I had never been curious about beef cut`s name before I moved to Miami Beach in 2006. Why? Because I had to go grocery shopping and I wanted to be aware of beef cut names. It was a little beat hard in the beginning because I had no clue about beef cut names in English. I knew this one: ribs. But how about "picanha", "contra-filé" and "alcatra"?
On my first shopping, I looked for a cut map at the supermarket, but there wasn't one there. So, I picked the first one I thought it would be good: skirt beef. First thought: is it a cut from a cow and not from a bull? All I remember is it as chewy and juicy cut. And back to Brazil, I found out that skirt is the needle tip - ponta da agulha.
One of my favorite cuts is "fraudinha", in English, little dipper. No, it's not a cut near to the cow's intestine or bladder. It's a juicy cut and here it has this name because the metaphor for this cut is "it's heavy and soaked liked like a baby's dipper, without the crap ;)". Would I look for a little dipper beef? No, and I'm glad that in America little dipper beef is flank :)
If you think those names chose for beef cuts, imagine if those were named after people's name. Larry beef? Anna steak? Prime Michael cut? Well, you may find some steaks named after people, but those are recipes :)
