>>Question: What cuts of meat would be farthest away from the intestinal
>>tract?
>
>I don't know but will ask the butcher departments at our gourmet/health
>food markets here and let you know.   One that occurs to me is shoulder.
>Zephyr has eaten it and says he likes it, but it's very tough.

I don't think you need to worry about that with store bought steaks of
large mammals, especially natural or organic ones.  I believe they are
rigorous in there trimming and cleanliness procedures.  America is very
uptight about germs and dirt so for something to get to the store and
turned into a steak or a roast you can bet it's not got intestinal gook
on it.  Any way the cuts I like best are Porterhouse, standing rib roast
or prime rib (prime has no bones), top sirloin, filet minion, and New
York.  For less expensive cuts shoulder is good, even the seven bone is
edible, though again tough.  I think the best buy is top sirloin.  Where
I shop the seven bone is around $2 to $3/lb the filet mignon is $15 to
$17/lb and the top sirloin is $6/lb.  (I just found out today, after I
wrote this that the porterhouse is actually one side of the bone the cut
that becomes New York and the others ide that becomes filet mignon.  The
filet price is so much higher due to labor and probably snobbery - our
porterhouse costs $9/lb.  Weird huh?)  Top sirloin is tender and tasty,
though not as much as the filet, but I don't think the filet is 2.5 times
better than the sirloin.  On the other hand top sirloin is 2 to 4 times
better and 5 times easier to eat than the cheaper.  On yet another hand,
if you like it you like it.

Hope this is useful,

Zephyr