All Ingredients

This is a small, boneless steak cut from an eye round roast. It's tough, so it's sometimes cut into stew meat or processed into cube steak. It's also good braised, but it will require the tenderizing effects of a marinade if you want to grill or broil it. If cut thinly, this steak is sometimes called a breakfast steak = wafer steak = sandwich steak = minute steak.

These are cut from the tenderloin, and they're the most tender steaks you can buy, though not the most flavorful. American butchers usually call all tenderloin steaks filets mignons, but the French reserve the name for just the cuts at the small end of the tenderloin, which is the best part. As they move away from the filet mignon, the French call their cuts tournedos, filet steak, châteaubriand, and bifteck. American butchers confuse matters even more by sometimes calling top sirloin steaks châteaubriands. Don't marinate these steaks and don't cook them beyond medium rare.

This is a lean, flat cut that's fairly tender and extremely flavorful. Properly marinated, it's a wonderful steak to grill or broil, but don't overcook it or it will become very tough. Before serving, cut the steak into thin slices at a slant against the grain.

This is the part of the diaphragm that hangs between the last rib and the loin. It's often ground in hamburger (or butchers just take it home), but some people claim that its grainy texture and intense flavor make it a first-rate steak (if marinated first). It's better known in France than in the United States, so you'll probably have to ask your butcher to set one aside for you.

Beef heart is too tough to be sautéed or grilled, but it becomes very tender and delicious if cooked slowly using moist heat. You can buy it sliced or whole.

These chewy strips of dried beef don't need refrigeration, so they're popular snacks for hikers and travelers. The biggest drawbacks are that they're high in sodium, calories, and price.

Beef kidneys are tougher than lamb or veal kidneys, so they need to be cooked slowly using moist heat, say by braising them or adding them to a stew. To prepare them, first cut off the outer membrane, then cut them lengthwise to expose a white blob of fat in the middle, which should be discarded. Next, soak the kidney in acidulated water or buttermilk for about an hour. This will make the flavor much more mild.

Compared to calf's liver, this is a bit tougher and less delicately flavored, but it's quite good if you're careful not to overcook. It should still be pink in the middle when it's done.

This is the name of a finished dish, not a cut of meat, but butchers sometimes assign the name "London broil" to the following cuts: flank steak, top round steak, or top blade steak. Each would work well in a London broil recipe.

In some parts of the country, a minute steak is a small, thinly sliced, boneless sirloin steak. In others, it's a thinly sliced eye of round steak. In still others, it's a cube steak.

Cooks use these to make oxtail soup. Each oxtail weighs about 2 pounds.

Many believe these to be the best of all steaks. They include parts of two muscles: the flavorful top loin and the buttery soft tenderloin. It's best to grill or broil them without marinating.

These are economical roasts that are too tough to be oven roasted, but they become tender if cooked in a liquid for several hours. Several cuts work well as pot roasts, particularly the 7-bone pot roast, arm roast, blade roast, chuck eye, cross rib roast, shoulder roast, top blade pot roast, under blade pot roast, bottom round roast, eye round roast, and rump roast.

The entire rib section includes seven ribs, but it's usually cut into smaller chunks. Each rib will feed about two people, so if you're feeding, say, six people, you should get a three-rib roast. You can buy this cut as a standing rib roast, with the bones left in, or as a rolled rib roast, which is boned, then rolled and tied. The nice thing about a standing rib roast is that it can stand by itself in the oven pan without a rack, plus the bones provide added flavor. A large end rib roast is cut from the part of the rib section nearest the chuck, so the steaks are bigger but tougher. The small end rib roast = sirloin tip roast includes the ribs next to the choice loin section, so the meat's more tender and lean. If the short ribs are lopped off of a rib roast, you get a half standing rib roast. A steak cut from a rib roast is called a rib steak.

Rib steaks are cut from rib roast, and shouldn't be confused with rib-eye steaks, which have less fat and bone. Rib steaks are sometimes called club steaks, though that name is usually reserved for a different cut from the loin.

The juicy rib-eye comes from the same muscle that gives us those exquisite top loin and top sirloin cuts. This cut can be roasted to make a boneless version of a rib roast, or cut into individual steaks, called rib-eye steaks. Rib-eye roasts are very tender, well marbled with fat, and fairly expensive.

Rib-eye steaks are very tender, well marbled with fat, and fairly expensive. They're usually boneless, but you can sometimes find bone-in rib-eye steaks. Note that club steaks are also sometimes called Delmonico steaks.

