Brisket fat: Is the soft or the hard fat better for ground beef?

Whenever I trim down a brisket for BBQ there's always way more trimmings left over than I know what to do with.

I'll use what I can for ground beef (I recommend this blend: https://www.seriouseats.com/the-blue-label-burger-blend-recipe) and the rest gets rendered down into way more tallow than I'm ever going to use.

Here's the question: Brisket trimmings always have two types of fat: The hard stuff, and the pillowy stuff. Which is better for ground beef?

Or alternatively: Am I overthinking this?

Thanks in advance!

Posted Jul 19, 2025, 7:50 PM UTC

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