beef Loin
Sirloin Flap (Bavette)
Thick enough to sear, loose enough to drink a marinade.
Sirloin flap is the flap off the bottom of the sirloin — bavette d'aloyau in French butchery. Its grain is coarse and open, which is why it eats so beefy and takes seasoning fast. The useful thing about it is thickness: unlike the skirt and flank it gets confused with, it can take a hard sear and still be rare inside.
Buy it if
You want skirt-steak flavor in something thick enough to come off the fire properly rare.
The three loose-grained steaks people mix up. Flank is the abdominal wall, skirt is the diaphragm, and bavette is the flap off the bottom of the sirloin. All three have coarse visible fibers and all three want fast, high heat, but they are not interchangeable in the pan. Skirt is thin enough that it cooks through in the time it takes to brown. Flank is lean and dries out. Bavette is the thickest and the best marbled of the three, and it is the one that gives you a real crust and a rare middle at the same time.
Why it eats the way it does. A loose grain means large muscle fibers with fat and connective tissue running between them rather than marbled through them. Cooked quickly to medium-rare and sliced thin, that structure reads as juicy and deeply beefy. Cooked past medium, the same fibers tighten and squeeze, and it goes stringy. There is no forgiving middle setting on this cut.
Find the grain before you cook it. The fibers are long and coarse enough to be unpleasant at any doneness if you cut with them, and a browned crust hides which way they run. Look at the raw steak in good light, note the direction — the flap can twist, so it may change toward the ends — and slice thin at a right angle to it.
Where it comes from on the animal
| Species | beef |
|---|---|
| Primal | Loin |
| Subprimal | bottom sirloin flap |
What else it’s called
How to cook Sirloin Flap (Bavette)
| Best methods | Grill Pan sear |
|---|---|
| Cook to | Medium-rare, 130–135°F. Rest 5 minutes and slice thin across the grain — it toughens sharply past medium. |
Hot, fast, and off at medium-rare. Bavette has enough thickness to sear hard on both sides and still come off at 130–135°F, which is the entire reason to buy it instead of skirt. It also takes a marinade better than most steaks, because the open grain gives the liquid somewhere to go — an hour is plenty, and a long soak in anything acidic turns the surface soft rather than tender.
Sirloin Flap (Bavette) vs Skirt Steak
Both are loose-grained steaks cooked hot and fast and sliced thin across the grain. The practical difference is thickness: bavette is substantially thicker, so it can brown properly and still be rare inside, where skirt is done the moment it is seared.
| Sirloin Flap (Bavette) | Skirt Steak | |
|---|---|---|
| Primal | Loin | Plate |
| Thickness | Thick enough to sear hard and stay rare | About half an inch — done the moment it browns |
| Also called | Bavette d'aloyau, faux hanger | Arrachera, fajita meat |
| Before you slice | Find the grain raw — the flap twists toward the ends | Cut into 4–5 inch lengths first, then across each |
| Best method | Grill | Grill or Pan-sear |
If Sirloin Flap (Bavette) is sold out
Cooks like
Skirt Steak
Same job in fajitas and stir-fries and a similar coarse grain, but much thinner — cook it faster and do not walk away.
Common questions
What is the difference between bavette, flank and skirt?
Three different muscles that look alike. Bavette is the flap off the bottom sirloin, flank is the abdominal wall, skirt is the diaphragm. Bavette is the thickest and best marbled, which is why it can take a hard sear and still be rare; skirt cooks through almost the moment it browns, and flank is the leanest of the three.
Why is it called faux hanger?
Because it eats like one — the same loose grain and deep, almost mineral beefiness. There is only one hanger steak on an animal, so butchers who run out of it reach for flap.
Do I need to marinate it?
No. Salt and high heat are enough, and the beef flavor is the reason to buy this cut. If you do marinate, treat it as seasoning rather than tenderizing: the open grain takes it on quickly, so an hour does the job.
How do I know which way the grain runs?
Look at the raw steak in good light — the fibers show as long visible lines, usually running the length of the piece. Note the direction before it goes on the heat, because once there is a crust on it you are guessing, and guessing wrong on this cut is the difference between tender and chewy.
Other loin cuts
New York Strip Roast
A holiday roast with no bones, no seams, and nowhere to hide if you o...
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...
Porterhouse Steak
A T-bone cut far enough back that the tenderloin is at least 1.25 inc...
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...