Cuts · UK butchery

Sirloin steak

A steak from the loin behind the ribs. The cut where the word 'sirloin' causes the most transatlantic trouble: in Britain it is this premium steak, and in the United States it names a different, cheaper cut from further back.

Known as

The same muscle carries different names in different butchery systems, and some of those names mean different cuts elsewhere. Where a name is ambiguous, BBQHQ says so rather than picking one.

Australia: Porterhouse
In Australian and New Zealand usage this names a boneless sirloin steak; in the US it names a bone-in cut including the fillet. Two systems, one word, different products.
Canada: Striploin
United Kingdom: Sirloin steak
sirloin — retailMeans different cuts in different countries
In Britain, sirloin is the premium loin steak behind the ribs. In the United States, 'sirloin' names a different and cheaper cut from behind the short loin, and the British cut is called strip or New York strip there. Following an American recipe that says 'sirloin' with a British sirloin steak means using a considerably more expensive cut than intended; the reverse means using a tougher one.
New Zealand: Porterhouse
In Australian and New Zealand usage this names a boneless sirloin steak; in the US it names a bone-in cut including the fillet. Two systems, one word, different products.
United States: Striploin

What to ask a butcher for

United Kingdom: Sirloin steak, cut to the thickness you want — the specification does not fix one.

Where it comes from on the animal

Longissimus lumborum (sirloin)
Loin · low use · connective tissue: low
The continuation of the same back muscle behind the ribs. It is the same anatomy the rib eye comes from, which is why 'where does the rib eye stop and the sirloin start' is a butchery question rather than an anatomical one — and why the systems answer it differently.
Muscles: Longissimus lumborum

Asking a butcher for it

Named the way uk butchery names it. If the counter does not recognise the name, the anatomy is the fallback: ask for the cut by where it comes from.

What to say: Sirloin steak.
If that draws a blank: Ask for loin — the muscle is Longissimus lumborum.
What to specify: Thickness, which governs the timing more than weight does — the usual range is 20–30 mm. Typical weight is 200–350 g.

What it is suited to

Derived from how hard the muscle works and how much connective tissue it carries, which is the pairing that decides whether a cut wants a fire under it or beside it. BBQHQ does not rank cuts and does not name a best one.

Low connective tissue: there is nothing here that a long cook would improve. Direct or two-zone heat, taken off at a doneness rather than at a texture, and every extra minute past that point costs moisture.
A supporting muscle that does little work, so it is tender to begin with and has nothing to gain from time.

BBQHQ holds cooking evidence for this cut as sirloin steak.

What to use instead

A substitute is not the same as an equivalent. These are graded, because “yes, use that instead” is the answer that ruins dinners: most real substitutions work only once something about the cook changes.

Strip steak
Workable, once you change the cook
Both are the loin back muscle cut into steaks. Ask for a strip steak or New York strip in the US; asking for 'sirloin' there will get you something from a different primal.
- US 'sirloin' names a cut from BEHIND the short loin, so the same word denotes a different and cheaper cut there.
- AHDB's specification fixes trim (flank at 40 mm from the eye, 25 mm backstrap, 10 mm fat) but explicitly not thickness.
- BBQHQ has read no US specification and cannot confirm the US trim standard.

Asking for it in another country

US butchery: Overlapping cut
Strip steak
Both are the loin back muscle cut into steaks. Ask for a strip steak or New York strip in the US; asking for 'sirloin' there will get you something from a different primal.
What differs
- US 'sirloin' names a cut from BEHIND the short loin, so the same word denotes a different and cheaper cut there.
- AHDB's specification fixes trim (flank at 40 mm from the eye, 25 mm backstrap, 10 mm fat) but explicitly not thickness.
- BBQHQ has read no US specification and cannot confirm the US trim standard.

The UK side of these mappings rests on AHDB’s published cutting specifications, which BBQHQ has read. The US side does not: USDA’s Institutional Meat Purchase Specifications and the Beef Checkoff cut pages both refuse automated access, so no mapping here reaches “same cut” across two butchery systems. See the open question.

Typical size

200–350 g