EXPERIMENT: Fat = Flavor It’s not intuitive, but most of the flavorful compounds that give various types of meat its distinct flavor are not in the meat itself but in the fat that surrounds and runs through it Don’t believe me? Just think of this: why is most lean meat described as “tasting like chicken”? It’s because without fat, meat has a very generic flavor It does taste like a lean chicken breast If you’ve got a food processor or meat grinder at home, you can even prove this to yourself with this experiment Materials • 12 ounces boneless lean beef (a cut like eye of round or well-trimmed sirloin will well), cut into 1-inch cubes • 1 ounce beef fat, trimmed from a steak (or just ask a butcher for some beef fat), cut into small pieces • 1 ounce lamb fat trimmed from a lamb chop (or just ask the butcher for some lamb fat) • 1 ounce bacon, cut into small pieces Procedure Divide the beef into portions and toss each portion with a different fat 2 Using a food processor or meat grinder, grind the meat into hamburger (for more specific instructions on meat grinding, see here) Form each portion into a patty and cook in a hot skillet or on the grill Taste the cooked patties Results How did the cooked patties taste? Most likely you found that the first patty tasted like a regular burger, while the second patty tasted like a lamb burger The bacon-laced patty, well, you get the gist Still unconvinced? Try the same thing replacing the lean beef with lean lamb The patty with beef fat will still taste very much like a regular all-beef burger DEFATTING A STOCK I n most situations, outside of fancy restaurants and fashion shows, a little extra fat is not necessarily a bad thing—go to any Japanese ramen house, for example, and they’ll actually add fat to individual bowls of noodles for extra flavor—but there’s a big difference between just enough and too much A bit of fat emulsified into a broth and a few stray bubbles ... Taste the cooked patties Results How did the cooked patties taste? Most likely you found that the first patty tasted like a regular burger, while the second patty tasted like a lamb burger The bacon-laced patty, well, you get the gist... Using a food processor or meat grinder, grind the meat into hamburger (for more specific instructions on meat grinding, see here) Form each portion into a patty and cook in a hot skillet or on the grill... like a lamb burger The bacon-laced patty, well, you get the gist Still unconvinced? Try the same thing replacing the lean beef with lean lamb The patty with beef fat will still taste very much like a regular all-beef burger