The Polite Way To Spit Out Steak Gristle When Eating At A Restaurant

One of life's greatest joys is when you decide to treat yourself to a nice steak dinner. But even great cuts of beef can have unwanted gristle or fat (looking at you ribeye!). There's nothing worse than being in a nice restaurant, surrounded by colleagues or friends or loved ones, and having to spit your gristle out. You might go into a George Costanza-esque panic, wondering what manners or etiquette to follow (and what the difference is between manners and etiquette). Luckily, the University of Minnesota released some dining etiquette tips. The best way to spit out your gristle? Use the same utensil it went in with. Genius. But the etiquette doesn't stop there. It's also recommended you cover up your piece of already masticated foodstuffs. I guess this is to prevent others from seeing your shame.

Other common etiquette tips include cutting pieces of steak off one at a time, as we would recommend. Make sure to always treat the staff kindly, and when in doubt, maybe consult one of your favorite films; they might have more etiquette tips than you'd think. And while you're at it, do your best to avoid gristle.

If that still sounds like too much worry or hassle, there are some other steak ordering tips to avoid the gristle-mouth-shuffle altogether. First, know what you want. This might take a little preparation, but it's worth it in the end. If budget isn't an issue, and you're going to a nicer steak place, order a filet. This could be called filet mignon or even Chateaubriand. These steaks are expensive for a reason. They have almost no fat, but they feature a fine-grained texture and are typically buttery and subtle. Because of which part of the cow they're cut from, they typically lack the gristle most other cuts have.

Maybe you're going to a middle-of-the-road steakhouse, or a filet mignon is out of the budget. In that case, you should order the New York strip steak. These boneless steaks are, like the T-bone/porterhouse, what you think of when you think: "steak!" This cut does have fat and gristle, but almost always on the edge of the steak itself. That way, you don't have to worry about gristle, as you can easily eat around it, or simply trim it off.