What I’m Reading: Fat: An Appreciation of A Misunderstood Ingredient
Ok so I love fat and would have a hard time dreaming up a more attractive book cover than this one. Opening it up and having a read did not disappoint. It really is a great book.
It’s divided up in to four sections: butter, pork fat, poultry fat, and beef and lamb fat. A detailed culinary discussion of each is complemented by excellent recipes. Did you know goose fat has the highest percentage of monounsaturated fat of the major animal fats? It’s in there along with the composition of the other types of animal fats. She sets the record straight on suet vs. tallow vs. lard, with guides on how to use each. I’m never going to look at my meat drippings the same way (a good thing).
I was fortunate enough to have the chance to ask Jennifer some questions and have posted her answers below:
Greg: Your book seems to be getting quite a bit of mainstream media attention despite the obviously taboo subject (see: cover). Besides being a great book, what do you attribute this to? Is it that other writers such as Michael Pollean have laid some groundwork for people to re-evaluate their low-fat ideals, that people are frustrated with conventional dietary wisdom not working for them personally, or are people just intrigued by your ideas because they intuitively know that fat is flavor (and want more of it!)?
Jennifer: I think the title gets people’s attention and then they can’t believe that someone would dare to sing the praises of animal fat. I am not the first to suggest we think again about animal fat. Weston A Price Foundation has long supported animal fats and warned of the dangers of vegetable oils, notably Mary Enig and Sally Fallon. Ms Fallon also has a very popular cookbook >Nourishing Traditions. Food has become very political with writers Nina Planck and Michael Pollan challenging people’s relationship to their food.
Chefs and people who cook know the importance of fat to the flavour of their food. That is what primarily interests me about animal fat – is its flavour.
Greg: Regarding cooking with olive oil: I’ve heard considerable disagreement between some who argue olive oil is unsaturated enough that it really shouldn’t be heated versus advocates who say this isn’t true- it’s smoke point is quite high and its vitamin E content prevents oxidation. Where do you weigh in on this one?
Jennifer: My book deals with animal fat not olive oil. I suggest that anyone who is interested in olive oil read Mark Kurlansky’s article on the subject in this November’s Bon Appetit magazine.
Greg: Someone like myself might read your book, agree with you in whole, and want to implement more animal fats in my cooking. But a tight budget might discourage them given that they feel if the animal products they are buying aren’t raised small scale or grass-fed, it won’t be as healthy. Can you offer any insights into how one might prioritize fat purchases given your knowledge of conventional sources? For example, would you spend the extra money on quality butter, pork fat, or beef fat? And are there some cuts of meat that you feel are significantly undervalued for what they offer? (ie. beef shoulder, organ meats, etc.?)
Jennifer: It is important both morally and for your health to buy good quality, naturally raised meat and fat. In North America today, we spend less on our food than any other time in history. We should give a higher priority to food in our budget.
There are lots of ways to get good animal fat cheaply. Make friends with your butcher or supplier, they often have to trim the fat from their meat to make it easier to sell to a fat phobic clientele, so they often give away or sell the trimmed fat very cheaply. You should always save and clarify the fat skimmed from stocks and braises. Strain and reuse the fat from roasted meats. Which fat you choose is a matter of taste. If you have no religious taboos, pork fat is the most versatile and useful.
Greg: You explain that animal fats were a staple part of your family’s diet growing up in suburban Australia. Quite different than the average suburban experience of the latest generation in North America. There are many reasons this is so but it seems to have led us to a system of factory livestock farms. Are animals raised to higher standards in other regions internationally? Commonplace grass-fed lamb in New Zealand or beef in Argentina makes it sound like we’re missing out. Is it that we just aren’t willing to spend the extra money or is the consumer not aware of what goes in to meat production?
Jennifer: Animals are raised to different standards all around the world. Meat is very cheap in North America and there is a reason for that ‘ factory farming. Michael Pollan has made it clear that while factory meat may be cheap we are paying for it in other ways, pollution, disease, and so on. Quality raised animals are available everywhere, just in some places it is easer to obtain them. We should all remember that ruminants were designed to eat grass ‘ there is a reason a cow has four stomachs. If we are going to eat animals we should raise them well and give them a good life. Read what Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has to say in his River Cottage Meat Book. I believe the quality of the animal’s life is reflected in the quality and taste of its meat. For example I buy lamb from Baa Sheep in the St Lawrence market. I know how much Elizabeth cares for her animals, that is why her lamb tastes so good.
