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BEEF PRIMAL CUTS

1. Chuck

2. Brisket

3. Rib

4. Plate

5. Short loin

6. Flank

7. Sirloin

8. Round

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Cattle carcasses are divided into eight primal cuts, which are sold to retail butchers, who divide them further into steaks, chops, roasts, and ground beef. Tender cuts come from the muscle groups that get the least amount of exercise, which run along the back of the body—the rib, short loin, and sirloin. Tougher meats are from the areas that move or support the body—the chuck, brisket, plate, flank, and round.

Arranged from most tender at the top to the toughest at the bottom, the cuts of beef that you can grill are listed in the following chart.

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CUTS OF BEEF FOR GRILLING, FROM MOST TENDER TO TOUGHEST

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SHORT LOIN The tenderest and most expensive cut of beef is the tenderloin (also known as fillet roast, fillet steak, filet mignon, and châteaubriand). It is a long, tapered muscle (shaped like a baseball bat) that runs along the spine. There is one attached to either side of the vertebrae; the wider end nestles into the hip and tapers as it approaches the rib cage. Its anatomical function is to make the back arch upward, something cattle never do. Since obsolescence breeds tenderness, you can cut beef tenderloin with a fork, which is why people will pay as much for an ounce of it as they will pay for a pound of a more-exercised muscle.

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SHORT LOIN

1. T-bone

2. Porterhouse

3. Boneless strip steak

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The tenderloin lies on the underside of the spine. The loin muscle runs parallel to it, on the top side of the spine. Steaks that are cut from the back therefore each have a piece of loin and a piece of tenderloin, with a T-shaped bone in between, which is a cross section of the spine. When a steak is cut from the area that is closer to the hip (porterhouse), the circumference of the tenderloin (or filet) piece will be larger; when it’s cut closer to the ribs (T-bone), the section of filet is smaller. Both steaks are delicious; you just get a bigger filet on a porterhouse than on a T-bone. If the tenderloin is removed and sold separately as a fillet steak or fillet roast, the remaining piece is sold as a strip steak (also known as New York strip or Kansas City strip).

PRIMAL RIB A beef primal rib contains a section of seven ribs running between the exercised (and tough) muscles of the chuck and the unexercised, very tender short loin. The chuck end is larger, composed of several muscle groups, including the eye, surrounded by a wide flap of relatively lean blade meat. The other muscles in the rib are the rib-eye cap and the deckle.

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PRIMAL RIB

1. Chuck end

2. Loin end

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The rib can be divided into roasts or steaks. Rib roasts are sold by number of ribs; a 3-rib roast will serve six people. When the ribs are left long (about 6 inches), the roast is said to be a “standing rib roast” because the arch of the ribs acts as a rack for holding the meat upright on the grill. This presentation is often referred to erroneously as prime rib, which technically refers only to beef that has been graded prime. A regular rib roast is trimmed to have shorter bones (about 3 inches long); the pieces that are removed are sold as short ribs.

Rib steaks may be cut from any rib in the primal cut, with or without a bone. Often steaks cut from the loin end are sold trimmed down to the eye muscle, in which case they are sold as rib-eye steaks or Delmonico steaks. A rib steak taken from the center, or ninth rib, is called an entrecôte.

The rib is one of the most succulent cuts to grill. Though not as tender as steaks and roasts from the short loin, it is more much more flavorful. If you are concerned about toughness, ask your butcher to cut from the loin end or small end.

SIRLOIN The sirloin is not one of the largest cuts of beef, but it is one of the most diverse. The sirloin traverses the hip, so at one end it is very