Fat is your friend

I have a confession to make. I love fat.

I've said this before, but I'm not afraid to repeat it. Often. I revel in the obscenity of the word itself. The Federal Communications Commission is out of touch, because we all know that the dirtiest F-word in America is spelled F-A-T.

My goal is to bring balance back into the discussion of fat, to wrestle the topic away from doctors and nutritionists and bring it back into the realm of gastronomy, where it belongs. If health is our primary objective, we need to first alter our culinary attitude towards fat, then a decrease in our consumption of the unhealthier fats will naturally follow.

Even the most fat-phobic American nutritionist admits fat is a major requirement of the human diet. The dietary guidelines of most medical and governmental agencies recommend that between a quarter and a third of a healthy person's calories come from fat. That's a lot of fat!

What would our cuisine be without fat? Imagine croissants without butter. Steak without marbling. Tamales without lard (or oil). Chocolate without cocoa butter. French fries without frying oil (ideally, beef or even horse fat).

If we look at fat from a gastronomic perspective, from the vantage point of a cook, we look at it as an ingredient. As with all of our food choices, we want to use the highest quality ingredients available. If fat is going to make up so much of our diet every day, we want to extract the most flavor possible out of every drop we consume. We should assess the fats we use from a culinary, not a scientific, perspective.

Banish all flavorless and artificially manipulated lipids from your cabinets at once! Throw away that Crisco, margarine and any other hydrogenated trans-fats, which are both tasteless and dangerous to your health. Stop eating processed foods which contain these fats. Toss those awful vegetable oils made from corn or soy into the trash bin. On those occasions you need a neutral tasting oil, use grape seed oil or maybe a GMO-free, expellier pressed Canola oil. Make room for tastier, fresher oils by tossing into the garbage any bottles that smell off or rancid.

Learn from professional chefs and understand that fat equals flavor. Incorporate a variety of fats, which all contribute different flavors, into your cooking. My freezer, for example, is stocked with fat rendered from ducks (to cook confit and potatoes), chicken (to make matzoh balls), and pigs (to flavor pinto beans and Catalan stews). In my refrigerator, there are three kinds of butter: salted (for bread), unsalted and clarified (Indian ghee). My pantry contains oils from grape seeds, tea seeds, walnuts, hazelnuts and argan nuts.

Without a doubt, though, the oil I reach for most often is extra virgin olive oil. Not only is it one of the healthiest of the lipids (containing the highest percentage of the desirable monounsaturated fatty acids-74%-amongst culinary fats), but it is also immensely flavorful. I have six bottles in my cabinet right now: three from Spain (one from Andalucía and two from Catalonia), one from Italy (Tuscany) and two from California.* It is the one fat I use with abandon.

As cooks, our primary goal is always to produce food that tastes good. With that principal guiding us, we will not serve food to those we love (including ourselves) that is greasy, heavy, or laden with too much fat. We will naturally choose to eat fat in moderation, with our stomach, not some impersonal government agency, guiding our choices. Eating too much fat doesn't feel good. Remember how you felt the Thursday before last, after that extra piece of pumpkin pie? Learn to listen to your body, and you will naturally lead a healthy life.

At one of my favorite restaurants in San Francisco, Delfina, the chef's motto is "Don't be afraid of your food." My reminder is that "food" includes fat. Learn to embrace fat and make it your friend.

*On a side note, not many people are aware that olive oil, like wine or any agricultural product, is seasonal. Right now, we are towards the end of the olive harvest and crush. The first olive oils of the season, called olio nuovo, are available in some stores or online. In San Francisco, I bought a bottle of olio nuovo from Californian Olive Ranch, which is made from the same variety of olives grown in Catalonia, arbequina, that were harvested just over a month ago. The oil is intensely green, fruity, aromatic and peppery. To fully appreciate the bold flavor of freshly crushed oil, use it as a condiment at the table. It is especially good generously splashed on grilled or toasted bread, which in Tuscany is known as fettunta. Another favorite is to drizzle it on top of a white bean soup or on the crinkly Tuscan black kale, known as cavalo nero or sometimes "dino kale."

Food|and Drink|Fat|Olive Oil

Comments

[cookiecrumb]

Wow, no comments yet? why? Fat is your friend!! Celebrate it.
I'm always pushing The Good Fat Cookbook by Fran McCullough. She spends the first half of the book teaching us the goods, bads, differences, and myths of various fats. The second half of the book is a pretty wonderful collection of recipes, which sort of remind me of Deborah Madison's creations. Turns out McCullough used to be Madison's editor. (For some reason, subsequent editions of this book have been touted with Dr. Barry Sears as the first author, though he only writes the forward.)
Also, at an Oldways food conference I attended a few years ago, a nutritionist explained that even obese people need fat in their food. One important reason? If it's missing, they'll hate their food and just turn their backs on dieting altogether and stay obese. Food's gotta taste good.

