There’s a reason seasoned butchers always seem to eat like royalty. While most of us walk into a shop and reach for the same ribeyes, sirloins, and filets we’ve been buying for years, the person behind the counter quietly wraps up something far more extraordinary for their own dinner table. It’s not a conspiracy. It’s just insider knowledge – and for a long time, that knowledge stayed behind the counter.
These so-called “butcher’s cuts” have a rich, almost secretive history. There used to be a handful of cuts on an animal that customers simply didn’t know to ask for. They were called “butcher’s cuts” because the people who broke down the animal would keep them for themselves and cook them up for lunch, with none of their clients any the wiser. Today, that’s slowly changing. Be surprised by what’s been hiding in plain sight all along.
1. Hanger Steak – The Original Butcher’s Steak
Hanger steak gets its name from its location on the cow, hanging from the lower belly between the loin and the rib. As there is only one hanger per animal, it has long been nicknamed “butcher’s steak” as it was said that the butcher would secretly keep this cut for themselves. Honestly, it’s hard to blame them.
Most restaurants don’t serve hanger steak because there is only one per cow, coming from the diaphragm. With only one 1.5 pound hanger steak available in each 800-plus pound animal, this cut is as rare as it is delicious. Known as the “butcher’s steak,” the hanger hangs near the diaphragm and was once the insider’s secret for top-tier flavor. It’s tender, intensely beefy, and responds beautifully to bold seasonings. It brings together the richness of a ribeye and the tenderness of a strip, all at a fraction of the cost.
2. Flat Iron Steak – The Hidden Gem of the Chuck
Walk into most supermarkets and you won’t find this one. Flat iron steak may be the best-kept secret in the meat industry, with butchers and beef experts having long favored it for its incredible tenderness – it is a close second to filet mignon. This cut comes from the shoulder area, specifically from the chuck primal, which is normally known for tougher cuts. Think of it like finding a pristine, smooth road right through the middle of rough terrain.
Often mistaken for flank steak, the flat iron steak comes from the shoulder of the cow, cut off the blade. Named after its resemblance to an old-fashioned metal flat iron, flat iron steak is another lean and tender steak option that butchers like to keep for themselves. The flat iron is found right under the cow’s shoulder blades, and the rarity comes from the fact that there are only six to eight pounds of it available per cow. Even then, with one cut, you can feed three to four people.
3. Teres Major – The Poor Man’s Filet Mignon
Let’s be real – when a butcher starts passing this one off as a filet mignon substitute in restaurants, you know it’s something special. During the nineties, when the price of filet mignon rose sharply, a few chefs in the Twin Cities started serving petite tender steaks cut from teres major without changing the name or price on the menu. That’s one way to solve a food cost problem.
The teres major is called the prized “butcher’s cut” – often the reward for the extra work that had to be done to carve these small steaks from a major muscle. They are cooked immediately and savored as an easy meal, rarely making it to the market for sale. Filet mignon routinely sells for 30 to 60 dollars per pound at retail. Teres major, when you can find it, typically runs 10 to 18 dollars per pound – often less than half the price of filet mignon for 85 to 90 percent of the eating experience. Dollar for dollar, it might be the best value in the entire beef case.
4. Ribeye Cap (Spinalis Dorsi) – The Butcher’s Butter
If there is one cut that makes career butchers go misty-eyed, it’s this one. The cap of ribeye steak, professionally known as the spinalis dorsi, is the incredibly tender, beautifully marbled, and intensely flavorful muscle that sits right on top of the main “eye” of a ribeye steak. Many chefs and butchers consider it the single best bite of beef on the entire animal. It’s the prized crescent of meat that makes a ribeye so special.
For decades, the ribeye cap was a well-guarded secret. Butchers, who have the privilege of breaking down the whole animal, knew which parts were the best. They would often trim the cap off the ribeye roast for themselves before selling the rest. Its rich marbling melts during cooking, basting the meat in its own rendered fat, which gives it an incredibly buttery texture. Hence, “butcher’s butter.” It was the reward for a hard day’s work. There are only two spinalis dorsi muscles on an entire 1,200-pound steer. To sell the cap by itself, a butcher must remove it from the entire ribeye loin, which devalues the remaining loin, as it can no longer be sold as prime rib roasts or bone-in ribeye steaks.
