What Are the Major Wholesale Cuts of Beef?

Cutting and Processing Meats

Primal, Sub-primal, and Secondary Cuts

Beef

The beef animal is broken down into sides. A side is one-half of a that has been split lengthwise from the neck to the tail. The side can then be split into the front quarter and hind quarter. This cut is made between the 12th and 13th ribs counting from the front of the animal. The beef front quarter is heavily exercised, resulting in an abundance of connective tissue. Moist heat cooking is required on the majority of the sub-primals from the front quarter, with the major exception being the 7-bone rib (prime rib). The hind quarter of beef contains mostly sub-primals that can be prepared using dry heat.

Figure 17 illustrates the primal, sub-primal, and retail cuts of beef.

Figure 17. Beef carcass showing primal, sub-primal, and retail cuts.

Beef Front Quarter: The beef front quarter contains four primal cuts, the brisket, foreshank, rib, and chuck (square chuck). The chuck is separated by first cutting across the carcass between the 5th and 6th ribs, which separates the chuck, brisket, and shank from the rib and plate. The second cut passes at a point slightly above the elbow joint and through the cartilage below the first (1st) rib and sternum, and separates the chuck from the brisket and shank. The brisket is further separated from the shank by following the natural contour of the elbow bone. The rib is separated from the plate by a straight cut passing across the ribs at right angles to the first cut at a point slightly below the centre of the rib cage.

The primals are then processed into sub-primals by following the cutting lines as shown in Figure 18 and Table 24.

Figure 18. Beef primals and sub-primals.

Table 24- Beef primals and sub-primals from the front quarter

Primal	Sub-Primal
Rib	Short rib (H) 7-bone rib (G)
Square chuck	Neck (M) Blade (L) Shoulder (N) Cross rib (K)
Brisket	Brisket point (J) Brisket plate (I)
Fore shank	No further break down required (O)

From these sub-primals, further usable portions are processed and retail cuts prepared for the consumer.

Beef Hind Quarter: The beef hind quarter is broken down into four primal cuts, the flank, the long loin, the hip, and the sirloin tip. The flank is separated by a straight cut passing approximately parallel to the lumbar backbone (lumbar vertebrae), beginning in close proximity to or through the flank lymph node (prefemoral), and from the plate by a cut passing between the 12th and 13th ribs and cartilage. The hip is separated from the long loin by a straight cut that passes in front of the rump knuckle bone, thereby cutting the pelvic bone into approximately two equal parts. The sirloin tip is then separated from the hip by a "V-shaped" cut beginning approximately at the knee cap, following the full length of the leg bone up to the rump knuckle bone, then towards the flank lymph node.

The primals are then processed into sub-primals as shown in Figure 18 and Table 25.

Table 25- Beef primals and sub-primals from the hind quarter

Primal	Sub-Primal
Flank	No further break down required (F)
Long loin	Short loin (E) Sirloin butt (D)
Hip	Inside round (B) Outside round (B-opposite side of bone) Hind shank (A)
Sirloin tip	No further break down (C)

Breakdown of sub-primals into retail and wholesale cuts

From the sub-primals, secondary or portion cuts are obtained. In most cases, there are a number of different secondary cuts that can be obtained from each sub-primal. In addition, there are often different names for the same cut used in the retail, wholesale, or restaurant industry. Table 26 shows the retail and restaurant cuts that come from each of the beef sub-primals.

Table 26- Retail and restaurant cuts of beef (Front Quarter)

Sub-Primal	Retail Meat Sales Cuts	Restaurant Cuts	Alternate Names
Short rb	Short ribs simmering (bone in or boneless)	Short ribs
7-bone rib	Prime rib over roast Standing rib oven roast	Prime rib
	Prime rib grillings steak	Rib steak	Côte de boeuf
	Ribeye grilling steak	Ribeye	Delmonico
	Beef ribs(cut from prime rib)	Finger bones	Beef back ribs
Blade	Bottom blade		Chuckeye roll
	Top blade	Flat iron	Mock tender
Cross rib	Cross rib (pot roast or marinating steak)	Short ribs, boneless short ribs	Chuck short rib
	Beef ribs(cut from the cross rib)		Shoulder clod
			Bolo
			Deluxe 4-bone rib
			Flat rib
Brisket point	Brisket pot roast	Corned beef
	Stew beef
	Medium ground beef
Neck	Lean ground beef
Fore shank	Stew beef	Shin meat for consommé

Table 26- Retail and restaurant cuts of beef (Hind Quarter)

Sub-Primal	Retail Meat Sales Cuts	Restaurant Cuts	Alternate Names
Flank	Flank marinating steak	Flank steak
	Flank steak London broil
	Lean ground beef
Short loin	Porterhouse grilling steak	Porterhouse
	T-bone grilling steak	T-bone
	Wing grilling steak	Club steak
	Tenderloin grilling steak	Filet, Fillet mignon, medallion	Tournedo, Chateaubriand, Mignonette
	Striploin grilling steak	New York	Top loin
Sirloin butt	Top sirloin (grilling steak and oven roast)	Sirloin steak
	Sirloin cap grilling steak
	Bottom sirloin grilling steak	Tri tip
	Tenderloin butt grilling steak	Chateaubriand, fillet mignon
Inside round	Inside round over roast Inside round marinating steak	Top round	Baron, top side
Outside round	Outside round over roast	Bottom round	Gooseneck, silverside, outside flat
	Outside round marinating steak		Rouladen
	Eye of round oven roast
	Eye of round marinating steak		Swiss steak
	Heel of round (stew or ground)
Sirloin tip	Sirloin tip over roast		Peeled knuckle
	Sirloin tip marinating steak		Ball tip
			Round tip
			Thick flank
Hind shank	Beef shank (crosscut)	Osso-bucco
	Stew beef	Shin meat for consommé
	Lean ground beef

The Beef Information Centre provides a poster (Figure 19) that outlines the cuts of beef. It can be downloaded from their resource page.