Greg: I’m heading to Australia this winter (to visit family), can I expect greater availability of tallow/lard or has it largely disappeared like here in North America?
Jennifer: My experience of animal fat is probably more a question of age than place. Tallow is not lard and is not readily available anywhere to my knowledge except Belgium and even there ossewit is becoming rare. Lard has not disappeared, it is available from good butchers and is very simple to make yourself. The answer is get out of the supermarket.
Greg: You’re a well-renowned chef that knows what it’s like “on the inside” of fine cuisine, locally here in Toronto, and internationally where you have worked in London and Paris. Do you think traditional knowledge of how to use animal fats is a lost art among many top chefs, or is it an affliction mostly affecting non-professionals. For example, in the book you touch on how olive oil is great, but perhaps a bit over-relied on by some. And even with chefs featured in the media (ie. Food Network) they seem to completely stay away from animal fats in favor of olive or vegetable oils.
Jennifer: All good chefs know the power of butter to add and carry flavour in a dish as well as deliver great mouth feel. I am afraid in chef schools now, with the paranoia about animal fat, they are not being taught about them or how to render and use them. It is easier, quicker, and cheaper to reach for the vegetable oil or worse a hydrogenated commercial fat. People believe it the fat is liquid at room temperature it is better for you. Not true.
Polyunsaturated fats are very fragile and break down quickly when exposed to light and heat.
In my book I point out there is a greater choice of olive oil than there is butter. I think this is a shame. I do not understand why so many restaurants serving with cuisines not even remotely near the Mediterranean serve only olive oil on the table it’s an affectation. Bring back good butter and what about some flavoured pork fat.
Looks like butter can carry a tune too
Greg: I’ve had a heck of a time finding palm oil in Toronto grocers or health food stores. Do you think palm oil and coconut oil have their place in high-heat applications or is tallow/lard just superior for almost anything you might need these for?
Jennifer: I do not use palm and coconut oil. I deep-fry in lard because it is the easiest for me to obtain and sometimes in beef fat when I can get it.
Greg: For our Toronto readers, do you have any hot tips on grocers, restaurants, or shops that might be flying under the radar but offer some hidden gems that fit in to some of the recipes in your book?
Jennifer: I think Torontonians who like to cook are well aware of where to get quality meat and ingredients. The number of good butchers has increased in recently, as has the number of smaller suppliers. The best news is the growing local market system that is putting small suppliers and the consumer together.
Greg: Thanksgiving is right around the corner. While you say pork fat is king in terms of flavor, what bird is king? (what bird will you be serving up this thanksgiving)
Jennifer: Pork is not the king in terms of flavour, pork provides many different fats which are neutral in flavour making it a very flexible and useful fat in the kitchen, that is why I call it “the king”.
I am in Paris for Thanksgiving. I always come at this time just so I can avoid cooking a turkey. I didn’t grow up with Thanksgiving and have never embraced it. My favourite bird to roast for special occasions is a goose. Not only is it delicious and rich, it yields large amounts of great fat that you can use for cooking.
Greg: City governments, such as New York City, are introducing measures to force restaurants to list all ingredients in their menu items. Good idea? If this were applied to higher end restaurants would diners be put off by the use of butter and/or animal fats without the re-education necessary in this regard?
Jennifer: Why do you want to know all the ingredients in a dish? Already in some restaurants it takes you longer to read an item on the menu than to eat it.
I go out to enjoy myself and experience the chef’s cooking. If I am that interested in a particular dish I can ask about it. As for the use of animal fats and butter ‘ the informed diner would be happy to know that the chef is using them rather than some cheap vegetable oil.
Thanks to Jennifer for fielding some questions. Check out her blog or a recent interview with salon.com for more.
About Scott
Scott Kustes loves to cook and loves to eat. He started Real Food University to help you get maximum enjoyment out of the meals that you eat. To find out more about how he has rebelled against the fast food culture and counting calories or carbs, join the Real Food Revolution.
