Well-Stripped

For six years now, the Pitch has employed the Kansas City Strip to tell its stories. Since July 13, 2000, the Strip has put out 311 articles on a dizzying array of topics. The meat patty had a remarkable ability to pontificate on topics as varied as astronomy, downtown baseball stadiums, Internet pervs and aerial gondolas.

But the cutlet has run out of curiosity. As of now, the sizzling sirloin has officially retired. The Pitch, however, won’t be without grizzled meat. We’ve renamed the formerly gross-sounding Backwash page, which becomes a juicy selection of burnt ends.

And to send off the well-aged KC Strip, we called an expert. Steve Greer has been a meat cutter for some of the best steak places in town, and for the past three years, he’s owned the Golden Ox.

The Pitch: How’d Kansas City end up with the strip and not the filet?

Greer: Back in the old days, there weren’t primary cuts of meat. In the ’30s, Eddie Williams, the guy who owned the Williams Meat Company, wanted to show that there were other uses of meat. So he showed the kids from Future Farmers of America, who came for the American Royal. Back then, they just kind of processed meat, you know? They had the rump roast and all the others. But he showed them you can actually break it out and sell it by different cuts. The Kansas City strip comes off the short line. It was invented right here behind the restaurant.

For a not-so-great piece of meat, would you recommend A1 or béarnaise or something?

I think you just beat the hell out of it. Yeah, actually, there’s ways to tenderize a steak. You marinade, and away you go. Then put it with sauce to disguise it.

What’s the best way to finish off the KC Strip?

We use charcoal. It gets real hot to seal the outside when the inside cooks. By two hours of rebuilding the charcoal, piling it on and rebuilding it over and over, it gets up anywhere between 1,300 and 1,500 degrees.

What’s the difference between well-aged and stale?

Eight weeks is getting there. There are people who will serve steaks that have aged for longer, but I don’t do that. How old you talking?

Six years.

Oh, you throw that in the trash.