Fatty cuts like lamb shoulder

Lamb shoulder is a beautiful cut. Slow-cooked, it falls apart. It's also full of marbling, the fat that runs right through the meat.

The usual workaround: cook it, chill it, and lift the hard layer of fat off the top. Chill-and-skim works for the fat that melts out into the liquid. It doesn't touch the fat that stays inside the meat. The marbling survives. You're still eating it.

So the fix isn't a technique. It's the cut. I go for leaner ones, like lamb leg, which starts with far less fat woven through it. There's simply less to worry about before the pot even goes on.

The same logic works beyond lamb. If the fat is marbled through the meat, no amount of skimming will get it out. Pick the leaner cut at the counter and the rest of the job gets a lot easier.