# Help me ID/translate this cut of beef from German **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 10, 2014, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-translate-this-cut-of-beef-from-german/681001 "2014-02-10T20:26:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Moe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moe/32/2972_2.png) [@Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moe)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-translate-this-cut-of-beef-from-german/681001/1 "2014-02-10T20:26:11Z")
The German word is _Rindersuppenfleisch_ which literally means “beef soup meat”. Of course based on that I have enough info to know what to do with it. (In fact I bought it specifically for the crockpot), but I’d like to know at least something more specific about it, mainly because I like to do research and I like to learn about food. I was able to figure out the last one I bought (_Rinderbeinscheibe = “cross cut shank” IIRC_), but this one seems more difficult because it doesn’t translate to a specific body part. [Here’s the exact product in question.](http://www.lidl.de/de/Oldenlaender/Oldenlaender-Frisches-Rindersuppenfleisch) ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-translate-this-cut-of-beef-from-german/681001/2 "2014-02-10T20:35:08Z")
Beef in German soup is mostly shank or short rib…is that a beef shank I see there? ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-translate-this-cut-of-beef-from-german/681001/3 "2014-02-10T20:45:49Z")
> [@](#): > > Suppenfleisch (engl. Boiling meat / Meat for soups, franz. Pot-au-feu) ist ein Stück vom Rindfleisch das meist aus der Querrippe, dem Brustkern oder der Buglende geschnitten ist. Hmmm, according to a random internet site, it could be short rib, brisket or shoulder. I’m clearly no help here. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-translate-this-cut-of-beef-from-german/681001/4 "2014-02-10T21:09:47Z")
Looks like half of a bottom round to me. Like they kept the large roast from the other side as a roast and made steaks out of the rest. ---
**Author:** ![Moe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moe/32/2972_2.png) [@Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moe)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-translate-this-cut-of-beef-from-german/681001/5 "2014-02-10T21:10:33Z")
Well, I do appreciate the effort 🙂 Anyone else wanna take a stab? (directed to **Maserschmidt** ) ---
**Author:** ![Moe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moe/32/2972_2.png) [@Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moe)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-translate-this-cut-of-beef-from-german/681001/6 "2014-02-10T21:25:50Z")
> [@sitchensis](#): > > Looks like half of a bottom round to me. Like they kept the large roast from the other side as a roast and made steaks out of the rest. Tried to get some sort of confirmation from some quick googling (also compared an image search of one to the other). I have no idea. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-translate-this-cut-of-beef-from-german/681001/7 "2014-02-10T21:27:04Z")
> [@sitchensis](#): > > Looks like half of a bottom round to me. Like they kept the large roast from the other side as a roast and made steaks out of the rest. Yeah, it’s really hard to tell, but it doesn’t really look like brisket, shoulder, short rib, or shank to me. I think some variation of round or possibly rump is in the ballpark. It gets difficult translating names of cuts, as butchering traditions are a bit different around the world. It could be something like round just cut differently so that it goes through top, eye, and bottom. That could explain the three sections separated by the connective tissue in the first photo, but this is all a guess to me. At any rate, I’m guessing something towards the back of the bovine. But if “Rindersuppenfleisch” is anywhere near as generic as “beef stew meat” is in US English (and it sounds like it is pretty generic), it could be any of a number of cuts. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-translate-this-cut-of-beef-from-german/681001/8 "2014-02-10T21:30:27Z")
I like how rectangular it is in the package. Very precise, very German. No sloppy irregular cuts permitted! ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-translate-this-cut-of-beef-from-german/681001/9 "2014-02-10T21:55:20Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > I like how rectangular it is in the package. Very precise, very German. No sloppy irregular cuts permitted! You should check out Ritter Sport’s (chocolate bars) slogan: “Quadratisch. Praktisch. Gut.” Square. Practical. Good. When considering chocolate, practicality is one of my first considerations. Nothing like a good, square, practical chocolate bar. 🙂 How quintessentially German (even if it happens to be a little tongue-in-cheek. I don’t know if it is or isn’t.) ---
**Author:** ![Moe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moe/32/2972_2.png) [@Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moe)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-translate-this-cut-of-beef-from-german/681001/10 "2014-02-10T22:04:34Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Yeah, it’s really hard to tell, but it doesn’t really look like brisket, shoulder, short rib, or shank to me. I think some variation of round or possibly rump is in the ballpark. It gets difficult translating names of cuts, as butchering traditions are a bit different around the world. It could be something like round just cut differently so that it goes through top, eye, and bottom. That could explain the three sections separated by the connective tissue in the first photo, but this is all a guess to me. At any rate, I’m guessing something towards the back of the bovine. > > But if “Rindersuppenfleisch” is anywhere near as generic as “beef stew meat” is in US English (and it sounds like it is pretty generic), it could be any of a number of cuts. From my intensive google crash course on cuts of beef I have’t seen anything to contradict your general assessment. Hoping someone can give a proof-positive confirmation. ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-translate-this-cut-of-beef-from-german/681001/11 "2014-02-10T22:13:02Z")
After a little research; in the original picture it looks as though the piece of meat furthest from you butts up to the femur bone and the piece of meat is portions of the [bottom round and eye of round.](http://supper-is-ready.blogspot.com/2013/02/understanding-beef-round.html) (scroll down a page) that’s my best guess ---
