Ever Heard of an Ugly Steak? Check Out Dickman’s Meats

Dickman’s Meats is an old fashioned family owned meat market and deli. Dickman’s has every kind of meat, poultry, fish and yes, even exotic meats. Dickman's has been serving all of Tucson for over 37 years. Dickman’s is famous for their quality product and customer service. Their Ugly steaks and Jan steaks are one of a kind!

The Midwest meets the Southwest at Dickman’s Meat & Deli, now celebrating its 38^th year in Tucson. Packers t-shirts, caps, and other Cheesehead-a-bilia let you know that this family-run business originated in Wisconsin, while stacks of 40-pound bags of mesquite charcoal remind you that barbecuing is not just a seasonal pleasure in this warm-weather town.

In addition to its Midwestern roots and close-knit family history, another thing that distinguishes Dickman’s is its large selection of game, including venison, rabbit, duck, pheasants, and more. The decision to sell these rare meats was not for the sake of novelty, however. It was customer demand.

“A lot of guys would get their tags and go out and hunt but not bag anything," Dan Dickman said. "Some would come in and say, ‘I didn’t get my deer this year. Do you carry the meat?’”

After locating businesses that offered farm-raised, USDA-inspected animals, the Dickmans started stocking different varieties and even began doing wild game processing at the east side store.

Camel, rattlesnake, alligator, and shark are among the exotic meats also available in the stores, but Dan hastens to note that they don’t sell rare species like tiger or giraffe. “There’s so much other meat to consume on this planet,” Dan said. “Why go for the endangered kind?”

Still, most people flock to Dickman’s for the standards: Chicken, pork, and beef. Especially beef. All USDA Choice or Prime, the meat is brought in from farms in South Dakota where the animals are free range and get no hormones or steroids.

“Antibiotics are only given if an animal gets sick and even then there’s a wait of six months before slaughter so any drugs will be out of the animal’s system,” Dan said.

All the beef is aged for at least 30 days and some cuts are dry aged for another 30 or 40 days to condense the flavor.

Of all the meat sold, the most popular item by far is the Ugly Steak.

“On Tuesday, Wednesdays, or Thursdays – our slower days – we sell two hundred to three hundred of them,” Dan said. “When you get to Friday, Saturday, Sunday, we sell thousands.”

“It looks grainy and tough, like something we might have run through the tenderizer and stuck together," Dan said. "But it’s one muscle and it looks the way it does because it’s very marbled.”

So, what is an Ugly Steak?

In Wisconsin, Jan Dickman called this cut – the specifics are trademarked and a well-guarded family secret – “sandwich steak” and sold it to taverns and bars as pub grub. When the family moved to Tucson, customers browsing the display cases would ask, “What is that ugly-looking meat?” The name stuck.

And therein lies one aspect of the Ugly Steak’s success: The marbling makes it hard to mess up the preparation.

Dickman’s Meat’s hours are:

Monday 9AM to 6PM

Tuesday 9AM to 7PM

Wednesday 9AM to 7PM

Thursday 9AM to 7PM

Friday 9AM to 7PM

Saturday 9AM to 6PM

Sunday 11AM to 5PM

Located at 6742 N. Oracle Road, Tucson, AZ, some neighborhoods close to Dickman’s Meats include Rancho Pomelo, Paseo Los Altos, Casas Adobe Vistas, Chula Vista Reserve and La Toscana Village.

Dickman’s Meats can be reached at (520) 229-9777.

Dickman’s does not have a web site, but you can check them out on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/dickmansmeat/.

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