Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient, with Recipes
I’ve started cooking (as opposed to baking) more frequently and I was amused that I had a selection (well, more than one) of fats with which to cook. Duck fat and double-smoked Berkshire fat were my options and having obtained Fat by Jennifer McLagan recently, this was a good situation to be in.
From the book, I tried the duck fat with grapefruit on napa and found it quite nice. I expected the citrus to play off the rich duck flavours, but was pleasantly surprised by the slight softening of the Napa after it had spent about 60 seconds with the hot dressing. It had such a nice textural give that made the simple dish so much more interesting.
On my own, fried potatoes in duck fat were less exciting than anticipated and the lovely smoky scent while rendering Berkshire bacon fat was not detectable with seared scallops. Disappointing.
While some may shy away from using more than just the standard cooking oils, I find it is with a new eye that I look at the glistening white layer on meat and my mind turns to what flavours the fat could impart to completely distinct creations, far from its meaty origins.