My uncle the retired butcher gave me the worst advice about lamb fat

So my uncle Bob used to run a shop in Cleveland for like 30 years, and last Thanksgiving he told me to always leave a thick layer of fat on lamb shoulders because 'they need it for flavor.' I trusted him because hey, the guy's been doing this since the 70s. I followed his advice to the letter on a whole lamb shoulder I was prepping for a family cookout. That thing turned into a grease bomb on the grill, flare-ups everywhere, meat came out almost burnt on the outside and raw inside. My cousin's dog ate half a chunk of pure fat that fell off and puked on the patio. Now I trim that stuff down to a quarter inch max, learn the hard way I guess. Has anyone else had a family member's 'expert' advice completely backfire on a cut?

2 comments

2 Comments

noahhernandez2h ago

Old school butchers treated fat like it was free insulation, not fuel.

eric_carr1h ago

...and then the dog barfed and that was the final nail in the coffin for uncle Bob's advice. That story reminds me of my grandpa who swore by this trick where you rub a pork shoulder with nothing but salt and leave it out on the counter for like 4 hours before cooking. He said it "opens up the meat" or something. First time I tried it the whole thing got this weird sticky crust and smelled like a wet dog in a sauna. We ended up ordering pizza that night while my dad kept yelling "that's not how you do it" from the kitchen doorway. Old timers have this weird confidence about things they've been doing wrong for decades.