T-bone steak

The T-bone and Porterhouse are steak

Steak

A steak is a cut of meat. Most steaks are cut perpendicular to the muscle fibres, improving the perceived tenderness of the meat. In North America, steaks are typically served grilled, though they are also often pan-fried. The more tender cuts from the loin and rib are cooked quickly, using dry...

 cuts of beef

Beef

Beef is the culinary name for meat from bovines, especially domestic cattle . Beef is one of the principal meats used in the cuisine of Australia, Europe and America, and is also important in Africa, East Asia, and Southeast Asia...

. They consist of a T

T

T is the twentieth letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled tee. It is the most commonly used consonant and the second most common letter in the English language.- History :...

-shaped bone with meat on each side. The larger side is the New York Strip, which is from the strip loin, whereas the smaller side contains the tenderloin

Beef tenderloin

Beef tenderloin, or eye fillet , is cut from the loin of beef. As with all quadrupeds, the tenderloin refers to the Psoas major muscle anterior to the transverse processes of the lumbar vertebrae, near the kidneys. This muscle does very little work, so it is the most tender part of the beef. The...

. Porterhouse steaks are cut from the rear end of the short loin

Short Loin

Short loin is a cut of beef that comes from the back of the steer or heifer. The short loin contains part of the spine and includes the top loin and the tenderloin. This cut yields types of steak like porterhouse, strip steak , and t-bone...

 and contain a much larger section of the tenderloin. T-bone steaks are cut from further forward in the short loin and contain a comparatively smaller section of the tenderloin.

In British usage, followed in Commonwealth

Commonwealth of Nations

The Commonwealth of Nations, often referred to as the Commonwealth and previously as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-three independent member states. Most of them were formerly part of the British Empire. They co-operate within a framework of common values...

 countries, only the strip loin side

Strip steak

The strip steak is a type of cut of beef steaks. In the United States and Canada it is also known as striploin, shell steak, Delmonico, Kansas City strip or New York strip steak...

 is called the porterhouse, and the tenderloin side is called the fillet

Fillet (cut)

A fillet , is a piece or slice of boneless cut of meat or fish....

.

There is little agreement among experts on how large the tenderloin must be to call a T-bone or a porterhouse; steaks with a large tenderloin are often called a T-bone in restaurants and steakhouses.

The T-bone and Porterhouse are steak

Steak

A steak is a cut of meat. Most steaks are cut perpendicular to the muscle fibres, improving the perceived tenderness of the meat. In North America, steaks are typically served grilled, though they are also often pan-fried. The more tender cuts from the loin and rib are cooked quickly, using dry...

 cuts of beef

Beef

Beef is the culinary name for meat from bovines, especially domestic cattle . Beef is one of the principal meats used in the cuisine of Australia, Europe and America, and is also important in Africa, East Asia, and Southeast Asia...

. They consist of a T

T

T is the twentieth letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled tee. It is the most commonly used consonant and the second most common letter in the English language.- History :...

-shaped bone with meat on each side. The larger side is the New York Strip, which is from the strip loin, whereas the smaller side contains the tenderloin

Beef tenderloin

Beef tenderloin, or eye fillet , is cut from the loin of beef. As with all quadrupeds, the tenderloin refers to the Psoas major muscle anterior to the transverse processes of the lumbar vertebrae, near the kidneys. This muscle does very little work, so it is the most tender part of the beef. The...

. Porterhouse steaks are cut from the rear end of the short loin

Short Loin

Short loin is a cut of beef that comes from the back of the steer or heifer. The short loin contains part of the spine and includes the top loin and the tenderloin. This cut yields types of steak like porterhouse, strip steak , and t-bone...

 and contain a much larger section of the tenderloin. T-bone steaks are cut from further forward in the short loin and contain a comparatively smaller section of the tenderloin.

In British usage, followed in Commonwealth

Commonwealth of Nations

The Commonwealth of Nations, often referred to as the Commonwealth and previously as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-three independent member states. Most of them were formerly part of the British Empire. They co-operate within a framework of common values...

 countries, only the strip loin side

Strip steak

The strip steak is a type of cut of beef steaks. In the United States and Canada it is also known as striploin, shell steak, Delmonico, Kansas City strip or New York strip steak...

 is called the porterhouse, and the tenderloin side is called the fillet

Fillet (cut)

A fillet , is a piece or slice of boneless cut of meat or fish....

.

