Well grilled steak sliced on a cutting board

The key to properly slicing a steak is quite simple: Find the grain, then cut across it. The “grain” describes muscle fibers that run throughout the meat, which appear as lines or ridges along its surface. This connective tissue is often easy to spot and generally runs parallel to the fat, though it may be harder to find on leaner cuts of meat like tenderloin. By cutting perpendicular to the muscle fibers, they shorten and become easier to chew. This means that tougher types of meat such as flank steak and hanger steak can be more tender than normal simply because they were sliced the right way!