[Kalyn]

I am with you 100% on this one. I love fat completely. I never could embrace the whole low fat idea. I do try to use some restraint on the saturated fats, but I can never give up butter, my all time favorite fat. Olive oil is a close second.

[Jack]

Fat Rules! (and Trans-Fats is one of the evil scourges of the planet!)

[Brett]

Cookiecrumb, perhaps I haven't gotten too many comments on this post because Food Porn didn't notice my update (don't you just hate it when that happens!). I only recently learned about Oldways. Very cool group.

Kalyn and Jack, there's safety in numbers. It's time to start a revolution. Fat lovers of the world unite!

Trans-fats are evil incarnate! One of the saddest truths of my childhood is that I grew up eating margarine. My mother, like so many of her generation, believed it was healthier. In fact, even when she became aware that it was in fact unhealthy, she still continued to use it just out of habit. Perhaps the reason I always enjoyed eating out when I was a kid was that it was the only time I would get to eat real butter!

[Amy]

Have you tried rice bran oil? It's a relatively healthy and very mild flavored oil. Good for any application--frying, baking, etc. Usually I use olive oil but from time to time I want something milder. I like the rice overtones to it too. I wish it was a little less expensive but I like it better than canola oil or grapeseed oil.

[Brett]

Amy, thanks for the tip! I've seen rice bran oil in the stores, but I haven't tried it yet. I'm definitely going to pick up a bottle next shopping trip.

[barbara]

This could almost be a meme "What fats are in your cupboar/fridge?" I use the rice bran oil also. I use a commercial olive oil when cooking and a special one for drizzling or dipping. Currently I'm using an excellent one from Western Australia. New Zealand produce an avocado oil which is great in salads, and my other favourite is sesame oil.

And does Cookiecrumb ever sleep? Time I visited her site I think.

[vanessa]

If my friend D pinches his "love handles" one more time and declares that he "can't have another piece of butter," I will smack him silly. Lovingly, of course. But it is SO hard to get people to listen to the idea that fat is necessary and that it makes life worth living.

A croissant without butter?!? Shut up, just don't even mention it. My friend who owns a patisserie always deals with customers who ask, "do you have anything without butter?" And I love her because her answer is a defiant, "No, I'm a patisserie, why would I not use butter?" People just don't get it.

I'm a big fan of the COR arbequina. We're lucky enough to get a stash locally in SLC. Will have to check if the nuovo is available. Fettunta per tutti!

Thanks for the post—I'm going to have my friend read it tonight.

[Brett]

Hi Vanessa, thanks for stopping by IPO Sardines. I checked out your blog and loved the recent piece on croissants. Everything is better with butter.

[johng]

What's a discussion about fat without the biggest, baddest fat of them all:

foie gras butter!? ( or oil, or whatever you want to call that stuff )

[elise]

Hi Brett - great post! I'm in complete agreement. We use bacon fat, chicken fat, olive oil, grapeseed oil, and butter in our cooking. By the way, you might want to check out Know Your Fats by Mary Enig, Ph.D. It explains the chemical make-up of all different types of fats and why they would be or not be good for you. Pretty technical, but useful ammo when someone argues that butter's not good for you.

[Kathy]

I agree with your article completely. I grew up in a house full of margarine and did not realize what I was missing until I moved away from home and discovered REAL butter. I just love it! I recently received a jar of coconut oil from a friend and can't wait to try it. Have you ever cooked with coconut oil? I'm hoping to find some tried and true recipes using this precious fat!

[javi]

nice Siurana d.o. olive oil you got there mate.
Have you tasted Forum Arbequina olive oil ??

[Mary]

Well, I just got done posting a recipe on my blog for chicken soup with matzo balls--which I made with ---chicken fat---. I then took the remaining chicken fat and put it in my freezer in case I think of anything else to make with it in the near future.

I'm sorry-- I know it was wrong, and it was free too! -- but its just so darn good! ~smile~ Mary

[Melinda]

Hey, a kindred spirit! I totally agree with you. I wrote a post with the same name on my blog, Inspiraculum. Google 'our' post and you'll find it.
Cheers,
Melinda