Beef cuts explained: where every cut comes from on a cow
Fifteen British beef cuts, drawn one at a time on the outline of 210, a retired dairy cow. Where each cut sits and how it is cooked.
Every joint and steak on a butcher’s counter comes from one place on the animal. This short animation draws the British cuts onto 210 herself, traced from a photograph of her in the yard, one cut at a time.
Then see what 210’s own cuts became: 210, cut by cut.
Forequarter and hindquarter
A side of beef is first split in two. The forequarter carries the neck, shoulder, front ribs, brisket and fore shin; the hindquarter carries the loin, rump, flanks and back leg. Where the split falls varies: some count it between the 12th and 13th ribs,1 and UK trade specifications cut forequarters at other ribs for different uses.2 On the chart it sits just behind the fore rib.
The cuts, front to back
- Neck & clod: stewing and mince.
- Chuck & blade: braising steak, stews and flat iron steak.
- Thick rib: pot roasts and braises.
- Brisket: slow-cooked whole, or salted for salt beef.
- Shin: long, slow stews.
- Fore rib: rib of beef and ribeye steaks.
- Thin rib: short ribs and slow cooking.
- Sirloin: sirloin steaks and roasting joints.
- Fillet: the tenderest cut, for fillet steak.
- Rump: rump steak.
- Thin flank: skirt and bavette steaks.
- Thick flank: roasting joints and minute steaks.
- Topside & silverside: lean roasting joints.
- Leg: stews and beef stock.
- Oxtail: rich braises and soup.
The names follow the usual British list of cuts;3 the cooking notes are the common uses, and every butcher cuts a little differently.
How the chart was made
The outline is traced from a frame of the film: 210 standing side-on in the yard on the sixth day of filming. Her ear tag is blurred. The boundaries are a butcher’s chart drawn on her shape, not a measured map of her carcass.
What became of 210’s own beef, from steak to bresaola: ex-dairy beef explained.
Sources
- Encyclopædia Britannica, “hindquarter”: sides divided into forequarter and hindquarter between the 12th and 13th ribs.
- AHDB Meat Purchasing Guide, beef “forequarter” specifications (ahdb.org.uk).
- Wikipedia, “Cut of beef”, British cuts: neck and clod, chuck and blade, thick rib, thin rib, brisket, shin and leg, fore rib, sirloin, fillet, rump, flank, thick flank, topside, silverside, oxtail.
Last checked 2026-10-25. Spotted an error? Tell us via the press contact.