Flap meat, flap steak. Called bavette d'aloyau in France, this fan-shaped cut is an extension of the T-bone and Porterhouse on the short loin.
Flank. This is a large rectangular cut from the flank section with noticeable fibers running through it. Often used in stir-fries.
Skirt. This cut is also labeled as fajita meat in this country because of its common use in Tex-Mex cooking. There is an inside skirt and an outside skirt. The outside skirt is the diaphragm muscle.
Like skirt or flank steak, flap meat benefits from marinating and being cooked on high, dry heat, whether grilled, broiled, pan-fried or stir-fried. It's vital to cut the meat very thinly across the grain, and it is at its best not too much past medium-rare.
An extension of the T-bone and Porterhouse steaks, flap meat is officially part of the short loin section, explains Bob Fanucchi, known as Butcher Bob by his students at San Francisco's California Culinary Academy.
"It's actually in the belly of the animal," he says. "You remove the flank, take the layers of fat off and the meat is called flap meat."
Even in the United States, there are a few different versions of flap meat. It's often confused with hanger steak, which it's not, and some butchers label it as sirloin tips, which it also is not.
