Comparisons · Two cuts
Rib eye steak or Sirloin steak
The steak comparison. BBQHQ can tell you how the two differ in thickness, in the windows its evidence gives and in what tends to go wrong with each; it holds nothing about marbling, so it does not pretend to settle the argument people are usually having.
What each one is
Rib eye steak
A whole-muscle cut whose interior was sterile before it was cut, which is why a culinary endpoint below the pasteurisation temperature is a legitimate choice here and nowhere near it for mince.
Sirloin steak
The British loin steak, with a fat edge that wants rendering rather than avoiding. AHDB times it by thickness and doneness, which makes it the best-evidenced steak in the catalogue.
Where they overlap
- Both are beef.
- Both are the same food form, so the same safety rules apply to each.
What actually differs
| Aspect | Rib eye steak | Sirloin steak |
|---|---|---|
| Typical weight | 250–400 g | 200–350 g |
| Typical thickness Thickness governs timing more than weight or cut name does — Weber's own chart roughly triples the time between a one-inch and a two-inch steak. | 20–50 mm | 20–30 mm |
| What BBQHQ's evidence gives for time Windows from the cooking profiles, at the conditions each profile states. They are not comparable to the minute — the profiles differ in cooker and configuration — and are shown to give the scale. | 10–18 minutes | 5–12 minutes |
| How it is usually cooked | two-zone fire, indirect heat, direct heat | direct heat |
Can one stand in for the other?
Workable, once you change the cook
You can use one for the other. The cook changes, and the changes are below — do not carry the timing across unaltered.
What has to change
- BBQHQ's evidence gives these two materially different cooking windows, so the time moves even where the method does not. Take the window for the one you are actually cooking and probe towards it.