Several cuts are well suited to oven roasting. The most elegant choice is a tenderloin roast, which is lean and tender, but very expensive. A rib roast (sometimes called a prime rib roast) isn't as lean and tender, but it's juicier and more flavorful. A good compromise between the two would be a rib-eye roast, which is basically a boneless, low-fat rib roast. Other candidates for roast beef are a top loin roast, top sirloin butt roast, tri-tip roast, round tip roast, and rump roast. Don't assume that anything with "roast" in its name will work as roast beef. Some roasts are intended for pot roast recipes, for it takes hours of cooking in a liquid to make them tender enough for civilized consumption.

Round steaks are very lean, but they're not as tender and juicy as other cuts. They're usually broiled, braised, or cooked in a liquid.

This roast is just a cut away from the sirloin, so it's tender enough to be oven roasted or cut up into kabobs. If the roast is trimmed of some fat and muscle, it's called a trimmed tip roast = ball tip roast.

This is a steak cut from an untrimmed round tip roast. If the steak is cut from a trimmed roast, it's called a trimmed tip steak = ball tip steak. If you first marinate them overnight, you can grill, broil, or pan-fry these steaks. If not, your best bet is to braise them or cut them into stew meat.

This is cut from the bottom round. A rump roast with the bone left in is called a standing rump roast. Some people roast these in the oven, but they're a bit tough and work better as pot roasts.

This isn't a tender cut, but it's rich in flavor and great for making soups.

The loin is divided into two main parts: the short loin, which includes the choice tenderloin and top loin, and the sirloin, which lies closer to the rump. Since the muscles in the short loin don't get much of a workout, the meat there is very tender.

These are rectangular sandwiches of fat, meat, and bone that are often cut into three-inch sections. They're very flavorful, but tough and fatty, so they're best if slowly braised. You can also grill them over low heat, but the dripping fat tends to cause flare-ups. To prevent this, either braise the ribs first or put a drip pan under them. Short ribs are sold either boneless or bone-in. If the cut is made across the ribs instead of between the ribs, the result is called flanken style ribs = kosher ribs = brust flanken = flanken short ribs. Chuck short ribs are tougher but less fatty than the short ribs taken from the underside of the carcass.

This boneless cut is located right behind the arm roast on the carcass. It's rather tough, so it's usually cooked in a liquid.

This makes for a fairly tough steak, but you can grill or broil it provided that you first marinate it overnight. It's even better braised.

The sirloin is near the rump, so the meat's a bit tougher than cuts from the loin or the rib. There are several different sirloin steak cuts, named for shape of the hip bone that's left in them. Going from fore to aft, there's the tender but bony pin bone sirloin, which is right next to the Porterhouse on the carcass, the flat bone sirloin, the round bone sirloin, and finally the wedge bone sirloin, which is closest to the rump and therefore least tender. A boneless sirloin steak is sometimes called a rump steak = butt steak. Sirloin steaks are usually grilled or broiled. Don't overcook them or they'll lose much of their flavor.

These look like thick-grained flank steaks, and they're the cut of choice for making fajitas. Since they're marbled with fat, they also make for very juicy steaks. It's best to pound them flat, marinate briefly, then cook them over high heat

Named for its distinguishing T-shaped bone, this choice cut is almost identical to a Porterhouse steak, only it doesn't have as much of the tenderloin muscle in it. It's usually grilled or broiled.

This is the most tender portion of the entire carcass, and you'll pay dearly for it. You can cut it into steaks, or make a heavenly roast beef out of it. Take care not to overcook it, because it dries out easily.

This is both literally and figuratively a cut above the tougher under blade pot roast. Meat from the top blade often is made into a pot roast, or cut up, marinated, and used for fajitas. A steak cut from the top blade pot roast is called a top blade steak.

Though a lowly chuck steak, this cut is tender enough to grill, broil, or pan-fry, as long as you marinate it first. If you don't mind cutting around some gristle, this is an economical and flavorful steak. It's also great for making fajitas.

These are usually cut into top loin steaks, but a whole or half top loin is also a good candidate for roast beef.

Think of these as Porterhouse or T-bone steaks that have been stripped of the choice tenderloin portion. They're flavorful and fairly expensive cuts. A boneless top loin steak is called a shell steak, and a very thick shell steak is sometimes called a shell roast.

This is a fairly tender piece of meat compared to other cuts from the round section. It's also one of the leanest. A thick steak cut from a top round roast is called a top round steak, while a thinner steak is simply called a round steak.

These are thick steaks cut from the top round. They're usually broiled, braised, or cooked in a liquid. A London broil is name of a finished dish, but this cut is sometimes given that name.

This is a good cut for making roast beef.

Some top sirloin steaks are wonderfully juicy and flavorful but others are mediocre, so this is a risky steak to buy. Don't confuse this with an ordinary sirloin steak, which includes a bone. American butchers call a thick top sirloin steak a chateaubriand, although the French reserve that term for a much better cut from the tenderloin