How to Cut a Whole Loin into Steaks at Home

What you are buying

The beef loin, lomo, is the piece that runs along the backbone from the first ribs to the rump. It has two parts: the lomo alto, which is the ribeye end and the more marbled, and the lomo bajo, which is the sirloin end (US: striploin) and leaner. See lomo alto vs lomo bajo.

A whole loin weighs between 4 and 8 kg, depending on the age of the animal and the breed. A mature cow gives a bigger loin than a yearling. On the bone, it comes with its ribs and is what you need for chuletones. Boneless, it is a clean cylinder of meat that gives entrecots.

Tools

• A long, very sharp knife. Long so that you can cut in one stroke without sawing at the meat.
• If the loin is on the bone, a butcher’s saw or a boning knife to get through the rib where the knife will not pass.
• A large board, so that the loin sits steady.

One tip changes the result: cut the meat cold, straight from the fridge. Cold meat is firm and the knife goes in straight. Once it warms up, the fat softens and the cuts come out crooked.

Bone-in: cutting chuletones

The loin tells you where to cut. Each chuletón carries one rib. Look at the loin from the bone side and you will see the gap between one rib and the next. That gap is your guide.

1. Stand the loin with the bone down and the meat towards you.
2. Find the gap between two ribs and rest the knife there.
3. Cut through the meat in one long stroke until you reach the bone.
4. If the knife will not go through the bone, finish with the saw or the boning knife.
5. Move to the next gap and repeat. You get one chuletón per rib.

Cut this way, each chuletón comes out at 4–5 cm and weighs between 1 and 1.3 kg: the classic steak for sharing, enough for two. Do not try to make thinner chuletones by splitting the rib: the bone breaks and you get splinters. For smaller steaks, buy the loin boneless.

Boneless: cutting entrecots

Here there are no ribs to set the rhythm, so you set it. The measure is 2.5–3 cm. Thinner than that and the steak overcooks in the pan before it takes colour.

1. Lay the loin lengthways with the covering fat on top.
2. Trim the outside fat if there is a lot of it, but leave a thin layer: it protects the meat over the heat.
3. Measure 2.5–3 cm and cut straight down, at right angles to the piece, in one stroke.
4. The end pieces, which are less regular, go for dicing or mincing (US: grinding).

The yield is good: a 3 kg boneless lomo bajo gives about ten entrecots of 300 g.

What you lose to bone and trim

On a bone-in loin, the bone and the fat you trim come to between 15% and 25% of the total weight. On a 6 kg loin, that is between 0.9 and 1.5 kg that is not clean meat. You pay for the bone in a ready-cut chuletón too.

Why buy the whole piece

Portioning takes a butcher’s time and that work is paid for, so a whole piece normally costs less per kilo than the same meat cut into steaks. The cards below show the current price, so you can compare. The second advantage does not show in any price: you choose the thickness. A 5 cm chuletón for Sunday and 2.5 cm entrecots for the week, from the same piece. For numbers at the table, see how much steak per person.

What to do with the rest

A whole loin is several meals. Wrap what you will not use in portions and freeze it. Well wrapped, it keeps for 6 to 12 months at −18 °C (0 °F) with no real loss of quality. Defrost in the fridge, overnight. Never at room temperature and never under the tap: the meat sheds water, loses texture and it is not safe. When the steaks are ready for the fire, the doneness temperatures guide has the core temperatures.