How to Cut Meat Against the Grain: Cutting a Piece of Meat

The grain of the meat refers to the muscle fibers and the direction in which they run. Certain cuts of meat have more distinct grains—typically the tougher cuts of meat, such as flank steak, hanger steak, brisket, and skirt steak. More tender cuts of meat, like beef tenderloin and filet mignon, have finer grains. Ribeye, sirloin, and T-bone cuts have more fat marbling than other beef cuts, making it harder to distinguish their grains. There is no difference in the direction of the grain across various cuts of meat. To find the grain on any piece of meat, look for somewhat uniform, long muscle fibers running down and through an entire piece of meat. The muscle fibers run parallel to one another.

Many recipes instruct you to cut meat against the grain prior to cooking or serving it. The main goal of this is to break the meat’s tough muscle fibers, rendering it more tender. Cutting meat against the grain is most important for dishes that undergo a fairly quick cooking process. Cut raw meat against the grain before making a stir-fry or searing meat for fajitas. Slow-cooking methods inherently do a good job of breaking down meat’s muscle fibers. Therefore, it’s usually unnecessary to cut meat against the grain prior to slow-cooking it. Brisket, pork loin, ribs, and prime rib are all cuts of meat that cook slowly.

To cut meat against the grain means to cut across the muscle fibers, making them shorter to produce more tender meat. Here are the steps for cutting meat against the grain:

1. 1. Start with raw meat. The muscle fibers of meat are usually less visible after the meat cooks, the fat renders, and the muscle fibers break down. However, some cuts of steak have grains that you can easily see even after you’ve cooked them.
2. 2. Find the grain. Put the piece of meat on a cutting board so the edges of the steak are parallel with the edges of the cutting board. This means the grain should also run parallel to the edge of the cutting board.
3. 3. Cut against the grain. To slice meat against the grain, take a sharp knife to the grain, cutting across it. To ensure you have cut steak against the grain, examine your first slice to make sure you can still see the parallel lines of muscle. The goal is to make the fibers shorter, but the end result should still have multiple parallel lines of muscle fibers. To cut meat with the grain would keep the entire muscle fiber intact, making the meat chewy if not tough.

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