Information

BLADE CLOD

Also known as blade cod,it can be called marucha (Spanish), paleron (French) or Raquete (Portuguese).

More muscular than chuck, with long fibers and concentrated fat, is a very tasty cut. Top blade roast, when well cooked or ground, yields excellent sauces, roasts, grills, steaks or soups. It is also very good when cooked, steamed or prepared in steaks.

CHUCK TENDER

Also known as chingolo (Spanish), jumeau (French) or peixinho (Portuguese). It has short fibers, being harder than chuck. Well cooked or ground, chuck tender makes excellent sauces when cooked or stewed. It can also be roasted, used as stuffed beef or escalopes.

SHOULDER CLOD

Shoulder clod can still be called palette corazón (Spanish), macreuse boule (French) or miolo da paleta (Portuguese).

It has short and lean fibers. Well-cooked or ground, it produces excellent sauceswhen stewed.

NECK

Neck has a muscular formation similar to brisket. Also called cogote (Spanish), collier (French) or pescoço (Portuguese).

Due to its similarity to brisket, it can be used in the same types of dishes. It needs a long time cooking in moist heat. It can be used in soups, stews, soaked broths, tied with seasonings or roasted in the pot with sauce.

CHUCK

Also known as aguja (Spanish), bassets côtes (French) or acém (Portuguese). Chuck roll is the largest and most tender piece of the forequarter. It is a lean beef that should be cooked with moist heat. Chuck is great as ground meat, roasted, cooked, stewed, stuffed or prepared with a sauce.

SHORT RIBS

Short ribs are the upper part of the thoracic cavity of the bovine, having larger and wider bones. The meat is a little drier than the back ribs. It can be called asado or asado de tira (Spanish), plat-of-côtes (French) or costela (Portuguese).

The rib is the cut with the largest variety of tastes, textures and aromas. It demands longer cooking to tenderize its fibers. It is used mainly for barbecue or cooked with vegetables. Meat prepared with the bone always has a very special flavor.

BACK RIBS

Back ribs are the lower part of the thoracic cavity of the bovine, having thinner bones and plenty of cartilage intermingled with fat. Known as tapa de bife (Spanish), flanchet (French) or costela minga (Portuguese).

It is very tasty roasted, soaked or in soups and is a good choice for barbecue. It should be cooked for a long time, away from the coals in order to tenderize its fibers. It can be surrounded by “matambre”, which is easily recognizable by its pink color, and should be removed and prepared separately from the rib.

MATAMBRE

This name comes from the Spanish ‘mata hambre’ (it kills hunger), because when a bovine is slaughtered the first meat piece that is removed is this ‘cloak’ that envelopes the rib.
When buying ribs, the matambre is the ribbon meat of pink color that surrounds the ribthat should be prepared separately. It can be prepared on the grill or on skewers, cut in thin ribbons. It serves as an excellent appetizer during a barbecue. Another excellent recipe it is to tie it with string and stuff it with vegetables, sausage and eggs.

BRISKET

Also known as pecho (Spanish), poitrine (French) or peito (Portuguese), it is made of thick long muscle fibers from the forequarter]. It requires a long time cooking using moist heat. It can be used in broths, soups, stewed, or tied with seasonings and roasted in a pot with sauce. If grilled, it should be roasted with plenty of heat for several hours. At serving time, remove the fat, which is a yellowish color.

HUMP

Hump is the portion of muscular fibers located behind the neck of Zebu crossbred cattle. It has a characteristic and pleasant taste and should always be cooked slowly. Hump is very commonly barbecued or grilled; it can be roasted, surrounded by several layers of special cooking cellophane that distributes the heat evenly as it cooks the beef in its own juice. Another cooking method is to season the meat and then cook it in a pressure cooker, finishing the process later on by roasting it in the oven covered in cellophane paper.

RIB EYE

Can be called bife ancho (Spanish), entrecôte (French) or noix (Portuguese). When this cut is on the bone it is called beefsteak.

A very tasty, juicy and tender beef cut. It has shorter and harder fibers and it is used mainly for barbecuing or grilling. It can also be cooked with vegetables, either roasted or stewed.

STRIPLOIN

It is called bife angosto or bife de chorizo (Spanish), faux-filet (French) or contra-filé (Portuguese).

Striploin is a tender cut and has an accentuated taste because its side fat layer keeps the meat moist. Striploin is ideal for foil steaks, strogonoff, grill, roast beef and barbecue. It should be served rare or medium and roasted at high temperature so that it doesn’t become tough. When buying striploin, avoid the first 6 to 7 centimeters of the cut, close to the rump. In this piece there is a nerve that is found in the meat almost parallel to the fat and will only be visible when slicing the beef. Choose striploin pieces with uniform fat cover. If not already removed, the side nerve that runs longitudinally in the beef should be removed before preparation.

BLADE MEAT

The blade meat is located on the striploin or loin in the thorax portion. With unequal texture and a great amount of nerves, it is good when prepared with sauce. It needs a lot of cooking. time. It can also be soaked, stewed, roasted, used in barbecues, prepared on the grill,or as minced meat.

STRIPLOIN STEAK (Beefsteak)

This is a special cut of loin, made up of the transverse section of the muscle with the bone, not including the tenderloin. It is called côte or boeuf côte in French.
It is very tasty, tender and has good marbling. It is great for steaks and barbecues prepared on the grill. It can be roasted in the oven (roast beef) and only needs to be salted at the moment it is removed from the oven. Always look for beefsteak with high marbling, because it is much tastier.

