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Beef Cuts Identification
Introduction
Many customers have told us that they would like to know more about the various cuts of beef that are available on the market today. This section of our web site is intended to help visitors to Fairbury Steaks learn more about the beef they enjoy so much, and we've added material on cooking methods and included nutritional information for the informed consumer. We also offer information on the meat industry in general. Feel free to explore this section, and we would welcome your comments on our site any time!
Top Loin Steak
The Beef Loin Top Loin Steak is the first type of steak cut from the beef loin. It is cut from the end of the beef loin which contains the last or 13th rib. This steak is identified by the large eye muscle, the rib bone, and part of the backbone.
T-Bone Steak
This steak has the characteristic "T" shaped vertebrae and the large eye muscle. The smaller muscle located below the T-bone is the tenderloin.
 Boneless Top Loin
The boneless large eye muscle from the T-bone steak is called the Beef Loin Top Loin Steak, Boneless.
 Porterhouse
The Porterhouse Steak is similar to the beef loin T-bone steak. However the tenderloin muscle is much larger and an extra muscle is located in the center of the porterhouse steak on the upper side.
 Tenderloin
The most tender retail cut from the entire beef carcass is the Beef Loin Tenderloin Steak. This steak has a fine texture, is circular in shape and is usually about three inches in diameter.
 Sirloin, Pin Bone
The Beef Loin Sirloin Steak, Pin Bone is the first cut from the sirloin area of the beef loin. This steak looks much like the beef loin T-bone and porterhouse steaks in that it contains the T-bone, the large eye muscle, and the tenderloin muscle. However, it also contains an oval-shaped bone which you can see in the upper left corner of the steak. This bone is called the pin bone and is the tip portion of the hip bone.
 Sirloin, Flat Bone
The Beef Loin Sirloin Steak, Flat Bone is the least valuable type of sirloin steak if both the flat hip and backbones are left in the steak.
 Sirloin, Round Bone
The Sirloin Steak, Round Bone is located further back on the sirloin area of the beef loin. This particular sirloin steak has the greatest amount of lean and the least amount of bone.
 Sirloin, Wedge Bone
The sirloin steak nearest the wholesale beef round is called the Beef Loin Sirloin Steak, Wedge Bone. Only one bone is usually seen, a wedge-shaped bone at the bottom of the cut near the center.
 Sirloin, Boneless
The Beef Loin Sirloin Steak, Boneless is an excellent steak for broiling and is made by removing all of the bones from any of the other types of sirloin steaks.
A History of Meat
Meat has been used by man for food since the beginning of recorded time. The Bible talks about the fatted calf. Old rabbinical laws dictate which meats are considered sanitary. Pork is recorded as a food as early as 3400 B.C. in Egypt and 2900 B.C. in China.
The first livestock may have been brought to America by the Norsemen. It is possible that about the year 1000 they brought swine and European cattle. Both the colony and the livestock disappeared. On his second voyage in 1493, Columbus carried eight pigs, some cattle, sheep, and goats to Haiti.
In the sixteenth century, Hernando Cortez landed at Vera Cruz and his military retinue included a few Andalusian cattle with very long horns, and some sheep. Subsequently, the Conquistador became a settler and turned to the business of raising livestock. This was the beginning of the picturesque "Texas Longhorns," the parent stock of later better bred beef cattle, the great "Mexican Herd."
The history of a second herd, the "Atlantic" beef, is controversial. One record reveals that a considerable shipment of beef was received in Jamestown, Virginia about 1610. Other records indicate that three heifers and one bull were shipped from England for breeding purposes and arrived in March, 1624. Whichever may have been the case, the intent was to breed and produce dairy products and meat animals.
Ferdinand De Soto is credited with the first hogs delivered to Florida in 1553. Not too much later, hogs roamed wild in the colonies, were hunted in the fall, and salted for winter consumption and export. The London Company brought the first sheep to Jamestown, Virginia, in 1609.
The Cattle Industry
The livestock industry, almost completely revolutionized in the past three centuries, is highly specialized and very scientific. A single firm may be involved not only in livestock, but in slaughter, and distribution as well. On the other hand, there are operations so highly specialized that the total sales projection is but a single product in a single phase of the total industry.
The cattle industry is sharply divided into meat animals and dairy animals. Fairbury Steaks selects their cuts only from those cattle specially bred for dinner table consumption. Older dairy cows and breeding bulls which are slaughtered at the end of their productive lives, and which provide meat mostly of the lower grades are never considered. We do not process these meats, as we specialize only in premium cuts for our customers' satisfaction.
Beef Raising
There are three distinct stages in the growing of beef. These frequently occur under different ownerships or at least different phases of management. These are commonly referred to as: (1) cow and calf operations, (2) weaner calves and yearlings, and (3) dry lot feeding. The division is arbitrary and all three phases can occur on a single farm.
Cow and Calf
This is a specialized operation which occurs mostly in the vast plain areas where the breeding cows and their calves require no more than vast ranges, now fenced, a handful of cowboys to look after all of their needs, a branding iron, plenty of know-how and hard work, and plenty of capital or good banking connections.
Weaner Calves
Calves are cut out or "weaned" from the cows in late summer or fall at about 6 to 8 months of age. They are sold or moved to more vigorous pastures. Sometimes they are moved hundreds of miles to the natural meadows, sometimes they are put on "permanent pasture"or "rotation pastures" which are fenced, irrigated pastures divided into several separate areas. The cattle are fed in one pasture while the other pastures are irrigated and permitted to gorw. The cattle are moved periodically. At about one to one and one-half years of age, they are generally ready for dry lot feeding.
Dry Lot Feeding
Fattening in a dry lot is done with the intention of producing USDA Choice carcasses. The feed lots are confining to restrict physical activity of the animals. The feed is calculated to produce the maximum weight gain per dollar of feed used. Various concentrates are used in the formula, many times hard grain. At the conclusion of the dry feeding period, the beef cattle are shipped to one of the many livestock centers, or sold in the "country" to buyers representing the packers.
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