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I have been a professional meat cutter/butcher/meat manager for over ten years, and the question of what the best cut of beef is, is always the most asked question that I recieved during my time in the business.
I will attempt to categorize the cuts of beef that are most common in supermarkets by primal(a whole uncut piece), roast(either pot or oven roast),and steak.

Starting at the front of the beef critter and working my way back....

Chuck: This comes from the neck and upper part of the back of the animal. It can be cut into pot roasts, or chuck steaks. Both of these pieces are tough and need to be slow cooked. There is a lot of fat in this cut which gives it alot of flavor. It is a striated piece of meat, which makes it stringy when undercooked, but great for pulled BBQ beef when fully cooked. You cannot overcook a chuck roast, as long as it remains in plenty of water, the longer you cook it the more tender it will be.

Shoulder: Just below the chuck is the shoulder, which you can get shoulder roasts out of , and also the traditional London broil cut. Also attached to the shoulder is the blade, which also can be in roast or steak form, as well as being cut into boneless beef ribs. These cuts are both leaner than the chuck, but not a whole lot more tender. The shoulder roast should be used as a pot roast or it can be cooked on a high heat in the oven, kept fairly rare and sliced thinly. The London broil cut should be treated the same way, grilled or broiled rare to medium rare and sliced against the grain in thin strips. Blades are an interesting cut because the exterior is covered by a thick membrane which a good butcher should remove. The interior also has a thick piece of gristle which you will have to either remove before cooking or cut around after. That being said the meat between these two pieces of gristle is very flavorful and often quite tender. With blade steak being a cheaper cut of beef to buy, if you know what to expect it is often worth the effort of doing a little cutting yourself.

Rib: This cut comes from the center of the back of the beef critter. It is without a doubt the most flavorful roast and steak you can buy. Both the roasts and steaks come in bone in and boneless options, with the theory that the bone adds extra flavor. While this is true with many cuts of beef, my experience is that the rib (or Delmonico it is often called)cuts are intensely flavorful on their own, and the bone on this cut is strictly a matter of preference. Both the

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