Buying guide · Two steaks from the shoulder

Denver steak vs flat iron steak

Denver steak and flat iron are both steaks from the chuck, but from different muscles: the Denver is cut from the serratus ventralis under the shoulder blade and is the more marbled of the two, while the flat iron is cut from the infraspinatus on the blade and is the more tender. Either is grilled hot to medium-rare and sliced thin across the grain, so in the kitchen they can usually stand in for each other.

Buying guides written to the same standard as the rest of Steakpedia: tested or sourced, never ranked by payment. Some links may earn a commission, which never changes what we recommend.

Also known as: Denver steak vs flat iron · Denver steak và flat iron (lõi vai)Last reviewed Nov. 2, 20267 sources

Where does each one come from?

Both are single muscles taken out of the chuck, the shoulder of the animal. They were traditionally ground or sold inside chuck roasts, and became steaks when meat scientists profiled the muscles of the chuck and round one by one in the early 2000s.

The Denver steak is the serratus ventralis, a broad, fan-shaped muscle that connects the shoulder blade to the ribs. It lies underneath the blade, in the part of the chuck that American butchers call the under blade (IMPS 116G), below the chuck eye. The flat iron is the infraspinatus, a muscle on the outer face of the shoulder blade, specified in the US as the top blade (IMPS 114D). The two sit on opposite sides of the blade bone. The chuck as a whole is described in Chuck roast.

How do they compare side by side?

Both are cut about 2 cm / ¾ in thick and cook in minutes. The differences are in the muscle, the marbling and the tenderness.

Which names mean which cut?

Both are young as retail cuts, so their names do not match from country to country. The Denver is also called Denver cut, under blade steak or chuck under blade center steak in the United States, and Denver steak in the UK, where the AHDB lists it as Chuck B025. In Argentina and Australia the muscle stays inside the larger shoulder cuts, the aguja and the chuck, and is not sold on its own.

The flat iron is the top blade in the United States. In Britain the whole infraspinatus is the feather blade, in Australia the oyster blade, in Japan misuji and in Korea buchaesal. “Denver” and “flat iron” are marketing names: the first says nothing about where the cut comes from, and the second refers to the shape of an old pressing iron.

What is the sinew about?

The infraspinatus has a thick band of connective tissue running lengthwise through its middle. Sliced across, as in an old-style top blade steak, every slice has a line of gristle. The flat iron is the result of a different cut: the muscle is opened lengthwise along the sinew and the sinew lifted off, leaving two flat, rectangular pieces of clean meat. A properly cut flat iron shows no line of gristle; one with a line of sinew across the middle is the older cross-cut and cooks differently.

The Denver has no such band, but it does need its heavy outer fat trimmed and, like the flat iron, its silverskin removed, or it cooks unevenly.

How is each one cooked and sliced?

Both are grilling steaks. Over high heat, charcoal or wood or in a heavy pan, a flat iron takes roughly 3–4 minutes a side and tastes right at rare to medium-rare, pulled at 52–54 °C / 126–129 °F and rested for about 5 minutes. A Denver of 2–2.5 cm / ¾–1 in cooks in a few minutes a side, is taken off at about 54 °C / 129 °F, and also rises a few degrees while resting. Neither improves past medium.

Both are sliced across the grain after resting. For the Denver this matters more, because its grain changes direction across the muscle and thick or with-the-grain slices feel chewy; sliced thin, the same steak is tender and juicy. Both take marinades well and slice thin for stir-fries and Asian table grilling.

Which one for which dish?

Choose the flat iron for a steak served whole or in strips where tenderness comes first: even thickness, a flat surface that browns well and a fine texture. Choose the Denver for flavor from marbling: from a well-marbled animal it can rival a chuck eye.

For most recipes they can swap, with the Denver watched more closely for slicing direction and the flat iron for overcooking. For slow cooking rather than grilling, the same region gives the chuck roasts these muscles are cut from.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

7

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. National Cattlemen's Beef Association, for the Beef Checkoff. Denver Steak (Beef. It's What's For Dinner, cut guide). www.beefitswhatsfordinner.com/cuts/cut/2985/denver-steak
6. McGee, Harold. On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, rev. ed. New York: Scribner, 2004.
7. Von Seggern, D. D.; Calkins, C. R.; Johnson, D. D.; Brickler, J. E.; Gwartney, B. L. "Muscle profiling: characterizing the muscles of the beef chuck and round." Meat Science 71, No. 1 (2005): 39–51.