Round steak
A round steak is a beef steak from the "round", the rear end of the cow. The round is divided into cuts including the eye round, bottom round, and top round, with or without the "round" bone, and may include the knuckle, depending on how the round is separated from the loin. This is a lean cut and it is moderately tough. Lack of fat and marbling makes round dry out when cooked with dry-heat cooking methods like roasting or grilling. Round steak is commonly marinated when grilled, and prepared with slow moist-heat methods indoors such as braising, to tenderize the meat and maintain moisture. The cut is typically sliced thin for serving, and is popular as jerky.
Topside and silverside
topside and silverside together are roughly equivalent to the American round cut. New Zealand cuts also use these terms.Dishes
- Biltong – air-dried beef cured with vinegar, salt, and coriander; made preferentially with round steak
- Bresaola – air-dried salted beef made with round steak
- London broil – bias-cut roasted steak, commonly made with round steak
- Italian beef – thinly sliced round steak cooked in stock
- Rinderbraten – round steak stuffed with pork fat and spices
- Steak and Guinness pie – round steak with Guinness stout, bacon, and onions, in pie crust
- Tafelspitz – Austrian dish of boiled veal, prepared from the top part of the round
- Jangjorim – Korean dish of eye of round boiled down in soy sauce, commonly with braised quail eggs or shishito pepper
Common preparations
- Ground round or beef mince – a type of ground beef made from round steak and trimmings from the primal round; this is also the name of a U.S. restaurant chain, Ground Round
- Accordion cut – cutting on alternating sides and stretching to make a thinner overall steak
- Butterflying – cutting through the center, leaving a small hinge of meat, and unfolding to create a thinner steak
- Swiss steak – preparing by making a series of small cuts with a bladed roller or pounding flat, also called Swissing, cubing or tenderizing