22 Reader Comments
Feel free to leave a comment below... and as always please keep it in good taste. Comment spamming ONLY to promote your website is NOT allowed. So please use your real name in the field below otherwise it may be edited or removed. Constructive discussion is always welcome, personal attacks or useless bickering is not. Not all comments may be answered directly by editors/writers.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
I’m currently reading Made To Stick. It is about how to make ideas more likely to stick and spread. The reason I bring it up is because one of the cases he uses to illustrate the idea early in the book directly relates to the misconceptions about fat.
He recounts the story of how an agency came up with a campaign to alert the public to the use of coconut oil by movie theaters to make their popcorn. This was “of course” horrifying because of the saturated fat!! At any rate, the campaign was so successful that the use of coconut oil was abandoned. It isn’t stated in the book what the alternative was, but my bet is that they went to some form of vegetable oil (probably hydrogenated no less…).
I found the whole story ironic, because it takes one misguided sticky idea and compounds it with a second sticky message. If there is one terribly sticky and entirely misguided idea in the area of nutrition it is the whole low fat / high carb fiasco.
Thanks for the heads up on a very interesting looking book!
Cheers,
Adam
Oh, I have to have this book! I have really raised my awareness of good animal fat this past year and have come to adore it!
I have this book and know Jennifer personally – all I can say is: buy her book! It’s filled with inspiring info and great research.
Oh my god that book looks GREAT!!!! I wonder if they have it in New Zealand yet? However, Im still unsure about saturated fats. I have to do some investigation to suss it out so I can make my own decision. I am aware though that saturated fats are not correlated with heart disease etc.
animal fats do not equal saturated fats… all animal fats are a mix of sat, mono, poly… and most have higher mono than sat.. get grass-fed and you are laughing
Animal fats do not equal saturated fats in the meat, but the fat around the meat is pretty much all saturated fats…no? I tend to cut the fat off. I live in NZ so I am lucky in that all the meat is grass fed. I did see some corn fed chicken at the supermarket but it was seriously orange compared to the whiter flesh of normal chickens. I could be wrong…what do you think?
Dr Dan,
I’ve seen your similar comments elsewhere. Are you really curious? You don’t seem to have picked up any of the good info on fats at the blogs where you comment. If you are new to reading blogs that are supportive of consuming saturated fats, may I suggest you reading some of the past postings and comments. There’s plenty of credible skepticism of the flawed Lipid Theory of CVD.
Looks like you’ve swallowed the flawed explanations about fats we’ve been spoon-fed these last few decades. If you are really curious, and look into the issues with an objective eye, and remain a free-thinker, you’ll quickly see that the emperor has no clothes when it comes to fearing saturated fat. Polyunsaturated fatty acids from modern oils, like corn, sunflower, safflower, cottonseed, soy, are very problematic, not the traditional fats that contain a higher proportion of saturated fatty acids.
And yes, all fats and oils contain fatty acid chains that are a combination of saturates, monounsaturates, and polyunsaturates with proportions varying and providing different characterisitics. Solid fats like coconut and beef fat have a higher proportion of saturates and remain solid until a higher melting point. Lard is actually nearly half monounsaturates (like those in olive oil) and has a some what lower melting point. Chicken fat has a bit of saturated fatty acid chains, some monounsaturated chains, but also lot of polyunsturated chains, too, with a still lower melting point. Seed oils are generally higher in proportion of polyunsaturates (though there are a very few saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids even in these oils) which is why they stay oily instead of solid at cooler temps.
Consider this, because these modern seed oils are so hard to produce (many are “waste products” like cotton seed oil, and require industrial-level mechanical and chemical extraction methods), seed oils were never used in large quantities by humans until the age of industrialization (no more than 150 years or so) , when they began to replace traditional naturally saturated fats (which had been prized and saved, never wasted).
Margerine and hydrogenated vegetable oil is another category altogether – they are made from polyunsaturated fatty acids that have been artificially saturated with chemical reactions to make them solid and have only been available in the industrial age (these man-made fats really wreak havoc in the body).
