Cut · Round, a name for a method

London broil (top round)

London broil is a way of cooking beef, not a cut: a thick, lean steak marinated, broiled or grilled over high heat to rare or medium-rare and carved in thin slices across the grain. It began with flank steak; in American shops today the label almost always means top round, the large inside muscle of the hind leg that Britain and Australia call topside. The name is American: there is no London dish of that name.

Also known as: top round · inside round · topside · Nalga · nalga de adentroLast reviewed 25 Oct 202612 sources

A preparation that became a label

The phrase describes the cooking: "broil" is the American word for cooking under or over direct, intense heat, and the dish is a broiled steak sliced thin. The first meat used for it was flank steak. The American cookery writer James Beard noted in 1974 that, until a few years earlier, London broil had meant only grilled flank, and that supermarkets were by then selling top round, sirloin and other cuts under the same name. In British English the term is rarely used.

Today a package labelled London broil in a US supermarket is usually a top round steak 4–5 cm (1½–2 in) thick, sometimes a piece of top sirloin, shoulder or bottom round. The USDA's descriptions of retail cuts list London broil among the common names of the top round steak, together with round steak and minute steak.

Top round: the inside of the leg

The round is the hind leg, and the top round (IMPS 168, inside round) is its largest single muscle group, on the inner side of the thigh: the semimembranosus with the adductor alongside it, sold with or without its thin cap (IMPS 169, cap off). It is one of the leanest pieces of the carcass, with long, even fibres and very little intramuscular fat. That makes it easy to slice neatly and affordable, and it also means it dries out and toughens quickly if cooked past medium.

In other countries the same piece is the British and Australian topside, the Argentine nalga (or nalga de adentro), the Mexican cara or pulpa negra, the Spanish tapa, the Chilean posta negra, the Brazilian coxão mole and the French tende de tranche. Next to it in the round sit the bottom round, the eye of round and the knuckle.

How to cook London broil

1. Choose a top round steak 3–5 cm (1¼–2 in) thick, so the outside can brown while the centre stays pink.
2. Marinate it for 4–12 hours in oil, salt and an acid (vinegar, wine, citrus) with garlic or soy. Salt seasons and helps the surface hold moisture; the acid only acts on the outer millimetres.
3. Dry the surface well and bring the meat out of the fridge 30 minutes before cooking.
4. Broil it 8–10 cm (3–4 in) below a very hot oven grill, or over direct heat on a barbecue, turning once, until the centre reads 52–54 °C / 126–129 °F for medium-rare.
5. Rest it for 10 minutes; it will rise to about 54–57 °C / 129–135 °F.
6. Carve it in slices 3–5 mm thick, across the grain and at a 45° angle to the board. Thin, angled slices cut the long fibres short, which is what makes a lean cut feel tender.

Why it can be tough

Top round has almost no marbling to keep it moist, so the window between juicy and dry is narrow: above 60 °C / 140 °F the fibres squeeze out their water and the meat turns firm and grainy. A marinade does not rescue an overcooked London broil, and slicing with the grain leaves long strands to chew. A thermometer and a sharp knife do most of the work. Very thick pieces cook more evenly with the reverse sear: low heat until about 10 °C / 18 °F below the target, then a short, very hot sear. The same piece roasted whole and sliced paper-thin is the classic deli roast beef.

What a kilo gives

In the USDA's cooking-yield study, top round steaks trimmed to 3 mm (⅛ in) of fat kept on average 72 % of their raw weight when broiled or grilled (20 samples, 62–83 %). A kilo of raw London broil therefore gives about 720 g of sliced meat. The lean carries about 23 g of protein and 3–5 g of fat per 100 g raw, which puts top round under the US definition of "extra lean" (less than 5 g of fat per 100 g).

Names around the world

24

The same muscle, named by language and by trade system.

English	London broil · top round · inside round · topside
Español	Nalga · nalga de adentro · pulpa negra · tapa · posta negra
Tiếng Việt	Nạc mông bò (top round)
Português	Coxão mole · chã de dentro
Français	Tende de tranche
Italiano	Fesa
Deutsch	Oberschale
日本語	内もも (uchimomo)
한국어	우둔살 (udunsal)

All the cuts' names, country by country →

Trade and national systems

System	Name	Reference
United States	Top round · inside round · London broil (thick top round steak) · top round roast	IMPS 168 / 169 · 1168
United Kingdom	Topside	USMEF 2013 · AHDB
Australia / NZ	Topside · inside	USMEF 2013 · HAM
Argentina	Nalga de adentro · nalga	USMEF 2013
Mexico	Cara · pulpa negra	USMEF 2013
Spain	Tapa	USMEF 2013
Colombia · Peru	Centro de pierna (Colombia) · tapa (Peru)	USMEF 2013
Chile	Posta negra	USMEF 2013
Brazil	Coxão mole · coxão de dentro	USMEF 2013
France	Tende de tranche	USMEF 2013
Italy	Fesa interna	USMEF 2013
Germany	Oberschale	USMEF 2013
Japan	内もも (uchimomo) · トップラウンド (US import)	JMGA · USMEF 2013
Korea	우둔살 (udunsal)	USMEF 2013
Vietnam	Nạc mông · đùi trong (approx.)

Frequently asked questions

Sources

12

1. USDA Agricultural Marketing Service. Institutional Meat Purchase Specifications: Fresh Beef Series 100. Washington, DC, 2014. www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/IMPS_100_Fresh_Beef%5B1%5D.pdf
2. North American Meat Institute. The Meat Buyer's Guide, 8th ed. Washington, DC, 2014.
3. AUS-MEAT Limited. Handbook of Australian Meat, 7th ed. (International Red Meat Manual). Brisbane, 2005. www.ausmeat.com.au
4. Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (UK). Beef Meat Purchasing Guide. Kenilworth, 2016. ahdb.org.uk
5. Japan Meat Grading Association. Beef Carcass Grading Standard. Tokyo, 1988 (rev. 2014). www.jmga.or.jp
6. McGee, Harold. On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, rev. ed. New York: Scribner, 2004.
7. Beard, James. Beard on Food. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1974.
8. USDA Agricultural Research Service, Nutrient Data Laboratory. Beef retail cuts: descriptions and common names (Retail Beef Cuts). Beltsville, MD.
9. Huerta-Leidenz, Nelson. International Nomenclature Guide of Beef Cuts for the U.S.A. and Other Countries Targeted by the U.S. Meat Export Federation. Denver: U.S. Meat Export Federation, 2013. www.usa-beef.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/1064.GUIDE_beef-cuts_ingl%C3%A9s_09oct13.pdf
10. Showell, B. A.; Williams, J. R.; Duvall, M.; Howe, J. C.; Patterson, K. Y.; Roseland, J. M.; Holden, J. M. USDA Table of Cooking Yields for Meat and Poultry. Beltsville, MD: USDA Agricultural Research Service, Nutrient Data Laboratory, 2012. www.ars.usda.gov/ARSUserFiles/80400525/Data/retn/USDA_CookingYields_MeatPoultry.pdf
11. USDA Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, SR Legacy (National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference). Beltsville, MD, 2019. fdc.nal.usda.gov
12. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. 21 CFR 101.62(e), nutrient content claims: "lean" and "extra lean" for meat. www.ecfr.gov/current/title-21/chapter-I/subchapter-B/part-101/subpart-D/section-101.62

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