It's grilling season

While the grill in your backyard welcomes many foods, the most likely candidate for real estate above the flame is beef. From the humble burger to the majestic bone-in filet mignon, beef is to the barbecue as Kevin Durant is to the basketball court — a match made in heaven.

David Egan , director of operations of Cattlemen's Steakhouse, is a walking wiki when it comes to beef, before and after meat meets flame.

He says knowledge is the key to selecting beef that will please the family. While you have a pretty good idea what your family will and won't eat, you might not know what differentiates the beef at your local market.

Beef basics

Beef is divided into primal cuts — basic sections from which steaks are cut. Legs and neck muscles do the most work, so, naturally, they are toughest. The further a cut is from hoof and horn, the more tender it will be.

Beef carcasses are split along the axis of symmetry, then across into forequarters and hindquarters.

Forequarter cuts include the chuck, rib, brisket, shank and plate.

From the chuck and rib you derive bone-in chuck steaks and arm or blade roasts, short ribs, rib-eye steaks, prime rib and standing rib roasts. The brisket is synonymous with barbecue but also is the bearer of corned beef and pastrami. The shank is used mostly for stew, soup, chili or beef tips. Braising is about the only way to make it palatable.

The plate is the other source of short ribs, used for pot roasting, and the outside skirt steak, which is used for fajitas. Remaining pieces are typically used for ground beef.

Hindquarter cuts include the loin, which has two subprimals, or three if boneless.

The short loin bears club, T-bone, Porterhouse, New York strip and filet mignon steaks.

The sirloin is less tender but more flavorful. It can be divided into top and bottom sirloin, including tri-tip.

The boneless tenderloin is beef's tenderest cut. It can be removed as a separate subprimal and cut into fillets, tournedos or tenderloin steaks or roasts such as beef Wellington . Cut away from the bone, it lacks flavor and is thus often wrapped in bacon. However, with the right seasoning, the tender texture is enough to make it hard to keep from anxious diners.

The round contains lean, moderately tough, less marbled cuts, meaning a slow braise or quick sear yields the best results. The round offers steak, eye of round, top round and bottom round steaks and roasts.

Grass Fed Beef

Legare Farms has been raising top quality beef cattle since our start in 1725. We have a heard composed of Herford and Angus cattle. While most of our cattle are shipped to the stockyards, each year we reserve several of our top steers. These steers are grain fed for several months, then processed for sale in our country store and several select local markets.

The healthy beef cookbook, steaks, salads, stir-fry, and more : over 130 luscious lean beef recipes for every occasion

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