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to middle), as a hindquarter (from middle to back
end), jointed, boned and rolled, diced for stewing or for
pies, minced or butchered into steaks.

The hindquarter provides most of the best quality meat
for roasting, grilling or frying. Whereas the meat from the
forequarter is more suited to stewing and braising. Normally
you would only order from the butcher the required joints,

rather than buying the 2 quarters.

Some quality purchasing points for fresh beef are :-
-Fat, This should be firm, brittle in texture, and creamy
white. Older animals and dairy cattle have fat that is soft
and deep yellow.
-Marbling, in lean meat is formed by small areas of fat
which should be evenly distributed, especially in sirloin
and wing and fore ribs.
-Colour, The colour of the lean meat should be bright red.
Cut surfaces that are dull and sticky have been exposed to
the air for some time.
-Touch, The lean meat should be firm and elastic to the touch.
-Fluid, Any moisture on the cut surfaces should be watery,
not thick and sticky to the touch.

Below is a list of some of the cuts you can get from the two
quarters.

FOREQUARTER HINDQUARTER

Chuck Ribs, Wing Ribs, Middle Ribs, Thin Flank, Fore Ribs Fillet,
Shank Sirloin (loin), Brisket Rump, Plate Thick Flank, Neck Silverside,
Clod Topside, Sticking Piece Shin.

Once you have your joints, you can use them as they are or
make different cuts from them, to get cuts like;
Chateaubriand, fillet steak, tournedos, fillet mignon, steak
tartare, strips and fillet minute steaks which all come from
the whole fillet. Or there is the t-bone steak and sirloin steak which are
cuts from the whole sirloin. The whole rump can be sliced
into portions to make individual rump steaks also.
If you are after some braising steaks the butcher would most
likely get the meat from the chuck and the middle ribs and
also the think flank.

Earlier I mentioned some cuts from the whole fillet.
Imagine having a whole fillet in front of you, (a fillet is
thick at one end and gets smaller and thinner towards the
other end) that was cut in half then the 2 halves were cut
in half again. Starting with the thickest end that was cut,
this would be sliced into portions or served whole and is
known as the chateaubriand. The next piece would be sliced
and used for the fillet steaks. The third piece is used for
tournedos and the final piece, which is the thinnest of them
all is normally cooked and served whole as a mignon.
Below is the methods of cooking used for beef :-

ROASTING Topside, Striploin, Wing Rib, Whole Fillet,

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