A Beef Glossary

All steers can be broken down into eight primary (or “primal”) cuts. Five of those are listed below and can, in turn, be trimmed into cuts of all kinds, many of which are sold as steak. The ribs, short loin, and sirloin provide all the luxury cuts, the chuck is a close fourth on the tasty scale and where some of the best values hide. Here’s a guide to some better and lesser-known cuts, and where they come from:

CHUCK (SHOULDER)
Boneless Shoulder—Cheap and underutilized, best served after lengthy marinating. Not a plate steak, but a wonderful cut to slice thinly and pass on a platter. Wonderful flavor.

Boneless Chuck—This muscle comes from inside the shoulder blade itself and is sold commercially under names as diverse as chuck eye, chuck filet, chuck, and bottom chuck. They are small but tasty cuts, streaked with good marbling.

Blade Chuck or Flat-Iron Steak—A small steak, almost as soft as the tenderloin, this cut has a pencil-line of connective tissue running down the middle, which should be cut away prior to fast-searing or grilling.

First-Cut Chuck or Blade Steak—From the rib side of the chuck comes a chewy, superbly marbled steak that always comes with one large piece of the blade bone. A great value.

RIBS
Rib Eye—Regarded as the perfect steak, renowned for beefy and intense flavor and luxurious fat that weaves through and around it. Lots of connective tissue and fat pockets.

Hanger Steak—The most prized of what once were undiscovered and inexpensive cuts. One per animal, it’s extremely tricky to cook and becomes chewier the longer it sizzles.

Skirt (Plate) Steak—The long, ropy diaphragm muscle stands up to marinating and when cooked for a short time over intense heat creates a phenomenal steak. Famous for being the fajita cut.

Flank Steak—Also known as London broil, this is a wide-grained, well-marbled cut from the belly. The superbly beefy cut should be marinated, broiled, or grilled not past medium and allowed to rest before being sliced into thin strips across the grain.

SHORT LOIN
Tenderloin or Filet Mignon—The most famous of the subprimals, and the most overrated, producing a soft and mushy steak. Mignon is French for cute or sweet. Steaks from the tenderloin have almost no marbling.

Porterhouse—The ultimate steak house cut, containing a T-shaped bone that separates a piece of the sirloin from the tenderloin. “T-bone” steaks are porterhouses that come from the end of the short loin.

SIRLOIN (HIPS)
Tri-Tip Sirloin—From the bottom of the sirloin, this cut is the ultimate California steak-sandwich meat, but is underutilized in Minnesota.

Boneless Sirloin—These large half-moon cuts from the butt are taken off the bone and sold as luxury steaks. A nice value.

Pin-Bone Sirloin—Steak aficionados maintain that this is the most flavorful of the sirloins; it has a piece of sirloin and tenderloin attached to a bone surrounded by a superflavorful flap of fat. Always has a piece of hip bone attached and can be tough to sell and to eat, but worth it.

Sirloin Tip—The most rewarding steak from a textural standpoint, cut from the area between the sirloin and the round. It’s lean, small, and looks like a ball. Often labeled as knuckle steak, it should be seared or grilled at high temperatures.

ROUND (HIND QUARTERS)
Top Round—From inside the upper leg muscles comes a very lean cut that should not be cooked past medium rare.