There is little agreement among experts on how large the tenderloin must be to call a T-bone or a porterhouse; steaks with a large tenderloin are often called a T-bone in restaurants and steakhouses. The US Department of Agriculture's Institutional Meat Purchase Specifications states that the tenderloin must be at least 1.25 inches (32 mm) thick at its widest to be classified a porterhouse. Similarly, the USDA says that the tenderloin must be at least ½ inch (13 mm) thick for the steak to be classified a T-bone.

Due to their large size and the fact that they contain meat from two of the most prized cuts of beef (the short loin

Short Loin

Short loin is a cut of beef that comes from the back of the steer or heifer. The short loin contains part of the spine and includes the top loin and the tenderloin. This cut yields types of steak like porterhouse, strip steak , and t-bone...

 and the tenderloin

Beef tenderloin

Beef tenderloin, or eye fillet , is cut from the loin of beef. As with all quadrupeds, the tenderloin refers to the Psoas major muscle anterior to the transverse processes of the lumbar vertebrae, near the kidneys. This muscle does very little work, so it is the most tender part of the beef. The...

), T-bone steaks are generally considered one of the highest quality steaks, and prices at steakhouse

Steakhouse

A steakhouse is a restaurant that specializes in beef steaks. These restaurants may also serve other types of meat, such as hamburgers, game, lamb, pork, chicken, and barbecue, as well as seafood and pasta. The same type of restaurant is also known as a chophouse....

s are accordingly high. Porterhouse steaks are even more highly valued due to their larger tenderloin.

In the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, the T-bone has the meat-cutting classification NAMP 1174; the porterhouse is NAMP 1173.

Etymology

The origin of the name 'porterhouse' is the subject of much conjecture but very little knowledge; it has been claimed that the name derives from a Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. Most of its population of...

 stockman

Stockman

In the Australian lexicon, stockman is the traditional name given to a person who looks after the livestock on a large property known as a station and owned by a grazier or a grazing company...

 and proprietor of the now defunct Porter House hotel in Porter Square, Cambridge, Massachuetts, Zachariah B. Porter, or from a New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...

 porter

Porter (beer)

Porter is a dark-coloured style of beer. The history and development of stout and porter are intertwined. The name was first used in the 18th century from its popularity with the street and river porters of London. It is generally brewed with dark malts. The name "stout" for a dark beer came about...

-house

Public house

A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises in countries and regions of British influence. Although the terms often have different connotations, there is little definitive difference between pubs, bars,...

 proprietor, Martin Morrison. The Oxford English Dictionary

Oxford English Dictionary

The Oxford English Dictionary , published by the Oxford University Press , is a comprehensive dictionary of the English language...

 suspends judgment, observing that the cut is "freq. supposed to derive its name from a well-known porterhouse in New York in the early 19th cent., although there is app. no contemporary evidence to support this". Yet another theory is that the name arose from the Porter House Hotel, situated in the city of Flowery Branch, Georgia

Flowery Branch, Georgia

Flowery Branch is a town in Hall County, Georgia, United States. The population was 1,806 at the 2000 census. As of 2009, the population has reached 26,040...

, just northeast of Atlanta, on, what was in the late 19th century, a new railroad that connected New York City with New Orleans.

Anatomy of the T-Bone

To cut a T-bone from butchered cattle

Cattle

Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...

, a lumbar vertebra

Lumbar vertebrae

The lumbar vertebrae are the largest segments of the movable part of the vertebral column, and are characterized by the absence of the foramen transversarium within the transverse process, and by the absence of facets on the sides of the body...

 is sawn in half through the vertebral column

Vertebral column

In human anatomy, the vertebral column is a column usually consisting of 33 vertebrae, the sacrum, intervertebral discs, and the coccyx situated in the dorsal aspect of the torso, separated by spinal discs...

. The downward prong of the 'T' is a transverse process of the vertebra

Vertebra

A vertebra is an individual bone in the flexible column that defines vertebrate animals, e.g. humans. The vertebral column encases and protects the spinal cord, which runs from the base of the cranium down the dorsal side of the animal until reaching the pelvis. From there, vertebra continue into...

, and the flesh surrounding it is the spinal muscle

Muscle

Muscle is the contractile tissue of the body and is derived from the mesodermal layer of embryonic germ cells. Muscle cells contain contractile filaments that move past each other and change the size of the cell. They are classified as skeletal, cardiac, or smooth muscles. Their function is to...

s. The small semicircle at the top of the 'T' is half of the vertebral foramen

Vertebral foramen

In a typical vertebra, the vertebral foramen is the foramen formed by the anterior segment , and the posterior part, the vertebral arch.The vertebral foramen begins at cervical vertebrae #1 and continues inferior to lumbar vertebrae #5...

