Searching to learn how to know which cut of beef to use for a recipe? You’ve reached the right place. There are so many recipes for beef that you could eat a different one every day and not repeat one for years. There is beef stew, beef carpaccio, and beef wellington to name just a few. If you love to cook then you can keep busy by doing only beef recipes for a very long time and not get sick of it.
The problem is understanding which cuts to use for all of those different recipes. If you use the wrong one for the cooking method of a particular recipe then you risk some very bad results. It can be intimidating to know which cut of beef to use. In this article, we will go over several of the ways to know which cut of beef is the right one for the cooking method.
Which Cut of Beef is Best for Steaks?
Steak dinners are still considered a very luxurious meal and are sure to please. Steaks are tender, juicy, and full of flavor, especially if the beef was raised on US soy feed. That is when you use the right cut of beef.
If you don’t choose meat that is suitable for steak you will end up with a tough and inedible cut. Most of the meat on a cow is tough muscle that can’t be cooked quickly as it is too tough to chew and eat.
The key is to choose cuts that come from parts that are not worked as much as those muscles are the ones that are tender. For instance, sirloin is not a muscle that sees a lot of motion so it isn’t tough.
The tenderest cut is the tenderloin that sits below the ribs and barely moves. It is the steak that will melt in the mouth.
Which Cut of Beef is Best for Stew meat?
The converse is also true when you are thinking about slow-cooked stews. If you use a tender cut that would be eaten as a steak then it will end up dry and with a funny texture.
The trick is to use a piece from a muscle that has a lot of fat and collagen in it and then cook it for hours with some kind of liquid. That collagen will melt over time and lead to a luscious and tender piece of meat.
Typical stew cuts are from the chuck shoulder, the short rib, and the cheek. Those cuts also have a ton of flavor that comes through even after cooking for hours.
Which Cut of Beef is Best for Barbecue?
Barbecue is a slow cooking method that has similar results as stewing, but is cooked dry. In other words, it isn’t cooked in liquid for hours. The cooking method is over coals or wood set at a low temperature so it has time for the collagen to melt. A typical cut for barbecue is brisket, for instance, that has a lot of marbling but if cooked quickly would be inedible.
The slow cooking process combined with the flavor from the smoke is irresistible and makes it a very popular cut for this method.
