Valentine's Steak

My initial research for Everything But The Oink included looking at an awful lot of butcher's diagrams of segmented pigs.  As with all things on the internet there was a glut of images and a lot of them were less than useful.  I did find enough information in the end to compile my Cuts list, but one cut stood out as a special occasion piece of meat.

The valentines steak is cut from the loin and, at its heart, it is a double thick loin chop which is butterflied.  You end up with a romantic heart shaped steak, which is perfect for your St. Valentine's Day romantic meal.

Any decent butcher should be able to provide you with valentines steaks.  I got mine from B & J Callard's on Leeds Kirkgate Market.  I had to order them as he had already butchered all of the pork loin that they had when I went in on Saturday.  Still, I got the steaks in good time for Valentines day.  I served the pork with purple sprouting broccoli, cheeky midweek roast potatoes and of course the ubiquitous apple sauce.