The summer is on its way to South East London, the barbecues are being dusted down and B & Q stores are piled high to the ceiling with them. But the question on people’s lips in the butchers shop in the past couple of weeks has been “What’s the best on the bone steak for the BBQ mate ?”.
Well you have a number of on the bone steak options :
- Sirloin (I have already written about this cut …. click on Beef in my side bar)
- Dorchester Rib
- Fillet
- T bone steak
….. and this time it is the T bone steak that I’m going to do a little research into.
Well, it contains both the sirloin (strip loin …. left hand side of the vertical bone in my photo above) and the fillet (tenderloin …. right hand side of the vertical bone in my photo above). For the preparation of a T bone joint, firstly the butcher will remove the rump with the fillet head left on the rump and the wing rib taken off. Leaving you the T bone joint. It’s at this point that the desired size of steak can be cut.
But why the name T bone you may ask ? It is because the steak is cut across the joint and appears to be two bones, both of which when they are cut through look like the letter T. The cut itself is actually just one bone which is called the Lumbar Vertebra which has been cut through.
History shows that the T bone has been around since the early 19th century. One shady story talks about the steak being born at the Porter House Hotel in Massachusetts, USA. Some steak fans can swear that the T bone ticks all of the boxes with the sirloin and fillet both present in a steak and the buttery fat covering on the sirloin. But my favourite cuts are the rib eye and the rump, but the jury is still out.
I’m going to let you into a little secret of mine, I’ve cut hundreds of T bone steaks in my life but I’ve never actually had one. The reason being I’m waiting for the first days trading of my own butchers shop and as a reward for the hard work that is going to be my celebration meal. Fingers crossed this happens one day, and it is before the comb over hair and beer belly!
Charlie the Butcher.
T-Bones are one of our most talked about steaks. A juicy Strip Sirloin on one side and a tender Filet on the other, you’re getting two great steaks in one!
The T-bone steak is one of the most popular steaks on the market.
T-Bone steak is almost the same cut as a Porterhouse but with a much smaller section of the filet attached. Because of this, the T-bone steak is a little less tender than a Porterhouse. Cook a T-bone steak the same way as a Porterhouse steak.
Hi Charlie,
Why have you chosen t-bone as your celebration meal? I would have thought you could have one any time you like?
We are eating our t-bones that we picked up from you yesterday tonight.
Look forward to your dinner with Ben Greeno.
Hey Nicole,
Hope the t-bones went down well! I’ve left it just too long for a t-bone and thought it would be a good goal to work towards. Please check out my latest post for info about my evening of meat with Ben at Tudor Road. Its going to be a good night.
Charlie