What type of fat do you cook with?

[iluvthors]

Most people deem olive oil to be the healthiest source of fat to cook with. However, since learning more about the primal lifestyle, I have started to realize that it might not be. I am kind of lost...

Any recommendations on what to cook my eggs, steak, and vegetables in would be much appreciated.

I want th best combination of health and flavor...

Thanks! I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving.

[Tarlach]

The most common, from best to worse:

1. Tallow
2. Lard
3. Coconut oil
4. EVOO
5. Ghee
6. Butter
7. Palm oil
8. Margarine and vegetable oils

I think Coconut oil can taste a bit weird though (I don't use it).

[livinghealthy]

Sweet list, dude, thanks.

I have been sticking mostly to Oils and butter... But I want to get into rendering animal fat. What are some of the best methods? As of now, my only method for cooking in animal fat is employed when I cook bacon - I fry the bacon, then cook my eggs in the left over fat. How else do people cook with animal fat?

Also, what is a good way to render a lot of fat and store it?

Thanks.

[Posy]

I use tallow and lard these days. Years ago I only used lard and olive oil.

[Tarlach]

We render about 15lb of pig/beef fat at a time and store it in the fridge in plastic containers. I reach for the tallow first, but we use lard for cooking too (and pig fat is much easier to get).

When we do it now we:
• Trim off any meat and cut the fat as small as we can (without spending all day on it. More than 10lb is a lot to cut up!)
• Put it in a big steel pot on the stove, with the flame on low and a flame tamer.
• Stir it every 5-10 mins until the lard starts to come out and the fat starts to rise in liquid, then only stir occasionally.
• When there is a lot of liquid, I start to pour it off into a pot to cool (through some cheesecloth to filter it).
• It can take over 10 hours for 1" chunks to render all the way. If you slice the fat thin, it can go much quicker (we use a meat slicer on the fat now, but a mincer or processor might do a better job?)

[chadwick]

Animal fats + butter are both preferred over olive oil. Olive oil is generally only used due to the monounsaturated fats, but if you eat a good amount of animal products (which I am sure almost everyone here does), then it is just unnecessary to use olive oil for the MUFAs. Plus, MUFAs oxidize when heated (saturated fats do not), so cooking with olive oil oxidizes the MUFAs found in the oil. If you like the taste--I say go for it. Just would not rank it so highly, and I do not use it myself anymore.

[celtia]

Mostly I use Irish Kerrygold butter or organic butter if I'm out of Kerrygold. I use coconut oil for certain foods; it makes the most delectable green bean fries (although you only want to do that as a treat every now & then or risk addiction!).

[BarbeyGirl]

I use butter, coconut oil, palm oil, or bacon grease.

These days, I only use olive oil raw.

[pkafka]

We render about 15lb of pig/beef fat at a time and store it in the fridge in plastic containers. I reach for the tallow first, but we use lard for cooking too (and pig fat is much easier to get).

When we do it now we:
• Trim off any meat and cut the fat as small as we can (without spending all day on it. More than 10lb is a lot to cut up!)
• Put it in a big steel pot on the stove, with the flame on low and a flame tamer.
• Stir it every 5-10 mins until the lard starts to come out and the fat starts to rise in liquid, then only stir occasionally.
• When there is a lot of liquid, I start to pour it off into a pot to cool (through some cheesecloth to filter it).
• It can take over 10 hours for 1" chunks to render all the way. If you slice the fat thin, it can go much quicker (we use a meat slicer on the fat now, but a mincer or processor might do a better job?)

Thanks Tarlach - a nice, simple way to render fat...

And Celtia - those green beans sounds amazing!

To all others - in this thread we have discussed cooking oils/fats, are there any other oiks you use to drizzle on salads, etc? ie truffle oil, grapeseed oil, etc?

-pk

[BarbeyGirl]

To all others - in this thread we have discussed cooking oils/fats, are there any other oiks you use to drizzle on salads, etc? ie truffle oil, grapeseed oil, etc?

-pk

I drizzle sesame oil over a stir fry just before taking it off the heat.

Grapeseed oil makes a good face mositurizer...does that count? ;)

[klcarbaugh]

Personally, I would change Tarlach's list to:
1. Tallow
2. Lard
3. Ghee
4. Butter
5. Coconut oil
6. Red palm oil
7, Macadamia nut oil
8. EVOO
9.Refined palm oil
8. Margarine and vegetable oils

I don't really like the taste of coconut oil either, unless it is in a dessert.

