Cuts · US butchery
Coulotte
The American name for the rump cap. Three systems, three names, one muscle — and the names disagree about which primal it belongs to, which is why the anatomical record is the thing that holds them together.
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.
- United States
- Coulotte
- Top sirloin cap
- Sirloin cap
- Culotte
A common spelling variant.
- sirloin — retailMeans different cuts in different countries
US 'sirloin' denotes cuts from the sirloin primal behind the short loin, of which the top sirloin cap (coulotte) is the one BBQHQ holds a record for. It is NOT the British sirloin steak, which Americans call strip or New York strip.
Where it comes from on the animal
Biceps femoris cap and fat layer
Hindquarter, rump · moderate use · connective tissue: moderate
The cap muscle over the rump with its fat layer. AHDB's specification separates it along the natural seam between it and the main rump muscle — so the separation is standard British practice, and what differs between systems is how much fat is left on it.
Muscles: Biceps femoris (cap)
Asking a butcher for it
Named the way us 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
- Coulotte, or Top sirloin cap (US), Sirloin cap (US) depending where you are.
- If that draws a blank
- Ask for hindquarter, rump — the muscle is Biceps femoris (cap).
- What to specify
- Typical weight is 0.9–1.4 kg.
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.
- Moderate connective tissue: it will take either approach, and the two give genuinely different results rather than one being a compromise.
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.
Workable, once you change the cook
IMPS 184D and AHDB Rump V003 describe the same muscle taken off along the same natural seam. Ask a British butcher for the rump cap, or picanha — AHDB's own specification uses that word.
- Booked to the top sirloin butt in the US and to the rump in the UK.
- AHDB caps fat at 15 mm; IMPS 184D leaves fat to the purchase specification.
Asking for it in another country
UK butchery: Overlapping cut
IMPS 184D and AHDB Rump V003 describe the same muscle taken off along the same natural seam. Ask a British butcher for the rump cap, or picanha — AHDB's own specification uses that word.
What differs
- Booked to the top sirloin butt in the US and to the rump in the UK.
- AHDB caps fat at 15 mm; IMPS 184D leaves fat to the purchase specification.
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
0.9–1.4 kg