Language of Food: Sirloin

You'll have to excuse me if I get a bit emotional about this particular word. I don't think any meat-related word evokes such an emotion in people as Sirloin, except maybe for ribeye. The language of the cow here can be a convoluted place, and the sirloin tends to be one of those areas where people get a little bit confused. And rightly so. Advertisers market the sirloin as the wonderful piece of meat ... so juicy and delicious and so moist and tender.

Problems arise when restaurants jack up the price of sirloin when they paid beans for it. The sirloin is a cheap cut of meat, but since the markets have "told" us that it's wonderful, the demand is high and therefore the cost is high.

But none of that is to say that the sirloin is bad. I happen to love sirloin. If you get a cut of meat from the right area of the loin, you'll have yourself a very nice steak.

According to legend (probably the original urban legend), this cut of meat was knighted by an English king who loved fine dining. In actuality, the term sirloin comes from the Middle French Surlonge With Sur meaning over and longe meaning loin. If you look at a diagram of a cow, you'll see the the sirloin is on top, or "over" the loin. Over time, the word evolved to its modern spelling, but the meaning is the same.