The Tasty Fat Outback Steakhouse Uses To Cook Steak

Outback uses beef tallow for its Sydney 'Shrooms, Aussie Cheese Fries, and famous Bloomin' Onion. That goes for all of the chain's other deep-fried foods, too. This has led to some confusion: A few influencers, like brendaclips and zak_primalhealth, have claimed that the steaks are also cooked in tallow. However, Chef Efrem Cutler, who works as Vice President of Research & Development at Bloomin' Brands, Outback's parent company, set the record straight. Cutler told Tasting Table that Outback uses butter for all of its steaks.

Why? Because tallow doesn't add anything to the steak. The beef fat flavor is already there. Cutler explained that Outback looks for high-quality marbled steaks. Marbling refers to the veins of fat throughout the steak, so a well-marbled steak already has plenty of juicy, flavorful fat woven into the meat. 

Butter, on the other hand, adds a nutty note, browning as it sizzles alongside the steak, which gives the meat a subtle depth and dimension. It's also a classic. Julia Child, along with generations of French chefs, loved to use the fat as a base for pan sauces. 

The taste of butter is hard to beat, but the flavorful fat does have one downside: its low smoke point. To get a perfect crust on your steak, you'll need a scorching-hot pan. However, butter starts to smoke at just 300 degrees Fahrenheit, which could leave your steaks with a bitter, burnt flavor. 

Instead, you can use a high-heat oil to get the perfect sear first. Pick an oil with a neutral flavor, like avocado or grapeseed oil. Then, add butter at the end. That way, you can still get that delectable buttery taste without risking burnt notes. You can also amp it up by using compound butter, aka butter infused with herbs and spices. 

Some pro chefs are team tallow, though. Star chef Jamie Oliver cooks his steaks in tallow, which he renders from trimmings while the steak rests. While the corporate chefs at Outback disagree with Oliver, they acknowledge that tallow has its uses — like those fabulous blooming onions. Their logic? It just tastes good. "We use beef tallow for frying because it creates exceptionally crispy, golden-brown foods with a rich, delicious flavor that can't be matched by vegetable oils," a representative told The Washington Examiner. A loss for vegetarians, but a win for the rest of us.

Static Media owns and operates both Tasting Table and The Takeout.