Payne County Rust Fat's Role

A few words about the role fat plays in our culinary satisfaction. First, on moisture. The first place a lot of people veer from the road to juicy meat is in their interpretation of what comprises the juice itself. Most, undoubtedly, think that moisture means water, and therefore, the more water the meat retains, the juicier it is. What they need to start thinking about when they think of moisture, instead of water, is fat. The amount of fat a cut of meat retains during the cooking process, while expelling as much of the water content as possible, is what makes those perfect moments of meat merriness. As an example, think of bacon. Bacon is a cut with tons of fat, and no matter how crispy you cook it, you still never take a bite of bacon that one could call dry. Fat, no matter what the world says, is the good guy. Careful cooks pay attention to the thermometer on the top of their smoker not only because everyone else says ‘cook at 225’, but because they know that the fat inside that meat, when exposed to enough heat, will melt and drip right out of the cut. Bad things. Next on the list…flavor. Take a lean, LEAN cut of beef; let’s say the top sirloin of a skinny steer. No marbling, no fat globules in or on the cut. Next, cook it in a frying pan with no oil or butter; just some of that PAM cooking spray stuff. Add no salt, pepper, rust or the like. Cook until medium and serve. Flavorless shoe-leather. Next, take a good old prime, marbled, high-fat content cut like a ribeye from a fattened steer. Cook it the same way. Stellar. Beef on its own,

devoid of fat, has no flavor.

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