Where's the Beef?

by Mark R. Vogel

Comprehending all the different cuts of beef can be a little confusing. For example, did you know that a strip steak, New York strip, Kansas City steak, club steak, shell steak, and top loin steak all come from the same section of beef?

Who wouldn't be confused with such jargon? The diagram below depicts all the cuts found on your typical bovine.

Beef is muscle tissue. The first thing that must be understood is that frequently used muscles are tougher and generally require long, slow, moist heat cooking methods to loosen their connective tissue, while lesser used muscles are tender and need dry heat methods.

Moist heat cooking methods for beef include braising, boiling and stewing. Dry heat methods include sautéing, grilling, roasting, and broiling.

The chuck, brisket, round and shank are the most exercised muscles and hence, the toughest. A pot roast can be made from chuck via braising, (cooking the meat in a small amount of liquid for an extended period of time).

Chuck is also useful for stew meat, making stock, and ground beef. Your average hamburger is mostly ground chuck.

The brisket is home to corned and barbecued beef. The infamous corned beef and cabbage is made from boiling the meat. Pot roast can also be done with brisket, again by braising.

The round includes the top round, bottom round, heel round, eye round, and rump roast. Sometimes ground beef is made from the round as well. Although all round cuts are tough, the top round is the tenderest, relatively speaking.

Because of this, it can be roasted. London broil comes from the top round and can also be grilled. All of the others however, do best made into roasts with moist heat methods. One exception is your deli roast beef.

Because it is sliced thin, producers can get away with roasting, (dry heat), the bottom or eye round which are cheaper than the top round. Notice that making a "roast" does not necessarily mean that the meat will be roasted.