Proteins; that’s the reason why beef is important to bodybuilders. Beef remains to be my favorite protein source. It is cheap and also readily available everywhere including the North Pole! It can easily be fitted into your budget without causing you to feel pressed. Beef can be cooked in a number of mouth watering ways hence you cannot get bored of it easily.

What you probably didn’t know is that the different parts of the cow will give you a different quality of it. It’s high time you knew why some parts are cheaper than others and which parts to roast and which to pan fry.

The chuck is the part immediately after the head. Because this part is involved in many activities, it has a lot of tough muscles. It also has a lot of collagen and will be very tasty if stewed or braised. Blade roast is just next to the cow’s ribs. As the name suggests, it can make a really nice roast.

The ribs as the name suggests are found in the ribs! They are tender as compared to chuck and can be cooked in a large number of ways. My favorite is roasted ribs.
Short loin is also quite tender and gets cooked relatively faster.

You can pan fry it or grill it as it suits your taste. The next time you hear the butcher mention to you a porterhouse steak don’t give him a dumbfounded look, just nod and smile. What he means is just the rear part of the short loin. The T-bone steak is cut from the middle part of it while the club steak is cut from the rib end. Tenderloin as the name suggests is the part than many consider being the tenderest part of the beef. It has less meat flavor thus excellent for sauces as its meaty flavor doesn’t overpower the sauce’s flavor.


The sirloin is one of my favorite cuts especially the sirloin steak. This is the part that connects the backbone to the hipbone. Sirloins are excellent for marinating. The flank is very low in fat but very muscular hence tough. It can be used for kabobs. The flank steak can be used to make the London broil. The plate is tough and very good for stewing. If you like chewing, this is the part for you because no matter how long you cook it, it can’t be totally tender.

The round is very lean and thus is a popular cut especially to people aiming at loosing weight.
The brisket is chewy and quite tough. It’s this part that’s mostly used when making corned beef. Stew it, braise it or pot roast it.These parts have different nutritional values.

I would advice you to mainly stick to the parts that have a lower fat content. Cook your beef with just the required amount of cooking fat. As it is the meat has fat before you cook it, don’t double the amount of fat it has while it simmers in the cooking pot!

Dane Fletcher is the world-wide authority on bodybuilding and steroids. He has coached countless athletes all over the world. To read more of his work, please visit either http://www.BodybuildingToday.com or http://www.SteroidsToday.com

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!