Keep in mind that fat is used by the body both as a form of energy and as very important structural material (lots of fat needed for a well developed nervous system and in cell membranes, in particular). Polyunsaturated fatty acid chains have many double hydrogen bonds, so they are very unstable and prone to toxic rancidity, which of excessively consumed, causes lots of problems in the body. Saturated fatty acid chains do not have double hydrogen bonds, so are very stable. Consumption of saturated fats has gone down in the past 60 years in the US and consumption of polyunsaturates has gone up, and modern “diseases of civilization” such as CVD, CAD, cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, autoimmune diseases, diabetes, etc. have not gone away, have they? In many cases, they’ve gone up quite a bit or technology just treats better, but incidence data hasn’t improved. That’s of course, doesn’t prove anything, it’s just a starting point for honestly evaluating the evidence that is used to justify the low fat advise and Big Pharma solutions we are force fed as well, as reviewing the evidence that does not support the Lipid Hypothesis.
I think you have misunderstood me. I am aware of everything you say. I know that polyunsaturated fats and of course trans fats are bad for you. I am also very aware that there is no correlation with saturated fat content and CVD and also of the trends in decreasing saturated fat content with increasing obesity rates. There are many variables involved in such studies. With a decrease in fat content you will have an associated increase in carbohydrate content, which I believe could explain these issues due to insulin. I am an absolute advocate for a high fat diet to be sure!!!!!!!!! I am also an absolute advocate for eating meat!!! A large part of my diet is meat. My question was whether I should trim the subcutaneous fat from the meat. This arises from the question (I emphasise this because I am still unsure) – is saturated fat is bad for you? I do not fall into the Ancel Keys camp I assure you and I KNOW that saturated fat has been blown all out of proportion and demonized.
I am also aware that meat is a combination of mostly saturated and monounsaturated fats and especially if the meat is grass fed or game. However, Dr Loren Cordain has shown that when he investigated the fatty acid composition of wild caught game (including all of those body parts that were eaten by hunter gatherers), the saturated fat content came to 11.1%. So in large part monounsaturated fats dominated the diet of hunter gatherers and I have tried to emulate this. Does this mean that as humans we are evolved to eat such high amounts of saturated fat? In animal control studies, where other factors can be controlled (such as carbs and polyunsaturated fats), when saturated fat is injected into them CVD does result. However, these animals tend to be non-meat eating mammals and so there is an obvious flaw. So there is no argument from me against saturated fats, it is more a question of just how bad or good these are?
So I ask these questions not to cause trouble or be a pain but in order for people to supply me information that I have maybe not heard of. I am getting my head around this issue. I hope you understand. Once I have tried to look at it more thoroughly I will probably incorporate more saturated fats into my diet. At the moment my diet is very high in fats (about 50%) but of this only 10% is saturated and the rest is typically monounsaturated. I avoid polyunsaturated fats like the plague!!!!
I really hope that I have not given the impression I am anti saturated fats. But I do feel that you have categorised me as having sucked up all the BS about saturated fats when I havn’t and I am trying to approach this with an open mind, which is why I am asking these questions and making my own mind up. But for me the jury is still out until I can learn more and make my own decision. Until then I will emulate the diet most closely as I can to what the research says about our ancestral diets.
I would like to add that I find this blog extremely useful. I would like to be able to ask these questions but if you would rather I didn’t then I am happy to leave the issue.
Sorry Dr. Dan! I understand the lingering doubts about saturated fats; I had them too for a while searched for more information. It’s tough sorting through the competing thoughts/data while the paradigm is shifting in one’s head!
I do have a lot of doubts about Cordain’s beliefs on saturated fats, though I do admire much of his work; I’m not the only one, either Dr Eades of Protein Power, Peter of Hyperlipid blog had a great post on this not long ago, and more). I wonder if Cordain takes into account the whole beast, not just fat in the skeletal muscle? In fall those animals are at the peak of their fat stores, in to get through winter. Humans would have been the same way (though now that “winter reduction in food” never comes). Humans have traditionally gone for the rich fat deposits around the kidneys, the marrow, and the offal/organs before consuming the skeletal meats. It’s only fairly recently that ordinary people didn’t eat the fatty parts. It wasn’t too many generations ago that elders would chide children for not eating the fatty parts; now kids never even even see those fatty parts.
