FR
12 cuts that other butcheries name and cook their own way, from Argentina, Brazil, Italy, Spain, Japan. Each is matched to the French cut it comes from.
Ribs sawn across the bone into strips four fingers wide, so each slice lines up three or four rounds of bone with their meat. Laid over the embers for a long time, it is the cut that opens an asado.
The whole flank, kept in one piece with its membrane and fat: a wide sheet of long-grained meat. Grilled fat side first, it turns crisp on top and stays juicy inside.
The thin flat muscle between the hide and the ribs, which French butchers leave inside the flank. It gets rolled around eggs and vegetables, or grilled under tomato sauce and cheese.
The rump cap, kept whole under its layer of fat. Sliced thick and bent into a C on the skewer, fat on the outside, it lets the fire melt that fat back into the meat.
The churrascaria name for bottom sirloin flap: a long-fibred, deeply flavoured muscle. Cooked fast and rare, it must always be sliced against the grain, or it turns chewy.
The zebu's hump above the shoulders, which European breeds do not have. Very fatty and full of fibres, it needs hours in the oven or the smoker, then pulls apart with a fork.
Short loin cut through its T-shaped bone, with strip loin on one side and tenderloin on the other, three fingers thick. In Florence it is grilled standing on the bone, then flat, and served very rare.
Shank cut into thick rounds around the bone, marrow in the middle. Slow-cooked, the collagen turns to gelatin and the marrow melts into the sauce, the way Milan does it.
The Spanish rib steak, often from an old dairy cow dry-aged for weeks. Seared over embers with nothing but coarse salt, it reaches the table sliced on the bone for everyone to share.
The tenderloin, a muscle that barely works. In Spain it is cut into thick medallions seared on the plancha, often with a pepper or blue cheese sauce.
"The cushion": a block of the shoulder near the chuck rib, turned almost white with marbling on wagyu. It is cut into thin sheets, barely touched on the yakiniku grill.
The heart of the top blade, freed from its central sinew: a rare cut, barely a kilo per animal. Its marbling traces a feather, and it is eaten in thin slices seared for a few seconds.
Indicative prices from a French butcher's counter in 2026, converted to dollars per pound.
