There is NO Substitute For Fat

I'm sure most of you have experienced this in your workplace in some fashion or another. People want the cheapest way possible regardless of quality. Personally, I don't get this. Yes, let us try to feed a zillion people for $1.99 each. And Beluga caviar and saffron should fall from the heavens like manna, too.

Enter the roast beef saga. I'm sure USDA Prime Hereford Beef filet mignon would make some tasty "roast beef". However, most people don't want/can't afford that. I usually use a nice USDA choice Sirloin Cap for roast beef. Pretty reasonable in price and is probably one of the most tender cuts after filet, strip and ribeye.

But my idea of reasonable and someone else's are two different things. So, thinking marinating & roasting a lesser grade and cut to medium rare and slicing it very thin, I could make this work. No, not really. Just. Not. Good.

People...ya just gotta have fat, specifically marbling. And good marbling. All the culinary tricks in the book can't help you. If there isn't white-ish/pinkish stuff looking like a map of downtown Chicago traversing through your meat, look for a better cut. (OK, one can braise the bejesus out of something in a crock pot to get it tender, but that it usually hard to cut into thin slices for sandwiches).

And this applies to pork, chicken, lamb, etc. too. (Almost) everyone is screaming LOW FAT!!! So now animals are bread leaner to show little fat in their meat. Less fat=less tender. Then consumers scream ITS TOUGH! So manufacturers inject the meat with a saline solution-like substance. Instead of the fat cooking out to give you a tender product, the solution does. Personally, give me a higher grade of any meat with the fat and awesome marbling.

With either, the proteins can't bind (and make meat tough) if there is something in the way (fat or solution). The more finely the fat (or solution) is dispersed (marbling) the more tender the meat will be (yes, it also depends on how little the particular muscle was used during the animal's lifetime). Little marbling or solution will leave meat tough. Give me fat, please.

I'd rather pay a higher price for a better cut I know I will enjoy than to save a few bucks and think "that was kinda lame".