A Saturday steak should not start as a guessing game. One cut looks like a throwing axe. Another is labelled in French. A third is named after a New York dining room. And the cheaper-looking piece is often the one the butcher takes home.
The best steak is not the biggest bone. It is the cut that matches the table, the heat you can produce, and the texture you like. Get those three things right and a tomahawk steak, a côte de boeuf, a new york strip steak or a bavette steak will all cook as they should. This guide covers where each cut comes from, how a t-bone steak fits the same line-up, and how to cook them at home.
Steak names travel. The same muscle can be sold as ribeye, côte de boeuf or tomahawk depending on how much bone the butcher leaves on. Sirloin can arrive boneless, on a short bone, or as the larger half of a T-bone. Bavette is the French name most UK diners now use for a long, open-grained steak from the flank or plate, we also sell it as skirt steak.
What does not change is the muscle. Rib meat is marbled and rich. Loin meat is firmer and cleaner. Flank and plate meat is leaner, more fibrous, and more flavourful than the price suggests, if you cook it hot and slice it across the grain. The Village Butchers cut these steaks by hand in Essex and send them nationwide from the online shop in insulated boxes that stay fridge-cold for up to 60 hours. Salt Vault 28 takes selected British grass-fed cuts and dry-ages them for at least 28 days in our Himalayan salt-lined chamber. For the science of that process, read why 28 days changes everything. If you are weighing feeding style as well as cut, start with grass-fed vs grain-fed beef.
A tomahawk steak is a thick-cut ribeye with the rib bone left long and French-trimmed. What is tomahawk steak? In short: the same richly marbled rib muscle as a boneless ribeye, plus theatre, a handle on the grill, and a little extra flavour as it cooks. Typical weights sit around 1kg to 1.5kg, which is why this is a sharing cut rather than a Tuesday-night portion.
Choose it when you want a centrepiece you can carry to the table whole, rest, then carve across the grain. Because it is so thick, often around two inches, it rewards a two-stage cook. A screaming-hot pan alone usually overcooks the outside before the middle is ready. Use our grilling versus oven roasting guide, the how to BBQ tomahawk steak method, or Jack’s tomahawk steak recipe. For a smoked finish, there is smoked tomahawk with cowboy butter and dirty-seared tomahawk elote tacos.
If you are still asking whether the bone is worth it, read is tomahawk steak worth the hype. Salt Vault 28 tomahawk steaks are dry-aged on the bone, so the flavour concentrates and the fibres soften. There is also an Icon XB Wagyu tomahawk in the Wagyu range when you want heavier marbling, and Australian grain-fed tomahawks when you want that buttery grain finish.
People ask is côte de boeuf the same as a tomahawk. They are cousins, not twins. Both come from the rib. Both eat like a bone-in ribeye. Côte de boeuf keeps a shorter section of rib bone and is usually cut in a wider range of weights, from a generous single steak up to a sharing piece around a kilo.
That makes it the more flexible rib steak: small enough for two, large enough for four, without needing a barbecue built for a tomahawk. Cook it like a thick ribeye. Dry the surface, salt it, use gentle heat first if it is much thicker than 3–4cm, then sear hard. Follow how to cook côte de boeuf if you want a step-by-step. Butter at the end is optional. A complicated rub is not required. For the dry-aged version, order Salt Vault 28 Côte de Boeuf.
A new york strip steak is cut from the short loin, the same neighbourhood of the carcass that gives you sirloin and the larger side of a T-bone. What is New York strip steak? In American steakhouses it is the strip loin: a tight, beefy steak with a band of fat along one edge and less intramuscular marbling than ribeye. The flavour is cleaner and more “steak” than buttery.
Ours are bone-in pieces of around 450–550g, a proper plate steak for one, or two with sides. The even thickness is kinder to a frying pan than a tomahawk. Get the pan smoking hot, sear both faces, stand it on the fat edge for a minute, then baste with butter, garlic and thyme if you want the steakhouse finish. It takes a peppercorn sauce without disappearing underneath it. If you want a leaner loin option still, there is also fillet steak and Salt Vault 28 sirloin.
