Bavette steak substitutes

The nearest supermarket cut and the easiest swap. Same long open grain, same thin flat shape, same three-to-four-minutes-a-side cooking, and it takes a marinade just as greedily. The difference is fat: flank is leaner than bavette, so it eats a little firmer and less juicy and is less forgiving if you take it past medium-rare. Cook it hard and fast, rest it five minutes, and slice it very thin against the grain. In tacos, fajitas or a steak salad, most people will not notice a swap has happened.

Best for

fajitas, tacos, steak salads, grilling, stir fry

Marinate 2 to 8 hours. Flank benefits from acid and oil more than bavette does.

The most intensely flavoured of the group, which is why it is the traditional cut for carne asada and arrachera. Even looser-grained than bavette and thinner, so it cooks in as little as two minutes a side over ferocious heat and chars beautifully. It is also chewier, with a more pronounced fibrous pull, and there is a membrane on outside skirt that must be trimmed. Buy inside skirt for tenderness or outside skirt for the best flavour, and slice it thin at an angle.

Best for

carne asada, tacos, fajitas, very high heat grilling

Do not cook it low or slow. Skirt is at its best charred outside and rare within.

The cut bavette is nicknamed after, since faux hanger means false hanger, and the closest match in every respect: deeply beefy, loose-grained, tender, and a bistro standard for steak frites. There is only one hanger per animal, so it is not always available and it costs more than flank. It has a tough central sinew that has to be cut out, leaving two long strips. Cook to 130F, no more, and slice across the grain.

Best for

steak frites, pan-searing with a shallot sauce, bistro cooking, grilling

Ask the butcher to remove the central sinew, or split it yourself before cooking.

Well marbled and genuinely tender, with a rich sweet beefiness close to bavette's. The grain is much finer and tighter, so it eats smoother and less chewy, which some cooks prefer and which does mean it holds less marinade on the surface. It is a similar thickness and cooks in the same two to three minutes a side. A reliable, widely stocked, good-value choice if the loose fibrous texture is not the specific thing you were after.

Best for

pan-searing, grilling, sliced steak plates, good value

Buy it with the central gristle line already trimmed out.

Worth knowing that flap meat and sirloin flap are the same thing as bavette under different labels, so before substituting anything, ask the butcher for flap meat, since many American shops carry it and simply do not use the French name. If none is available, a top sirloin steak cut thin at three quarters of an inch is a decent stand-in: beefy and firm, but with a tighter grain and less fat, so it is drier and needs slicing very thin and a butter or chimichurri finish.

Best for

grilling, steak sandwiches, when the butcher uses a different name

Always ask for flap meat, bavette, sirloin flap and vacio by all four names before giving up.

Both come from the same general sirloin region and share bavette's forthright beef flavour, with picanha's fat cap giving extra richness. They are thicker, more roast-shaped pieces, so cook them whole to 130F and then slice thin rather than treating them as a flat steak. Tri-tip's grain changes direction halfway along, so cut it in two at the bend and slice each half separately. Both are excellent value and hold up to chimichurri and salsa exactly as bavette does.

Best for

grilling for a group, chimichurri and salsa verde, Brazilian style, budget cooking

Cook whole then slice. Trying to cut them into thin steaks first wastes their advantage.