Even now, in parts of the world where “the whole beast” is still consumed (often because prosperity came later than other westernized regions), like Sicily, the saturated fat intake is quite high (despite everything one hears about the mythical “mediterranean diet”.
Yeah and then of course there is the french paradox. High in saturated fats and health:) I know that Dr Cordain did measure the whole animal, organs, muscle tissue etc. I just read the paper. I think his argument is that although hunter gatherers specifically go for the fatty parts there just is not that much fatty parts year round and so its typically monounsaturated fats. So it begs the question – are saturated fats bad for you since it is likely we didn’t evolve to eat such high quantities. But this does not mean they are bad for you just because they didn’t eat them and since hunter gatherers did seek them out. So yeah Im a bit conflicted. I would LOVE to be able to eat saturated fats though I love them. Also that book looks just amazing. Im really really jealous.
Sorry, also the Inuit ate seals etc. High in blubber. Does anyone know if the saturated fat content in their diet was high? Surly it was and they didn’t get sick which does lead me to think that perhaps saturated fats are ok.
Dr Dan,
Did you read Gary Taubes’ book, Good Calories, Bad Calories: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom on Diet, Weight Control, and Disease yet?
I also really, really like The Modern Nutritional Diseases: Heart Disease, Stroke, Type-2 Diabetes, Obesity, Cancer, and How to Prevent Them, authored by Alice Ottoboni, Ph.D., and Fred Ottoboni, M.P.H., Ph.D.
The other thing is that every bit of research that comes out isn’t necessarily good research, yet a lot of weight is placed on some pretty bad studies. It becomes pretty circular. And too many of the studies used to justify dietary advice is based on epidemiological data, which is ok to formulate theories, but doesn’t test them, so can never prove causation. Often the intervention studies don’t support the theories promoted by the epidemiological data, like the push for higher fiber, lower fat, replacing polyunsaturated fats for saturated fats, etc.
It’s amazing all the things the media can do to good food. I am still trying to sort through all these conflicting messages….low-fat, low-carb, no sugar, etc…
I am gonna check this book out…sounds like a great read! Thanks for the info.
Oooh, I just got my copy today. I have a few hours home alone so I’ll curl up with some apple slices and cinnamon mascarpone cheese and read!
Anna,
I agree with you on the epidemiological studies which I guess is the reason i am still suspicious of saturated fats. I guess my line at the moment is. We KNOW that monounsaturated fats are good for you. We likely know that saturated fats are harmless. But of course if you are eating more saturated fats then that reduces your intake of monounsaturated fats and thus reducing the amount of really good fat you can get. What do you think? Of course I still need to suss out the sat fat dilemma.
As for that book you are the second person to recommend it. In fact the first person didn’t recommend it but was saying in a post how I had obviously read this book. Which I havn’t. So I must get it.
Greg & Scott, I am loving this Fat book! I’ve devoured the Butter section; now I’m happier than a pig in sh*t in the Pork section. Thanks so much for steering us to this book; can’t wait to get to the beef fat section. I also now realize I have the earlier Bones book by the same author, another misunderstood and under-appreciated ingredient.
Dr. Dan,
Have you ever considered that lard is more monounsaturated (45%) than saturated (about 30%), polyunsaturated fatty acids area about 11%. Poultry fat is similar, but with even slightly less saturated FAs. But olive oil gets all the credit for the healthier aspects of monunsaturated FAs. If one is trying to avoid polyunsaturates (the true problematic fatty acids when consumed in more than small amounts), then one can’t do better than lard, actually. Lard keeps well, has great cooking characterisitics, pigs are easy to raise on a varied diet, and pork works well in an infinite range of preparations. Lard is the “new” olive oil!
This summer when I was in Italy I was struck by the amount of high fat pork that was consumed – everywhere I looked, by everyday Italians. Salami and prosciutto must be consumed daily, perhaps at numerous times I think, not to mention pancetta and sausages. Several times I walked down the gravel road from the farmhouse (heirloom pork) where we stayed in an agriturismo apartment for a week, and sat at the roadside cafe/convenience store/deli (nothing like a 7-Eleven!). I watched truckdriver after truckdriver stop for their quick lunch of local gossip, espresso and rustic, hand-cut prosciutto and cheese panini (sliced off with a huge knife from ham on the bone, with an interesting fine outer layer of some kind of seasonings mold).
