Cut · Rump, a working muscle

Rump

The rump is the large muscle group over the hip, centred on the gluteus medius. It works when the animal walks, which gives it a coarser grain, more flavour and a firmer bite than the loin; it is sold as rump steak in Australia and Britain and as top sirloin in the United States.

Also known as: Thăn mông · Cuadril · 우둔 · ランプ · RumsteckLast reviewed 22 Oct 20266 sources

Rump steak

Sirloin steak

Several muscles over the hip

The rump is the muscle group over the hip joint, between the striploin and the leg. Its centre is the gluteus medius, a thick, lean muscle that does real work when the animal walks, which gives it a coarser grain, more flavour and a firmer texture than the loin cuts. A full Australian rump weighs 5–7 kg (11–15 lb) and contains several muscles running in different directions: the eye of rump, the rostbiff, the cap (picanha) and the tri-tip.

Because these muscles are cut together in a single steak in some countries and separated in others, the word covers different things. A British or Australian rump steak is a cross-section through several of them; an American top sirloin steak is usually the centre muscle alone, trimmed of the cap; Argentine cuadril is the whole group minus the tapa; Brazilian alcatra includes the cap and the tri-tip unless they are sold separately as picanha and maminha.

It is the cut most often used to show the difference between tenderness and flavour: a rump will never be as tender as a tenderloin, and most butchers will say it tastes more of beef.

Behind the loin, close to the leg

Over the hip, behind the loin. Its position, close to the leg, means it takes part in locomotion, unlike the muscles along the spine, and its connective tissue is greater than that of the striploin in front of it. In American butchery the region is split from the short loin and called the sirloin; the top sirloin butt (IMPS 184) is the upper half, and the bottom sirloin, below it, carries the tri-tip and the flap (the Argentine vacío extends into this area).

Grading systems treat the rump as a separate carcass region. In Meat Standards Australia grading, for instance, the rump is graded with its own cut-by-cooking-method scores, and individual rump muscles receive different eating-quality predictions: the centre of the gluteus medius scores higher as a grilled steak than the outer muscles do. Australian specifications also distinguish the full rump from the D-rump (HAM 2100), named for the D shape left once the tail (the tri-tip) is removed.

Cooking it: fast and rare, or slow and long

A working muscle wants either fast and rare or slow and long. As a steak, 2–3 cm thick, it is grilled or pan-fried hot and served rare to medium-rare (52–55 °C / 126–131 °F at the core after resting), then sliced across the grain; past medium it tightens. Thick pieces of the centre muscle are roasted, a common choice for the British Sunday roast, or cooked in a water bath for several hours at 55–57 °C / 131–135 °F, which softens them without losing colour.

In Argentina the cuadril is grilled in thick slabs over moderate embers; in Brazil the alcatra is a churrasco cut, skewered whole or in thick pieces. Because the muscles inside a cross-cut rump steak run in different directions, carving it into its separate muscles before slicing gives a more even result than slicing the steak as one piece.

Reading the label by country

The name on the label must be read against the country. Rump steak in a British or Australian shop is a cross-cut; top sirloin in an American shop is a single muscle; a piece marked sirloin outside the United States may be the striploin. For steaks, the most consistent pieces come from the centre of the gluteus medius, cut thick, with fine-textured, bright red meat and a visible but thin seam of fat.

Whole rumps are sold in vacuum packs and age well, wet or dry; the extra days of ageing reduce the firmness of the muscle more noticeably than they do in naturally tender cuts. A buyer who wants the cap and the tri-tip for separate use should ask for them to be left on, since many trade specifications remove both.

Names around the world

16

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

English	Rump
Tiếng Việt	Thăn mông
Español	Cuadril
한국어	우둔
日本語	ランプ
Français	Rumsteck
Italiano	Scamone
Русский	Рамп
中文	臀肉

All the cuts' names, country by country →

Trade and national systems

System	Name	Reference
United States	Top sirloin · sirloin steak · centre-cut sirloin	IMPS 184
United Kingdom	Rump steak	AHDB
Australia / NZ	Rump · rump steak · D-rump	HAM 2090
Argentina	Cuadril	IPCVA
Brazil	Alcatra · miolo da alcatra (centre)	Portaria 5/88
France	Rumsteck	Larousse
Japan	ランプ (ranpu)	JMGA

Field data

Numbers measured in a working kitchen, piece by piece, not taken from a table. Another kitchen, another trimming specification, another number. How field data is collected.

Field data

Rump

Not yet measured.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

6

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. AUS-MEAT Limited. Handbook of Australian Meat, 7th ed. (International Red Meat Manual). Brisbane, 2005. www.ausmeat.com.au
3. Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (UK). Beef Meat Purchasing Guide. Kenilworth, 2016. ahdb.org.uk
4. Instituto de Promoción de la Carne Vacuna Argentina (IPCVA). Cortes de carne vacuna argentina — nomenclatura y usos. Buenos Aires. www.ipcva.com.ar
5. Meat & Livestock Australia. Meat Standards Australia: Standards Manual for Beef Grading. Sydney, 2021. www.mla.com.au/marketing-beef-and-lamb/meat-standards-australia
6. McGee, Harold. On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, rev. ed. New York: Scribner, 2004.

Related