Off the top of your head, what are the top 4 choicest cuts of steak?

We love chuck eye steak and buy nothing else. He lights the grill and I do the rest. The grill is on the enclosed back porch to be used all year around.

I had to google that. Yeah, that’s my idea of a steak!

Filet mignon [1] and New York (or entrecote) [2] hands down, for me. That’s why I always order a Porterhouse – you get both cuts on the T-bone that way. Just make sure it includes the Filet mignon side. I had one steakhouse try to slip one past me once, just a regular T-bone without the mignon. “What the fuck, pal? What kind of schmuck you think you’re dealing with?—That’s what I told the waiter to tell the fucking cook. I got my Porterhouse stat and I was real nice to the waiter after that. He corrected the situation in record time and I tipped him well.

You can make anything from Top Round [3] or Flank cuts [4]. A big, top round steak can be tough, but it serves me well as a cheaper version of a big New York. You can make stews, hamburger, or whatever from it. The Flank is excelent for things like London Broil, or Flank with shallots and mushrooms, you can make Giros, use it in tacos, steak sandwiches, salads, you name it. It is a real tasty cut, and cooked and sliced properly, it can be served as a fine breakfast steak, or grilled when it’s party time.

I love to make steak sandwiches from rib eye [5 – bonus]. You slice it paper thin on a slicer whille it’s still frozen. That’s the only way to get it right. Then you layer the cooked slices onto the sandwich.

That’s exactly why I always order a Tbone too. I knew one was a Kansas City strip, and I thought the other had a more common and appetizing name than “tenderloin”. So how do you know you’ve gotten the Mignon with it @Espiritus_Corvus?

My father spoiled us so rotten. Every so often we’d have “juicy steak” for dinner. It was Tbone that he grilled to medium rare perfection. That was the only steak I knew for many years. Then I was introduced to things like Flat Iron steaks. Major let down.
And it drives me crazy when fast food taco joints advertise “steak” in their meals. They aren’t talking about what I call steak.

Hamburger, leaner hamburger, even leaner hamburger, leanest hamburger.
My grandfather once told me that I had no idea how good beef can taste because all I had ever had was that forced fed stuff they sell in the store.
There were those back in the old days who took only a gun and a sack of salt into the wilderness, and they ate like royalty.
Some old story says that some person had exclaimed that all that was required for an excellent meal was wine and flesh. Or something like that.
I hear a porterhouse steak is good, as might be a T-bone.
In Texas, I hear tell, if a cut of meat is charred black on the outside, it’s almost done.
Six of one, a half dozen of the other, so take your pick.

A porter house is a Tbone, only much thicker. But it’s the same cut.

@Dutchess_III IT IS NOT THE SAME. The difference is pretty obvious. The filet is on the opposite side of the bone from the NY cut. The Porterhouse includes both the filet mignon AND the NY cut. The filet is either there, or not. That’s why if you want both cuts, you never order a T-bone in a restaurant or at the butcher’s nowadays. You order a Porterhouse. A T-bone only includes the NY cut.

Sometimes the filet is too small, smaller than what they would serve to someone who orders a filet as an entre. Send it back and tell them you didn’t order a steak and an appetizer. You ordered two steaks in one—a goddamned Porterhouse.

And then you find yourself a decent steakhouse that knows the difference.

That’s what confuses me. When I think of a filet I think of a small, round, thick piece of very expensive steak. The meat on the other side of the KC strip is much bigger than that.
Wait. Here is a Tbone. Which piece is which? Use “left” and “right” as you’re looking at it please.

My understanding of a Porterhouse is that it is the same cut as a Tbone, only thicker.

@Espiritus_Corvus Maybe you should change your name here to “askmeaboutsteak.”

The larger piece of meat is the NY cut. The smaller is the filet. In French, mignon means something that is small and delicate.

Yes, I love beef. I rarely get to eat it anymore. A decent NY strip will cost you over a hundred dollars in a hotel here. They aren’t found in the butchers. These islands have no land to waste breeding cattle. We have goat and chicken, and that’s about it and they have a million ways of preparing them and it is really good.

The best go-around is to have a case of Nebraska grain fed Porterhouses flown in on dry ice. That’s a lot cheaper, per steak, than ordering one in a hotel. And it is a better guarrantee that you’ll be getting a great steak for your money.

That’s what I thought, but the size is what throws me. When I see a KC strip on display at our meat market, they are no where near the size you see on a Tbone. And the filets are small round cuts, not cuts that look like a small version of a KC strip. .
I need some educatin’.

