Do you eat the fat cap on a steak?

January 6, 2020 1:21 PM

I've always cut around the fat on steaks because I find it chewy and kind of gross. I get that if it renders out it will make it juicy, but I'm talking about the fat that doesn't render. Cuts like Ribeye with fat marbled through the steak just seem stringy and unpleasant to eat to me. However, I've been watching videos where people rave about the fat and how that enhances the experience, so I've tried eating it the past few times, and it's still a hard to chew rubbery texture that detracts from the meat. Am I doing something wrong, or are the people on those videos crazy?
posted by willnot to Food & Drink (34 answers total)

HELL YES!

I mean, I eat whatever I can chew. If it's gristle I don't eat it. I'm not a monster.

But, no, you're not doing anything wrong. Don't eat stuff you don't like. If someone gives you shit you've got a bunch of uneaten fat on your plate you can throw at them.
posted by bondcliff at 1:24 PM on January 6, 2020 [34 favorites]

If it's chewy and kinda gross, I don't eat it. Otherwise (and there IS an 'otherwise') yes, any time!
posted by Namlit at 1:24 PM on January 6, 2020 [1 favorite]

Some people like to eat straight fat and some people don't. Don't overthink this, and don't eat it if you don't like it. Also most of the fat on a well cooked steak should not be 'rubbery'.
posted by The_Vegetables at 1:25 PM on January 6, 2020 [7 favorites]

If it's rubbery or chewy, that's not the right thing to eat. Fat is soft and will essentially melt in your mouth. Eat this on steak and on pork if you find it.
posted by hydra77 at 1:26 PM on January 6, 2020 [13 favorites]

The best part you mean?
posted by spitbull at 1:27 PM on January 6, 2020 [4 favorites]

Steak fat is 100% my favorite part of the steak. But that’s me. This is just one of those personal preference things. You’re fine.
posted by faineg at 1:33 PM on January 6, 2020 [3 favorites]

I usually at least taste a little bit of it.
posted by ArgentCorvid at 1:38 PM on January 6, 2020

100% depends on the cut. Sirloin fat is chewy and gross. I don't like ribeye fat either. But, New York Strip has amazing fat that tastes really great.

If you want a steak to rave about, I think ribeye has better branding, but New York strip comes from a similar cut of meat but has a more pleasant taste.

And, if you are cooking for yoursf, learn the reverse sear and invest in a high quality meat thermometer (I use the thermopop for $25)
posted by bbqturtle at 1:38 PM on January 6, 2020 [2 favorites]

It really depends. Pasture raised, grass fed is a whole different ballgame than feedlot beef. If you have the opportunity, try grass fed (grain or wine finished or not - if its high quality grain, that helps plump the steak up a bit). Completely different experience.

Some ribeyes have a lot of fat, but it's a chunk rather than marbled (from proper exercise). I don't bother with feedlot ribeyes anymore.

For strip loins, I find that grocery store butchers tend to leave too much of it on. I'll shave off the excess before grilling/ frying.

For strip loins, I sear the fat strip to render it some more after doing each side - I cut pieces from the steak so about half the pieces are 10-15% strip fat.
posted by porpoise at 1:39 PM on January 6, 2020 [2 favorites]

Look, I'm a weirdo who even likes chewing on the gristle. But I feel like there's a bell curve here, and I'm way out on one tail, and maybe you're way out on the other one, and that's fine. Eat the stuff you like.
posted by nebulawindphone at 1:41 PM on January 6, 2020 [3 favorites]

Sounds like you are a filet-person (theres nothing wrong with that per se, its a preference).

