Beef cuts in Spanish: the UK and US names translated for the Spanish butcher’s counter

The quick answer

Read across: the name you know, the American name, and the word to say at a Spanish counter. Where a cut has its own page, the Spanish name is a link to it.

Several rows give two Spanish words on purpose. Names shift from one shop to the next, so say both and let the butcher pick the one he uses.

The traps

Most mistakes at a Spanish counter come from six words that look familiar and are not.

Sirloin means two different cuts

A British sirloin is what Americans call striploin or New York strip, and in Spain it is lomo bajo. An American “sirloin” is British rump, and in Spain that is cadera. An American recipe asking for sirloin wants cadera. The sirloin page covers the steak itself.

Entrecot can be ribeye or sirloin

In Spain entrecot is simply a boneless steak from the loin. It can come from the rib end, the lomo alto, which makes it a ribeye, or from the sirloin end, the lomo bajo. If it matters to you, ask which, with phrase 9 in the list further down.

Ternera is not veal

The dictionary says ternera is veal. The counter says otherwise. In law, ternera is an animal of 8 to 12 months, but most Spanish shops use the word loosely for añojo, yearling beef of 12 to 24 months: mild, tender, pale red, and beef by any British standard. White veal is ternera blanca, up to 8 months. This is why “costilla de ternera” and “pecho de ternera” in the table above are beef cuts.

Filete is not fillet

A filete is a thin frying steak. Ask for “un filete de ternera” expecting a fillet steak and you will go home with a thin slice for the pan. Fillet is solomillo, always. We sell filetes too, from retinto yearling in 1 kg packs, but they are a different dinner.

A chuletón is not a chuleta

A chuleta is a chop, a plate for one. The ending -ón makes a Spanish word bigger, and a chuletón is exactly that: a thick bone-in rib steak, usually 1 kg or more, from a mature animal and meant for sharing. Ours from retinto mature cow weighs approx. 1 kg and is listed at €57.90 (September 2026). A tomahawk is a chuletón from the lomo alto with the long rib bone left on.

Brisket has two names

Brisket is pecho, but some shops label the same piece aleta. Say both.

How old is the animal?

Spanish beef is labelled by the age and sex of the animal, and the names are fixed in law (Royal Decree 1698/2003). They tell you more about flavour than the name of the cut does.

Three of these matter when you shop. Añojo is mild, tender and pale red, and it is what most shops mean by ternera. Vaca, often sold as vaca vieja (old cow beef), is darker, carries yellow fat and has a deep flavour; it is the meat behind the famous Spanish chuletón. Buey is genuine ox, rare and expensive.

Our beef is retinto, a native breed of south-west Spain (Andalusia and Extremadura) with a deep red coat, raised outdoors on the dehesa, the open oak pastureland. Ours comes from the province of Cádiz and we sell it at all three ages. At any counter the useful question is “¿es añojo o vaca?”.

What you will not find (and the nearest thing)

Brisket

We do not sell brisket yet. Ask any counter for “pecho de ternera, la pieza entera, sin cortar” (beef brisket, the whole piece, uncut), and add “o aleta” if the first word gets a blank look. If it is going in a smoker, say you want it “con su grasa”, with its fat, so that nobody trims it for you. For long, slow cooking we do sell short ribs and ox cheek.

Gammon

There is no Spanish equivalent. Gammon is cured, uncooked leg; jamón cocido is cooked ham and jamón serrano is dry-cured ham, and neither will do the job. We do not sell it. If the gammon was meant for a big family table, the closest things we sell are a 1.6 kg leg of lamb or a whole beef roasting joint; the Christmas page has the dates.

British bacon and sausages

We do not sell bacon joints, British sausages or black pudding. The sausage we do sell is chorizo criollo, a fresh grilling sausage for the barbecue, on its own or in the barbecue boxes; if you have a food allergy, ask us for the ingredient and allergen list on WhatsApp before ordering.

Mince

Mince is carne picada. For the half-and-half mix ask for “mitad ternera, mitad cerdo”. Avoid supermarket trays labelled preparado de carne or burger meat: they are not plain mince, they contain sulphites and cereal. We do not sell mince; what we do sell for the same sort of cooking is diced retinto yearling stewing beef in 1 kg packs.

Flat iron

You will not see “flat iron” on a Spanish label. The cut is llana, part of the espaldilla, so ask for it by that name. We do not sell it; our quick-grilling steaks are skirt and flank.

Hanger steak

Ask for onglet or solomillo de pulmón: names vary a lot and many counters do not separate it at all. We do not sell it either. The nearest thing on our list is skirt, entraña, sold as a 1.5 kg piece.

Pork and lamb in one minute

Pork and lamb are easier than beef, with one exception: the fresh cuts of the ibérico pig keep their Spanish names everywhere.

Ibérico pork may be served pink, and de bellota on a label means the pig was finished on acorns in the dehesa. The full run is on the ibérico pork page and the lamb page.

Twelve phrases for the counter

Short phrases do the work at a Spanish counter; add “por favor” and you are fine.