I don't want to go off-topic on the "Brisket" thread.

Regarding fat:

As in duck, bacon, pork belly, etc., fat in beef imparts a lot of flavor to beef, that's why you pay a lot for "marbling" in beef.

Unless you are making a recipe such as stew, with thick sauce/gravy that the fat is emulsified, and for health reasons you don't want to consume fat, yes, you would need to remove as much fat as you can before cooking. Otherwise, fat can be skimmed off , or scraped off afterwards if you are cooking a large piece of meat.

Brisket cooked in pure fat (brisket confit recipes) is very tasty.

Regarding meat shrinkage, basically two kinds.

Shrinkage from evaporation as in dry-aging beef and in low temperature smoking. This intensifies the beefy flavor. Very desirable.

Shrinkage from leakage of juice, as in over cooking meat. Whatever flavor in the juice that leaked out is the flavor that's gone from the meat. Not very desirable.

Regarding tenderness in meat - basically the following:

Mechanical - Chop, pound, jaccard, or thinly slice. This will not really tenderize the meat, just making meat swallow-able without much chewing.

Meat tenderizer - you will end up with somewhat mushy tender meat.

$$$ - Spend a lot of money to buy prime tender cuts of meat and not over cooking the meat.

Using long cooking time - Cooking a long time under high heat will allow the various proteins to be converted and tenderized. The meat will become "fork tender". However this kind of tenderness is very different in mouth feel comparing to expensive tender meat cooked medium rare.

a. Slow, but not low - braising, stewing, shimmering, pot roasting etc. - meat is cooked fully or partially in sauce, soup or gravy in a covered pot at slightly above boiling point fire. It really does not matter what the fire temperature it is as long as it is above 212. The meat will be cooked at that temperature.

b. Somewhat low, but not very slow - Baking at high heat quickly and trying not to cook tender meat by timing (resting). This will not work well with tough cuts of meat.

c. Low and slow - Smoking, depending on the equipment, smoking can achieve "low and slow" with some success.

d. Extreme low and slow - Sous vide can achieve very precise control of extreme "low and slow". It is able to tenderize at medium-rare temperature very tough cuts of meat. Obviously the tenderness achieved at very low temperature is different than that at boiling temperature. Sous vide can also seal in all flavors. There is absolutely no smell in the room when you are cooking sous vide.

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I was able to find a nice piece of boneless beef shank. Normally around here, they don't bother selling beef shanks because the meat is very tough. They usually just grind it up as hamburger meat.

Beef shank cooked sous vide medium rare is very tender, tender in a medium rare way, very flavorful. The white and transluscent stuff in the meat are tendons and sinew. Even they were tenderized. I don't know if you can tell by the pictures, but here they are.

dcarch