When
buying, preparing and cooking meat, it can be easy to fall into the same old song and dance. While there's nothing wrong with eating what's familiar to you, knowing the different cuts of meat and what they're best used for can help expand your cooking options while also help to avoid costly shopping mistakes (like using tough cuts for low and slow recipes).
With some stores carrying as many as 60 different types of beef products, it's easy to understand why most people can't make heads or tails of all the different cuts of beef. Additionally, while there are some federal USDA standards that dictate meat labeling, these standards generally only apply to larger cuts of meat that are not usually available for purchase from most grocery stores (and even some retail butchers).
But don't worry – we're experts at this stuff – and we're here to help you understand the different cuts of beef and how best to prepare them!
Cut To The Chase: Primal, Subprimal and Portion Cuts
To start, there are eight main cuts of beef known as the primal cuts, listed below:
Chuck
Rib
Loin
Round
Flank
Short Plate
Brisket
Shank
These large primal cuts are then divided into smaller subprimal cuts that are shipped by packers to local markets for final cutting and preparation. These final cuts are known as portion cuts, and are the cuts of meat that consumers will find in their local stores like steaks, ribs and roasts.
We're going to cut through some of this beef-buying complexity by focusing on the eight main primal regions as well as their most common portion cuts. For most consumers, understanding these main cuts and what makes them distinctive is sufficient enough for informed beef buying.
