Good Food Blog

Fat

Posted at , 12 June 2009 by Lulu Grimes - Deputy editor, olive magazine

Butter, crackling, and dishes like the roast bone marrow and parsley salad at St John and the nice crisp bits on the edge of bacon became a guilty pleasure when olive oil became the new kid on the block. In fact animal fats were thought to be a sure road to a heart attack. But 'Fat, an appreciation of a misunderstood ingredient with recipes' by Jennifer McLagan, published earlier this year, makes a good case for the opposition. While it caused a bit of a stir on blogs and in broadsheets, with its cover of raw lamb chops coated in creamy white fat it wasn't in the running to go mainstream. Sadly people are scared of fat.

Open quotationWe have butter on our toast at home, I don't trim chops or steaks and I cook pork belly at least once a month.Close quotation

Now this work of genius is winning major cookbook prizes and its reputation is building. All excellent news in my opinion as the main message, that animal fats are not bad for you (this theory is backed up by science in the intro), in moderation of course, is something I have always believed in. We have butter on our toast at home, I don't trim chops or steaks, I cook pork belly at least once a month and I think a good batch of crackling is as close to perfect as food gets. Admittedly I am not as skinny as a rake, but that is because moderation is something I need to work on. The recipe collection is a joy because it contains a good run of classics such as chicken Kiev, shortbread, butter chicken and duck confit, as well as newer ideas such as salted butter tart, crackling brittle and miso and orange roasted pork belly.

For me fat has all sorts of good memories attached to it: Yorkshire puds cooked in dripping, butter and jam on bread when you got home from school, a bag of chips after swimming and a decent pork pie on a picnic. And cake, cake just tastes so much better made with butter.

Are you a lard or dripping fan? What is your favourite recipe that just wouldn't be the same without fat? Or does the mere idea of a nice sizzled piece of pork fat make you shudder?

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Comments

1-20 of 24 comments

  • 12 June, 3:05PM

    Belit

    Open QuoteIn my experience, just about any ingredient can make a feast with the addition of butter, and/or cream, and/or bacon. Everything in moderation.

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  • 12 June, 9:35PM

    James

    Open Quote"Fat has long been cast as the villain of the food world, but does it have more to offer than we think?" - you mean like flavour? Fat = flavour. It sounds like a must read. The health thing I'm sure has more to do with lack of exercise, than eating animal fats, which as carnivores, our bodies are adapted to.

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  • 12 June, 10:41PM

    Aedara

    Open QuoteMy boyfriend adds butter to everything in fact he usually uses it in the same quantities one might use cheese on toast, he also likes to cook everything in animal fat and add extra fat to anything possible. Now you'd think this would make him rather large but no it doesn't (although I'm not able to comment on the state of his arteries, mind you his father has been doing the same for about 60 years or something and has the blood pressure of a twenty year old). Really I think its how much you eat rather than what you eat for the most part. Isn't life better with some real flavour even if its not as wonderful for you as it could be?

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  • 13 June, 11:43AM

    LarderLout

    Open QuoteA worthy pilgrimage is one to Tuscany to sample the delights of lardo. Pure, creamy white pork fat sliced thinly, it melts in mere seconds when you pop it on your tongue, or slather it over toast. It's as joyful as eating gets.

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  • 13 June, 12:37PM

    sioden

    Open QuoteI was eating in Y Polyn in Nantgtaredig, near Carmarthen last week and all the waitresses had T shirts, which had "Fat = Flavour, Deal with it" on the back. I thought they were fabulous, and it's true, but as they say - everything in moderation!!

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  • 14 June, 12:33PM

    miniminx

    Open Quotei personally think fat in its pure form is pretty gross - i can't stand pork belly, for example. the texture makes me want to throw up! the thought of of the fat on cooked meat is similarly disgusting to me. but having said all that, fat as a cooking ingredient is pretty unbeatable. baking without butter is unthinkable, and grilled sausages are just a shame! use fat responsibly and you can't go wrong :)

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  • 15 June, 5:56PM

    Caity

    Open QuoteToad-in-the-hole!!!! Can you imagine how bad that would be with no fat?

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  • 15 June, 6:10PM

    CloClo

    Open QuoteMy dad makes the best toad-in-the-hole ever - he uses lard. My favourite meal contains pork belly. If I have scrambled eggs, the toast must be dripping in butter (strangely, my daily boiled egg must be accompanied by unbuttered toast??). I love mushrooms cooked in butter, then piled onto a piece of bread with all the juices. And I have never been overweight in my life!

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  • 15 June, 6:11PM

    CloClo

    Open QuoteForgot to say, my sister will spend 5 minutes at meals picking every tiny bit of fat off meat, and even takes apart a ham sandwich to check. She just can't stand the texture.

