Cube Steak...Can the butcher do this for me?

So being from the Southern US, we use a LOT of cubed steak for all sorts of goodies: Swiss steak, chicken-fried steak and others.  But I have yet to see it anywhere I've shopped like the local butcher and Sainsbury's.  Any advice on how to find something similar or if the butchers here would be able to "cube" a similar piece of beef for me? 

I'm just dying to make some chicken-fried steak with a lovely gravy 

The only thing a good butcher should ask is "How big do you want the cubes?". Cubed beef, both ready cubed or done while you wait is a pretty common thing here. I am surprised you have not seen it.

The only thing a good butcher should ask is "How big do you want the cubes?". Cubed beef, both ready cubed or done while you wait is a pretty common thing here. I am surprised you have not seen it.

That's not what we call cube steak - that is cubed steak.  Cube steak is sort of pulverized.  I've never seen it here but I imagine if you got yourself a meat mallot and pounded the crap out of a regular steak you'd come pretty close.

The only thing a good butcher should ask is "How big do you want the cubes?". Cubed beef, both ready cubed or done while you wait is a pretty common thing here. I am surprised you have not seen it.

Yeah, back in California my family called this stew beef.

This is cube steak:

I believe cube steak has been passed through some sort of machine, but I think Mindy is right - pulverizing it yourself may be the only way to get it.

aha, Wikipedia says this:

"Cube steak is a cut of beef, usually top round or top sirloin, tenderized by fierce pounding with a meat mallet, or use of an electric tenderizer. Many professional cooks insist that regular tenderizing mallets cause too much mashing to produce a proper cube steak, and insist on either using specialized cube steak machines, or manually applying a set of sharp pointed rods to pierce the meat in every direction. This is the most common cut of meat used for chicken fried steak."

Yes, the latter of the two are what I was talking about.  Not the cubed beef pieces, but the actual steak that has been put through a cubing machine.  Unfortunately I'm not rich enough to have my own rollers to do it for me!  I did try piercing a steak multiple times with a knife, but the texture just wasn't very good. 

Yes, the latter of the two are what I was talking about.  Not the cubed beef pieces, but the actual steak that has been put through a cubing machine.  Unfortunately I'm not rich enough to have my own rollers to do it for me!  I did try piercing a steak multiple times with a knife, but the texture just wasn't very good. 

I'm sure one of those aluminium meat mallets would do the trick... close enough.

I think a wooden meat mallet might work to an extent.

X-posted with Genau!

I know in the US you can get hand-held rollers with little rods/spikes on them for piercing the meat. You'd just roll it on the meat in multiple directions a lot to get the effect of the machine-done meat. The mallets will work to a degree, but won't be quite the same.

Balmerhon, any idea which shops might carry it in the States?  I'm here now and may just go out and buy one for myself!

I know in the US you can get hand-held rollers with little rods/spikes on them for piercing the meat. You'd just roll it on the meat in multiple directions a lot to get the effect of the machine-done meat.

Every day's a school day!
Never heard of or seen such a beast!

Balmerhon, any idea which shops might carry it in the States?  I'm here now and may just go out and buy one for myself!

Get this! 

I SO want one!

Every day's a school day!
Never heard of or seen such a beast!

Thinking about it I think my Mom might have such a thing.  I should've stolen it from her.

Looks like something out of a torture chamber.