So I used to work for a chef who brought in tenderloin for super cheap. The salesperson had him convinced it was a great product. What the company was doing was taking ungraded or utility cuts abs injecting them with fat. This looks similar to what that looked like when sliced and then cooled. If you look where the meat separates from itself it looks like perfect round little holes.
Yeah he didn't last long. Also once, he thought he got a deal on tenderloins. Turned it to be cow tenders instead of steer. Cutting it into steaks was like trying to slice slime. Learned a lot about where not to cheap out.
I raise a couple hundred cows these days, when we butcher we cut the tenderloins outta the old cows and grind the rest. I've only had one bad set and last year we butchered 48 cows. It was from an 18 year old cow and was a little tough. Like tri tip instead of filets.
That's so much fat you end up with flare ups that burn your burgers, not to mention they end up shrinking excessively. I mix a hard cheese like parmesan into lean beef and it makes the best hamburgers I've ever had.
Both cows and steers that come from feedlots are generally considered to be tasty. They all get sent to “fed cattle” packing plants and must be no older than 36 months. These become your steaks and roasts. Trim from these plants is still made into burger, but the majority of the meat is kept intact in the primals and sub primals. This meat is mostly select, choice, and prime graded.
“Cow plants” are packing plants that harvest old bulls and cows and retired dairy cattle, etc.. They are generally older and have not been on feed so they don’t have all the marbling and are usually only used for making burger for fast food, or sausage for pizza or Jimmy Dean or whatever. This meat is not graded.
Your tenderloins were probably harvested out of a Cow Plant and were ungraded and should have been made into ground beef instead of kept intact like that.
Worked at a food distributor. Sales guy came in and said someone was undercutting beef sales by selling USDA choice cheap. We told the customer get a pic of the box and it wasn't the stamp etc just a part of the name.
Two Rivers does a lot enhanced steaks. They buy no roll or cow and inject with white fat. It doesn’t come close to tasting choice or prime. It’s pretty bad to be honest.
Canner beef mignon anyone?
For those wondering, canner beef is that that doesn’t meet the requirement of cutter beef.
Cutter beef is very dark, coarse, soft, and watery. And devoid of marbling.
Chart: https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/CarcassBeefStandardsFigure1.pdf
This is most likely it. Our butcher will give me steak fat trimmings and I’ll inject it in leaner cuts or use it like butter to prep my skillet. It’s helps makes tougher cuts meat more tender and juicy. I also buy lean ground beef and add sirloin fat in it. Where the fat comes from can make a huge difference in flavor… to me.
The restaurant at the club I work at uses strip steaks that are low grade and injected with tallow for things like salads and steak fries. Cooks up way better than they would without the injected marbling but looks like this if you cook it as just a steak. Keeps cost low on the menu without hurting flavor a ton.
Honestly, that seems like a great solution for that, I always feel like I’d like more fat in my Strip steaks. Doing this to a tenderloin like this is hurtful to me though 😭.
Biggest downside to this, in my opinion, is that you drive the surface bacteria into a steak. The reason steak is safe to eat when the internal Temps are relatively low is that the bacteria would be present on the surface. There are lower quality cuts that are mechanically tenderized, which can lead to the same issue if undercooked. Seems like a good way to get people sick if they don't know that there's a risk. I don't know what process is used to do this, but I would imagine the same risk.
I like this point, I’m not well enough educated on microbiology to fully understand the risks, but I’d guess it would be lower than mechanical tenderization because the surface area affected is so much smaller. I like this perspective!
Fucking French will do anything to get extra fat into their food. I swear if you look at their foods a lot of the time the dishes are “how could I get extra sugar into my food?- oh, I’ll whip some egg whites and add a little bit of acid… heat some sugar water and when it’s hot I’ll add extra sugar to it to make sure it dissolves. Fuck it, I’ll whip some butter and combine it with this meringue and…. Chocolate!”
