Five cheap cuts worth more than the steak
2 July 2026 · By Jonas Rieder · Cooking, Value
Shin, cheek, bavette, shoulder and neck. Half the price, twice the flavour, if you give them the time.
The cuts that get expensive are the ones an animal barely uses. The cuts that taste of something are the ones it uses all day. That is the whole rule.
Beef shin. More connective tissue than any other cut, which means more gelatine when you braise it. Three hours in stock and wine and you have osso buco without the price of veal.
Beef cheek. Two small muscles that chew constantly. Braised for four hours they turn silky and glossy. Two cheeks feed four people for the price of one sirloin.
Bavette. The flank, with a loose open grain that soaks up marinade. Cook it hot and fast, rest it long, slice it hard against the grain. Get the slicing wrong and it is rope; get it right and it beats a fillet.
Lamb shoulder. Fattier and more forgiving than leg. Six hours low and it shreds. Nobody has ever complained about lamb shoulder.
Pork neck. Marbled through, almost impossible to dry out. Grill it in thick slices, or braise it whole for ragu.
Ask us at the counter and we will tell you which of these came in this week. They are not always on the board - cheap cuts sell out to people who know.