake meat again is that raising cattle is a way of life for my family and me. It's something we're proud of, and something we're proud to do well. I ate beef as a kid, prepared by my mother us- ing recipes she got from her grandmother. Trace it far enough back and you'll find Sheltons eating beef in some squat, dimly lit European hovel. Go back ten thousand years and my family were probably on a windswept steppe somewhere, watching over a herd of wooly, bony prehistoric cattle with twelve-foot horns. I'd like to think that in five hundred years, there will be Sheltons raising space cattle on some moon of the Androme- da system. STEAK TERMS