If you eat meat...

[BigBrownBoogyingBear]

I have attached a pic of two pork loin steaks I got in my Tesco delivery. One looks nice, one hardly has any meat on- it's mainly fat.

I am vegetarian and bought the pork for my DC. I always cut the fat off because 🤢 But it ends up with them having a tiny bit of meat on their plates! Which makes me think I'm doing it wrong...

If you're a meat eater would you eat the slightly dodgy looking steak in its entirety- fat and all? Or would most of it have gone to waste?

(I asked for and was given a refund via WhatsApp but am wondering whether I was being a bit OTT about it!)

Image is under review, am I allowed to add photos of raw meat? 🤔😆

I only buy meat that I get to see. The bottom pork loin is ideal, the top; suitable only to cut up for stir fry or soup/baked beans.
Request a refund.

I'd just eat round the fat, rather than faffing on when it's raw. It adds flavour and helps to keep the meat moist. I would expect less than that for loin steaks, though.

It's best to cook them with the fat on as it will render down and add flavour. It will be easier to remove the fat when cooked too.

No generally I wouldn't eat most of that fat but meat, especially fatty cuts have fat in them. If you don't want to get fat then you need to buy cuts with less.

I disagree. That is a normal amount of fat for a pork chop. I wouldn’t chop the fat off. That’s the bit that keeps the chop moist and flavourful!

Pork loin is meant to be a lean cut, though.

The top one looks more like a shoulder steak, which is fattier, cheaper, & I'd argue tastier.

I cook it with the fat on! But I cut it off before serving up. Usually both pieces of meat look like the bottom one - so not loads of meat, but enough (DC are teens). But there was hardly any meat at all on the top one.

I just wondered if most people would eat the fat. My DC wouldn't- probably because I have always cut it off!

I was getting short dates if I ordered online so I wrote a note on the order saying “no short dates, please “.

The top one is a good chop. The edge fat can be trimmed but I'd not cut any other fat out. The fat should be seasoned or salted and rendered whilst cooking. It's what gives flavour. It's not yucky - unless you are veggie - and not unhealthy unless all you eat is fat every day.

someone said use for stir fry as in chop up. Pork chop meat won't work very well for that. Pork tenderloin is the meat for pork stir fry.

They look like 2 completely different cuts from the pork. One looks like a loin chop (more meat, less fat), the other looks more like a neck chop.
Nothing wrong with either, but they need slightly different cooking, otherwise the loin chop will become very dry.
I do not eat that much meat, but what I do eat is bought directly from a good, independent butcher so that I can ask for the cut I want/need for a particular recipe and so that I know where the meat has come from and that it has been properly aged and butchered.

Thank you all.

I cook according to the pack instructions- season, fry for 90 seconds on each side (with all the fat still on), then in the oven for 18 mins. Does any of that render the fat??

The texture of the meat was different on the top steak (kind of...looser? I don't know the right word) which makes me think they probably were different cuts.

I feel justified in getting a refund 🙂

I do think the fat on a pork chop is tasty if it's properly cooked but it really only works on the edge of the cut, I'm not a fan of 'marbled' meat of any type.

They are just coming from different ends of the pork loin, it changes shape as you cut along it and one side will be very lean like the bottom chop but they get bigger and more marbled towards the other end. Personally I don't eat the fat as I don't like the texture but would cook it as is and just eat around the fat bits. It's arguably a more tasty chop.

Personally I cut the fat off but my mum and dad would eat every bit of both of those chops.

First of all, the steak above looks like a shoulder steak. The bottom one looks like a loin steak. Sale isn't as described so you're entitled to your money back.

I would choose the shoulder steak every time because the marbling of fat bastes as it cooks and adds flavour. By the time the steak is cooked a lot of the fat will render into the pan so shouldn't be overly faty. I would expect the cook to serve the steak whole, as is, and then the diner can choose how much of the fat to eat.

I would eat it all but only if well cooked and brown, by which time much of the fat has melted. The fat has a lot of flavour.