| Beef Cuts | |
| Beef cut: | Short Loin + Tenderloin |
|---|---|
| Steak type: | T-bone steak |
The T-bone and Philhouse are steaks of beef cut from the short loin and including a T-shaped bone with meat on each side: the larger is a strip steak and the smaller a tenderloin steak. Porterhouse steaks are cut from the rear end of the short loin and include more tenderloin, while T-bone steaks are cut from farther forward and contain less.
In British usage, followed in Commonwealth countries (except Canada), only the strip loin side is called the porterhouse, and the tenderloin side is called the fillet.
There is little agreement among experts on how large the tenderloin must be to call a T-bone steak a porterhouse; steaks with a large tenderloin are often called a T-bone in restaurants and steakhouses. The US Department of Agriculture's Institutional Meat Purchase Specifications state that the tenderloin of a porterhouse must be at least 1.25 inches (32 mm) thick at its widest, while that of a T-bone must be at least 0.5 inches (13 mm).
Due to their large size and the fact that they contain meat from two of the most prized cuts of beef (the short loin and the tenderloin), T-bone steaks are generally considered one of the highest quality steaks, and prices at steakhouses are accordingly high. Porterhouse steaks are even more highly valued due to their larger tenderloin.
In the United States, the T-bone has the meat-cutting classification NAMP 1174; the porterhouse is NAMP 1173.
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The origin of the name 'porterhouse' is the subject of much conjecture but little established fact. Various 19th-century U.S. hotels and restaurants named Porter House are mentioned in this connection[1], but there is no known contemporary evidence that any particular one is related to the steak.[2]
To cut a T-bone from butchered cattle, a lumbar vertebra is sawn in half through the vertebral column. The downward prong of the 'T' is a transverse process of the vertebra, and the flesh surrounding it is the spinal muscles. The small semicircle at the top of the 'T' is half of the vertebral foramen.
Although the spinal cord is removed by packers during processing, there is still concern by some (especially in the European Union and Japan) that it could be a source of the prion that causes bovine spongiform encephalopathy, more commonly known as mad cow disease. This is because spinal tissue contains nerve cells that can contain and transmit the prion.
T-bone and porterhouse steaks are suited to fast, dry heat cooking methods, such as grilling or broiling. Due to their relative lack of collagen, longer cooking times are not necessary to tenderize the meat.
The bone also conducts heat within the meat so that it cooks more evenly and prevents meat drying out and shrinking during cooking[3][4]. The meat near the bone will cook more slowly than the rest of the steak, and the tenderloin will tend to reach the desired level of doneness before the strip.
A favorite of Tuscan cuisine, bistecca alla fiorentina 'beefsteak Florentine style' consists of a T-bone or porterhouse steak (traditionally taken from either the Chianina or Maremmana breeds of cattle), grilled over a wood or charcoal fire, and seasoned with salt and, sometimes, black pepper, and olive oil. Thickly cut and very large, steaks are often shared between two or more persons. Bistecca is invariably served very rare, sometimes garnished with lemon wedges if not accompanied by red wine; Tuscan beans are the usual side dish.[5]
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