**Author:** ![Moe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moe/32/2972_2.png) [@Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moe)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-translate-this-cut-of-beef-from-german/681001/12 "2014-02-10T22:24:36Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > (even if it happens to be a little tongue-in-cheek. I don’t know if it is or isn’t.) I spent last weekend drinking [this.](http://bierbier.org/website/en/) I assumed it was tongue-in-cheek. It’s not. According to the website it’s a genuine attempt to make a statement against the over abundance of big marketing. ---
**Author:** ![DonLogan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@DonLogan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DonLogan)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-translate-this-cut-of-beef-from-german/681001/13 "2014-02-10T22:25:06Z")
I can’t translate it from German, but it looks like a 7 blade roast to me. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-translate-this-cut-of-beef-from-german/681001/14 "2014-02-10T22:28:15Z")
> [@DonLogan](#): > > I can’t translate it from German, but it looks like a 7 blade roast to me. The German translation is, roughly, “beef soup meat.” (ETA: :smack: which I see is in the OP. Never mind me.) ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-translate-this-cut-of-beef-from-german/681001/15 "2014-02-11T00:41:43Z")
It wasn’t until I lived in Germany that I discovered there are multiple ways to cut beef - and thus many cuts were different than what I knew in the US. [Here is a chart](http://www.docstoc.com/docs/12900458/BEEF-CUT-CHART) that defines different cuts in multiple languages - it might help. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-translate-this-cut-of-beef-from-german/681001/16 "2014-02-11T00:53:52Z")
We’re looking at it and think it’s shank without the bone (since the label says “without bone”). ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-translate-this-cut-of-beef-from-german/681001/17 "2014-02-11T01:04:03Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > We’re looking at it and think it’s shank without the bone (since the label says “without bone”). It’s not completely impossible, but it doesn’t look like any boneless shank I’m used to seeing. Then again, like I said, different cultures butcher their meat differently, so it could just be an unusual (to me) cut of the shank. ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-translate-this-cut-of-beef-from-german/681001/18 "2014-02-11T11:48:44Z")
> [@](#): > > Undaunted by my lack of Germany, I went to the neighborhood grocery store this morning thinking to make a nice warming soup from whatever looked familiar. The grocery store, Netto, can also be found in France. Really basic. I found a package of meat that looked like stew meat and was marked rindersuppenfleisch. Child’s play! Rinderpest is a cattle disease; rinder = cow, pest =pest. Suppen; the Germans like to put an “en” at the end of words like “toiletten”, so that would leave us with sup or to take soup. And fleisch sounds like flesh to me. Beef soup meat! [https://cookinginsens.wordpress.com/2012/10/15/rindersuppenfleisch/](https://cookinginsens.wordpress.com/2012/10/15/rindersuppenfleisch/) I’d say this lady nailed it. ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-translate-this-cut-of-beef-from-german/681001/19 "2014-02-11T11:58:46Z")
And there is a Wikipedia article (in German) about _Suppenfleisch_ which I’m too lazy to translate myself (plus there is always an entertainment value to machine translations) : > **[Suppenfleisch](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suppenfleisch)** > > Suppenfleisch oder Siedefleisch ist eine allgemeine küchensprachliche Bezeichnung für verschiedene Stücke vom Rind oder Kalb die zur Zubereitung einer Suppe, Eintopf oder Brühe verwendet werden. Das typische Garverfahren ist Sieden. > Es handelt sich dabei vorwiegend um langfaseriges Fleisch mit einem hohen Anteil an Bindegewebe, Fett und Sehnen, teilweise auch Knochen. Dadurch enthält Suppenfleisch einen hohen Anteil an Aromen und Gelatine. > Die üblichen Stücke sind: > Während Dünnung und Querripp... > [@](#): > > Bouillon > Bouillon, head piece (Cross St) > Soups or boiling meat is a common kitchen-linguistic label for various pieces of the beef or veal which are used to prepare a broth. It is mainly long-fibrous meat with a high proportion of connective tissue, fat and tendons, sometimes bones. This beef contains a high proportion of aromas and gelatin. > The usual pieces are: > Steak > Cross Rib > Hesse > Breast > Cock > While steak and cross rib little usable meat contain, can the flesh of Hesse and chest used as pots or plate of meat. The strong oxtail soup is prepared from the tail. > Because of the typical long fibrous flesh, high content of connective tissue and tendons must cooked soups for a long time at moderate temperature - two hours per kilogram are as a rule of thumb. This coagulates the protein of muscle fibers first, the gelatin from collagen of connective tissue and tendons occurs more slowly. So is the meat tough at first, then mature and begins to disintegrate to long cooking. At the same time flavors and fat are transferred to the water. > Saucepan used with cold, ungesalzenem water, a particularly strong broth occurs by osmosis as the meat itself largely loses its taste. The meat, however, is to be used, it is given in boiling, salted water, aromatic keep the meat, the broth but less on WINS taste. It is therefore common to first establish a broth from simple soups or bone, and then to cook for further use, higher-quality meat in it. > In addition to beef and veal also similar pieces used by the lamb and pork for making broths - this BREW but mostly only as a broth for casseroles or other dishes such as pork knuckle. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-translate-this-cut-of-beef-from-german/681001/20 "2014-02-11T14:26:20Z")
> [@](#): > > The usual pieces are: > Steak > Cross Rib > Hesse > Breast > Cock Oh my. Google translate got the wrong sense of the word “schwanz” there. That last one should be “tail.” Anyway “hesse” means “shank” and “breast” would better translate as “brisket” for beef terminology. Any of those cuts will work well in soup or stews. Generally, for those uses, my favorite cuts are short ribs, chuck, and shank. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-translate-this-cut-of-beef-from-german/681001.md?page=2)