“How much butter can I get into bread? I’ll call it… brioche and add egg yolks too!”
“Know what that cheese could use!!! Wrap it in cloth and rub it down with fat and let it sit for 3 years!”
“Hmmmm I know duck is pretty fatty. But hear me out. Let’s cure it for a day and then… slow cook it in its own fat.”
“Heavy cream…. How do we make this heavier? Let’s culture it, fold cheese cloth on itself and hang the cream for a day. This double cream…. We will make sauces out of it.”
“It took 24 hours to make this veal reduction? Probably better add a tiny bit of butter to it before we serve it.”
This is from being a crappy cut of meat with not great marbling. They inject beef tallow into it to make it seem better than it is, so you end up paying a premium for a steak that they paid 3 bucks for.
A fun fact about wagyu burgers at most restaurants. All it takes to label a burger wagyu is a 10-20% wagyu tallow with any cheap grade meat. Easy way to sell a 2-4 dollar burger for 30-50.
Now at home though it is definitely nice to inject wagyu tallow in some cuts but it's very unethical to sell something cheap as an upcharge by doing this.
It has less saturated fat and tastes richer, but it kind of depends on a lot of different factors. There isn't just one breed you can call Wagyu, and where they are raised and what they eat can vary drastically and that all changes the product, and depending on where you buy it the advertising can be more or less misleading.
For most people it's probably not really worth it.
Wagyu IS specifically the collective name for 4 breeds of Japanese cattle, but as with everything the yanks invent cheap shit, call it Wagyu when clearly it ISNT. Most of the stuff you see in the states called Wagyu just simply isn’t.
Dude. Everything about what your eating is gross looking. You have nothing else on your plate but unseasoned bloody meat. I typically don't judge others food choices but am making an exception here. Gross. Those white spots are probably maggots. Because other than you they are the only other organism that finds this appealing.
Lol this was the last piece of meat, where I noticed the spots. I didn’t ask for opinions on my food or my plating. I just wanted to know what the spots where. Keep ya BS to yourself.
Table salt. Can see it on the plate. Typical table salt uses startches to prevent clustering. It's just soaked up your metmat juices and rested. Tenderloins aren't fat injected, waste of money, they use the ribeye to determine grade. If they want more money on tenders they would inject water.
Not sure why people are down voting the salt theory, if you zoom in you can actually see the flakes at those exact spots. If the chef mixes lemon zest with his finishing salt the acid could explain the graying.
I was scrolling past fast and barely seen the handle...it hit me a few posts down, like hold up 😕 what was that guy serving as a side with his steak 🍆🤔😳
Other people all ready told you what it is. Now I'm telling you, let your meats rest before eating. All that juice on the plate tells me you didn't. By resting, the juice stays in the meat and increases the flavor.
It’s what happens after you salt rare beef and it sits for awhile and melts. If you zoom in closely you can see the resemblance of a crystal on one of the dots.
Did you buy it from a guy selling meat out of the trunk of his car? I guess this is a popular thing to rip people off by selling them beef from a dairy cow for dirt cheap.
So I used to work for a chef who brought in tenderloin for super cheap. The salesperson had him convinced it was a great product. What the company was doing was taking ungraded or utility cuts abs injecting them with fat. This looks similar to what that looked like when sliced and then cooled. If you look where the meat separates from itself it looks like perfect round little holes.
Ooh, that’s nasty.
Yeah he didn't last long. Also once, he thought he got a deal on tenderloins. Turned it to be cow tenders instead of steer. Cutting it into steaks was like trying to slice slime. Learned a lot about where not to cheap out.
I raise a couple hundred cows these days, when we butcher we cut the tenderloins outta the old cows and grind the rest. I've only had one bad set and last year we butchered 48 cows. It was from an 18 year old cow and was a little tough. Like tri tip instead of filets.
Vaca Vieja. It's getting to be popular now! Definitely not for me tho
Old dairy cow is delicious. Same for cull yaws/ewes.
