Pork is a culinary name for meat from a domestic pig. Some of the typical cuts of pork commonly used in food service include: escalopes, chops, steak, fillet, belly and spare ribs.
These cuts may come from several parts of the animal.
An escalope is a piece of boneless meat that has been made thinner and more tender by beating it or by butterflying it. Pork escalopes are from a leg steak, the eye of the loin or sometimes the fillet. They suit dry methods of cooking. Because they are so thin, they cook quickly.
A chop is a small cut of meat, which often includes a part of a rib. Pork chops are cut from several parts of the animal: the loin, the shoulder, and the foreloin. Chops from the shoulder are a bit fattier than chops from the loin. They may be cooked by dry methods such as grilling and pan frying but also suit wet methods, such as braising.
Loin chops
A pork chop is loin cut taken from the middle to rear of the back. Pork chops are leaner than other cuts of pork and suit shallow frying or grilling. They are less tender than the eye fillet.
Steaks may be from the rump, loin (butterflied), shoulder, Scotch (rib eye), blade (forequarter and leg (topside, silverside). They suit dry methods of cooking.
The fillet is also called the tenderloin. It is the inner side of the loin. It is a long, thin piece of muscle. It is very tender and low fat; it is the leanest of all pork cuts. It may be cooked whole or cut into small medallions or butterflied. It suits dry methods of cooking such as roasting, pan frying, grilling or stir frying.
The eye fillet is the tender loin muscle from under the spine. It is the leanest, most tender cut available and the healthiest choice. It can be roasted whole or cut into steaks and cooked quickly on a high heat by shallow frying or grilling.
Spare ribs are from the side of the belly. They are the long rib bones with a covering of meat on the outside and between the ribs. The cartilage is removed. They suit slow roasting and barbecuing, if kept moist by a marinade.
The spare ribs are cut from the lower portion of the pig, specifically the belly and breastbone. They contain more bone than meat, and quite a bit of fat, which means they are not a tender cut and are suited to long slow roasting or barbequing.
As its name suggests, pork belly is cut from the middle. It is the remains after the removal of the loin. It may be bone in, boned and rolled, or cut into slices. It is a tender and fatty cut. It is best cooked by a slow moist method, such as braising, when it becomes succulent and flavoursome.