5. Picanha – The Brazilian Butcher’s Pride
Hugely popular across South America, this cut is still a genuine mystery to many shoppers in North America and Europe. Hugely popular in Brazil, the rump cap or picanha is one of the most flavorful cuts you can find, being a flat, triangular, boneless cut taken from the cap of the top sirloin with a distinctive thick cap of fat. In Brazil, it’s known as “The Queen of Steaks” – and that title is well earned.
Picanha can be a steal, but only if you find it at a Brazilian butcher or specialty shop. In mainstream grocery stores, it’s often marked up as a “premium cut.” Butchers who understand this cut’s true value often keep it for themselves rather than explain its origins to every passing customer. Picanha is growing in popularity, so you’re able to find it more and more, but it’s still a relatively rare cut at most markets across the United States. You will want to talk to your local butcher to ask if they have it or can source it for you.
6. Oyster Steak – The Most Hidden Cut on the Cow
This one is so obscure that even many skilled butchers have never carved it out. The oyster steak is found in the cow’s hip pocket. It is “almost too small to sell, and is the perfect size for a hearty butcher’s lunch.” There are only two oyster steaks in the cow, and each weighs about eight ounces. It’s the hardest cut for butchers to get to, as it cannot be removed until the entire cow is de-boned, adding yet another layer to why it’s so rare to see.
The oyster steak, also known as spider steak, gets its names from its looks – the intramuscular fat looks like a spider web and the overall shape resembles an oyster, found in the inner part of the cow’s hip bone. The oyster steak represents the ultimate insider knowledge – you need to understand bovine anatomy to even know this cut exists. Butchers that still break down whole animals by themselves and cut steaks by hand know just where some of the tastiest meat is on every cow and traditionally keep these cuts to themselves.
7. Secreto – The Pork World’s Best-Kept Secret
The beef world gets most of the attention, but pork has its own quietly guarded treasure. Also known as pork skirt steak, secreto is the meaty secret you’ll wish you knew about sooner. The supremely underrated cut is hidden between the shoulder, ribs, and belly of the pig, making for a thin yet tender and juicy piece of pork. The name literally means “secret” in Spanish, and it earned that name honestly.
The secreto is really just the skirt steak of the pig. It lays over the belly, right next to the spare ribs, and is often removed before the bellies are turned into bacon – so that the butchers can have lunch. It looks just like a beef skirt steak, only smaller – it’s generally only 4 to 6 ounces. Much like the skirt steak on a cow, the secreto benefits from being tenderized with a Jaccard knife or a marinade. Because it’s so small and so thin, it should be cooked as quickly as possible over high heat: about 1 to 2 minutes per side on a ripping hot pan.
How to Actually Find These Cuts
Here’s the thing – most of these cuts will never appear in a standard supermarket display case. A butcher’s cut steak is not an official meat label you’ll find at the grocery store. Instead, it’s a term created by butchers and can come in any grade of beef. These cuts are small and take a skilled butcher to cut from within the larger primal sections. Your best move is to build a real relationship with your local butcher and ask by name.
It’s important to note that not every butcher will sell these cuts. People cut meat differently from country to country, state to state, city to city – heck, even shop to shop. So if your butcher doesn’t sell them, it doesn’t mean he or she’s not a good butcher. It’s also worth noting that most shops operate on razor-thin margins, often making just 2 to 3 percent profit on standard cuts. So when a butcher kept one of these for themselves, it was also their personal reward for a demanding craft.
Why Butchers Kept These Secrets – And Why That’s Changing
It wasn’t selfishness. It was a complicated mix of economics, effort, and pride. Those special steaks kept for themselves were a bonus, a reward for dealing with demanding customers and standing on concrete floors for twelve hours a day. Now that the cat’s out of the bag, butchers are stuck between wanting to educate customers about quality cuts and needing to actually make a living from their craft.
Instagram and YouTube completely changed the game for these hidden cuts. Food bloggers and home cooks started posting photos of their hanger steaks and picanha roasts, asking butchers by name for these mysterious cuts they’d seen online. Suddenly, what was once a quiet handshake deal between butcher and regular customer became a viral sensation. Some old-school butchers will tell you they miss the days when only the initiated knew about these gems, while younger butchers embrace the education aspect and love that customers are finally appreciating the whole animal.
I think that shift is actually a wonderful thing. When customers start asking smarter questions, butchers get to share what they truly love about their craft. The secret is out – and honestly, it was always too good to keep. So, next time you’re standing at the counter, will you finally ask for the cut the butcher hides for dinner? Tell us in the comments.
