beef Loin
Porterhouse Steak
A T-bone with a filet big enough to have its own name.
A porterhouse is a T-bone with a bigger filet. Same steak — strip on one side of the bone, tenderloin on the other — but the USDA's purchase specs require at least 1.25 inches of tenderloin at its widest point before it can be sold as a porterhouse. It comes from the rear of the short loin, where the tenderloin is thickest.
Buy it if
You want one steak on a board for two people, and you don't mind managing two doneness levels to get it.
Two muscles, one bone. The wide side is the strip (longissimus dorsi), the muscle that runs the length of the back — firm, marbled, sold on its own as a New York strip. The narrow side is the tenderloin (psoas major), which hangs beneath the spine and does almost no work, which is why it is the tenderest muscle on the animal and also the least beefy-tasting. A T-shaped section of vertebra separates them.
Where the 1.25 inches comes from. The tenderloin tapers as it runs forward through the short loin. Steaks cut from the rear, nearest the sirloin, catch its thick end — those are porterhouses. Keep cutting forward and the tenderloin narrows; once it is under an inch and a quarter the identical steak is a T-bone, and further forward still it disappears and you have a bone-in strip.
The honest trade-off. The two muscles do not want the same heat. The tenderloin is smaller and leaner and gets there first, so a porterhouse cooked perfectly on the strip side has an overcooked filet unless you deliberately keep the tenderloin off the hot spot. If what you want is both muscles exactly right, buy a strip and a filet separately — it is easier, and cheaper per edible ounce, because you are not paying steak price for bone. You buy a porterhouse because it is one steak for two people and because it looks like that on the table.
Where it comes from on the animal
| Species | beef |
|---|---|
| Primal | Loin |
| Subprimal | short loin (larger tenderloin section than T-bone) |
What else it’s called
How to cook Porterhouse Steak
| Best methods | Grill Broil Reverse sear |
|---|---|
| Cook to | Medium-rare, 130–135°F read in the strip side. Keep the tenderloin away from the hottest part of the fire — it finishes first. |
Thickness is the whole game. A porterhouse is normally cut an inch and a half or more, which is too thick to cook through over direct fire without burning the outside — hold it over indirect heat until the strip side reads about 115°F, then sear both sides hard and pull at 130–135°F. However you cook it, set it down with the tenderloin pointing away from the hottest coals and leave it that way.
Common questions
What is the difference between a porterhouse and a T-bone?
The size of the filet, and nothing else. USDA purchase specs draw the line at the tenderloin's width measured at its widest point: at least a half-inch makes it a T-bone, at least 1.25 inches makes it a porterhouse. Porterhouses are cut from the rear of the short loin, T-bones from further forward.
How many people does a porterhouse feed?
Two. They commonly run 24–40oz including the bone, and the bone is weight you pay steak price for — worth factoring in when you compare one against two boneless steaks.
Which side cooks faster?
The tenderloin. It is the smaller, leaner muscle and it runs ahead of the strip. Take your reading in the thickest part of the strip and accept the filet slightly more done, or angle it away from the heat from the start.
What is bistecca alla fiorentina?
A porterhouse, cut three to four centimetres thick or more, traditionally from Chianina cattle, salted and grilled over wood and served rare. The Tuscan version is defined more by that thickness than by anything done to it.
Other loin cuts
New York Strip Roast
A holiday roast with no bones, no seams, and nowhere to hide if you o...
Sirloin Flap (Bavette)
Loose-grained like skirt and flank, but thick enough to sear hard and...
Picanha
The top sirloin cap — a triangular muscle with a thick fat cap, the h...
T-Bone Steak
Strip on one side of the bone, tenderloin on the other — the same ste...
Top Sirloin
The best-value steak in the loin, and honest about why it costs less
Filet Mignon
The most tender beef there is, and nowhere near the most flavorful
New York Strip Steak
The ribeye's muscle without the cap — tighter grain, cleaner flavor, ...
Tri-Tip
The bottom-sirloin triangle. Its grain turns a corner mid-roast, whic...