Beef Cuts

Basics of Beef Cuts

A beef is comprised of eight (8) major sections or “primal cuts” as referred to by butchers. They are the chuck, ribs, loin (including short loin and sirloin), round, brisket, short plate and flank. Most sections have a specific set of bone-in or boneless cut options associated with them. Below are charts explaining each section, the individual cuts, as well as the different cooking methods.

As shown above, most sections of the beef have cut combinations of roasts, steaks, and ground beef/stew meat. This means every order will yield the proportionate volume of cut combinations as is appropriate for the size of the beef harvested. Most roasts can be cut into steaks and both roasts and steaks can be ground or cut into stew meat. All sections will contain “trimmings” that remain after individual cuts are processed so a percentage of ground beef/stew meat will come from every section naturally.