Veal, external fat only, cooked

External fat is the layer trimmed from the outside of a veal cut, the fat cap that sits just under the skin or over a roast before butchering. Butchers often score it in a crosshatch pattern before roasting so it renders evenly and bastes the meat as it cooks, and home cooks may trim and render it separately to use as a neutral, mild-tasting cooking fat for searing meat or roasting vegetables. Compared to the seam fat found between muscles, external fat tends to be firmer and slightly waxier in texture, and it cooks down into a clean, mild-tasting fat.

Rendered external fat keeps for weeks in the refrigerator in a sealed jar and can be used a spoonful at a time for high-heat cooking such as searing or pan-frying. Per 100 grams it delivers 540 calories and 53.2 grams of fat, so it is used sparingly as a cooking fat rather than as a main component of a meal, but it is naturally low in sodium at 103 mg per 100 grams. It also supplies 15.3 grams of protein per 100 grams, or 31% DV, coming from the small amount of muscle tissue that stays attached to the fat cap when it is trimmed.