뉴질랜드 스테이크 가이드: 목초 사육 소고기, 부위 영어(스카치 필레·아이 필레)와 굽는 법

If you have stood at a New Zealand supermarket meat counter wondering how Scotch fillet, Eye fillet and Rump line up with the cuts you know from home, this guide is for you. It covers how New Zealand beef is raised and why that changes the way you cook it, a cut-name translation table, how to read labels and the Quality Mark, steak and roast temperatures, and the English you need at the butcher and in restaurants. Figures come from Beef + Lamb New Zealand and its recipe site recipes.co.nz, checked on 30 September 2026.

New Zealand beef is grass-fed by default

Beef + Lamb New Zealand, the industry body, describes New Zealand cattle as roaming freely on pasture. It presents New Zealand beef as grass-fed and free range, with no artificial additives or growth hormones.

What matters most at the grill is speed. According to Beef + Lamb New Zealand, grass-fed beef like New Zealand's is naturally leaner and cooks about 30% faster with most techniques. If you follow timings written for grain-fed beef, you may end up with a steak more done than you wanted, so check internal temperature or feel rather than relying on the clock.

Some shops may also sell beef labelled grain-finished. We could not confirm how common this is, so if grass-fed matters to you, check the label.

Beef cut names: a translation table

The alternative names in the table follow the cut guides on recipes.co.nz. The Korean column is a common, approximate match and does not come from those sources; butchering boundaries differ from country to country, so the cuts are not exactly the same.

A simple rule for a first shop: Scotch fillet for flavour and easy cooking, Eye fillet for tenderness, and Rump when you are feeding a group at a campsite. Y-bone (shoulder blade) is affordable and can be pan-fried or barbecued like any steak, but long, low cooking makes it especially tender. recipes.co.nz suggests trimming the edges first so the steak does not curl as it heats.

The cut chart shown with this article is a public-domain diagram using British names, so it does not match New Zealand labels exactly. Roughly, Scotch fillet comes from the Fore Rib area, sirloin and T-bone from the Sirloin section with the eye fillet underneath, Y-bone from the Chuck & Blade (shoulder), and rump from the Rump section.

Reading supermarket and butcher labels

Look for five things on a packaged steak:

• Cut name, such as Scotch fillet steak or Beef rump steak.
• Weight and price per kg, which makes comparing cuts easy.
• Farming claims, such as grass-fed or free range.
• Date: check the Use by date, and plan a chilly bin if you are not cooking straight away, for example when camping.
• Quality Mark sticker, explained below.

The Quality Mark is run by Beef + Lamb New Zealand. It guarantees that the meat is New Zealand-raised, produced without growth hormones (HGPs), processed to high animal welfare standards and handled to high food safety standards. Every stage, from production through processing and wholesale to retail, is audited, and retailers are audited for tenderness at the point of sale. recipes.co.nz also recommends looking for the sticker when buying a good steak.

Cooking steak at home or at a campsite

This sequence is based on recipes.co.nz guidance:

1. Take the steak out of the fridge about an hour before cooking.
2. Salt it at least 40 minutes before cooking. recipes.co.nz explains that this draws out juices that dry on the surface during cooking, giving a crisp, well-seasoned crust.
3. Pat the surface dry and choose steaks of even thickness.
4. Heat the pan or grill well. Do not crowd the pan, or the temperature drops; cook in batches.
5. Grass-fed beef cooks quickly, so start checking early with a thermometer or by touch.
6. Rest for 5 to 10 minutes off the heat, then slice across the grain.

For a T-bone, recipes.co.nz suggests 4 to 6 minutes per side in a hot pan, taking it off at about 52°C; it climbs to around 55°C while resting for medium-rare. Resting is a little different too: stand the steak up on its bone for 1 to 2 minutes so it cooks evenly through the bone, then move it to a plate and rest it, loosely covered, for 10 minutes. The eye fillet side cooks faster, so keep it slightly further from the heat if needed, and when serving, cut the meat off the bone and slice the fillet and sirloin separately.

If you want to make a sauce at home, the steak sauce collection on recipes.co.nz includes chimichurri, salsa verde, a mustard cream, tomato salsa and tomato relish, a green herb dressing and basil pesto, each with a method.

Temperatures: keep steak and roast separate

Even within recipes.co.nz, the steak article and the roast table give different numbers. Use the one that matches what you are cooking.

The roast table allows 20, 25, 30 and 35 minutes per 500g for rare, medium-rare, medium and well done, and a rest of 1 minute per 100g of meat.

The cut-specific T-bone and sirloin guides give 52–55°C for a medium-rare steak: take it off around 52°C and it rises to about 55°C while resting. Because the sources differ by a few degrees, the practical rule is to take the steak off a little before your target and let resting finish the job.

Without a thermometer, use the touch guide from recipes.co.nz. Rare is red inside with red juices. Medium-rare is light red with pink juices and feels soft and springy. Medium is pink with clear to pink juices and feels firm and springy. Well done is grey inside with little or no juice.

Ordering steak in a restaurant

If the menu lists cuts like Scotch fillet or Eye fillet, use the table above to match them. When you order a steak, you will usually be asked how you want it cooked.

Sauce and side names vary from restaurant to restaurant. For reference, the recipes.co.nz T-bone guide pairs the cut with herb butter, chimichurri or red wine jus, and the sirloin guide suggests chimichurri, salsa verde or horseradish cream. Suggested sides include roast kumara (New Zealand sweet potato), garlic mash, grilled seasonal vegetables and salads. Some sauces are simply named after their main ingredient, such as peppercorn or mushroom; if you see a name you do not know, ask What sauce does it come with?

At the butcher

• Could I get two scotch fillets, about 2 cm thick?
• Can you trim the fat, please?
• Which cut is good for the barbecue?
• Is this grass-fed?

Summary

When buying beef in New Zealand, read the cut name first, check for the Quality Mark and a grass-fed claim, then compare price per kg. When cooking, remember it cooks faster than grain-fed beef and treat roughly 55–57°C inside as medium-rare for a steak. Cut names can vary between restaurants, so if a menu name is unfamiliar, just ask What cut is the steak?

Photo credits

• LBM1948, CC BY-SA 4.0, source — resized and converted to WebP
• Misaochan, CC BY-SA 3.0, source — resized and converted to WebP