A Beginner’s Guide To… Steak Cuts

I know it’s not for everyone but a good steak, when it’s cooked perfectly with just the right level of char forming a thick crust on the outside, can be one of the most simple and delicious things to eat on the planet. There’s got to be some neanderthal part of the human brain that lights up whenever you eat a bit of chargrilled animal and there’s none that lights up my prehistoric synapses quite like a nice hunk of cow. It's proper caveman tucker.

Cooking a steak well (and not well-done) is the key itomaking sure you’ve got the best possible eating experience on your hands but making sure you’ve got the best cut of steak for the job is just as important. This guide will hopefully help you avoid making a meat-based faux pas anytime soon and teach you about all the different cuts of steak there are. From the leanest cut of steak to the most expensive steak cut, these are all the different cuts of steak you should probably know about. Drop some of this knowledge the next time you go to your favourite steakhouse. They’ll be very impressed. Probably.

The filet might be the most expensive steak cut there is but, just like how all the cast of Made in Chelsea seem to be vacuous and wholly uninteresting people, it’s also one of the most boring. A cut of meat taken from the smaller end of the tenderloin, the filet is exceptionally tender – which is a plus. But what it has in texture, it lacks in flavour due to its lower fat content. Yep, this is the leanest cut of steak around. The filet is definitely the best cut of steak for gym bros or people who don’t want their beef to taste too beefy. I personally think it tastes best when paired with a sauce that gives it a little va-va-voom.

Also known as a butcher’s steak, the hanger steak is a cut for the real heads. In France, they call it “onglet” and that’s a name you might find scrawled on the menu at restaurants looking to try and class up this simple cut. It’s packed with flavour and is the cut of steak you’ll generally find used in steak tacos. It takes on marinades really well and the hanger steak has the enviable ability to keep its tenderness, even when it’s cooked to a medium rare. Definitely try it out if you haven’t.

The rib-eye is a boneless rib steak that comes from the (surprise, surprise) rib section of the cow. It’s widely considered to be one of the most flavourful cuts of steak and, as a result, is also one of the most popular. Cooking your rib-eye quickly in a searing hot pan is often the best method for achieving success as the natural marbling of the fat makes it extremely tender and tender. Just don’t forget to rest it afterwards.

A rump steak comes from the rear end of a cow. Also known as its rump. That's why it's called a rump steak. Simple. Different cuts of steak have distinctly different flavours and the rump is one that has a deep, beefy grunt to it. Rump does have a tendency to be a bit tough but if you treat it properly it will reward you handsomely in return.

Although it might sound like the name of a lusty knight from a Monty Python sketch, the sirloin is actually a piece of beef cut from the bottom and side parts of a cow's back. A well-aged sirloin is an excellent bit of kit to cook with. Equal parts juicy and tender, it’s probably the best steak cut of steak for a barbecue.

The T-bone is the steak that emoji on your iPhone is meant to represent. It gets its name from the T-shaped bone in it that separates two different types of steak. The longer side is called the strip while the shorter side is called the tenderloin. Although both the strip and the tenderloin are tasty cuts of steak in their own right, they’re at the height of their powers when they’re together in a T-bone. It’s super beefy and up there with being one of the most expensive cuts of steak owing to its size.

The cousin of the hanger steak, the skirt is a long, flat cut of steak which is prized for its flavour. A skirt steak is so thin that it cooks incredibly quickly and the danger with cooking it lies in making sure you don’t overcook it. This cut of steak is great for marinating as the natural beefiness of the meat still comes through, even if you get a little heavy-handed with the herbs and spices.

It’s baffling to think about how so many different types of steak cuts can taste so different even though they come from the same animal. Flank steak is a cut of beef steak that’s taken from the flank (duh) of a cow. The French call it a "bavette" and it’s readily found on bistro menus, alongside a pile of crunchy frites, all over the country. The leanness of the flank means it can be a little tough if not handled properly but the intense flavour it can offer more than makes up for that.