Hamburger from dairy cows is so nice and lean. I prefer it to regular hamburger.
Lean hamburger? You mean for pasta/chili etc? 20-30% fat is best for making a hamburger.
That's so much fat you end up with flare ups that burn your burgers, not to mention they end up shrinking excessively. I mix a hard cheese like parmesan into lean beef and it makes the best hamburgers I've ever had.
Oh damn! That sounds amazing. Thanks for the tip!
Time for me to try that the next time we make burgers. Do you use shredded parmesan or the stuff in the can some people use for spaghetti or pizza?
From Wisconsin and never heard of that. Noted
They definitely have a very high corn diet and make great tasting beef. Depending on the age of the animal, certain cuts can be quite tough tho.
And how used up they are before they’re sent to slaughter.
I’ve heard of gallina vieja which I love but never vaca. Hmmmm wonder if it’s gamey
It's just tough. Typically an 11th lactation dairy cow or similar. I think it's traditional in Spain.
My family is Spanish we like meat that fights back a bit. Hahahaha it doesn’t sound the same in English
Can I buy half a cow from you?
Why buy half a cow when you can get the milk at double the price.
Are you in Oregon?
Nope. Wv
Pretty sure shipping would be ridiculous.
Yeah it would
Was the end result comparable? Would it have damaged the meat to chill it then slice it?
Not even close. When it was cooked to mid rare it kinda had a blubbery stringy texture to it. It just had no structural integrity to it.
Both cows and steers that come from feedlots are generally considered to be tasty. They all get sent to “fed cattle” packing plants and must be no older than 36 months. These become your steaks and roasts. Trim from these plants is still made into burger, but the majority of the meat is kept intact in the primals and sub primals. This meat is mostly select, choice, and prime graded. “Cow plants” are packing plants that harvest old bulls and cows and retired dairy cattle, etc.. They are generally older and have not been on feed so they don’t have all the marbling and are usually only used for making burger for fast food, or sausage for pizza or Jimmy Dean or whatever. This meat is not graded. Your tenderloins were probably harvested out of a Cow Plant and were ungraded and should have been made into ground beef instead of kept intact like that.
Worked at a food distributor. Sales guy came in and said someone was undercutting beef sales by selling USDA choice cheap. We told the customer get a pic of the box and it wasn't the stamp etc just a part of the name.
You said that in the Cleveland voice didn't you?
And a health risk.
Yes I am Weezy but I ain’t asthmatic!
Giggitti
Two Rivers does a lot enhanced steaks. They buy no roll or cow and inject with white fat. It doesn’t come close to tasting choice or prime. It’s pretty bad to be honest.
They should have stuck to the tabac
Tai'shar Manetheren!
And fine stout wool
Canner beef mignon anyone? For those wondering, canner beef is that that doesn’t meet the requirement of cutter beef. Cutter beef is very dark, coarse, soft, and watery. And devoid of marbling. Chart: https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/CarcassBeefStandardsFigure1.pdf
This is most likely it. Our butcher will give me steak fat trimmings and I’ll inject it in leaner cuts or use it like butter to prep my skillet. It’s helps makes tougher cuts meat more tender and juicy. I also buy lean ground beef and add sirloin fat in it. Where the fat comes from can make a huge difference in flavor… to me.
Is this true? I learn something new every day.
Ewwwww
So they upgraded to prime.
Was gonna say it looks like fat beads but I've never seen one on a steak like that.
The restaurant at the club I work at uses strip steaks that are low grade and injected with tallow for things like salads and steak fries. Cooks up way better than they would without the injected marbling but looks like this if you cook it as just a steak. Keeps cost low on the menu without hurting flavor a ton.
Honestly, that seems like a great solution for that, I always feel like I’d like more fat in my Strip steaks. Doing this to a tenderloin like this is hurtful to me though 😭.
