How to Cut Steak Against the Grain to Prevent Chewy Meat

If you’ve followed just about any steak recipe, chances are you’ve come across instructions to slice the meat against the grain. 

Why is this step so important, you might ask? It all has to do with the alignment of muscle fibers and how they break down when you chew them. Any type of meat — including poultry, pork, and seafood — contains muscle fibers. Beef typically has the most pronounced alignment of fibers; this is also known as the grain.

“By cutting against the grain you are ensuring that [each piece has] the smallest possible length of muscle fiber,” says Greg Garrison, executive chef of Repeal 33 in Savannah, Georgia. Simply put, smaller muscle fibers are easier to chew than larger ones. This is especially important for slightly tougher cuts like flank steak, skirt steak, picanha, and brisket. 

Slicing your meat perpendicular to the direction of the muscle fibers is almost always going to ensure the most tender portions of steak. (We say almost because there are exceptions to this rule, as you’ll learn below.) It’s also why you can cook a perfectly seared, restaurant-worthy steak and still end up with a tough, chewy mouthful.

Here’s how to slice against the grain so your hard work doesn’t go to waste.

How to identify the grain of a steak

The best way to identify the direction of the grain on a steak is to look at it raw. Depending on the cut, the parallel lines will be quite obvious or slightly perceptible. “Different cuts of steak have different-size muscle fibers, but in general they tend to be on the longer side,” Garrison says.

Generally, cuts from more active muscles — such as hanger, skirt, or flank —  have very distinct long parallel lines. Other cuts of steak — like filet mignon, rib-eye, and strip steaks — tend to have finer grains because they come from muscles that are not overly active. (Some of these naturally tender steaks are even butchered so the grain runs vertically, ensuring that each bite is delicate.)

Whatever cut you have on hand, pay attention to the long parallel lines before you start cooking so that you’ll remember which way you need to slice your steak after it’s properly seared and rested. If, after cooking and resting the steak, you still aren’t sure which way the grain runs, you can gently pull on it to find where it naturally wants to separate. Follow this natural separation for the grain and be sure to slice against it with your knife.

What to do when there are multiple grains

What do you do when there is no definable grain structure, or the grain seems to change throughout the steak (as with tri-tip)? You can try identifying some basic grain structure and slicing perpendicular to it at a 45-degree angle to ensure those muscle fibers are as small as possible.

“My general rule of thumb when there are multiple layers of meat with different directions of muscle fibers is to choose the larger groups or larger fibers to cut against the grain,” Garrison says. If the change in the grain is easily noticeable, however, simply slice against it as usual — you’ll just need to alter the direction as you slice.

Should you always cut against the grain?

There are exceptions to every rule. If you are butchering a larger cut of beef (such as a primal cut) into individual steaks, you’ll want to avoid cutting against the grain. “Generally, when butchering larger cuts into smaller steaks, or primal into sub primals, you want to follow the natural structure of the muscle groups,” Garrison says.

For braised, slow-roasted, or smoked beef like barbacoa, where you want more of a pulled final product, cutting against the grain could actually cause the meat to fall apart and create an unpleasant texture. You “lose some of the texture inherent with that type of preparation,” Garrison adds. So if you’re making a recipe like shredded beef for a taco bar, pull (or shred) the beef with the grain — not against.