Y'all could get to the supermarket, purchase a staple similar filet mignon, throw it on the grill, and call information technology a mean solar day. But there are and then many other fascinating cuts of beefiness out there to acquire almost and explore—why limit yourself?

"Dissimilar cuts have unlike season profiles and different methods of preparation, and the more you know, the better melt you're going to be," says Alex Jermasek, head butcher at Belcampo Meat Co. A vertically integrated company, Belcampo owns its ain ranch, slaughterhouse (designed by "meat whisperer" Temple Grandin), and retail butcher shops throughout California.

Hither, Jermasek breaks downwardly the bones beef noesis you need to win at prepping, cooking, and eating cow. jer

But before we become started, there are a few important meat facts to keep in mind:

  • Avert buying beef that has a brilliant-pink artificial wait (that means it isn't fresh)
  • Heavily worked cuts (meaning, cuts from parts of the cow that are most active) typically have more beefy flavor, and a dark red color
  • Fat equals flavor. Fat is your friend.
  • A beef carcass is divided into primal cuts (e.one thousand., chuck or shortplate), which include subcategories known as subprimal cuts (e.g., flat-iron or short ribs)
  • Classic steaks that you notice at loftier-end steakhouses—including New York strip, T-bone, porterhouse, filet mignon—all come from the brusque loin. Hither's an awesome guide to grilling those steaks.

Study up and become the meat master yous were destined to be.

Chuck

Chuck-Roast What is information technology: The largest, virtually heavily-worked group of muscles on the fauna, which means information technology needs to exist cooked for several hours. Chuck is your stereotypical pot roast; information technology's likewise great ground into a burger blend.

Where information technology is on the moo-cow: Shoulder muscle

Fatty content/marbling: Chuck contains connective tissue (fat and collagen) that breaks down when you cook it.

How to cook it: A go-to economical cut for slow cooking, chuck can be prepared by your butcher as a roast, or every bit stew meat that'south perfect for beef Bourguignon. You lot tin can do a barbecue-fashion chuck besides, where yous fume it and and then braise it.

What to expect for when buying:If you're cooking a pot roast, you want your chuck to be fairly consistent in girth so it cooks evenly.

Average cost per pound: $v-$6

Flat-iron

Flatiron

What is it: A long, flat steak that first became pop in the U.S. in the early 2000s. Because it's flavorful, tender, and easy to melt, flat-fe is recommended for people who are timid when it comes to cooking beef.

Where it is on the moo-cow: Sits correct on meridian of the shoulder blade (part of the chuck)

Fat content/marbling:One of the more well-marbled parts of the shoulder, and then it'south tender and has a lot of season

How to melt it: Sear it hot and fast on the grill, near 4 minutes on each side. Go a prissy char and some pretty grill marks. Season with salt, pepper, and olive oil, and you lot're done.

What to look for when buying:A skillful apartment-atomic number 26 has squeamish marbling throughout, and is ¼- to ½-inch thick. The flat-iron itself is comprised of 2 parts—there'due south an upper role and a lower function, and in the middle is a behemothic tendon that is almost inedible. The tendon should be removed by your butcher.

Average cost per pound: $xiv-$16

BrisketBrisket

What is it: Ane of the most heavily-worked parts of the animal. It'south tough, but when cooked low and slow, information technology has a nice texture that allows it to shred apart.

Where it is on the cow:The lower chest, right underneath the front leg

Fat content/marbling:Brisket is fatty and well-marbled

How to cook it: Famous cutting for BBQ; rub information technology and slow-smoke information technology until it's falling apart. Information technology's also proficient for braising as a pot roast, and making corned beef.

What to await for when buying: There are two distinct parts to a whole brisket: the first cut (called the "flat") is less fatty and good for braising, and the second cutting (called the "point") is fattier and good for smoking and turning into BBQ.

Boilerplate cost per pound: $seven-$10. You'll probably run into brisket prices increasing in the near future, says Jermasek, considering it'south one of those cuts that's so highly sought after for barbecue. (Think of information technology as meat gentrification.)

Top SirloinTop-Sirloin

What is it: When you take a cantankerous-section of the whole sirloin, it's typically called a "tiptop sirloin" steak. Jermasek isn't the biggest fan of the traditional top sirloin; he says there are too many different cuts in the ane steak, causing it to cook unevenly. He likes to suspension down the sirloin into its different parts, including what's known as the "top sirloin cap" (besides called the picanha in Brazil andculottein France). Ask your butcher for a "elevation sirloin cap" the next time you lot want to cook a delicious steak at home.

Where it is on the cow:The lower back/upper butt area

Fat content/marbling: Lean, only very tender. Top sirloin has a really nice fatty cap on the top, which makes up for the lack of fat within the muscle.

How to melt it:

  • To melt the top sirloin cap: Sear for 4 to v minutes on each side, until it gets expert color. Be certain to render some of the fat on top (the fat cap) by placing it face-down in the pan. What you lot're looking for is a overnice chocolate-brown caramelized fat. Cutting the steak horizontally so you terminate up with a small slice of the fat on every part. Alternatively, skewer and grill the top sirloin cap like they do in Brazil.
  • To melt a traditional top-sirloin steak: Melt a couple of minutes on each side, so finish it off in the oven.

What to look for when buying:Yous want it to be a nighttime-cherry-red color, and to have a beautiful and thick fat cap

Average toll per pound: $nineteen-$twenty

Tri-tip

tritip

What is it: Tri-tip became an iconic Central-Californian cut in the belatedly '50s when a guy in Santa Maria started dry out-rubbing it, cooking it over a forest fire, and then slicing it thin and making sandwiches. Tri-tip is sometimes called "Newport Steak" on the East Declension.

