"Lean", without a number attached to it, is kind of meaningless. At my supermarket even ground chuck is labeled as 80% lean. That said, the intention of the recipe is probably for something around 90% or 93% lean, and I'm guessing yours is less lean. In which case yes, there is a difference: Yours will taste better.

FOAS, I was thinking the same thing. Less lean means less flavor. I won't buy 93% lean. It's dry and flavorless. I won't buy 80% either because I have visions of clogged arteries.

Ynnej, your meatballs will also be smaller since the fat will cook out. Just make a them a bit bigger to start.

Thank you! Will do.

I only buy chuck but I do drain off the grease.

By today's standards, especially in a grocery store, 80% *is* "lean"! LOL Seeing far more numbers like 75%, 73%, 70% these days... So it would depend on the age of the recipe as to what lean would mean. If relatively current, 80% is highly possible. I often see ground chuck in different fat contents, 80% and 85% are common around here but I've also seen 78% and 88%. Past that is into the "extra lean" claim and I don't recall the term for past 93%.

The best meatloaf I ever made was with 93% lean. Dry and flavorless? Hardly. Granted you must cook things differently with less fat content. You don't just put it on and cook until the smoke detector goes off. It's like the myth about "well done" meats meaning tough and dry. They're certainly not when cooked properly. But few know how to cook things properly past "rare" these days it seems ironic as it is with the (mostly feigned) concern over health issues.

And I no longer subscribe to the old theory that fat automatically means flavor. It depends on the meat and the fat. Having had meats where the fat was a strange taste and not normal "flavor" that theory certainly doesn't apply anymore. And I don't think I want to know what they're mixing in there. Maybe the liposuction place next door to Malwart has a new disposal system, who knows!

When I make meatballs or meatloaf I like to use a leaner grade of beef and mix in pork sausage and let the fat from that and possibly some bacon add to moisture and flavor.

As for the question are the two interchangeable, I'd say for the most part yes. One caveat is that often your filler amount would be based on how much fat and moisture are in the meat. So for a higher fat meat, you might need a little more bread, breadcrumbs or whatever you use, if any. You can easily play that by ear though.

So your argument is that lean beef isn't dry and flavorless if you add moisture and flavor? From, say, pork sausage and bacon? Granted the additions don't necessarily have to be fat, but I think you just agreed with us, in a roundabout way.

I've never seen any ground beef in the store labeled as lower lean content than 80%...I've never seen 75%...or 73% lean beef.
As for the fat content of meat loaf or meat balls....doesn't much matter if it's bacon fat or pork fat....fat is fat.....and it does carry flavor!

1. Make your own ground meat. Cheaper and you can make it as lean as you want.

2. Make chopped meat using the two-cleaver method. You can make any quantiy quick, from one meat ball to 20 lbs of meat ball. Not much to clean up afterwards.

3. Beef fat and pork fat have little flavor. Bacon fat is fat already flavored. To me the main function of fat in ground meat is for mouth feel and for texture.

dcarch