Knuckles (aka Sirloin Tips)

You got a few different options.

You can get three roasts out of a whole knuckle by cutting across the grain.

You can also get a bunch of steaks out of them by doing the same.

Or...

You can cut a roast out of the knee-cap end. This creates a good face so that you can seam out one of the sides (presumeably the side with the lesser amount of gristle) and make sirloin-tip side-steaks, and retain the center and gristly side as a somewhat uniform roast.

Or...

If you want all steaks, face the knee-cap end, and then seam out the gristly side and using it for miscellaneous whatever, leaving the center and side to produce several sirloin-tip steaks. You can make center-steaks and side-steaks from these as you see fit. The center being good and round is attractive to the eye, and you might consider barding them with bacon.

One thing I have not done, but I fancy is making a sirloin-tip center-roast, jaccarded, seasonsed and barded, tied with good butcher's twine. Here, this is similar to a way you might have seen eye-of-round roasts produced.


One caveat. I have never worked on a bagged sirloin-tip sub-primal. I have only worked with knuckles I have peeled myself.

knuckles are not always as big as the one in that video. the ones i get I usually can only get get 2 roasts not 3.
i always straighten the bottom first so it sits flat then striaghten the face. I usually remove the cap and use that for stirfry not steaks. I noticed there are alot of different styles for cutting a knuckle. none of them are really wrong

There is one wrong way to cut a knuckle. With the grain!
I generally have my cutters seam the center out for steaks and call the "cap" either a roast or cut it for steaks. Knuckle doesn't make a bad steak if you cook it right.
Hell, I grew up eating cube steak, chuck roasts and hamburger. If we had an actual steak it was either round, tip or (if the price was right) top sirloin.
You can certainly cut the entire knuckle into steaks or leave it as a roast. I think it makes pretty good roast beef. Particularly for sandwiches.

This is actually my least favorite subprimal to deal with. Always feel like I'm stewing too much of it.

I don't use them only in the summer for stir fry or frying steaks.
They are used mainly for the catering trade inthis neck of the woods, ideal for cheap roasts.

Thanks for the info guys - do you all really call them Sirloin Tips? They called them that at my store before I came here - now I renamed them to Round Tip Steaks and Roasts - just can't bring myself to call anything from the leg Sirloin...