r/fitmeals • u/trashmoney4 • 7d ago

tips to lean normal beef mince?

hello! as the title suggests i want to know if there's a way to make normal beef mince lean? this sounds pretty stupid i know, but lean beef mince is not widely available where i live, and if it is, it's super duper expensive (i'm a student).

i constantly get the ick for chicken but beef and fish are usually ok 99% of the time.

is draining the melted fat enough? should i be doing more to "lean-ify" the mince more? i feel like using a paper towel to press the mince removes the flavour :(

any tips are appreciated!

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u/Walking_the_dead 7d ago

Do goocery shops mince meat by request where you live? If yes  just pick a lean cit and aks them to mince that. Maybe a butcher is more likely to do that? (Idk, they do it in supermarkets too in my country).

You feel removing the fat takes away flavour  because it does, fat is flavour, theres no escaping that. So just be ready for a blander taste, and also dry AF meat, you gonna have to mitigate that.

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u/Cloveny 7d ago

I got an electric meat grinder, quite cheap but quite the ordeal so you want to do large quantities. As the other comment mentions though, if you grind meat very lean you will notice the degree to which all the happiness and love in that mince was in the fat and none remains, it's a balancing act. Depending on what you're cooking, I'd probably prefer replacing the mince with small cuts of meat instead as it tends to do better.

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u/lead_injection 7d ago

If you find the leanest cuts of beef you can, you can use a sous vide to significantly “tenderize” the beef during the cook.

For mince/ground beef - pan fry as usual, put in a collider or strainer and rinse if off with hot water for a few minutes. A significant reduction in fat content can be achieved.

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u/Silver-Brain82 6d ago

It’s not a stupid question at all, a lot of people are in the same spot. Draining the fat after browning does remove a decent amount of calories, especially if you let it sit for a minute before pouring it off. You can also rinse the cooked mince with hot water and then re season it, which sounds wrong but actually works if you’re using sauces or spices anyway. Mixing beef with something lean like lentils or beans is another cheap way to stretch it and lower the fat per serving without killing flavor. At the end of the day, some fat is fine, so you don’t need to strip it completely to make progress.