A bavette steak looks less expensive because it is. It is also the cut many butchers take home. Cut from the flank or plate, it has a loose, open grain and a deep, almost mineral beef flavour. We sell it as a whole piece of around 900g to 1.1kg — enough to slice for four, or to feed a crowd.
Bavette is not fillet. Cook it hot and fast, a few minutes per side on a smoking grill or pan — and stop at medium-rare to medium. Well done tightens the fibres and wastes the cut. Rest, then slice thinly across the grain. That last step is not optional. Then use it as a board steak, or take it into bavette chimichurri sandwiches, bavette steak nachos or Monterey and roasted red pepper spirals. Other open-grained cuts in the same spirit include picanha and tri-tip with chimichurri.
A T-bone steak is the compromise that is not a compromise. Taken from the short loin, the T-shaped bone separates a strip of sirloin on one side from a smaller piece of fillet on the other. Most sit between about 500g and 1kg, so they work for one very hungry person or two sharing.
Compared with a tomahawk, a T-bone is smaller and easier to pan-cook. Compared with a New York strip, you also get the fillet. Keep the fillet side off the fiercest heat; give the thicker sirloin edge a little longer. For a direct head-to-head, read is T-bone or tomahawk steak better. Dry-aged and Salt Vault 28 T-bone steaks add the deeper flavour that only time on the bone produces.
Use the occasion, not the photograph.
Thickness matters as much as the name. A thin bavette wants fierce, short heat. A 1.2kg tomahawk wants patience. If you only have a domestic frying pan and a short evening, buy the New York strip or a smaller côte de boeuf. If you have a barbecue with a lid, browse BBQ steaks and the wider BBQ meats range. For a wider view of what people buy, see what’s the most popular type of steak. The full beef steak cuts tray and the rest of the beef range sit behind those choices, including Salt Vault 28 ribeye if you want the rib flavour without the long bone.
Four habits ruin good steak: cooking it fridge-cold, leaving the surface wet, guessing the centre, and cutting too soon. Take thicker steaks out of the fridge 45–90 minutes before they hit the heat. Pat them dry. Use a thermometer, colour on the outside is not a map of the middle. Keep BBQ beef cooking times and the cooking methods pages open if you want a wider reference or go through the recipes hub.
Working temperatures after a short rest:
Bavette is happiest at the lower end. A thick tomahawk or large Côte de boeuf should be reverse-seared: cook gently at around 120°C until 8–10°C below target, rest briefly, then sear hard. A New York strip, a T-bone and most bavette portions only need a smoking-hot pan or a two-zone barbecue; hot side for colour, cooler side to finish. Oil the meat, not a cold pan. Turn once or twice, not every twenty seconds.
Resting is part of the cook. Give a strip or T-bone 5–10 minutes; a tomahawk or large Côte de boeuf 10–15. Loose foil keeps heat without steaming the crust. Carve tomahawk and Côte de boeuf off the bone, then slice across the grain. Slice bavette thinly against the grain or it turns stringy. Serve strip and T-bone whole, then slice at the board. Chips, a green salad, mushrooms and tomatoes are enough. Salt Vault 28 beef already carries concentrated flavour, salt and pepper is the honest seasoning.
Shop the steak tray first, then step up to Salt Vault 28 when you want the deeper, drier end of the same cuts. If you would rather a mixed box than a single steak, look at meat boxes, the Head Butcher’s Signature Box or the grass-fed steak sampler. Special offers rotate on larger cuts. Orders over £85 travel free; packing and timings are on the shipping page. They freeze well if you are stocking the weekend in advance, see the FAQ if you are new to ordering online, or why buy from an online butchers.
If you are unsure which cut to buy, contact the team on 0330 229 2881. That is the part of the high-street counter we kept. Fresh ideas also go up on the news page.