.

Although the spinal cord

Spinal cord

The spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular bundle of nervous tissue and support cells that extends from the brain. The brain and spinal cord together make up the central nervous system. It is around 45 cm long in men and around 43 cm long in women. The length of the spinal cord is much shorter than...

 is removed by packers during processing, there is still concern by some (especially in the European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 Member States, located primarily in Europe. Committed to regional integration, the EU was established by the Treaty of Maastricht on 1 November 1993 upon the foundations of the pre-existing European Economic Community...

 and Japan

Japan

is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

) that it could be a source of the prion

Prion

A prion is an infectious agent that is composed primarily of protein. To date, all such agents that have been discovered propagate by transmitting a mis-folded protein state; the protein itself does not self-replicate and the process is dependent on the presence of the polypeptide in the host...

 that causes bovine spongiform encephalopathy

Bovine spongiform encephalopathy

Bovine spongiform encephalopathy , commonly known as mad-cow disease , is a fatal, neurodegenerative disease in cattle, that causes a spongy degeneration in the brain and spinal cord. BSE has a long incubation period, about 4 years, usually affecting adult cattle at a peak age onset of four to...

, more commonly known as mad cow disease. This is because spinal tissue contains nerve cells that can contain and transmit the prion

Prion

A prion is an infectious agent that is composed primarily of protein. To date, all such agents that have been discovered propagate by transmitting a mis-folded protein state; the protein itself does not self-replicate and the process is dependent on the presence of the polypeptide in the host...

.

Preparation

T-bone and porterhouse steaks are suited to fast, dry heat cooking

Cooking

Cooking is the process of preparing food by applying heat, selecting, measuring and combining of ingredients in an ordered procedure for producing safe and edible food. The process encompasses a vast range of methods, tools and combinations of ingredients to alter the flavor, appearance, texture,...

 methods, such as grilling

Grilling

Grilling is a form of cooking that involves dry heat from above or below. Food to be grilled is cooked on a grill , a grill pan , or griddle...

 or broiling. Due to their relative lack of collagen

Collagen

Collagen is the main protein of connective tissue in animals and the most abundant protein in mammals, making up about 25% to 35% of the whole-body protein content. It is naturally found exclusively in metazoa, including sponges. In muscle tissue it serves as a major component of endomysium...

, longer cooking times are not necessary to tenderize the meat.

Because bone conducts heat

Heat conduction

In heat transfer, conduction is the transfer of thermal energy between neighboring molecules in a substance due to a temperature gradient. It always takes place from a region of higher temperature to a region of lower temperature, and acts to equalize temperature differences. Conduction takes...

, and because of the differences in the two cuts of meat, different parts of the steak will reach the desired cooked temperature at different times. The meat near the bone will cook more slowly than the rest of the steak, and the tenderloin will tend to reach the desired level of doneness before the strip.

Bistecca alla Fiorentina

A favorite of Tuscan cuisine, bistecca alla fiorentina 'beefsteak Florentine

Florence

Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence...

 style' consists of a T-bone or porterhouse steak (traditionally taken from either the Chianina

Chianina

Chianina is an Italian breed of beef cattle. It is the largest and one of the oldest existing beef cattle breeds in the world. The famous bistecca alla fiorentina is produced from its meat.- History :...

 or Maremmana

Maremmana

thumb|A Maremmana cow.The Maremmana is a breed of cattle reared in the maremma, a prairie region extending in western central Italy from southern Tuscany to northern Lazio, usually in the provinces of Grosseto and Viterbo respectively. It is one of the two breeds used in the preparation of the...

 breeds of cattle), grilled over a wood or charcoal

Charcoal

Charcoal is the blackish residue consisting of impure carbon obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents from animal and vegetation substances. Charcoal is usually produced by slow pyrolysis, the heating of wood, sugar, bone char, or other substances in the absence of oxygen...

 fire, and seasoned with salt and, sometimes, black pepper, and olive oil

Olive oil

Olive oil is a fruit oil obtained from the olive , a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin. The wild olive tree originated in Asia Minor and spread from there as far as southern Africa, Australia, Japan and China. It is commonly used in cooking, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and soaps and...

. Thickly cut and very large, steaks are often shared between two or more persons. Bistecca is invariably served very rare, sometimes garnished with lemon wedges if not accompanied by red wine; Tuscan beans are the usual side dish.