Usuba dashi is so right. Been in the food industry my whole life and when I go to the grocery store I see so many "cuts" that I have never heard of or put a definition on. Classic example is "London Broil'. What the hell is that. Ask fifteen people and get fifteen different answers yet the "meat buyers guide" doesn't list it. Yet so many think it's a quality cut.
BTW there is an excellent new book out there for meatarians, PRIMAL CUTS: COOKING WITH AMERICA'S BEST BUTCHERS by Marissa Guggiana with front matter by the crazy, Dante quoting, Tuscan butcher Dario Cecchini and Andrew Zimmern.
A good example of marketing smarts would be the way in which the common brown mushroom suddenly became "cremini" and "portabella". I'm cooking three standing rib roasts this weekend but the vegetarian horde insists on stuffed portabella (possibly because it sounds cool. I tried to talk them out of it because I think it's a lackluster mushroom with a not terribly pleasant flavor.
I am sorry, but being a third generation butcher who only knows how to break down meat from whole carcasses . . they are the same thing. Later in the "evolution" of the meat business, some butchers became a little more creative and called only the thicker end t bone, even though, those before them called both ends t bone. It is all about marketing and getting more more with clever names.
The short answer is that the porterhouse cut has a larger section of the tenderloin as AJ noted. Funny how Wiki actually gets this right sometimes. Now for the closest thing to a bistecca fiorentina ask your butcher for a double thick porterhouse and cook it over a wood---not gas, not briquet---fire.
According to a wiki entry, "he T-bone and Porterhouse are steak cuts of beef. They consist of a T-shaped bone with meat on each side. The larger side is the strip steak meat, which is from the short loin, whereas the smaller side contains the tenderloin. Porterhouse steaks are cut from the rear end of the short loin and contain a much larger section of the tenderloin. T-bone steaks are cut from farther forward in the short loin and contain a comparatively smaller section of the tenderloin." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-bone_steak More importantly however: what are your objectives for the meal at issue here? ;o) P.S. That drawing posted earlier is shown at the link I have included.
They both consist of a T-shaped bone with meat on each side. Porterhouse steaks are cut from the rear end of the short loin and contain a much larger section of the tenderloin.
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