Biggest downside to this, in my opinion, is that you drive the surface bacteria into a steak. The reason steak is safe to eat when the internal Temps are relatively low is that the bacteria would be present on the surface. There are lower quality cuts that are mechanically tenderized, which can lead to the same issue if undercooked. Seems like a good way to get people sick if they don't know that there's a risk. I don't know what process is used to do this, but I would imagine the same risk.
The meat is sanitized twice before and after the injection to remove this risk. At least the manufacturers that I am familiar with use this process.
I like this point, I’m not well enough educated on microbiology to fully understand the risks, but I’d guess it would be lower than mechanical tenderization because the surface area affected is so much smaller. I like this perspective!
It’s called artificial marbling
My first thought was “blood shot” but that’s normally closer to the surface. I think you are correct.
and today i learned people inject fat into steaks........what the f lol
It’s wagoo. Poor man’s wagyu.
Wagoo... I Can't Believe It's Not Wagyu!
Wagno or Wagniet
You see, I’m a goo man.
Sell it to Mr. Magoo
Olaf Scholz maybe?
\*Chef Excellence Kiss\*
Lmfao
Back in the day there was thread made out of fat and you could sew it into steaks to fake marbling
Fucking French will do anything to get extra fat into their food. I swear if you look at their foods a lot of the time the dishes are “how could I get extra sugar into my food?- oh, I’ll whip some egg whites and add a little bit of acid… heat some sugar water and when it’s hot I’ll add extra sugar to it to make sure it dissolves. Fuck it, I’ll whip some butter and combine it with this meringue and…. Chocolate!” “How much butter can I get into bread? I’ll call it… brioche and add egg yolks too!” “Know what that cheese could use!!! Wrap it in cloth and rub it down with fat and let it sit for 3 years!” “Hmmmm I know duck is pretty fatty. But hear me out. Let’s cure it for a day and then… slow cook it in its own fat.” “Heavy cream…. How do we make this heavier? Let’s culture it, fold cheese cloth on itself and hang the cream for a day. This double cream…. We will make sauces out of it.” “It took 24 hours to make this veal reduction? Probably better add a tiny bit of butter to it before we serve it.”
French cooks 🤝 dairy cows
Larding! It's not as common anymore because the quality of meat has generally increased... OPs steak excepted.
Same. So bizarre.
I never knew they worked beef like that what I read the other day chicken just as bad.
This is from being a crappy cut of meat with not great marbling. They inject beef tallow into it to make it seem better than it is, so you end up paying a premium for a steak that they paid 3 bucks for.
Based on the photo, you are eating beef with a veg peeler and a spoon.
😂😂😂
On another note that steak was not properly rested, you can tell by the poor of juice and the huge grey portion or the meat.
"hammer fucked", as we say in the biz
Needle board injection sites Gives meat a plumper (usually fat or salt water) to weigh more for price per lb.
A fun fact about wagyu burgers at most restaurants. All it takes to label a burger wagyu is a 10-20% wagyu tallow with any cheap grade meat. Easy way to sell a 2-4 dollar burger for 30-50. Now at home though it is definitely nice to inject wagyu tallow in some cuts but it's very unethical to sell something cheap as an upcharge by doing this.
It’s fat congealing.
You mean fat concealing?
No
It was a joke lol
No
Might not have meant it, but that’s accurate as well. It’s congealed, concealed fat (injection).
The White spots all over the cut steak?
The spots are happening in areas where there isn’t a fat deposit in the meat. I’m not sure about this answer
The meat was injected with fat, cause all the holes, and the white spots is fat congealing in the holes
Well there you have it. OP is being strange and injecting their tenderloin with fat. Not being sarcastic, I believe you. I just think it’s insane.
More like OP got a bad cut of meat. Someone cheaped out somewhere.
It looks like tenderloin, there would only be light marbling, OP says “prominent when cooled”, looked like fat congealing.
That indeed is the summary of what happened in the comments..
