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Learn about the major environmental problems facing our planet and what can be done about them! While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. The best beef is obtained from early maturing, special beef breeds.

High-quality beef has firm, velvety, fine-grained lean, bright red in colour and well-marbled. In the United States, grades in order of quality are prime, choice, good, commercial, utility, cutter, and canner. Commercial grades are mainly from mature cattle, especially cows. Utility, cutter, and canner grades are used in processed meat products. Butchering practices differ among countries, resulting in a variety of names for the different cuts. In the United States, where beef is the most popular meat, steaks—cross-sections from the fleshier parts of the carcass—are among the most desirable cuts.

The standing rib roast, called in Britain the best rib, is also a valued cut. This article was most recently revised and updated by Adam Augustyn. Here are nine ways to cook beef. Danilo Alfaro has published more than 800 recipes and tutorials focused on making complicated culinary techniques approachable to home cooks. Grilling is a cooking technique that can use high, medium, or even low heat, which means anything from steaks to burgers to even a whole roast can go on the grill. Cooking a roast on the grill takes longer, and since maintaining a charcoal flame for a period of time requires adding coals periodically and adjusting the vents to keep the temperature where you want it, gas grills make grilling roasts quite a bit easier. The best steaks for grilling are ribeyes, strip steaks, T-bones, and porterhouse.

Braising usually starts by seasoning the beef, then browning it in a hot skillet before transferring it to a covered pot with a small amount of liquid, like stock or broth, plus aromatic ingredients like onions and carrots. An acidic ingredient like tomatoes or wine is usually included as well. A slow-cooker is an electric appliance that is basically a countertop braising machine. Like braising, stewing uses slow, moist heat. When you get stew beef at the supermarket, it’s often made up of trimmings as well as other odds and ends, but it’s usually made up of chuck and round, which are two of the biggest beef primal cuts and also among the toughest. You’re not limited to store-cut stew meat, though. You can purchase your own beef chuck or round and dice it up yourself.

Just keep in mind that stewing involves more liquid than braising. You could make beef noodle soup by stewing the meat and other aromatics and herbs, then add the noodles at the last minute. Roasting is a dry-heat cooking technique that uses either high temperature or a combination of high and low. For smaller roasts, you might only need a short burst of high heat to reach perfect medium-rare. For a larger roast, you would do most of the cooking at a low temperature and then sear it in a very hot oven, either at the beginning or very end of cooking. Because beef cooks quickly at a high temperature, there’s little opportunity to break down connective tissues. Therefore, the best cuts of beef for roasting are the tender ones.