There is a tendency and need in meat industry to search for new culinary cuts in order to add variety to the commercial offer. Special attention is paid to forequarter muscles which are usually used to manufacture minced meat products. The objective of this study was to compare the chemical composition and quality of eight beef muscles from forequarter and hindquarter: m. longissimus dorsi (LD), m.semimembranosus (SM), m. semitendinosus (ST), m. biceps femoris (BF), m. infraspinatus (IS), m. triceps brachii (TB), m. serratus ventralis (SV), m. pectoralis profundus (PP). The individual muscles showed no differences in the content of water and mineral compounds determined as ash. The fat content was the highest in IS and the lowest in SM. The highest protein content was in LD, and it was the lowest in IS. A thermal processing method (grilling, roasting, frying) did not influence sensory determinations of the muscles. However, the following tendencies were observed: as for SM, frying was the optimal method of thermal processing, as for ST, TB, and SV – grilling, and as for BF – roasting. The type of a muscle had a significant impact on the sensory determinations. LD, IS, TB and SV muscles were ranked the highest, whereas BF, SM and PP muscles – the lowest. The values of shear forces were negatively correlated with the sensory assessed tenderness of meat. The quality of forequarter muscles: IS, TB, and SV was comparable with the quality of LD, which means that they could be sold as culinary meat.