What is the slimy gray stuff that comes out when cooking ground beef?

lightenup2016

I've always been weirded out by that slime stuff, and remove as much as I can during cooking. I used to think it was cooked blood, but it might be fat? Chicken can have something similar, only its white, which is why I'm guessing it is indeed fat.

I'm just wondering what it is that I'm removing. I'm not worried about fat intake, but I do want that slime out of my food!

richardpkennedy1

Fat

whitpauly

I've always wondered too

kpsyche

No, it's protein.

For beef it's grey goo. For chicken it's white(ish) and for salmon etc it's white (albumin)

Edit: The reason it's solidifies (well, it's more like a gel) is because the heat of the cooking denatures the protein. Fat generally does the opposite ("melts") when you heat it

AnvilHead

^ Protein is the correct answer. A mixture of myoglobin and water coming out of the meat. The same reddish stuff (when uncooked) that everybody mistakenly thinks is blood in the packaging.

lightenup2016

Ok, thanks for the replies. Some say it's protein--so I guess that means I'm reducing the total protein I'm getting if I remove it? Or would it be negligible?

Do others remove it, or do you just eat it? There can be a LOT of it when I cook up 2.5 lbs of meat?

kpsyche

I just eat it. At the end of the day it's basically egg white

jennifer_417

I eat it. It tastes fine.