Some of the different fats we use to cook with.
Sautee. Sear. Pan fry. Shallow fry. Deep fry. Confit. All these cooking techniques share one thing in common. The cooking medium is some kind of fat. People have been cooking with fat since cooking began.
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Like the title says, this is just me rambling on about using fat for cooking. Most of this information is well known to our community, but there may be some things some might not know.
So where to start?
First of all, there are other uses for fats besides cooking. Fats have been used for cosmetics, for instance. Also, fats have been used as a preservative. Rillettes are an excellent example of this preservation method. Similar to confit, rillettes can be kept for several months.
So let’s get to it.
BUTTER
Butter, while an animal fat, I would place in its own category, as the fat used to make butter is milkfat from cream and not rendered from the flesh. People have been using butter for over 3000 years all over the world. But the big question before refrigeration was how to preserve it. Hence the practice of salting. Medieval salted butter was WAY saltier than the butter of today, and even then it would go rancid after a while. In Ireland, they buried butter in peat bogs, partly to preserve, and partly to avoid paying taxes on said butter. Bog butter centuries old is still found to this day and it is still edible. Add smoke and it might taste like Lagavulin but fat. But back to salting. In the Medieval period, for instance, salted butter had at least 10% salt, sometimes 15%. This allowed the butter to be preserved for a long time. The taste, however. Nowadays, salting is mainly for taste. The amount of salt is usually about 1-2%, or about a quarter teaspoon per stick. Some brands have more, some less. When cooking, if using salted butter, adjust the salt levels in the recipe accordingly. Or, if you cook enough, you know how to take the salted butter into account when you salt to taste.
Butter has a low smoke point, which means it burns and breaks down at high heat. That’s because of the milk solids which burn. If, however, you clarify the butter to where it’s just the butterfat, the smoke point changes so you can use it in high heat cooking. Western clarified butter is free of all water and milk solids. Ghee, however, does incorporate some browned milk solids in its making. Ghee is considered a pure item, and it has been offered to Krishna for millennia. See all the cute pictures and stories of baby Krishna getting into the butter. You can’t have biryani without the ghee.
OTHER ANIMAL FATS
Other animal fats such as beef tallow, pork lard, suet, sheep, and poultry fat have a higher smoke point. However, they bring added flavor to what you’re cooking, so choose wisely. McDonald’s fries used to be cooked in a mixture of mostly beef tallow with some vegetable shortening added. That’s what made them taste so good. Pure clarified lard has a more neutral flavor, and is often used in baking, such as in biscuits. Suet is also used in baked goods, most commonly in boiled puddings. Plum pudding is most definitely NOT vegan. The poultry fats—chicken, duck, and goose—not only add a desired flavor, but are the “healthiest” of the animal fats. And as for flavor, three words: duck fat fries. Of course there are variations, such as catching and clarifying the beef fat from a brisket, which in the way I cook it, I get a LOT should I want to keep some. I wonder what kind of flavor it would be. Certainly smoky, with some flavor from the rub. I got some lovely pork fat from a slow cooker shoulder that’s flavored with salt and pepper, and then the King of All, bacon grease, the boon of breakfasts everywhere.
MARGARINE
Margarine was developed during the wars of Napoleon III in 1869. Originally, it was made from beef fat, with some milk and milk solids added for flavor. Nowadays, most margarines are made from various plant oils. Margarine is not to be confused with Vegan or Plant Based butter. Many brands of margarine use milk solids and such. Vegan butter is completely plant based. Check your ingredients. These, even the vegan butters, are more unhealthy than animal fats and butter because of the Omega-6 fatty acids the oils used in their creation have. More on that later. Margarine hit its heyday during and after WWII, when butter was rationed and margarine was cheap and readily available. My mother cooked with Imperial for YEARS. Around the 80s, butter waned in popularity as the negatives of its makeup—like cholesterol—became part of a media frenzy. Then trans fats were discovered to be way more unhealthy and the pendulum switched back to butter. Now most margarines advertise themselves as trans fat free.
PLANT BASED OILS
First, let’s talk about shortening—Crisco, if you will. Shortening is basically vegetable oil that has been hydrogenated to make it solid at room temperature. It’s mostly used for baking and for true southern fried chicken.
Now for the big pie fight. Remember how for the longest time there was the butter vs. margarine fight over which was healthier? It’s now spread to plant based oils.
So, there are two types of plant based oils: Seed oils and not seed oils. The most common seed oils are grapeseed, canola (rapeseed), peanut, corn, sunflower, safflower, soybean, and cottonseed. Also considered seed oils are generic “vegetable oils”, which are blends of several seed oils.
Non seed oils include olive, avocado, coconut, organic and sustainable (super important nutritionally also) palm oil, and some sesame oils.
What’s the difference? It seems that seed oils contain a higher amount of Omega-6 fatty acids, which can cause inflammation. And other stuff.
But a caveat: Be careful where you do your research. Source out their information.
As far as flavor goes, plant oils also have individual flavors. Some are more for finishing, like walnut oil, which tastes like walnuts go figure. EVOO can have lots of flavors depending on where and what kinds of olives are pressed. Usually when cooking, it’s preferred to use a neutral flavored oil.
As far as cooking goes, you CAN fry in olive oil. You can also bake with it at high temperatures (pizza dough, focaccia, etc.). Light sesame oil (first press of untoasted seeds) is a very standard cooking oil in Asia. Plus it has those anti inflammatory things and other good stuff olive oil has.
Another note about olive oil, especially extra virgin. Know your brands and sources. Olive oil fraud is an ongoing thing. And olive oil is about to get even more expensive. Olive trees are highly sensitive to climate change and serious shocks can permanently damage orchards.
However, most people can’t afford to deep fry in non seed oils, as they tend to be more expensive, especially the higher in quality.
Me, I cook with grapeseed oil, and deep fry with either corn or generic vegetable oil. And of course butter. Lots of butter. All the butter.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Fats are necessary nutrients and building blocks, as are proteins and starches. And like all of these, they have both good and bad. I mean, NO fat is truly “healthy” or “healthful”, and fats per gram have the most calories of all the basic macros. Research is always evolving, and some studies are paid for by the industries themselves, much like the petroleum industry does.
But one thing ALL research concludes is to use in moderation. Instead of that tablespoon, use a teaspoon, for example. And should you have to go “fat free” because of liver or gall bladder issues, you can still get the necessary fatty acids in the raw products that are used to make cooking fats.
So that’s an overview of some different aspects of cooking fats. Please share your knowledge in the comments.
Anyway, the WFD at Chez Zen this weekend is something called German Green Bean soup.
So the table is laid. Share what’s on your plate tonight.
