Cuts · US butchery
Lamb leg center-cut steak, bone-in
IMPS item 1233E, which must show a cross-section of the femur — and no other bone — on both faces of the steak. Recorded because it is the half of the American leg-steak family that Britain does not have.
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
- Lamb leg center-cut steak, bone-in
Where it comes from on the animal
Lamb leg
Hindquarter · high use · connective tissue: moderate
Leaner and less collagenous than the shoulder. Cut into steaks it grills fast; left whole it is a long indirect cook.
Muscles: Biceps femoris, Semimembranosus, Quadriceps femoris
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
- Lamb leg center-cut steak, bone-in.
- If that draws a blank
- Ask for hindquarter — the muscle is Biceps femoris, Semimembranosus, Quadriceps femoris.
- What to specify
- Thickness, which governs the timing more than weight does — the usual range is 20–30 mm. Typical weight is 180–300 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.
- Moderate connective tissue: it will take either approach, and the two give genuinely different results rather than one being a compromise.
- A hard-working muscle, which is why it carries the tissue it does and why it rewards patience.
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.
No cut in UK butchery corresponds
Not a substitute for this
AHDB's leg steak specification (L017) is boneless by definition, so British retail has no standing equivalent to a bone-in leg steak. A butcher will cut one across the leg to order; it is simply not a specified product.
Asking for it in another country
UK butchery: No direct equivalent
AHDB's leg steak specification (L017) is boneless by definition, so British retail has no standing equivalent to a bone-in leg steak. A butcher will cut one across the leg to order; it is simply not a specified product.
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
180–300 g