Except for certain groups which have religious prohibitions against pork, pork is a magnificent food that historically has efficiently and nutritiously fed people the world over for eons (I loved reading about pork and pork fat being a key to survival in the excellently written book, Cold Mountain, by Charles Frazier). Until fairly recently, people could even keep a “backyard pig” in urban settings; as an omnivorous eater (like humans), pigs could eat kitchen and crop scraps, leftover whey from cheesemaking, skimmed (waste) milk remaining after cream and butter were saved, or they foraged on acorns in nearby forests to fatten up, then were harvested and smoked in the fall to feed a family well all winter. Pig meat and products historically were prized in Southern Europe, some Northern and Central European cuisines (and anywhere these peoples settled, such as the New World), many parts of Asia and Polynesia, etc.
The more I read about the history of the foods humans have consumed, the more I marvel at the wisdom of ancient humans, wisdom that was shared with successive generations until the last two hundred years. No matter what they misunderstood or didn’t understand that seems so elementary to us now, they did successfully manage to feed themselves quite successfully in nature, no matter where they traveled; modern industrial people are profoundly ignorant in comparison. How is it that we, modern, smart, educated, and very capable humans, have lost such a fundamental ability – to be able to eat well without a USDA food pyramid, “nutrition experts”, or detailed labeling/marketing to guide us?
A quick look on the internet shows that per 100g Lard contains 39g saturated fat, 45g monounsaturated and 11g polyunsaturated. Olive oil per 100g contains 14g saturated fat, 73g monounsaturated fat, and 11g of polyunsaturated. So Olive Oil has half of the saturated fat content of lard and almost double the monounsaturated fat content. I am totally open to having more options so I would LOVE to be able to incorporate different fats. As I have said I just need to keep looking at the data.
So I think Im will stick to mostly olive oil. Having said that I have decided to relax a little about saturated fat and allow it into my diet if I feel like it. The other day I had pork and really wanted the fat on it so I left it on. So I think I will try to keep the saturated fat content as low as I can if I don’t particularly feel like it but if I feel like lard, or butter, or animal fat then I will have it. I do believe that saturated fat is harmless at the moment but it seems that monounsaturated fat is what I want to try and keep as high as possible.
The bones book sounds interesting can you give me the details!!!!!!!
http://www.amazon.com/Bones-Recipes-History-Jennifer-Mclagan/dp/0060585374/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1224777267&sr=8-1
The book is by the same author as the book reviewed on this post. It’s called Bones: Recipes, History, and Lore. Excellent reading!
Bones are a great source of very bioavailable minerals and rich nourishing marrow. When minerals are dissolved in liquid gelatin (broth) they are easy on the GI system, too (that’s why invalids are fed gelatinous broths, though the fake peel& serve carageenan broth cups our local hospital serves are a “crime against humanity”.
Packaged supermarket broths from a can or aseptic box can’t hold a candle to homemade broths (my chicken broth is like firm jelly when chilled, but grocery store broth, to quote a friend of mine, “is like the rinse water after rinsing off chicken meat”). Instant broth cubes and powders are a joke, too, mostly of salt and chemicals.
If you’ve got a slow cooker pot, it’s a breeze to make lovely broths and rich sauces while you cook instead of taking calcium supplements (which too often end up forming kidney stones and lining the arteries, because they are taken isolation and missing their synergistic partners, Magnesium and the Fat-Soluable Vitamins – how’s that for a band name?). Even getting calcium from plants, like spinach and such, is often inadequate, as the fiber binds with minerals, preventing absorption, and out it goes, so one needs to consume more to make up the difference. Worse are grains, because of the phytate anti-nutrients that prevent absorption.
[...] isn’t just a good idea, it’s a book! Modern Forager writes a wonderful review of Jennifer McLagan’s new book, Fat: An Appreciation of A Misunderstood [...]
[...] Forager also an interview with Jennifer McLagan, author of Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient. I haven’t read the book, and I [...]