The Fall 2022 issue of Food & Dining Magazine (#75) is now available in all the familiar places: Louisville area eateries and food shops, newsstands and online. Go here for a preview of the features, profiles and columns, with links to the new edition at issuu.
You know, like Gorilla Glue, just edible. That’s our story, and we’re sticking to it (like glue).
The Taste Bud: What the Actual Hell is ‘Meat Glue’?
I can’t recall the first time I saw or bought one of those prepackaged “filet mignon” steaks most grocery stores carry. I never knew what exactly they were, but I always suspected that they weren’t filet. Now I know and I sort of wish I didn’t.
They look nice, sitting there in their circular plastic packaging amongst all the other meat. I started buying them semi-regularly in recent years mostly because they’re cheap – usually around five bucks, which is proof it’s not really a filet mignon steak. But I also eat less red meat than I used to, so I rarely splurge on a big cut of ribeye or sirloin these days. Those “filets” are more of a “just-right” size for me these days.
But if you notice, they are hunks of meat wrapped in bacon, with a plastic skewer punched through them – and that skewer is another giveaway. Sure, it’s to keep the bacon in place, but it’s also partly to keep the steak itself together, if I guess correctly. Why do I say this? Because that so-called filet is actually several pieces of beef held together with a product often referred to as “meat glue.”
Click the link to finish reading. Photo credit goes to Kevin Gibson.
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Kevin Gibson has been a professional writer for more than three decades, having written about restaurants, beer, bourbon, sports, night life, music and plenty more. He has won numerous awards from The Associated Press, Society of Professional Journalists and Indiana State Press Association, among others, but can’t remember where he put most of them. In addition, he has written for publications like LEO Weekly, Bourbon+ magazine, Thrillist, Alcohol Professor, Louisville Magazine and many more, including various newspapers. When he’s not busy writing books or stories about Louisville, he’s likely hanging out at a brewery with his dog, Atticus.
