Fat for thought: Leanest cuts of meats not always best for cooking

Dave Nigro, meat service manager at Hy-Vee Food & Drug Store, 3504 Clinton Parkway, inspects the department's cuts of meats.

Cuts of meat are displayed at Hy-Vee Food & Drug Store, 3504 Clinton Parkway.

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¢ Compare calorie and fat counts in different cuts of meat, from beef to pork to pheasant.

¢ “The Barbecue Bible” author Steven Raichlen’s Web site includes techniques and recipes, including one for a smokin’-good Thanksgiving turkey.

Not all meats are created equal when it comes to a world with endless recipes for sloppy joes, meat loaf and hamburgers.

How much fat do you want in that meat?

The situation: Meat loaf, meat balls and hamburgers

The name of the game here is binder – meaning fat. Go too lean, and your well-constructed dinner might crumble apart, says Dave Nigro, meat service manager at Hy-Vee, 3504 W. Clinton Parkway.

“If you’re making a meatloaf or making actual meatballs, you can use a leaner beef, but most people prefer an 85 (percent leanness),” Nigro says. “If you are going to use a leaner beef, you can fatten it up, either use some ground pork or some kind of sausage as well, because that’s going to help bind it together and help it retain its shape better and also not be so dry. Same thing with hamburger patties.”

The situation: Sloppy joes and other saucy meats

Here, a leaner meat can make sense. Nothing has to bind, and flavor is not an issue because of the sauce.

“If you’re doing sloppy joes or … cooking up a hamburger for spaghetti and meat sauce or something like that where there is going to be a lot of flavor, you can definitely use a leaner meat,” Nigro says.

The situation: Substitutions

Nigro says that when looking to substitute turkey or chicken for red meat, go for something saucy.

“A good rule of thumb is where you’re using a leaner meats is like in a spaghetti sauce or sloppy joes, you can substitute ground chicken or ground turkey,” Nigro says.

The situation: Grass-fed and pastured meat

Debbie Yarnell, owner of Homespun Hill Farm, which produces local, grass-fed and pasture-raised beef, lamb, chicken and turkey, says that those meats tend to be leaner than commercial. Hers is processed at 90 percent.

“Grass-fed meats are inherently leaner because without the corn ration there are less sugars to convert to fat,” Yarnell says. “Cooking leaner meats is not a big adjustment as long as a person remembers the slight difference.”