TIL my ribeye trim was costing me money

I was leaving a solid half inch of fat cap on every ribeye for years, thinking it looked better and kept it juicy. Then a new guy from a Texas steakhouse showed me his trim, which was way tighter, and said 'You're selling fat, not beef, man.' How much extra trim do you guys usually take off for retail cuts?

3 comments

3 Comments

robertc441mo ago

That's a great point about the fat cap, and it reminds me of how often we stick with a habit just because it's how we've always done it. You see it everywhere, from how people pack a dishwasher to the way they tie their shoes. Sometimes it takes a fresh pair of eyes to show you what you're really working with. For retail, a tight trim is just honest, because you're right, people are paying for the meat. A quarter inch is plenty to keep it juicy without feeling like you got cheated.

campbell.max1mo ago

We used to leave a lot of fat on our strip loins too, maybe three eighths of an inch. A customer who ran a burger spot pointed out he was paying steak prices for our trim. Now I take it down to a clean eighth, just enough to cover the meat. It cooks better and the complaints stopped. That guy from Texas is right.

webb.linda22d ago

Gotta admit, I was totally on the other side of this for years. I always figured leaving a thicker fat cap was just the right way to do it, like that extra bit was non-negotiable for flavor. But reading your numbers and hearing that customer call out the waste really hit home. Honestly, I trimmed down a couple of strip loins to an eighth last week to test it myself and the difference was surprising. It cooked way more even and nobody at the table said a thing about it being dry.