Jason, If I were still a betting man I would give you 9.5 to 1 odds that you are correct in your assumption on the steak and shake hamburgers coming from cows. They are still good. We don't go out there often (3 times in last 7 years) but like I said before, I always critically review my beef meal.
MRJ, We don't live that close to Steak and Shake so we don't go there that often. We can afford to pay for it when we go. The place is pretty busy so I don't think cost is the main factor. I like their fries too.
I think, and your terms may depend on the region you live in, that those two cuts come off above the shoulder. I used to help my grandfather butcher his calves that he fed out. He liked to fatten a young bull mostly, and I think that the meat from those young bulls was to my liking more than anything else. When we butchered a beef, we would call Jim James out to help us. Jim James was an old friend of my grandfather (both now deceased) and he brought the knives. Jim James would help butcher for the parts my grandfather didn't want which included the tripe, parts of the head, the bowels, and a few other little things. Jim James would tell me not to sling the bowels out too much, sling them once, and never wash them out. Jim Jame's claim to fame, as I recollect, was that he had 27 children and who knows how many grandchildren, and great grand children and a few great great grand children. The man was ancient and his face was very leathery. Since he was one of my grandfather's good friends from the old days (I mean old days) I looked up to him and his respected skills in butchering.
We would always hang the beef, quarter it, and then cut out everything else. Since most of our cuts through the bone had to be done by hand, we separated muscles a little differently than the cuts you buy at the store. NOTHING was wasted. I used to quiz my grandfather on the cut of meat he liked best. He would only say, "The part that goes over the fence last". I don't really know if that was the oxtail soup that he made or some part of the top round or loin. If you cook them right, they are all good. Jim James could tell you how you had to cook every piece to make it come out the best. I personally did not like roasts and would try to put most of them in hamburger meat which could be blended with the extra trim. The petite tender, I believe, was part of the top blade (the bottom has a little more gristle) and was cut out of that roast. We didn't call it that though. I know it more from where it is cut out of the beef than the name. Sounds a little french to me.
If you think about all of the meats, you will realize that the loin is the most tender and everything else goes out from there. We packaged them up not by their names all of the time, but by how you would cook it: steaks, roasts, stew meat, hamburger, oxtail (isn't that the last part to go over the fence?), and all of the other names you probably know.
By butchering our own, I was able to tell a lot more about the difference beteen young bulls, steers, heifers, cows....etc and how they compared in yield and quality.
Beef wasn't the only thing we butchered. All of the game species kind of goes under the same over all concept of cut quality depending on location with a few glands that you have to make sure to remove.
I always said my grandfather (who was half Indian, I think) could eat anything if it didn't crawl away fast enough. 'Coons, possum, all kinds of ducks, snakes, frogs, armidillos, and even alligator made it onto the plate. Road kill was not out of the question and yes, I do know how to tell if it has been dead too long. If you cook it right, it can taste pretty good. My grandfather even made my grandmother a blackbird pie when she was real sick and asked for it. I never had that. Clarence, I really do know about rattlesnake-- and other kinds of snake (I never ate a cottonmouth because they always smelled so bad when you skinned them). My mom used to cook chicken feet too, but I wouldn't ever try them--- I knew where the chickens walked.
I think the most interesting eating was when my grandfather would eat squirrel brains. He would get the back of the butter knife, crack the gumbo cooked squirrel head and suck out the brain. Pretty gross. I just stayed with the squirrel body. You get pretty smart as a young kid when you realize that after castrating pigs you would have finger steaks for supper. What you don't know, won't hurt you. Put a french name on it an there you go.
MRJ, I don't think you could call it "rich" the way we ate at his house, but it was filling. If you didn't get enough to eat, it was your own fault.
I had a friend (don't read this if you think it might be too crude) in Idaho when I lived up there that would always talk about women. He was never really nasty about it, but would just go on and on with a little twinkle in his eye as he talked. He made a big deal out of eating beaver. I knew what he was referring to but I never let on. The farmer and his wife that I was living with went on a little mini-vacation. They left me with the farm to run. One night, after trapping on the snake river, I called this guy over and told him I was cooking some backstrap. He came over, and I cooked up some real nice pieces about the size of a silver dollar. We ate and he complimented me on the good meal. Then he got to thinking about the fact that deer season was not open and that I wouldn't have any access to backstrap. He put two and two together (this is the same kind of trick I might play on SH if I lived near him) and asked me what I had been trapping that day. Of course I had to tell him it was some beaver from the river. You should have looked at his face. I thought he was going to die.
At least I made an honest man out of him.
MRJ, I am glad other people know how to come up with the "novel" idea that some of these cuts of meat are really good. It is all just a french name on an old cut of meat. Nothing new. I am not even going to go into the kinds of things my Filipino aunt eats. I am glad that NCBA sold the idea to get a higher value for those cuts. It is all a matter of selling.
It is ironic that fat costs more to put on an animal than muscle, and that you get less for pure fat than anything else except the things Jim James takes.
Sorry this post was so long.