[BarbeyGirl]

Curious: Why is palm oil (unrefined) so far down the list? I picked up from MDA that it's a good option. Thoughts?

[Tarlach]

I had palm oil low as it is mostly bleached.

I don't know if real 'unrefined' palm oil exists?

[chadwick]

Curious: Why is palm oil (unrefined) so far down the list? I picked up from MDA that it's a good option. Thoughts?

I have never really given much consideration to palm oil, but researching it further, it does look like it is a pretty good option. High in saturated fats, monounsaturated fats, and PUFA seem to be <10% depending on what type you buy. Will have to buy some myself!

Here is the MDA post: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/palm-oil-nutrition/

Keep in mind though, that if you care about these types of things, palm oil can be responsible for rain forest destruction (especially hard on orangutans).

[klcarbaugh]

Good palm oil is bright red in color and the extraction does not involve solvents.

I trust this company: http://www.junglepi.com/products/red_palm.html

I have never actually tried it, since healthier animal fats and ghee taste the best anyway. Actually, I almost never go beyond number 4 on my list but my brother eats coconut oil out of the jar which is better then him snacking on dry cereal (he eats all the time since he is 16 and if my parents haven't picked up eggs or meat at the store he can just pull the jar out of the pantry when he's hungry. He also has the most ripped body of anyone I have ever met ;)...I think the medium chain triglycerides in coconut oil might be good for weight loss, but even then CO is probably not better than tallow or lard.

[BarbeyGirl]

I have never really given much consideration to palm oil, but researching it further, it does look like it is a pretty good option. High in saturated fats, monounsaturated fats, and PUFA seem to be &lt;10% depending on what type you buy. Will have to buy some myself! ... Keep in mind though, that if you care about these types of things, palm oil can be responsible for rain forest destruction (especially hard on orangutans).

Interesting about the rain forests. Hmm.

I bought a bucket of palm oil from Mountain Rose Herbs. It is bright, orangy-red, quite viscous at room temp, and has an odd, musty-plant smell rather like the outside of a coconut shell. The smell isn't bad, exactly, but it has kept me from trying the oil for cooking anything delicately flavored, like eggs -- and the color is pretty weird, too, for some things. I have used it for things like browing meat for soups/stews and have not noticed any peculiar flavor in the finished dishes.

Does anyone else cook with the stuff? What are your thoughts on odor/color/flavor/uses?

[Posy]

To all others - in this thread we have discussed cooking oils/fats, are there any other oiks you use to drizzle on salads, etc? ie truffle oil, grapeseed oil, etc?


Not to drizzle but I like walnut oil for mayo when I have the need.

[Get Primal]

I use coconut oil for all cooking and olive oil on the occasional salad I eat. As you will quickly ascertain from my question, I don't know s**t about cooking. I like to put about 6 Tbsp coconut oil in the bottom of my crock pot and add 2 lbs grass fed beef ribs. Cook on low for 5 hours and eat. The leftover liquid (coconut oil, beef rib fat and water I'd guess) gets poured into a container and saved for cooking eggs, etc. When cool the coconut oil forms a hard white film on top, while the beef juice is a brown gelatin underneath. Is this tallow? If not, what would you call it other than beef juice? All I know is it tastes great with eggs and I hope it's a healthy substance to cook with because I use it all the time. Thanks!

[pkafka]

I use coconut oil for all cooking and olive oil on the occasional salad I eat. As you will quickly ascertain from my question, I don't know s**t about cooking. I like to put about 6 Tbsp coconut oil in the bottom of my crock pot and add 2 lbs grass fed beef ribs. Cook on low for 5 hours and eat. The leftover liquid (coconut oil, beef rib fat and water I'd guess) gets poured into a container and saved for cooking eggs, etc. When cool the coconut oil forms a hard white film on top, while the beef juice is a brown gelatin underneath. Is this tallow? If not, what would you call it other than beef juice? All I know is it tastes great with eggs and I hope it's a healthy substance to cook with because I use it all the time. Thanks!

Get Primal - this sounds great... seems like you know plenty about cooking, might need to brush up on your chemistry though :)... haha. jkjk.

Saturated fats are solid at room or cold temps (coconut and beef both contain quite a bit of saturated fat - this is where the white film and brown gel come from). Unsaturated fats remain in liquid form at stable temps (olive oil, etc.)