And what is the difference between a filet and a filet Mignon?

prime rib
filet
tenderloin
NY Strip

I described the French definition of mignon above. The filet mignon is a slice, or section, of the tenderloin, or Chateaubriand, a long piece of choice meat that rides along the protected inside waist of a cow. It is the tenderest of all cuts. If you like filet mignon, and if you want a lot of it, you order the Chateaubriand for two. That way they bring you the whole tenderloin on a big platter, surounded by various veggies and whatnot. You can slice it as thin or thck as you want. Then you and your best pard or SO dig in. Or, if you are like me after a few weeks at sea, you freak the wait staff out by eating the whole platter yourself with a bottle of heavy, full bodied red, like a Sangiovese, or a run of the mill Chateauneuf du Pape. LOL. No dessert cart, please.

I’m not sure what a KC cut is. I spent very little time in the Midwest. But, from what you describe, it sounds like what we on the east coast call a NY cut. A NY cut is the beef found on the opposite side of the bone from the tenderloin. It has more texture and taste than the filet. The Porterhouse, which includes both cuts, is taken from the top of the shortloin of the cow. There isn’t much top shortloin to each cow, so it is an expensive cut. The NY strip is simply a T-bone without the bone.

There is also a benefit to cooking the meat on the bone that many people aren’t aware of: I tastes a lot better. It has a fuller beefy taste. Also, because the bone holds heat like a rock, your steak will stay warm longer.

If you’re not a big eater, order the Porterhouse anyway. That filet will taste great at breakfast the following day with eggs and lyonnaise potatoes. For the price you pay for the fine cuts of steak, in a restaurant or at the butcher’s, the Porterhouse is the best buy.

KC strip is the same as a NY cut.

I did understand what you said about the filet Mignon, but I’m trying to see it all in relation to the Tbone or Porterhouse. If you look at the piece of tenderloin on a T bone, where in that piece of meat is the filet Mignon located? Where do they cut it from? Do they just take a biscuit cutter, chop a circle in it somewhere, throw an extra $20 on the cut and call it good?

Let me tie this in with a story. Fantastic steak house in Ponca City, Oklahoma called the Rusty Barrel. Rick had a boss who we took to eat there. He proclaimed himself a connoisseur of beef and he very fastidiously ordered a filet Mignon. He kind of chuckled when I ordered a Tbone. But now I’m thinking I got exactly what he got only more.

^^As to your first paragraph above, open the links I provided in my last post.

As to your experience with Rick’s boss:
If it was a decent steakhouse, you did get more than Rick’s boss. And you pay for it. Proper Porterhouses don’t come cheap. But they are still a much better value than if you ordered a NY cut and a filet mignon separately off the menu. And they taste sightly better, beefier, because they are broiled or grilled on the bone.

If you want to be sure to get both cuts, you order the Porterhouse, not the T-bone. The T-bone is taken from a part of the cow at the end of the filet, and the filet can be miniscule at that point. Those are what Perkins and Waffle Houses, etc., use as breakfast steaks, The Porterhouse is taken from where the fat end of the tenderloin is. You get significantly more filet from that end.

Rib eye, blade, t-bone, rib gilling steak.

I know I got more than his boss. I just wondered if I got exactly what he got but more. But if I didn’t order a porterhouse I guess I did not.

So one side of the Tbone is a KC (NY) strip and a filet, but not a filet Mignon, unless it’s a porterhouse.

Now I’m getting hungry. Time for a bowl of Honey nut Cheerios. Me thinks that might not cut it, but that’s all I have!

Forget the T-bone if you want both. The T-bone is cheaper because it will have the NY/KC cut, but the mignon will either not be there, or it will be so miniscule that a dog would ignore it. If you want both of any significant size, you order the Porterhouse. That is why a Porterhouse is more expensive than a T-bone. That’s why they use different terms to describe them.

And, evidently, from my one experience, the cook or owner will sometimes try to slip you a T-bone instead of a Porterhouse —because there are a shitload of young, smug, self-proclaimed “connoisseurs” out there, like Rick’s boss, who don’t know the difference and they are a joy to screw.

That’s when you raise a little hell and get what you paid for.

The filet side of this Tbone doesn’t look particularly minuscule to me. But that is just a filet, right? For the third cut, the Mignon, you have to order the porter house.

I’ve never gotten a Tbone that didn’t have a good portion of both cuts.

Sorry if I’m being repetitive. I’m just trying to fully understand in the context of a Tbone steak.

I like rib eye.

Omigod, it’s like watching Alice flirt with Sam the butcher on The Brady Bunch.

Medium rare on a copper ceramic frying pan with no butter and lots of salt and pepper.

1) Cap of Ribeye is also known as the deckle steak
2) Prime rib (choice or prime grade)
3) Ribeye
4) Porterhouse

T-Bone Versus Porterhouse Steaks Size does matter

I never heard of “Cap of Ribeye” but I just googled it. This is what I got from one beef supplier’s site:

The Cap of Ribeye is the most prized Snake River Farms American Wagyu beef cut. This is the same rare and delectable steak served by prestigious Michelin-starred restaurants in the U.S. The Cap of Ribeye is also known as the deckle steak, dorsi cap, spinalis ribeye or the ribeye cap among true beef aficionados. In France it goes by the name of calotte steak and in more scientific circles it is known as the spinalis dorsi. Regardless of its name, the Cap of Ribeye is a delicacy that really has to be tasted to be believed. The flavor is at once familiar, unique and like nothing you’ve ever eaten before.

