A cut between the tenderloin and the sirloin.
1843. I guess I’ll take a small porter-house steak, without the bone, for this time only!—Cornelius Mathews, ‘Writings,’ p. 206.
1857. He went out subsequently and had a porter-house steak at a Broadway restaurant.—T. B. Gunn, ‘New York Boarding-houses,’ p. 44.
1859. The inbred malice which lurks under most of his diatribes is not suggestive of a red-cheeked, fun-loving Englishman, but of a burly fellow forging his thunderbolt—brutum fulmen—over a porter-house steak, and a pot of beer.—Knick. Mag., liii. 55 (Jan.).
1860. While enjoying a dainty cut [of elk-meat], I could not help remarking that it was as good as any porter-house steak; upon which observation, Tuolumne, who was of an inquiring mind, asked what was the meaning of “porter-house steak.” I explained to him, as well as I could, that it was the choice cut of the beef.—T. H. Hittell, ‘Adventures of J. C. Adams,’ p. 64. (S.F.)
1909. At Washington Market, the customary price for porterhouse steak to individual purchasers has been 25 cents a pound.—N.Y. Evening Post, Sept. 13.