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  • 15 June, 7:13PM

    fernie

    Open QuoteMy grandfather was a very successful butcher for many years and died at a ripe old age having enjoyed excellent beef marbled with fat, fabulous roast pork with crackling (my mother was brilliant at this) and so on. He also lead a very active life. Is there something in this?. I love finishing off barbequed lamb cutlets by sucking the bones to get that wonderful flavour. I'm a size 8, and love my food. I am very active. Any clues there?

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  • 15 June, 9:21PM

    Lisa

    Open QuoteI remember a time when I spent hours preparing and cooking a wonderful Gary Rhodes recipe for pork belly to serve to friends, who proceeded to cut off all the unctuous fat and crispy crackling - I could have wept!!! My husband will happily remove every morsel of fat from absolutely everything which drives me spare. I will never make him a bacon sandwich anymore because he ends up taking it apart and removing the fat even after I have already done it (but not to his standards!). Unfortunately he has passed this on to my daughter, but luckily, my son does not give a monkeys!!!

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  • 16 June, 11:47AM

    lulu@olivemagazine

    Open QuoteCloclo - my sister is a fat remover as well, every little scrap. Though she does love butter on toast.

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  • 16 June, 12:34PM

    dandifiedviolence

    Open QuoteHumans have been eating animal fats for thousands of years - it's actually been proven that wheat is the thing that has done us all in. We're not designed to eat wheat. It's not fat that's bad for us, it's refined white bread and stuff like that.

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  • 18 June, 10:36AM

    Vicky

    Open QuoteI love fat. Duck fat, butter, olive oil and pork fat are favourites of mine. I often poach food in fat; tomatoes or fish in olive oil, poultry legs in duck fat, and pork loins in pork fat. Absolutely delicious! And I am not fat. Moderation and a very varied diet with lots of vegetables is the key.

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  • 20 June, 2:46PM

    Heidi

    Open QuoteYou woudn't be able to get all of the vitamins you need without having some fat in your diet. Also lots of hormones are made using fats as raw ingredients. It's an important part of our diet. We shouldn't forget oily fish though, I'm planning some barbequed herring later. The oil in the fish will make the skin all crispy, it's got loads of Omega 3 in it and cost me £1 from the fishmongers this morning. Duck fat is a beautiful thing too. I always think it has a slight fruity aroma and taste. Aren't levels of heart disease really low in the regions of France who consume high levels of duck and goose?

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  • 22 June, 11:16AM

    JakobO

    Open QuoteWell, that’s some kind of delicious food but eating too much could lead to some diseases. Why don’t you try sushi food? Sushi is low in fat and is a very nutritious food. The great thing about sushi, perhaps, it’s more than some other types of ethnic foods. June 18th was purported as being National Sushi Day, even though no one had ever heard of it before. It seems to be one of those internet holidays, made up by marketing departments to get people to buy stuff – it's not as if that isn't a distinct possibility. Most people who have written about it so far have all pointed out that they had never heard of National Sushi Day, and that it is probably spurious. At any rate, those who go for it might file into Japanese restaurants and get in on celebrating the suspicious National Sushi Day. You may visit http://personalmoneystore.com/moneyblog/2009/06/18/national-sushi-day-mint-restaurants/ to read more.

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  • 22 June, 5:45PM

    Grace

    Open QuoteIt amazes me how so many of the population would rather be slimmer, yet go around eating such calorie dense foods. It's ridiculous. And when it becomes a drain on the NHS, frankly it makes me angry.

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  • 22 June, 11:35PM

    Chrissy

    Open QuoteI remember as a child being given beef dripping on toast. It was great. When I tell people, they are horrified and couldn't beleive we ate pure fat. Because the dripping that comes off the beef joint I pour all the juices & fat off and make the gravy with it. Very tasty. Nothing wrong with a little fat in moderation.

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  • 23 June, 8:16PM

    nicky

    Open QuoteI think the key to the NHS overload is that a large percentage of the adult population of the UK have become obese due to a lack of physical exercise. I agree with dandifiedviolence - we are not designed to eat refined wheat. We eat far too much of it in the UK. Many of us eat wheat cereal, pasta and white bread at every meal and wonder why we feel sluggish and lazy...bit of a vicious circle! Lately I have cut down on wheat and upped my fruit and veg (and animal protein which actually makes me feel fuller for longer) and have noticed a marked improvement in my energy levels (and weight), so that I WANT to go for a bike ride or the gym instead of slumping in front of the TV of an evening! Still eat crispy bacon and home-made cakes made with butter, though...just not every day.

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  • 24 June, 12:49AM

    Grace

    Open QuoteRecent reports have found that the obesity crisis is far more due to calrie intake than "lack of exercise", which has apparently not actually diminished significantl furing the last few decades. And to burn off the calories one takes in when they guzzle down a slice of cake or suchlike takes many, many times longer that they spent enjoying said cake. Don't eat it in the first place.

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