A chop of meat is a cut of meat cut perpendicularly to the spine, and usually containing a rib or part of a vertebra and served as an individual portion.A thin boneless chop, or one with only the rib bone, may be called a cutlet, though the difference is not always clear. The term "chop" is not usually used for beef, but a T-bone steak is essentially a loin chop, and a rib steak a rib chop.