The plate of beef is a forequarter cut from the belly of the cow, just below the rib cut. It is typically a cheap, tough and fatty meat. It is used for two kinds of steak: skirt steak and the hanger steak.

The loose grain and intensely beefy taste of skirt steak—the long diaphragm muscle of the steer—most often makes its appearance in the Tex-Mex favorite fajitas.

Hanger steak: The meat of these steaks has deep, satisfying flavor, but, as with other coarse-grained cuts like flank and skirt, it can be chewy if cooked past medium rare.

Excerps: Molly Stevens, author of All About Braising (W. W. Norton, 2004).