LINCOLN, Neb. (AP)--Gerrine Kirby didn't know what she was getting herself into the first time she saw it. A new cut of steak? After all these years?

Kirby, who teaches a culinary arts class, hesitantly took a bite of the curiously shaped piece of meat, which looks like an old-fashioned flat iron.

Her fears turned out to be unwarranted. "It was excellent," she said.

Kirby has been a fan of the flat iron steak ever since that demonstration three years ago by a guest chef at her class--and she is not alone.

"It's kind of become the darling of chefs across the nation," said Jane Gibson, a spokeswoman for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association in Denver.

The Nebraska-born tender cut has skyrocketed in popularity since it started being sold about four years ago, finding its way into farmer's markets, grocery stores and restaurants.

The beef association had no current estimate of how much flat iron is sold nationwide, but an official with the group said last year it was about 5 million pounds annually and was expected to double this year.

The flat iron is one of several so-called value cuts that had been used in inexpensive roasts or ground up into hamburger before they were "discovered" by Nebraska-led research in 2000. Selling the flat iron as steak--even if the price is lower than other cuts such as filet or ribeye--benefits everyone from the beef processor to grocery store and restaurant owners.

The cut was first available only in select restaurants but is now on the menus of more than 1,300 restaurants, including the T.G.I. Friday's chain, according to the Nebraska Beef Council.

One of the first restaurants to serve the flat iron was Whiskey Creek in Grand Island, owned at the time by rancher Jim Jenkins.

"I feel like I'm a steak connoisseur. I love steak," said Jenkins, who now sells the flat iron at his three Skeeter Barnes restaurants in Nebraska and Iowa. "Once I tasted it, it has become my favorite steak."

Part of its popularity, Jenkins said, is the price. An 8-ounce flat iron at Skeeter Barnes goes for $12.99, compared with $19.99 for the same-sized filet.

The flat iron, though, hasn't caught on as quickly at the meat counter. One problem is teaching retailers how to cut the carcass to get the flat iron, said Chris Calkins, a meat scientist at the University of Nebraska's Institute of Agriculture, whose three-year study with the University of Florida led to the discovery of the cut.

The meat is cut from deep within the shoulder muscle, also known as the chuck. A seam of connective tissue that runs down the middle of it must be removed to produce the flat iron cut. Portion sizes tend to vary between six and 12 ounces.

"Everybody loves them except our meat cutter," said Pat Sondgeroth, who with her husband, John, owns and operates Heartland Meats in Mendota, Ill. The Sondgeroths raise and process beef cows and sell the meat primarily at farmer's markets in the Chicago area.

A typical 1,000-pound cow will yield about four pounds of flat iron steak, Sondgeroth said. That compares with nine pounds of sirloin or 14 pounds of ribeye, she said.

When Heartland Meats started offering the flat iron about a year and a half ago, customers had lots of questions about the cut and how to prepare it, Sondgeroth said.

But now, she said, the flat irons usually sell out.

"Most of it is repeat customers because they snatch them up before anyone else gets a chance," Sondgeroth said. "Some of them like to be cutting edge and brag to their buddies that they know what it is and they've cooked it."

Date: 5/26/05

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