What do the fat percentages on beef mince mean?

Fat in mince is not a flaw to be minimised. It carries flavour, keeps the meat moist and gives burgers their texture. The right percentage is decided by the dish, not by an idea of what is healthy.

Step by step

1. Read the number as fat by weight.20% mince is one fifth fat before cooking. Much of that renders out and can be drained or skimmed, so the fat you actually eat is far less than the label suggests.
2. Use 5% for dishes where fat is a nuisance.Lasagne layers, stuffed vegetables, anything you cannot skim. It will need help — oil, stock or tomatoes — or it turns to dry crumbs.
3. Use 12% as the default.Bolognese, chilli, cottage pie, keema. Enough fat to brown and carry flavour, not so much that the dish is greasy.
4. Use 20% for burgers and meatballs.Anything shaped and cooked fast needs fat to stay juicy and to hold together. A 5% burger is dry however carefully you cook it.
5. Skim rather than buy lean for long-cooked dishes.A chilli made with 20% and skimmed after simmering tastes better than the same dish made with 5%, because the fat was present while the flavours developed.
6. Look at the cut as well as the number.Steak mince and chuck mince at the same percentage are not identical. Chuck has more connective tissue, which is an advantage in a long simmer and a disadvantage in a quick fry.
7. Brown it in batches whatever the percentage.Crowded mince steams grey. This matters more with lean mince, which has less fat to fry in.

Tips

• For burgers, more fat is not a compromise — it is the ingredient that makes them work.
• Buy fattier and skim, rather than buying lean, for anything that simmers.
• Mince has a very large surface area, so it spoils faster than a steak. Use it within a day or two of buying.

Common mistakes

• Using 5% mince for burgers — The fat is what keeps a burger juicy and what binds the crumb together as it cooks. Lean burgers shrink, dry out and fall apart, and no amount of technique fixes a fat shortage.
• Draining the fat before the flavours have developed — Fat dissolves and carries aromatic compounds. Draining early throws that away. Skim at the end of a long simmer instead, when the fat has done its work.

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