A good Irish butcher will stock the full range of what a grass-fed animal produces — not just the premium cuts that supermarkets can sell at high margin, but the working cuts, the slow-cook cuts, the cuts that chefs have been buying quietly for years because they're exceptional value and nobody else wants them.
This guide runs through the main cuts, what they're good for, and what you should actually do with them. If you're new to buying direct, start with a sirloin or a flat iron — the former is the benchmark, the latter is the best-value revelation in the case.
The quick guide: what to order for what occasion
- Weeknight steak dinner → Flat iron, bavette, or striploin
- Weekend treat → Ribeye or sirloin
- Special occasion → Fillet or tomahawk
- Sunday roast → Topside, silverside, or rib roast
- Winter stew / braise → Shin, chuck, blade, or oxtail
- Burgers and mince → Ask your butcher for fresh-ground chuck mince
- BBQ → Bavette, flat iron, or thick-cut sirloin
The steaks
Sirloin / striploin
The benchmark grass-fed steak. Well-marbled for grass-fed, with a good fat cap that bastes the meat as it cooks. Irish grass-fed sirloin has more flavour than its grain-finished equivalent — more mineral, more complex. Cook it in cast iron on high heat, medium-rare, rest for 5–7 minutes. This is the cut to start with if you're evaluating a new butcher.
Ribeye
More intramuscular fat than a sirloin, which makes it the most forgiving grass-fed steak — it tolerates slightly more cooking time without drying out. The fat cap and marbling baste the meat from multiple directions. Best cooked on a screaming-hot pan or over direct charcoal. If you're new to grass-fed and nervous about drying things out, a ribeye is the safest entry point.
Fillet / tenderloin
The most tender cut because it's the least-worked muscle — the psoas, which runs along the spine and barely moves during the animal's life. It's also the least flavourful, for the same reason. Grass-fed fillet is leaner than grain-fed, so it's even more unforgiving of overcooking. Only cook it to medium-rare, and rest it. It's the most expensive cut on the animal; don't ruin it by going past 55°C internal.
Flat iron / butler's steak
Cut from the shoulder blade (the infraspinatus muscle), the flat iron is one of the best-kept secrets at the butcher's counter. Tender, flavourful, much cheaper than sirloin, and outstanding at high heat. The only thing to watch: there's a tough central sinew that runs through the middle — a good butcher will have removed it for you, leaving two flat pieces. Cook as you would a sirloin, always slice against the grain, and serve it medium-rare. This is the cut that makes supermarket-shopping feel wasteful once you've had it.
Bavette / flank steak
A long, flat cut from the flank — big flavour, coarser grain, best with a short marinade in something acidic (red wine, lemon, buttermilk) for a few hours. Cook hot and fast to medium-rare; no higher. Always slice against the grain, thinly. Excellent for tacos, steak salads, or just sliced thin with chimichurri. Much cheaper than sirloin for comparable flavour.
Skirt steak
Similar to bavette in character — intensely flavourful, coarser, needs slicing against the grain. Irish grass-fed skirt is leaner than its Argentinian equivalent; marinate, cook hot and fast, rest, slice thin. Great for fajitas or alongside roasted peppers and a simple salsa. Butchers will often mince skirt for burgers; ask them not to — it's better as a whole piece.
The roasting cuts
Rib roast / standing rib
The showpiece roast from an Irish grass-fed animal — a rack of ribs with the meat attached. More fat than most grass-fed cuts, deeply flavourful, and it self-bastes as it roasts. Sear it on the stovetop first to build a crust, then roast at 160°C until the internal temperature reaches 52–54°C for medium-rare. Rest for 20 minutes before carving. One of the best Sunday roasts in the Irish tradition, and much better from a grass-fed butcher than from a supermarket counter.
Topside
The leaner, cheaper Sunday roast. Grass-fed topside has good flavour but needs gentle handling — it's lean enough to dry out if overcooked or roasted too hot. Low and slow (160°C, until internal temp hits 55°C for medium-rare), basted regularly, rested long. Slice thinly. Brilliant cold the next day in sandwiches.
Silverside
Even leaner than topside, with a finer grain. Best slow-roasted or pot-roasted (seared, then cooked low in a covered pot with a little stock and vegetables). Can also be salted by your butcher for corned beef — worth asking about.
The slow-cook cuts
Shin / shank
The best slow-cook cut on the animal, full stop. The shin is all collagen and flavour — it's been working hard every day the animal was alive. That collagen breaks down into silky gelatin after 5–7 hours in a low oven or slow cooker, producing beef that falls apart and a sauce that's rich and glossy without any flour. Use it for stew, braise it in Guinness with root vegetables, or make a slow-cooked ragù. Irish grass-fed shin has deeper flavour than grain-finished because the animal spent more time on pasture building that muscle. One of the best-value cuts in the case.
Chuck / chuck steak
Cut from the neck and shoulder, chuck is the workhorse of the slow-cooker. More readily available than shin, less gelatinous but still deeply flavourful after a long braise. Use it for any recipe that calls for "stewing beef" — but ask for it as a single piece rather than pre-diced, and dice it yourself to the size you want.
Blade / feather blade
From the flat of the shoulder blade, blade steak has a line of connective tissue running through it that dissolves beautifully in a long braise. Pot-roast it whole for maximum drama — it becomes almost gelatinous and pulls apart at the table. Very good value.
Oxtail
Technically a by-product of butchery rather than a "cut", oxtail is worth knowing about. All bone and collagen, with small amounts of intensely flavoured meat. Braise it for 4–5 hours in red wine and aromatics — it produces the richest, most deeply savoury beef stock-sauce of anything in the animal. Classic in Irish and French cooking; much underused.
Mince and burgers
Ask your butcher to grind fresh, to order, rather than buying pre-packaged mince. A 70/30 lean-to-fat ratio (which you'll get from a chuck or a blend) makes the best burger — grass-fed mince is leaner than grain-finished, so you need the fat to be there or the burger will be dry. Add a small amount of butter or rendered beef fat if you're grinding from very lean cuts.
For bolognese, ragù, or mince-based dishes: grass-fed mince browns beautifully and has more flavour, but the lower fat content means you need a moist cooking environment — good tomato sauce, stock, or a lid on the pan — to keep it from drying out during a long cook.
The ask your butcher
A good independent butcher will always have cuts that don't make the standard list — the ones that didn't fit neatly into a package, the occasional heritage breed special, the lamb on particular weeks. Ask what's in the case that they're excited about that week. The answer is usually the best value thing they have.