A lot of it is cultural. For years my dad would order the "chinese style bacon clay pot with preserved vegetables" at a favorite place and invariably the server would bring over a manager or someone with marginally better English to explain that the cut was very fatty and most white people returned it. every time. for 25 years.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 1:42 PM on January 6, 2020 [9 favorites]

When my daughter was little, she would ask to please have more of the "white meat", meaning fat. She cuts it off now. You don't have to eat anything you don't like.
I eat it, but I make sure to have a good proportion of fat to meat in each bite. Which to me is like a 1/5 of fat to muscle. I wouldn't put a bite of fat only in my mouth.
posted by mumimor at 1:50 PM on January 6, 2020

I'm not a fan of fatty steak, so I usually buy leaner cuts to cook at home. The exceptions are if it's going to be slow cooked / slow roasted (where the fat will melt into the meat), or if I'm at a fancy restaurant where they will have excellent quality, and I try a bite of someone else's fattier cut while I order my filet. Even things like the fatty part of salmon skin I just don't enjoy, so I'll give mine to my husband who is a big fan. He feels like he got the best part, and I feel like I got the best part.
posted by DoubleLune at 1:50 PM on January 6, 2020 [1 favorite]

I agree with the people saying that the good-to-eat fat is the part that melts in your mouth, not the part that's chewy. With the added proviso that it really tastes good if it's got some char on it.
posted by telophase at 2:01 PM on January 6, 2020 [2 favorites]

I don't eat it because I don't like it. It's OK not to like things.
posted by something something at 2:22 PM on January 6, 2020 [7 favorites]

I will eat everything that is not a bone.
posted by loriginedumonde at 2:22 PM on January 6, 2020 [3 favorites]

Yeah, my wife scolds me for leaving so much as scraps on my plate, but I just can't eat the big chunks of fat and gristle.
posted by AzraelBrown at 2:33 PM on January 6, 2020

I eat the rendered or "burnt" fat but not the unrendered fat.

This is my personal taste, but more and more I realize my personal tastes were shaped by years of so-called (1) "nutrition science", wherein I was raised on skim milk, margarine but not butter, no eggs, no salt, carb loading, etc., and that included trimming any and all fat from meat. In other words, the particular swing of a pendulum, which still swings today.

Eat what you like, don't think about it too hard.

(1) and I'm a scientist.
posted by Dashy at 2:35 PM on January 6, 2020 [2 favorites]

Eat what you like, just don’t take it out of your mouth and put it on your plate for all to see.
posted by HotToddy at 2:39 PM on January 6, 2020 [2 favorites]

just don’t take it out of your mouth and put it on your plate for all to see.

If you have sensory issues that mean that you'll vomit if you choose to do this, please ignore this advice.
posted by Aleyn at 3:23 PM on January 6, 2020 [3 favorites]

You’re not crazy. Fat tastes gross. I buy a steak to eat beef, not fat. Keep up the good work.
posted by kevinbelt at 3:25 PM on January 6, 2020 [3 favorites]

Not the visible fat of all meats...lamb and pork are not tasty...but the beef fat from rib roasts and rib steaks, hell year. Tasty. OK, not probably healthy, but I can't afford those cuts that often.

BTW, if you're cooking the roast/steak you can put the fat side down in the pan to cook it especially.
posted by tmdonahue at 3:27 PM on January 6, 2020

There's a spectrum for sure. I don't eat straight fat, say like I sometimes see in the form of a 1mm hard "wall" in the middle of a NY Strip, nor at the edges. I will eat Ribeye fat that is integrated well into the meat, but again, not solid "divider fat." The limit of integrated fat is probably what I've had in T-Bones, in whatever section has that kind of less-dense marbling that splits the meat into little meatlets. I'm pretty texture sensitive, but this scheme is something that goes back to when I was a very picky eater, so as long as I have a knife sharp enough to be surgical about fat removal, I'll eat almost all of anything.

Raving about chewing fat is something I associate more with rural culture, bordering on ancestral traditions. I think it qualifies as a delicacy, perhaps one of the few global ones. I can't imagine a family dinner where everyone is just working through the various fat pieces they received with their meals, but I'm kinda sheltered.
posted by rhizome at 3:40 PM on January 6, 2020

I'm on team "depends on the cut and how it's cooked." But like, this is such a historically-known preference that it's immortalized in a nursery rhyme: "Jack Sprat would eat no fat / his wife would eat no lean . . ."