Where it is on the moo-cow: This triangle-shaped muscle comes from the bottom sirloin

Fatty content/marbling:Lean cutting, little marbling

How to cook it: Dry rub it, and then sear on both sides over a loftier flame. You desire to near burn the outside of the meat, and and so let it rest on the libation office of your grill (or upper rack of your grill) for another 10 to 15 minutes. Bring information technology up to medium or medium-rare, whichever you similar.

What to look for when buying: Bright carmine with a small corporeality of fat running through the meat

Average price per pound: $15-$20 (depends on what part of the state you lot're in)

Short ribShort-Rib

What is it: Short ribs are fatty andrelatively tough, so y'all need to melt them for a long time to make certain they're tender. When braising, you should ask for bone-in short ribs; tons of flavor will be leached out of the os as it braises. Short rib is too excellent in burger blends.

Where it is on the cow: Short rib comes from a larger central cut called the "brusk plate"; it's the large pieces of rib that extend down from the ribeye.

Fat content/marbling: One of the fattier parts of the animal (some areas of the short rib can be l/50 fat-to-lean meat)

How to cook information technology: Braise os-in short ribs anywhere between 2 and 4 hours. Alternatively, if y'all want to brand Korean galbi, y'all tin ask your butcher for short rib "flanken"cut across the bone.

What to wait for when buying: Os-in for braising, fat running throughout

Average cost per pound: $11-$fourteen per pound for bone-in

FlankFlank-Steak

What is it: Flank steak looks like a big paddle or balloon-shaped piece of meat; it has a actually long grain to information technology and is good for quick-searing.

Where information technology is on the cow: Underbelly

Fatty content/marbling: Lean with balmy flavour

How to cook it: Flank is a adept cut to marinate and sear super fast. When yous slice it confronting the grain, it has a actually nice texture because you've cutting all the connective tissue. Flank is the typical cut used for carne asada.

What to look for when buying: Make sure that your butcher isn't giving you the top-half of the flank that has the silver skin on it. "Any butcher that has self respect volition take it off for you," says Jermasek.

Average price per pound: $19-$20 per pound

Round

round

What is information technology: The round is a massive piece of meat. It's made upward of the acme round, bottom round, eye round, and a muscle chosen the sirloin tip. All of these unlike muscles have unlike uses. Many of them brand good roast beef—specifically, the sirloin tip and bottom round. London bake is typically made with top round.

Where it is on the cow: The hind leg

Fat content/marbling: Minimal fatty and marbling

How to cook it: Make roast beef with the sirloin tip and bottom round; make London broil with the top round. (Recently, at the opening of Belcampo Meat Co.'s Santa Monica location, Jermasek cooked a whole round and set it afire.)

Average cost per pound: $6-$9

Tenderloin (chateaubriand, filet mignon)

Tenderloin-(chateaubriand)

What is it: The tenderloin is i of the least-worked muscles on the beast, which is why information technology's then tender. Chateaubriand is the thicker butt-end of the tenderloin, and the center-cut portion is what everyone knows as filet mignon. People gravitate towards the filet because it's like the "boneless, skinless chicken breast of the moo-cow," says Jermasek.

Where it is on the cow: The muscle that sits right up above the spinal string, at the lower back surface area.

Fat content/marbling: Low in fat, very tender

How to melt information technology: If you're cooking chateaubriand, ho-hum roast it rather than searing it hard and roasting it fast. Jermasek likes to crust the chateaubriand with black pepper, thyme, and shallots, and wrap the whole piece in "caul fatty" (beautiful spider web-like pork fat). He then slow roasts the chateaubriand, and cranks the oestrus upwards at the end to give the meat nice colour. What y'all'll have is a "buttery, melt-in-your-rima oris filet thank you to the pork fat." For a filet or filet mignon, don't mess with it to much: sear it on both sides, put some table salt on it, and let information technology rest a few minutes.

What to look for when ownership: When buying chateaubriand, brand certain it'south not too small-scale. Jermasek thinks fattier, more marbled filets are superior; when they're too lean, filets can taste mealy and gritty.

Average cost per pound: Grass-fed filet will exist around $forty per pound

Osso Bucooso

What is it: Although osso buco has been known throughout history every bit a peasant cutting, "it'south the best" co-ordinate to Jermasek. Y'all need to braise osso buco for a long flow of time, because there's inner-muscular sinew and a marrow bone in the middle of the cut. When the sinew and marrow renders, it melts into the meat, adding a level of richness that y'all don't become with most roasts or braising cuts.

Where it is on the moo-cow: The shank, or leg

Fat content/marbling: Sinew running throughout

How to cook it: When you lot braise osso buco for a long time (at to the lowest degree 4 hours), the inner-muscular sinew becomes gelatinous and delicious. If you're cooking veal osso buco, you can braise it in white wine and garlic; for beefiness osso buco, use carmine vino and beef stock.

What to expect for when buying: Y'all want to make sure the bone looks overnice and fresh. Veal osso buco should have a rosy, pinkish hue; beefiness osso buco should be vivid cerise.

Boilerplate cost per pound: $10

Now that yous're a pro, information technology's time for some next-level cuts: Here's part two of Start We Feast's Guide to Meat Cuts, focusing on lesser-known—but equally delicious—cuts like banana heel, Denver steak, and bavette.