Why Fat Is Not a Defect

Every so often someone will pick up a steak and say,

“This one has a lot of fat.”

The tone varies. Sometimes it’s concern. Sometimes it’s disappointment. Sometimes it’s just observation.

But underneath it is usually a question about value.

For a long time, fat was perceived as something that subtracts value. I was born in 1977. For most of my life, the messaging was clear and consistent. Fat wasn’t neutral. It was bad. If a steak had visible fat, it wasn’t just extra, it was undesirable.

Perception is powerful. It shapes how we see the world, and it shapes how we see meat.

So when someone reacts to fat, they’re not just reacting to the steak. They’re reacting to decades of cultural messaging.

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What Fat Actually Does

Outside of nutrition debates, fat has real, mechanical functions.

Take brisket, for example. For years people said to cook it fat-side up so the fat would melt into the meat and keep it moist. Then one day I stopped and thought about it. Rendered fat doesn’t soak into muscle like water into a sponge. Most of it renders and runs, following gravity and the path of least resistance.

That doesn’t make fat meaningless. It just means we should be clear about what it actually does.

On a steak, fat plays a different role.

A New York strip needs a reasonable fat cap. A ribeye needs some fat on what we call the lip. That’s part of the structure and identity of the cut. It’s not decoration.

And then there’s intramuscular fat, the marbling.

Marbling provides margin for error. I’ve overcooked a ribeye before. Who hasn’t. If that steak didn’t have marbling, it would have been dry and unforgiving. The fat renders as it cooks, helping preserve flavor and palatability.

Fat isn’t just richness. It’s insurance.

There’s also a nutritional component. Many of the nutrients in beef are fat soluble. That simply means dietary fat helps with absorption. Regardless of someone’s dietary philosophy, fat is not nutritionally irrelevant.

Mechanically speaking, fat affects:

• Flavor

• Texture

• Cooking forgiveness

• Nutrient absorption

That’s function, not opinion.

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There Is a Line

That said, there is a tipping point.

An excessive fat cap doesn’t add value. It can be wasteful. The line between appropriate and excessive isn’t hard and fast, at least not in a small operation like ours.

In large-scale processing, there may be strict metrics. Here, it’s more of a feel.

And that feel isn’t just meat knowledge. It’s perception of value knowledge.

When our employees cut New York strips, they don’t just learn from me telling them how thick a fat cap should be. They learn by cutting steaks, putting them in the case, and watching how customers respond.

That’s real-time feedback.

If a batch moves well, that tells them something. If people consistently gravitate toward a certain look, that tells them something else. Over time, they develop a sense of where that line is.

Not because there’s a ruler involved.

Because the market is speaking.

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Fat and Value

Fat is not a flaw in the animal. It’s part of the cut.

How much of it belongs there is something you learn over time, by cutting, cooking, and watching how people respond.