You're fine. Don't worry about it.
posted by aspersioncast at 3:50 PM on January 6, 2020 [7 favorites]

When I was a kid my parents would cut the fat off of their steaks and I would scarf it right down. I will still often eat the fat on the steak, and, now that I think of it, I'm kind of thrilled when I see my steak has a nice bit of fat around the edges. My dad, who was born in the 1920s on a ranch in Wyoming, said gristle was what they got as chewing gum. I'll chew on a chunk of gristle for awhile but probably because it reminds me of my dad.
posted by BoscosMom at 3:55 PM on January 6, 2020 [3 favorites]

I was the exact opposite - as a kid, I shaved off every single speck of fat I could see on my steak with surgical precision, and I couldn't eat it until I was done. If it took an hour, so be it. Stop yelling at me Mom - it's HORRIBLE.

I highly dislike any fat on my meat even now. Which is fortunate, as I no longer have a gallbladder.
posted by spinifex23 at 5:02 PM on January 6, 2020 [5 favorites]

High five, spinifex23 - I was also that kid! My surgical excisions were of everything I could see that wasn't muscle - in particular I remember an incident where I spent an entire afternoon extracting the meat fibers from a chunk of brisket. There may have been tweezers involved. The residual pile of fat and connective tissue was pretty distressing, but the sandwich I made from the muscle fibers was worth it.

To this day I won't order meat at a restaurant with anybody who isn't already used to watching me eat it, because I still have to apply my 'scalpel' before it's edible. As an adult I have occasionally tried scraping a tiny bit of fat off onto a steak to see if it still bothers me - and yep, so far it still bothers me. Tastes all right but I can't handle the texture.

Count me among the "I don't eat it, but to each their own" crowd.
posted by DingoMutt at 7:59 PM on January 6, 2020 [2 favorites]

As the two above me, I find any fat (or connective tissue, blood vessels, skin, etc) on any kind of meat or fish absolutely revolting, and I have no qualms taking the time needed to perform the surgery. I don't care if others judge me, it's either that or I gag the entire meal, and throw up afterwards. (I'm generally quite adventurous and non-picky with my food, but meat is another beast... literally)

No shame at all in eating what you like, and rejecting the rest!
posted by hasna at 3:38 AM on January 7, 2020 [1 favorite]

Fat and gristle are two different things. Sometimes it's hard to visually tell the difference or they overlap, but gristle is revolting and fat is soft and pleasant if you're a person who enjoys fat and salt.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 5:23 AM on January 7, 2020 [1 favorite]

I also surgically excised all fat from meat as a child and young adult. I now enthusiastically embrace all sorts of fattier cuts of meat now as well as almost all offal, but still don't like the fat cap on steaks or the fat running through ribeye.

Yes, I like bone marrow and headcheese but will order a filet mignon over the ribeye. Yes.
posted by desuetude at 9:20 AM on January 7, 2020

A likely story, desuetude.
posted by rhizome at 11:17 AM on January 7, 2020 [3 favorites]

God, no. This is totally a personal preference thing, but I'm grimacing even reading your post (which is fine! No harm done). I don't think you're doing anything crazy by skipping the fat. Nor is anyone who does enjoy it. Totally personal choice.
posted by The Hyacinth Girl at 12:09 PM on January 7, 2020

It definitely helps to turn the steak sideways (if you're the one cooking it) and brown the fat cap. Then I'll just straight up eat it.

Anyway, I came to say that one of my engineers is a pro - when eating a ribeye he cuts the fat into small pieces and gets a little speared with each bite so the ratio is always the same. Absolute champion.
posted by ftm at 6:10 PM on January 7, 2020

No. No no no. Most modern American meat is so fatty I can barely choke it down.
posted by Lesser Shrew at 7:12 PM on January 7, 2020