BEEF HELP! Important question!

Okay, so I just made tacos with some 96% lean ground beef and as I was cooking it in the pan, a good bit of fatty "liquid" still came out of it and I still had to drain it over some paper towels. Since there was still liquid fat coming out of it, do you think it could have been incorrectly labeled? I mean, do you think the 96% label was wrong?

Has any one else ever bought ground beef this lean? Does it do the same for you when you cook it?

yup....it still has a little stuff to drain just not near as much as fatter beef does.

Actually usually if Im going to just brown it off, I usually buy whatevers cheapest because I'm gonna drain it anyway.

ive actually never heard of draining beef but who cares?

red meat is good for you, fat is good for you, i know you dont eat this daily, just enjoy it for what it is.

i dont worry about it with meatloaf but I like my taco meat a little drier :P

It seemed like quite a bit came out, but I guess that's just because I'm not used to cooking beef much.

When I rinsed the pan when cleaning up, there were little oil pockets in the water - is that pretty normal too? I mean, they weren't HUGE blobs of oil, but they were still there.

well yeah id imagine so. 

Has anyone else had experiences with beef like this? Supposobly the total fat content was 4.5 grams, which would be about the equivelent of a teaspoon of oil, I believe.

hmm--as a pretty ambitious cook, here is my 2-cents! The stuff you drained had a little bit of fat (the 4%) and my bet, the rest was water. The butcher and/or grocery store often adds "enhancers" to their chicken, beef, etc. or it can be a natural byproduct called "juice". When you make stuff you will not be able to drain (like meatloaf, meatballs, etc) buy the leanest you can buy! With hamburgers, a little more fat makes it a little more moist and flavorful. Over 25 years ago a "new" inexperienced cook made meatloaf and invited us over. She used the fatiest ground beef and we got sick. YUCK!!!

ground beef, lean or not, still contains fat and will need to be drainded.

next time, try ground turkey or chicken (it's leaner and doesn't have as much fat)

or you could boil your groung beef first to get rid of any excess fat.

Have you ever tried the Boca crumbles for Tacos? Seeing how you are vegetarian and all?  My family didn't even know it wasn't ground beef!  But to answer your question, carolann has it right, you are always going to have something to drain, fat or something else when you saute/brown.  Cook up some mushrooms and you'll see what we mean.

Original Post by zebulancherry:

Has anyone else had experiences with beef like this? Supposobly the total fat content was 4.5 grams, which would be about the equivelent of a teaspoon of oil, I believe.

 You need to stop fussing about miniscule amounts of fat.  It won't hurt you.  Think of it this way - the beef had 4% fat, raw.  When you cooked it, some of it cooked out.  That means you actually ate less fat than is on the label. 

Tip - don't throw away the meat juices that you call "water".  That's where all the flavor is.  As you brown the meat, keep stirring and allow all that nice juice to go back into the meat.  When you see no more "water" in the pan and the meat sizzles, all that is left in the bottom is the fat.  Go ahead and drain your browned beef in a paper towel lined strainer to remove the excess fat.  You'll end up with a far leaner and much tastier end product.  Tastier means more satisfying.

Try rinsing the fat in the  ground beef by running very hot water over it in a collender,or boil it and then drain. Its sounds yuck,but its not once the seasonings are put on.