We’re proud to offer this uncommon product, but please note it is only available in limited quantities. This is a natural product and the size will vary from cut to cut. We sort the Cap of Ribeyes into two sizes – small and large. This is the large Cap of Ribeye with an approximate weight of 20 ounces. We make every effort to ensure this is a minimum weight, but occasionally there may be a Cap that is slightly smaller. In many cases, the unit size will far exceed 20 ounces.

$149 bucks for the above.

I have answered this before but late to the party here. Porterhouse T-bone.

@jca Yes it can be that high 3.5 pounds for $62 lat time I bought it !

Great on the grill 1.5 minutes a side times TWO to get grill marks.

I like tenderloin and sirloin. Sirloin isn’t really considered a great cut, but I like it.

My husband likes NY strip the best.

Once in a great while I order rib eye.

I just realized I read the Q wrong. I thought it asked what are your top choices, not what are the top choicest.

I’m going with: tenderloin, NY Strip, Porterhouse, ribeye.

@Tropical_Willie Thank you! That’s what I thought I had read. A Porterhouse and a Tbone are the same cut. A Porterhouse is just larger, because they simply cut it from further back on the cow and it’s thicker because the butcher slices it thicker. I keep getting thrown by @Espiritus_Corvus‘s claim that the filet Mignon side can be so small as to be almost non-existent in a Tbone, and that hasn’t been my experience. That side has always had more than enough steak for me. I could not figure out what he was talking about.
Now that I’m sure that the filet side is what the other half is called, AKA, a filet Mignon, then it’s larger than what you’d get if you just ordered a filet Mignon by itself.
So my husband’s snotty, wannabe-aristocrat boss got the same cut of meat as I did when I ordered my Tbone, only he paid a lot more per pound for it.

It’s OK @JLeslie. I just wanted to open a discussion on steak, and that’s exactly what I got.

Jesus Christ. One more time.

They are not the same. What is called a T-Bone in the restaurant busines, or by a butcher,is not the same as a Porterhouse. There is a huge difference in quality and cost.

Porterhouse vs. T-bone

The three steaks often eroniously called a T-bone

Every cut from a cow with a vertebra is not called a T-bone for a very good reason.

This is where these cuts come from

This is how it is done

If you want to go through life eating breakfast steaks and T-bones while paying for Porterhouses, fine. Have it your way. Then they are all T-bones.

Your links are saying exactly what I was saying so I don’t know what there is to cuss about. The last one, for example, says, “This steak has a full size Mignon therefore it was cut further to the rear of the cow.” And that’s exactly what I said.

It picks up more of the tenderloin than a Tbone because of the section it’s cut from. A Tbone and a Porterhouse have more in common than a Porterhouse and a rib.

I can’t believe you are from some of the best beef country in the world and don’t know the difference between a Porterhouse and a T-bone.

Well, I sure as hell know now, @Espiritus_Corvus, and that’s why I asked the question. Just when I think I get it you jump in and tell me I’m wrong again. Would you care to explain where my logic is flawed?
Are a Tbone and a Porterhouse cut from almost the same section of the cow, the back end, but a Tbone is cut closer to the front and picks up less of the Mignon, and a Porterhouse is cut further back and picks up a bigger portion of the Mignon? And they are cut thicker than a Tbone. Is all of that wrong?

LOL. Chill. I thought you were trolling me so I played along. You were only wrong in the details. THERE IS A DIFFERENCE.

No I’m not trolling you! You keep yelling at me that I’m wrong!
Yes, I know there are differences but they are far more alike in composition than, say, a Tbone and a rib. The Porterhouse just has more of the tenderloin on it, and it’s bigger because it comes from a bigger section of cow!
I am taking a damn picture of the next Tbone I order! They have always had a nice piece of the tenderloin on it, in MY opinion! I’m going to be ordering Tbones from now until 50 weeks of Sundays so I can give you PITCHERS of them!

Can’t wait to take my son to a real steak place and order a Porterhouse to share! My husband will be jealous, but he likes his steak well done, so he can’t have any.

Hey, Mr. Meat Man. Answer me this: If I order a Porterhouse and the other guy orders a filet Mignon, does the Mignon section on my Porterhouse taste like his filet?

Clearly our beloved Crow has the beef by the balls when to comes to bovine anatomy.
Shhhh…I don’t want our little calf “Porter” here to lose his innocence yet. He has no clue that us wonderful humans that bring him his bottles eat his kind. haha

So I called my steak place. They don’t have Porterhouses. I don’t know why.

A 14 oz Tbone is $29
A 14 oz KC Strip is $29.
An 8 oz filet Mignon is $31.