At what temperature does fat render out of meat?

[haresfur]

I got to thinking after the disgusting job of separating globs of fat from sous vide short ribs and debating never doing them that way again. If the fat renders out in a braise, but not in the sous vide, what temperature would you need to turn the fat liquid to get rid of it? Is it below well-done or do you really have to cook the shit out of it? Is it just temperature or a time&temperature thing?

 

Along those lines, what happens with marbled, tender cuts? where is the sweet spot between solid fat and something more palatable?

Edited October 24, 2018 by haresfur
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[Bernie]

I did beef short ribs at 62C for about 16 hours. But i put them in a marinade with equal parts red wine & beef stock, 1/2 teaspoon each of cardamon, paprika, cumin (all ground), a teaspoon of black peppercorns. The marinade I put in a saucepan simmered for a few minutes then cooled. Vacuum bagged 3 largish short ribs with marinade. When done I opened the bag emptied everything in a casserole and heated for 20 minutes in a 180c oven. This gave the meat a nicer finish.

This also rendered out a lot of the fat. I was going to reduce the marinade to make a sauce, but that would mean skimming the fat. I was too impatient to do that. We ate it without the sauce, with lumpy mash spuds, and garlic bread on the side, and a nice Brown Brothers Malbec.  

I let the juices cool completely and saved the fat for later use. It seems to have a lovely savory flavor so should be good to roast or finish off sous vide meats.

You are dead right about the fat globules. Also to note that after the sous vide the meat on the short ribs was close to original size.

After the roasting it had probably dropped in volume by at least 30% as the fat was rendered out, and it came away completely from the rib. I was happy with the result and I think a lot of the flavor is in the fat so I think you need at least some of it.

Next time I might try 62C for 8 hrs then 8 hrs at 74C to render out the fat.

One rib was sufficient for one person, and as there was only the 2 of us I got to save the other for lunch. A warm sour does roll with short rib heated in the microwave was pretty good.

mmm....  sour dough roll with meat...homer would be ecstatic....

I need to increase my exercise to make up though...

[btbyrd]

I've cooked a lot of SV short ribs and the best approach I've found is to bone them out and trim off any exterior fat/connective tissue before cooking. Don't try to do with heat what you can do better with a knife. The whole point of low-temp short ribs is that they're low temp -- tender and steaklike. Anything much over 60C is a waste. If you want braised short ribs, then braise them (or pressure cook them). 

[Robenco15]

54C for 72 hours should do the trick.