Choosing the right cut of meat in Germany

I know I can't be the only one feeling like an idiot at the supermarket/ butchery, when I'm standing there trying to pick what I can only hope will be just the right cut of meat..

So I thought I'd share the fruits of my labour in trying to become more "meat savvy".

I found some great sites that I think would be a big help to anyone else on here like me.

This one is a site that has the whole animal as a diagram. If you are as useless with animal anatomy as I am, it's great. It's labeled and broken down into all the cuts of meat. It's in many languages,I chose English, but yay for us, when I click on the English name of the cut I want, it brings up a lovely picture of the cut, plus ta-da!! The name of the cut in German. Love it!

http://www.cma-exportservice.com/content/g...vice_choose.php

If you need some help first getting to exactly what cut of meat you need to begin with : ie: what would be the best cut of beef /lamb etc to use for say.. stewing, or stir fry - you get the idea? I found these two sites:

http://www.certifiedangusbeef.com/chef/cuts.php

http://www.thunderinghooves.net/meats/cuts.htm

They give you the cow/lamb and then tell you which cut to use as well as recipes and tips on how to cook it (These sites are in English.)

And lastly, this is a PDF chart you can save or print, which has the cuts of beef labeled and tagged with what cooking methods they are best used for.

http://www.beef.org/documents/BME_MINI_handout.pdf

I hope this helps.

Thanks, very useful, especially the first one. I've been comparing charts from various books up to now to work it out.

I think the problem remains that the cuts are simply different here, so in many cases you end up getting 'a bit of this and a bit of that' and might have to trim or cut yourself, or get a friendly butcher to do it. This is definitely a good start, though.

I should add that the city is rife with well-trained and friendly butchers. If you tell them what you need they will totally hook you up.

Yeah, but explaining a non-German cut to a butcher trained in German cuts, without specifc pictorials, is exactly the problem

SC - that has to be one of the most useful websites for cooking I have ever seen. Last autumn I succeeded in a Sunday roast chicken but this autumn I want to be more adventurous but didnt have a clue about the other animals until you put up this link.

Thank you loads.

SC : Fantastic work! Have been SO frustrated when buying meat here. Couldn't recognise any of the cuts of meat other than fillet and beef in particular has been so difficult to figure out. Basically all the beef cuts I've come home with so far have turned out to be "Butt of Tough Cow" and have been spectacularly unsuccessful. I'm all porked out and need some real meat to throw on the barbie!

Thanks for saving me further anguish!

Thank you for sharing...

Know the feeling!

My pleasure! I'm glad I could help

Hello
Does anybody know if it is possible to by gammon ham for cooking at home and what it is called? I really miss this and buying thicker cuts of cooked ham at the deli is really expensive.
I tried once to ask at the butchers for ham for cooking myself but I just got a puzzled look and ended up with something which looked more like a big grey pork steak when cooked rather than being pink and flaky.
thanks!
Lissy

Schinkenbraten

Does anyone know how to tell a German Butcher to do a skirt steak for fajitas? (I suppose a flank steak could work too but not sure if they understand that either)..

Thanks Katrina

The CMA site ceased to offer its guide on cuts of meat a while ago, but this site has a wealth of information:

http://en.foodlexicon.org/r0000390.php