Cut of beef

Sections of cattle

During butchering, beef is first divided into primal cuts, pieces of meat initially separated from the carcass. These are basic sections from which steaks and other subdivisions are cut. Since the animal's legs and neck muscles do the most work, they are the toughest; the meat becomes more tender as distance from hoof and horn increases. Different countries and cuisines have different cuts and names, and sometimes use the same name for a different cut; e. g., the cut described as brisket in the US is from a significantly different part of the carcass than British brisket. Cut often refers narrowly to skeletal muscle (sometimes attached to bones), but can also include other edible flesh, such as offal (organ meat) or bones without significant muscles attached.

The following is a list of the American primal cuts, and cuts derived from them. Beef carcasses are split along the axis of symmetry into "halves", then across into front and back "quarters" (forequarters and hindquarters). Canada uses identical cut names (and numbering) as the US, with the exception of the "round" which is called the "hip". The British designation 'rump' is also common in Canada.

The chuck is the source of bone in chuck steaks and roasts (arm or blade), and boneless clod steaks and roasts, most commonly. The trimmings and some whole boneless chucks are ground for ground beef. The rib contains part of the short ribs, the prime rib and rib eye steaks. Brisket, primarily used for barbecue, corned beef or pastrami. The foreshank or shank is used primarily for stews and soups; it is not usually served any other way because it is the toughest of the cuts. The plate is the other source of short ribs, used for pot roasting, and the outside skirt steak, which is used for fajitas. The navel is the ventral part of the plate and is commonly used to make pastrami. The remainder is usually ground, as it is typically a tough and fatty meat.

Beef is classified according to different parts of the cow, specifically "chest lao" (the fat on the front of the cow's chest), "fat callus" (a piece of meat on the belly of the cow), and diaolong (a long piece of meat on the back of the beef back), "neck ren" (a small piece of meat protruding from the shoulder blade of a beef) and so on.