Re: Sunday Supper

On Mon, 28 Oct 2024 19:15:47 +0000, Citizen Winston Smith wrote:

https://heritagefoods.com/blogs/news/the-origin-of-the-porterhouse-steak
>
The Porterhouse Steak is the king of all steaks, but how long exactly
has it sat upon this throne? Like so many other widely recognized
dishes, the porterhouse steak has contested origins. Thomas F. De Voe’s
1867 book The Market Assistant details dishes sold at markets and
restaurants in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia in the 1800s. Back
then, restaurants and taverns were often called porter houses, as they
served a style of beer called porter. One busy day, at a porter house
operated by Martin Morrison, a starving maritime pilot ordered a steak,
but the establishment was 86’d. Being the generous and hospitable
proprietor he was, Morrison went back to his kitchen and cut a steak off
a short loin that he had planned on roasting whole. The pilot was so
satisfied with his steak he ordered another and said “Look ye here,
messmate, after this I want my steaks off the roasting-piece! - do ye
hear that? - so mind your weather-eye, old boy!” Morrison continued to
serve these steaks and continued to receive high praise. Rather than cut
each steak to order himself, Morrison began ordering strip loins cut
into steaks from his butcher, who referred to them as “cut steaks for
the porter-house,” which eventually became porterhouse steaks.

A steak cut from a loin wouldn't be called a porterhouse steak these
days. Back in the old days, you would be able to have something like a
strip steak or a filet but probably not a porterhouse. You'd really need
a piece of machinery capable of cutting through a bone cleanly.