Figure 19. Beef merchandising guide.

The CFIA meat cuts manual is an additional resource that shows each beef cut and location in great detail. It can be accessed on the CFIA website.Table 26 shows the cooking potential for cuts from the different beef primals. Generally, the cuts from the same primal are suited for similar cooking methods. Exceptions have been noted.

Table 27 -Suitable cooking methods for cuts of beef from different primals

Hind Quarter Primal	Cooking Potential	Notes (Exceptions)
Flank	Moist heat	The flank steak, which can be and cooked using dry heat
Long loin	Dry heat
Hip	Dry heat	The hind shank and heel of round, which have an abundance of collagen, making them ideal for stewing meat
Sirloin tip	Dry heat
Front Quarter Primal
Rib	Dry heat
Square chuck	Moist heat	Aside from one of the top blade muscles, which can have the heavy collagen removed and be portioned into flat iron steaks, which can be prepared using dry heat
Brisket	Moist heat
Fore shank	Moist heat

Veal

Muscle or flesh of a veal carcass ranges in colour from pink (or lighter) to red. To be classified as veal by CFIA standards, the dressed carcass must weigh less than 180 kg (396 lb). Veal is most commonly sold in vacuum-packed sub-primals. It is seldom dry aged due to the lack of fat cover on the animal. Figure 20 shows the CFIA veal cuts.

Figure 20. Veal carcass showing primal, sub-primal, and retail cuts.

There are six primal cuts from a side of veal, the leg, flank, loin, breast, shoulder, and front shank. The front, containing the shoulder, breast, and front shank, is separated from the whole loin and flank by cutting between the 6th and 7th ribs. The breast and shank are further separated by a cut that goes from just above the joint of the arm bone perpendicular to the ribs. The shank is then separated by following the natural separation of the arm bone. The leg is separated from the whole loin and flank by a straight cut that passes in front of the pin bone. The flank is then separated from the whole loin by a straight cut approximately parallel to the backbone, passing at a point slightly above the cartilage of the 12th rib.

The primals are further broken down into sub-primals as shown in Figure 21 and Table 28. Note that there are two ways of cutting the leg into sub-primals accepted by CFIA.

Figure 21. Veal primal and sub-primal cuts.

Table 28- Primal and sub-primal cuts of veal

Primal	Sub-primal
Veal leg	Leg cuts (sub-primal) and Alternative leg cuts (sub-primals)
	Shank (A) and Shank (A)
	Leg, shank portion (B, portion of C) and Heel of round (bottom portion of B), Round (B)
	Leg, butt portion (D, portion of C) and Sirloin Tip (C), Rump (top portion of B), Sirloin (D)
Veal flank	No further breakdown (G)
Veal loin	Loin (E)
	Rib (or rack) (F)
Veal shoulder	Shoulder arm (J)
	Shoulder blade (H)
	Neck (I)
Veal breast	No further breakdown (K)
Veal front shank	No further breakdown (L)

The sub-primals are cut further into retail or restaurant cuts as shown in Table 29.

Table 29- Veal retail and restaurant cuts

Primal	Sub-Primal	Retail Meat Sales Cuts	Restaurant Cuts	Alternate Names
Veal leg	Shank	Veal shank crosscut	Osso-bucco
	Leg, butt portion	Veal inside round	Cutlets,	Veal top round
		Veal outside round		Veal bottom round
		Veal leg cutlets (breaded)	Schnitzel
	Sirloin tip	Veal sirloin tip		Veal knuckle
	Sirloin	Veal top sirloin		Veal hip
Veal flank		Ground, sausage	Ground veal
Veal loin	Loin	Veal loin roast	Veal strip loin	Saddle
		Veal loin chops	Veal T-bone
		Veal tenderloin	Veal tenderloin, medallions
	Rib	Veal rib chops	Veal chop
		Veal rib roast	Veal rack	Hotel rack
Veal shoulder		Veal shoulder arm	Shoulder roast, chops	Square chuck
		Veal shoulder blade	Cubed veal, ground veal
Veal breast		Veal breast, rolled, stuffed	Breast of veal, cubed veal, ground veal	Brisket
Veal front shank		Veal shank crosscut	Osso-bucco

The Veal Farmers of Ontario provide a comprehensive veal cut chart (Figure 22) for download.

Figure 22. Veal merchandising chart. Courtesy Veal Farmers of Ontario

The CFIA meat cuts manual is an additional resource that shows each veal cut and location in great detail. It can be accessed on the CFIA website.

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Source: https://opentextbc.ca/meatcutting/chapter/primal-sub-primal-and-secondary-cuts/

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