On 12/14/2016 at 11:52 PM, JoNorvelleWalker said:Personally, given the choice, I would avoid any cut of beef round altogether.
Balderdash. The round is severely overlooked and undervalued in the US, probably because most of the beef is commodity crap and it is very difficult to find any of the worthwhile cuts served in Europe (i.e. France) which has a formidable history of resourceful and disciplined butchery, as opposed to cutting just about everything on a band-saw and grinding the rest here.
To wit, from a dry-aged carcass with decent marbling:
Top sirloin: very flavorful if properly denuded.
Top round: roast beef
Culotte (top sirloin cap): Delicious
Spider meat (gracilis, from the inside of the aitch bone, highly prized across the pond): Excellent flavor and texture
Adductor (more tender part of the top round):decent for roasting, given the price.
Pear (pectinus, attached to the adductor, very tender, given the price)
Top round cap (attached to the pectinus); London broil, similar to skirt
Bottom round/knuckle: if properly denuded it is a flavorful cut without any connective tissue or sinew.
Shank: long simmers appropriate for pho and the like
Marrow bones
Outside round: much better to grind that than the more marketable chuck
Eye of round: best for bresaola