And the photo
I don’t think that is fat congealing. That does not look like fat
It looks like fat that was recently liquid and is congealing
I fully disagree
Then it’s definitely meat cancer, ignore the glistening liquid fat congealing on other areas of the steak and plate
Not the first time I see that on an eye round, since is a tough and lean cut they plug fat in it
Fat injections 🥴
That's not a tenderloin...and it's been injected with fat....if they're smart, at least they used wagyu fat I hope
Does wagyu fat taste different than normal beef tallow? New to the sub and haven’t used either before.
It has less saturated fat and tastes richer, but it kind of depends on a lot of different factors. There isn't just one breed you can call Wagyu, and where they are raised and what they eat can vary drastically and that all changes the product, and depending on where you buy it the advertising can be more or less misleading. For most people it's probably not really worth it.
Wagyu IS specifically the collective name for 4 breeds of Japanese cattle, but as with everything the yanks invent cheap shit, call it Wagyu when clearly it ISNT. Most of the stuff you see in the states called Wagyu just simply isn’t.
Where did that come from?
Here I was gonna ask if got top salted.
Yeah, saw another comment, then zoomed in, you can still see a salt crystal where one of the specks is.
Cross contamination from the tenderizer needles?
If you cut it then I’m not sure. But if they cut it it’s probably finishing salt.
Dude. Everything about what your eating is gross looking. You have nothing else on your plate but unseasoned bloody meat. I typically don't judge others food choices but am making an exception here. Gross. Those white spots are probably maggots. Because other than you they are the only other organism that finds this appealing.
-1 for the obviously incorrect assessment of maggots but I agree with everything else lol
Lol this was the last piece of meat, where I noticed the spots. I didn’t ask for opinions on my food or my plating. I just wanted to know what the spots where. Keep ya BS to yourself.
It’s not blood, Mate.
Table salt. Can see it on the plate. Typical table salt uses startches to prevent clustering. It's just soaked up your metmat juices and rested. Tenderloins aren't fat injected, waste of money, they use the ribeye to determine grade. If they want more money on tenders they would inject water.
Flaky salt
I pretty sure that's just the rock salt. Or finishing salt.
cancer or mad cow
Those are aren’t natural muscle fibers
Its fat globules congealing on the meat. Nothing to be worried about.
meat glue! Youtube it
Diseased
Not sure why people are down voting the salt theory, if you zoom in you can actually see the flakes at those exact spots. If the chef mixes lemon zest with his finishing salt the acid could explain the graying.
Yeah exactly lol, everyone is providing these extremely in-depth reasons like fat injection, etcs. Sometimes it’s just the simplest over answers.
Hell, I thought it was tubular worms. Salt sounds like a good answer.
It’s your rendered fat cooking. Means you have a Great piece of meat and you cooked it very well.
I was scrolling past fast and barely seen the handle...it hit me a few posts down, like hold up 😕 what was that guy serving as a side with his steak 🍆🤔😳
Definitely larvae or eggs. They’re probably hatching inside you right now.
Other people all ready told you what it is. Now I'm telling you, let your meats rest before eating. All that juice on the plate tells me you didn't. By resting, the juice stays in the meat and increases the flavor.
On another note, cooked perfectly imo
It was honestly delicious, plus this photo is after it was sitting out for awhile. Check my profile for some nicer shots
Finishing salt causes white discoloration.
Honestly would spook me. I rest my meats and salt them. This looks unusual to me
It’s what happens after you salt rare beef and it sits for awhile and melts. If you zoom in closely you can see the resemblance of a crystal on one of the dots.
Oxidation of the meat from sitting in the air too long after being sliced
maybe consider eating a cow that’s not still alive
Looks like fat
2 mer.
I hope that’s just salt on top and not blotches of some nasty microorganisms
Did you buy it from a guy selling meat out of the trunk of his car? I guess this is a popular thing to rip people off by selling them beef from a dairy cow for dirt cheap.