Nobody knows how exactly how long ago a marbled and tender boneless short-loin steak came to be known across the United States as a New York strip. Everybody agrees, though, that the nomenclature wasn’t the least bit controversial until last Friday, when Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick of Texas proposed a new name: the Texas strip.
Noting that Texas leads the nation in heads of cattle, Mr. Patrick announced in a post on X that he was working with the State Senate on a resolution that would officially rebrand the cut.
Mr. Patrick was clear in his post that he hoped the Texas-centric name would give a boost to his state’s cattle ranchers. At the same time, the way he framed the issue carried more than a whiff of red-meat politics.
“Liberal New York shouldn’t get the credit for our hard-working ranchers,” he wrote.
Meatpackers and steakhouses in New York seem disinclined to follow Texas’s lead.
“Oh my God, its so ridiculous,” said Harry Sinanaj, president of Ben & Jack’s Steakhouse on East 44th Street. “Even if they change it, I’m going to leave it as the New York strip.”
The term’s exact origins are obscure, but it is often tied to Delmonico’s, founded in 1827 and regarded as the first restaurant in the United States. The cut known as a Delmonico steak may have once referred to a strip steak, although on the current menu it’s used to mean a rib-eye. In any case, the cut caught on around the city.
“I don’t think there’s room for politics in this,” said Dennis Turcinovic, the owner and managing partner of Delmonico’s Hospitality Group. “It’s American culinary history.”
Mr. Patrick is not the first politician to attempt a rebranding of a popular food item. Before the invasion of Iraq in 2003, cafeterias in the House of Representatives began selling “freedom fries” to protest France’s opposition to an attack. Anti-German sentiment during World War I led to “liberty cabbage” for sauerkraut. Neither name outlasted its political moment.
The term New York strip is so well established that it is enshrined in “The Meat Buyer’s Guide,” a longstanding industry bible put out by the Meat Institute, a trade group based on Washington. The book lists “Lomo, Strip Loin (New York), Deshuesado” as synonyms for the boneless strip loin.
“When restaurants call you on the phone and say, ‘Give me one New York strip,’ I know they mean the boneless strip loin,” said Mark Solasz, vice president of Master Purveyors, a wholesaler in the Bronx.
“Maybe the Texans will change it to the Texas strip, but I don’t think New York is going to change,” Mr. Solasz said. “I don’t think this one is going to cross the border.”
Marc and Greg Sherry, who own the longest-running steakhouse in the city, the Old Homestead on Ninth Avenue, are so proud of the cut that they call it “Sherry Brothers 16 oz. New York prime sirloin” on their menu.
“I guess the lieutenant governor is looking for some P.R., but a New York steak is a New York steak,” Greg Sherry said.
Mr. Sinanaj, who was raised in Montenegro when Yugoslavia was still under Communist rule, recalled his mother’s telling him about a man in their village who went to jail for criticizing the government after he complained that a loaf of bread he’d bought was stale. Putting a partisan spin on a steak’s name rubs him the wrong way, he said.
“In my personal opinion it’s ridiculous to call it liberal or conservative,” he said. “The people’s stomach has nothing to do with politics.”
Follow New York Times Cooking on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and Pinterest. Get regular updates from New York Times Cooking, with recipe suggestions, cooking tips and shopping advice.
