Menus in Spanish-speaking parrillas assume you already know the animal. Most visitors do not. This page is a map of names, not a cooking class and not a portrait of anyone on television.

How to use the player

Each callout is a region, not a steak on a plate. Order by the name on this carta. A “bife” in one house is a “bife de chorizo”; in another it is a different slice with the same swagger. For a longer tasting vocabulary from a 2026 cuts marathon, see cuts on Spanish menus. For a first sitting, what to order.

Safe sentences:

• Bife de chorizo — sirloin strip; the steak most menus lead with.
• Lomo — tenderloin; smaller, dearer, easy to overcook.
• Vacío carries a fat cap and likes a slower fire.
• Entraña is fast; waiting makes it chewy.
• Asado de tira is about thickness, not a thumbnail from a tourist grill.

Unsafe sentences: quoting a celebrity asador, inventing a “best cut in Spain”, or treating this diagram as USDA labelling.

How to order in Madrid or Barcelona

Ask which muscle they mean, not which English word. If the carta only says “bife”, ask whether it is chorizo, lomo or ojo. If they cannot tell you, you are in a steakhouse wearing an Argentine hat — the beyond-steak test. Thickness of tira and doneness of entraña are the two questions that save a Tuesday.

A neighbourhood parrilla will tell you how they cut tira (finger vs two fingers) and whether vacío comes with the fat cap on. A spectacle room will point at a photo. Use the diagram, then the carta in front of you — not a ranking.

Checklist before you order

1. Name the muscle, not an English steak word.
2. Ask thickness on tira and fire speed on vacío / entraña.
3. If the table is four people, mix a slow cut (vacío) with a fast one (entraña) instead of four identical bifes.
4. Chimichurri on the table is not a quality score; the cut and the fire are.

Next

If you want a neighbourhood table rather than a spectacle, start with a city list and ignore anyone selling a personality. The diagram is original geometry on purpose.