The Fat Kitchen

[Rocklobster]

Fat..so good and so bad...we all use them..they can make a meal, or they can ruin a meal..what kind of fats do you use in your kitchen on a regular basis? And, how?

I don't shy away from them when I do eat them, but I also like to regulate and minimize it when I can..are you totally against them, or do you welcome their qualities in given meals?


Let's get greasy!

 

[JustJoel]

The only animal fat I use with any frequency is butter. I love butter! We don’t eat much bacon, but when we do have some, I’ll use the rendered fat to cook some potatoes. Otherwise, plant-based oils are my usual, with olive oil being the front runner by far.

 

[Rocklobster]

We use a pound of butter a month, I also love potatoes in duck fat about once a month..mostly olive oil around here, too..I do prefer rib eye over other beef cuts and don't leave a bit of it on my plate...and then there is sausage..I've tried to cut fat from home made sausages but the finished result is inferior IMHO..Canola for frying every so often...I'll filter it and store it in the freezer...

 

[Andy M.]

"FAT IS FLAVOR!" - Emeril Legasse

I don't shy away either.

Real butter for baking, spreading, cooking.
Several different oils-mostly olive and corn. I deep fry in corn oil as it has a high smoke point and is cheap.
Bacon fat for breakfast cooking.
Shortening where called for in baking, etc.
Pancetta

I stay away from really lean costs of beef such as the round. I prefer ribeyes for steaks and roasts. Chuck is one of the most versatile cuts on the steer. Nice fat to lean ratio and braises nicely.

For pork, I go with the shoulder (butt) a lot and loin sometimes (and bacon, of course).

 

[buckytom]

When I get home later, I'm going to cut away the remaining meat and fat from a ham bone, then use some of the fat by rendering it to sweat veggies before adding them to a crock pot to make pea soup (along with the bone and meat).


The remaining white, solid fat will be frozen for similar use in other soups in the future.

I would love to make some salo out of it one day. If done right, the little cubes of salty fat melt in your mouth. What a treat.

I used to save bacon and duck grease, but my wife says no weird stuff in the fridge.

 

[buckytom]

As far as butter goes, we have an ongoing debate in my house as to which is better: Plugra Polish style butter, or Kerrygold Irish butter.

I'd love to get my hands on some French butter for a comparison.

 

[GotGarlic]

I'm not afraid of fat, either. I grew up in Michigan where corn oil was the thing to cook with. I learned from a Chinese cookbook to use peanut oil with Chinese food and I was surprised to find that my stir-fries finally tasted authentic. So now I use the right fat for the right dish.

I mostly use olive or canola oil for cooking, along with butter. I use peanut oil for Asian food, lard for pie crust and duck and chicken fat for potatoes. DH likes an English muffin and yogurt for breakfast, so we always have a stick of butter on the counter. Here in the South, I can get a gallon container of mild peanut oil for deep frying, although I rarely do that.

I like New York strip better than ribeye; I like beef fat, but I like the crispy edges, not big gobs of it inside the meat. The big pieces of fat in the prime rib we had for Christmas became a special treat for the dog. I don't use the round much, either. We love braised meats.

I do try to limit our fat intake to an extent - I make tomato-based sauces for pasta much more often than dairy sauces and I use half and half instead of cream because we always have it in the house (DH uses it in his coffee, so we buy it by the quart).

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Butter, lard, olive oil, avocado oil, coconut oil, bacon grease, beef fat, sesame oil.

I embrace fat and avoid most vegetable oils.

 

[Kayelle]

I agree with GG about using peanut oil for Asian cooking. I think it makes a huge difference.
I mostly use butter and/or olive oil for general cooking along with vegetable oil and also bacon fat when appropriate.

I prefer chicken thighs to breasts because of the fat factor, and fatty beef and pork to lean. Fat is flavor.

 

[bethzaring]

roughly in the order of use in my kitchen;

butter
canola oil
olive oil
bacon fat
lard

 

[buckytom]

For oils, we use grapeseed mostly, then evoo or regular olive oil, canola, peanut, and sesame, in descending order.

 

[taxlady]

Big fan of the flavour from fat here. We use mostly olive oil or butter. That litre bottle of evoo doesn't go off if we use it all the time. We also use bacon fat,, lard, coconut oil, sesame oil and corn oil, but not nearly as often as olive oil or butter.

 

[medtran49]

We use a pound of butter a month, I also love potatoes in duck fat about once a month..mostly olive oil around here, too..I do prefer rib eye over other beef cuts and don't leave a bit of it on my plate...and then there is sausage..I've tried to cut fat from home made sausages but the finished result is inferior IMHO..Canola for frying every so often...I'll filter it and store it in the freezer...

Yep, we tried that the first time we made sausage...yuck!

We use butter, olive and vege oils, occasionally grapeseed, duck fat on rare occasions, lard (leaf or regular depending on the use), bacon and rendered chicken fat in a few chicken based dishes. Mostly the first 3 though.

 

[taxlady]

Yeah, I have had that problem with homemade sausage. If there isn't enough fat it tends to be dry and not as flavourful as with enough fat.

 

[pepperhead212]

I probably use more canola, for stir fry, and the usual sautés, followed closely by EVOO. I don't use as much butter as I used to - most of it in sweets I don't make as much by a long shot. But I do keep some ghee in a pint mason jar in the fridge, not only for that Indian food I make a lot, but I use it to cook a lot of things when I like that browned butter flavor. I also use coconut oil, for SE Asian cooking, and often for southern Indian cooking, when the coconut flavor is appropriate. I keep a small bottle of mustard seed oil in the fridge, which I use occasionally in some Indian and Nepal cooking. And I keep some Kadoya sesame oil for seasoning Chinese food.

I have tried to reduce the fat I use in a lot of things, but with some things, like those Christmas cookies and other sweets, there is simply no replacement for all that butter!

Back when I started grinding my own meat, I discovered how much fat must be in that crap I was buying in the stores. The early cookbooks I got said to be sure to add 10-15% of the trimmed off fat back into the meat, with 90-85% red meat, before grinding. So, when I put 10% into the meat, and browned the ground meat to make chili or something like that, no fat would cook out! When I increased it to 15%, I'd get a couple tb after the browning. Yet, when I browned some of that "lean 93%" hamburger, 1/2-3/4 cup of fat cooked out. Granted, that fat trimmed off, and added into the red meat, also has some water in it, but the red meat also has fat. So I wonder how accurate those fat percentages listed really are.

Sausage definitely needs the fat, not only left in the meat, but added to it. I used to make a lot more, and I'd freeze the trimmings from other things, then add to the meat, when grinding sausage.

 

[Rascal]

NZ is huge on dairy export, a pound of butter here is around $5. We don't and will not use margarine. I cook with ghee (clarified butter, high temp) and vegetable oil for deep frying. And also extra virgin olive oil.

We love butter.

Russ

 

[CraigC]

Emeril also said "Pork fat rules!" Got to agree. Can't make Carnitas or tamales that taste best without lard! Pie crusts also.