Just came across this Reddit post : Why are burgers consifered so unhealthy?
[https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/jal8fj/eli5_why_are_burgers_considered_so_unhealthy/](https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/jal8fj/eli5_why_are_burgers_considered_so_unhealthy/)
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so people say that ground beef is fatter, but why is that so? Thanks !
In: Biology
When you see 80/20 or 90/10 the former is the percentage of lean meat in the grind vs the latter which is the fat content.
Because usually ground beef comes from some of the poorer cuts of beef (because when you grind it, texture doesn’t matter at all so why not keep the better cuts for things like steak and such), usually with some of the fat from an entirely different part of the cow, or even an entirely different cow mixed in, whereas a cut of beef can be lean or fatty depending on the cut and the particular animal. Now neither are particularly healthy, red meat is notoriously bad for your cholesterol, but since ground beef is usually more fatty, it’s generally less healthy, although you can get lean ground beef and then it doesn’t really matter all that much.
I think to make burger mince they use all the fatty offcuts and grind it up so you don’t have to chew it like you would if normal (If it wasn’t ground up it would be like the bit of steak you cut off and leave) this the fat content is higher than a good cut of meat.
Ground beef is fatter than normal beef, because fat is trimmed off from normal beef. Sometimes the fat from normal beef is even added to ground beef.
When you grind for making patties or sausages, you aim for a specific fat content and mix lean and fat meat to reach that desired fat content. When you grill a hamburger patty, a very lean one tends to dry out faster, while grilling a steak can be done with leaner meat. So to get a juice burger, you need more fat in it.
That said, most of the fat in the really fatty fast food burgers comes from the mayo they are slathered in.
Fat is cheap so it is mixed in to bulk out the product. Lean ground beef (no fat) is more expensive
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