Steak

[Metis]

porterhouse over a flaming wood grill. pink, not bloody, and a baked sweet potato. my favorite post-workout meal.

 

[Andrew Taylor]

Not a butcher, but I was a chef for many years. I've broken down a few sides of beef in my time though and cut my share of steaks. I had to become familiar with a few of the 200 or so NAMP standard designations for commercial cuts of beef for ordering and selection purposes.

Thanks. I am trying to find out what the British designation of ' beef skirt' is in American or Canadian. My British catering butcher just told me this after I told him I had purchased some Canadian beef that looked like skirt. I really want to make some Cornish Pasties. I bought 'inside round'. which was a dark marbled flecked meat sold for stir fry.
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Hi Andrew,

I think the cut INSIDE ROUND is probably the inner muscle
of the SILVERSIDE and the OUTSIDE ROUND is the outer
muscle of the SILVERSIDE both ideal for stir frys or pasties.

The SKIRT is located on the inside flap of the rump
and the sirloin. There is another type called goose skirt
which is located on the inside of the cod fat {UDDER }.
I hope you will find this helpful.
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I did a quick Internet search and the designation of skirt seems to be a little rearward of brisket near the breast flap cut, whereas I seem to feel it is more rearward and higher up?

 

[panella]

Andrew -

Your internet search was correct for American designation of skirt steak. The skirt is really the diaphragm muscle that is located just rearward of the forequarters (brisket) on the underside of the steer. The section from which it is removed is known as the beef plate. The skirt, when trimmed, is usually about 20 inches long and about 3 in. wide. Does that match the cut of beef to which you refer?

"Rearward and higher up" will put you first in the beef loin just forward of the hindquarters. That'll give you top sirloin and bottom sirloin, ball tips, tri-tips and flap meat - another flat muscle from the bottom sirloin.. Move a bit forward and you get your strips and tenderloins. Moving farther back to the hindquarters will give you your inside (top) round. There's also a cut called the "cap" which looks a bit like a skirt steak which is from the round. The "goose skirt" that your butcher referred to is, if I read him correctly, what we call "flank steak".

Hope this helps.

BTW, inside round should do well. Ball tips (bottom sirloin )or top sirloin (a bit pricey) will be more flavorful.

panella

 

[Andrew Taylor]

Thanks, it does help. The reason I thought from my butcher it was rearward, is because what he refers to as sirloin is New York Striploin in Canada, and what he refers to as rump is sirloin here.

To translate his passage it would be

The SKIRT is located on the inside flap of the sirloin
and the striploin.

I used to teach my chefs that a good sirloin steak should look like a piece of back bacon and a rump steak should be square to triangular with three sides meat and one side fat.