PORTERHOUSE (T-Bone steak)

It is a special cut of the loin, made up of transverse sections of the muscle with the bone. T-bone steaks make up the final part of the strip loin on one side of the bone and the central part of the tenderloin on the other side.

It is a very tasty, tender meat with high marbling And makes for great steaks and for barbecues prepared on the grill.

TENDERLOIN

Also known as lomo (Spanish), filet (French) or file-mignon (Portuguese).
It is the most tender cut of beef. The whole cut weighs approximately 2 kg. It has a sweettaste, is juicy, and has little fat. It is ideal for steaks, escalope, strogonoff and also for roast beef, roasted, stewed and minced meat. For a barbecue, it can be used for mixedshishkebabs, prepared in thick steaks on the grill or entirely on the skewer.

TOP SIRLOIN

The complete sirloin contains top sirloin cap, bottom sirloin butt (Tri-tip) and top sirloin butt. In French it is called rumsteck and in Portuguese alcatra.

Top Sirloin is tender and it has little fat, making it ideal for roasting or for roasted steaks. It is excellent for barbecuing on the skewer or as thick steaks on the grill. Avoid lean cuts because the meat can dry up.

TOP SIRLOIN BUTT (Round-eye)

Also called cuadril corazón (Spanish) or miolo de alcatra (Portuguese). The baby beef comes from the eye of rump.

It has short fibers and it is more tender than the topside. Ideal for steaks, barbecuing, stewed, or as minced meat.

TOP SIRLOIN CAP

It can be called cuadril (Spanish) or picanha (Portuguese).

A tender cut with more marbling and a fat layer, it has an accentuated taste. It is easy to prepare and is very juicy. Ideal for barbecues, it can be roasted or prepared in cuts on skewers or on the grill. It is also good for roasting, steaks or pot meat. Top sirloin cap should be prepared with the fat layer so that the flavor and tenderness are accentuated. The fat should be removed before eating. If there is still a silvered membrane on the inferior part, remove it before preparing; this will avoid the meat ‘shrinking’ during the cooking process. Remember that the top sirloin cap should weigh between 1kg and 1.5kg. If you find larger pieces for sale, there is probably a piece of flat (outside round) that was not separated from the cut being sold along with it.

TRI-TIP

Also known as cuadril colita (Spanish), aiguillette baronne (French) or maminha (Portuguese).

This is the tenderest part of the sirloin. It is juicy and it has a soft taste. Tri-tip is good roasted, barbecued or on the grill, or as pot meats. Because it has a large fat contentthis piece can be cokked well-done. Tri-tip should be cut in the correct way, that is to say, against the grain. This will increase its tenderness and taste.

TOP SIDE (Inside round)

It can be called nalga de adentro(Spanish), tranche (French) or coxão mole (Portuguese).
With short, tender fibers, it is a soft cut that is good roasted, soaked, minced as escalope, thin steaks, or ground for stewing and sauces.

FLAT (Outside round)

It can be called cuadrada (Spanish), gîte the la noix (French) or coxão duro (Portuguese).
With longer tough fibers and fat concentrated on the outer part, it demands slow cooking; making it ideal for pot-roasted, roast beef, stuffed meat, or used ground and stewed in sauces.

EYE OF THE ROUND

It can be called peceto (Spanish), gîte rond (French) or lagarto (portuguese).
With a clearer color, long and thin fibers, it has a round, prolonged and very defined shape. The typical dish is pot meat and frayed meat (crazy meat). It could also be used for roast beef. It can be stuffed with sausage or vegetables and eggs and roasted in the oven. Raw and cut in very thin slices, it produces the famous carpaccio.

KNUCKLE

Also called lomo ball (Spanish), tranche rond (French) or patinho (Portuguese).
Less soft than rump, it is used for steaks and preparations of ground raw meat or ground and cooked in sauces. The inferior part of the knuckle is one of the best cuts for escalope. It is also ideal for minced meat used in boeuf bourguignon (from France), goulash (Hungarian origin) or spezzatino (Italian origin).

FLAP

In back ribs, the flap is the bottom part of the cut. Also known as vacio (Spanish), bavette d´aloyau (French) or fraldinha (Portuguese).

It is constituted of thicker, longer muscular bunches and is a very tasty cut that is good soaked, pricked, cooked, as ground meat, stuffed meat, frayed meat (crazy meat), broths and soup. It can be roasted on the barbecue or on the grill. It should be cut in thick strips.

FLANK STEAK

This is a cut of the flap. Also called vacio steak (Spanish), flanchet bavette (French) and pacú (Portuguese).

SHANK

Also called tortuguita (Spanish), mouvant (French) or músculo de primeira (Portugese).
Very tasty, it is indicated for sauces, soaked, pot meats and also soups.

FORESHANK

Can be called tortuga (Spanish), jarret or devant gîte (French) or músculo do dianteiro (Portuguese).

It should be cooked with moist heat and can be ground or cut in steaks or ribbons. Very tasty, it is indicated for sauces, soaked, stewed, roasted, pot meats and also soups.

HELL

When cut with the bone it is called ossobucco. It can be called osobuco (Spanish), gîte (French) or garrão - dianteiro (Portuguese).

The bone and accompanying marrow produce dishes that have very tasty sauceswhen subjected to slow cooking. Itcan also be used in soups, producing tasty broths.

SHIN

Known as brazuelo (Spanish), jumeau (French) or garrão - traseiro (Portuguese).
It is lined in the center with a bone with marrow that, if subjected to slow cooking, produces dishes that have very tasty sauces.

TAIL

Called tail (Spanish), queue (French) and rabo (Portuguese).
It is a very tasty boney cut, excellent for roasted ot stewed dishes of preparing beef.