A butchers guide: The parts of the cow and what their used for.

 

 

1st Section  – Parts of the Bovine and their cuts of meat

Chuck

• chuck 7 bone pot roast
• chuck pot roast (boneless)
• chuck eye steak (boneless)
• chuck steak (boneless)
• shoulder top blade steaks
• boneless short ribs
• shoulder steaks

Rib

• rib roast & steak
• rib eye roast & steak
• back ribs

Loin

• porterhouse
• t-bone steak
• tenderloin steak & roast
• top loin steak ( boneless & bone-in)

Sirloin

• tri-tip steak & roast
• top sirloin steak

Round

• bottom & top round steak
•  eye round roast & steak
•  round tip  roast & steak
• sirloin tip center steak & roast

Shank & Brisket

• shank cross-cut
• brisket flat cut

Plate & Flank

• skirt steak & flank steak

Other

• ground beef, cubed steak, beef stew etc.

 

 

2nd section 

Now let’s learn about our beef. It’s our friend. Well it’s our dinner usually. So there are tons of  terms and phrases that may only be important to your local butcher or a chef, however I always find it convenient to know a little something something about what may or may not end up on my plate. So here we go kids.

Aged Beef– So glad I actually looked this up because my idea of aged beef was very different, for some reason, than what it actually is. It refers to wholesale beef that’s held at a specific refrigerated temperature in order to bring out extreme tenderness and flavor in the meat.

All natural– This one is a bit tricky, in that beef labeled “all natural” is merely processed “minimally with no artificial ingredients”, according to the USDA, which is totally weird because it can still contain antibiotics and hormones. Which if I’m not mistaken are artificial ingredients. Now you know.

Angus Beef– In case you were unawares, Angus is made up of 2 separate breeds, both of which are hornless. Not sure if that is significant information but there it is. Both originating from the Scottish Aberdeen stock. 🙂 Sounds nice.

Baby-back Ribs– These don’t come from baby cows. I say so only because I’ve  heard people say this in restaurants which made me immediately  regret dining out with them. But I can understand the confusion. They are from the top back of the rib cage where the bones are short (baby) and meaty.

Beef Bacon– So this one is new for me, I hadn’t even heard of beef bacon before but was very intrigued and excited to come across it in doing some research. It comes from the steers belly meat and is, apparently, smoked and flavor and is 90 % leaner than pork bacon. whaaaat!!!

London Broil-  This is a method of cooking, not a cut of meat like many people often believe. It’s made from cuts of meat that are much more tough like flank steak.

 

 

There may be some cuts I’ve left out or terms I overlooked but you get the general idea of all the fascinating parts of the Bovine that we utilize for food and nourishment. There are far too many misconceptions and mis-information when it comes to our beef. And seeing  that, as a country, we consume something like 70 lbs of beef per person a year,(according the EPA), I figured I would do my part in educating the masses, slightly.

 

Moooo….

❤ Cassandra