What's This? What's This?

In this series, "What's This? What's This? I will display various items to learn about and how to use them. In this post, I'll discuss cuts of meat and explain what it is, where it comes from and different ways to prepare it.
       These are called T-bone and Porterhouse steaks. A genius customer once asked me if they could purchase a boneless T-bone...No and never come back I replied. I didn't really say that, but keep reading so you don't make the same mistake of asking a foolish question when choosing steaks.

Name:Porterhouse/T-bone
Price: 10$ per pound (on average)
Prepare: 1 1/2" thick medium rare, On the grill! Make sure it is at least a grade of USDA Choice.

The highlighted section called the short loin is where T-bone and Porterhouse steaks come from. Notice that the short loin is in the middle of the back. The meat found in this area is usually the most tender because most animals don't use their back muscles very often. In contrast, the shank portion would be very tough because the muscles are used a lot and in return has more fibers to make it stronger. Middle meats (from the back) tend to have less muscle fibers which make them more tender.

This is a short loin.

 The difference between a Porterhouse and T-bone is the size of the Tenderloin filet (Filet Mignon). Notice the red circle, the tenderloin is very large. That's a porterhouse.

As the short loin gets cut further down, the tenderloin gets smaller. A smaller tenderloin like above is a T-bone.

The red line form the bone in the porterhouse "T". On each side of the bone are two steaks. The blue side is the New York Strip steak and the orange side is the Filet Mignon. A porterhouse contains two completely different steaks divided by the bone. A porterhouse combines the best of both worlds. Couples often split a porterhouse and the man gets to eat the big New York Strip while the women eats the tender Filet.

From top to bottom; (2)Porterhouse, T-bone and a bone in New York Strip fully trimmed and ready to grill. 

What to look for in a steak; Blue shows the grizzle, not edible and tough like rubber. Yellow shows the marbling, which is very thin lines of fat that helps give the meat great flavor. Black shows the fat, don't confuse this with marbling. The marbling is not thick and looks like little tree limbs, the thick fat can still be good in some instances but this fat on the porterhouse is of no use except cracklings.