So I guess the question that remains is... why is coconut oil liquefied when you buy it, and solid after you cook it? Maybe it is only saturated fat that remains after the oil is cooked? Little help?

-pk

[Get Primal]

The coconut oil I buy is solid in the jar, it has a melting point of 75F. I've actually opened a jar of almost completely liquid coconut oil when the air conditioning wasn't on in the house. Almost had a huge mess on my hands as I wasn't ready for it to be liquid. I was more curious about the brown beef gelatin, whether that was what people refer to as tallow. My cooking knowledge is sketchy at best, that's why I just throw everything in a crock pot;)

[Tarlach]

Tallow is rendered beef fat. It is solid at room temperature and white (when pure). There might be some mixed in with the coconut oil and you probably won't see it as anything different.

The gelatin is beef juices (mostly water) and collagen from the bones and the meat in the ribs.

[klcarbaugh]

Coconut oil is liquid or solid depending on the temperature of the room. It does have a low melting point and if you house is hot (like mine... when it's -10F outside I want the heater on high!) it will be liquid. In your case, pk, I guess your grocery store is hot and your house is cold.

[carla]

Hi, Barbey,
I just made a great face cream by blending coconut oil, olive oil and shea butter in thirds and adding lavendar oil for a great scent. I now have a lifetime supply!

[carla]

I bought some palm oil once and after many months of not using it, I chucked it out....didn't care for the taste.

[tribecalledfit]

This is a great topic! (Man, why didn't I find this forum sooner...)

As I've mentioned in other posts, I still struggle with avoiding dairy. Aw heck, who am I kidding? I love dairy! So for me, it's almost always butter when it comes to cooking oil. However, I do go with olive oil from time to time and have recently whipped up a couple dishes based on sesame oil. To put a finer point on it, the recipe called for toasted sesame oil but all I had was "regular" sesame oil - but it came out great! (the recipe, btw, involved sauteeing cashews in the sesame oil for 5 minutes or so before adding fresh Swiss chard and cooking it down to delicious perfection)

[BarbeyGirl]

Hi, Barbey,
I just made a great face cream by blending coconut oil, olive oil and shea butter in thirds and adding lavendar oil for a great scent. I now have a lifetime supply!

That sounds lovely! I usually use either grapeseed oil or Lush products, when I use any moisturizer at all...it's increasingly unnecessary since I've increased dietary fat. :)

I hear you on the palm oil taste. It works for me in dishes with a lot of other big flavors to overwhelm the oil, but I have a 2-gallon bucket of the stuff that will take me FOREVER to use! Anybody want some? ;)

[pkafka]

Barbey and Carla... great idea! natural oils are great for the skin, yes? I believe that eating them is also nice for the skin, yes?

-pk

[Annika]

I most often use bacon grease, but also use olive oil, coconut oil, and butter. For lunch I sauteed a bunch of kale, arugula, and other greens that are still surviving out in my garden in garlic butter. Yum!

[celtia]

About fats as moisturizers:

My hands usually crack and bleed at the 1st hint of sub-45 temps. This week N. Texas has seen its first real winter temps (yes, I know some of you folks laugh at what we consider "winter temps"!), and I've been vigilant about keeping coconut oil on my hands both at home and at school. No cracks or blood so far, even with being gloveless during morningwalks and last night's Chrismas-parade-watching in mid-30s temps.

I wonder, though, whether the skin success is due mostly to the external coconut oil, or if it's a combination of external application and ingestion of natural fats. Perhaps my skin was already in better condition than it normally would be due to better eating.

[Marnee]

I drizzle sesame oil over a stir fry just before taking it off the heat.

Grapeseed oil makes a good face mositurizer...does that count? ;)

Coconut oil is better as a face wash/moisturizer in my experience. Just sayin.

[Marnee]

If you don't feel like rendering your own tallow you can get it at US Wellness meats online.

[Posy]

Marnee yes you can order tallow online. I still haven’t found a local source of fat since I moved so I ordered some tallow from US Wellness.
Heads up on the pemmican though…I’d don’t care for it at all. I tried the one with cherries because I’ve never flavored my own and was curious. I didn't like the texture and doubt it's much different with thier plain pem. It's nothing like homemade. I also wonder about it being 50/50 because it sure seems slim on the meat side to me. Could just be personal taste but thought I’d mention it anyway. If I need to I'll ordered the tallow from them again but never the pemmican.

[pkafka]

If you don't feel like rendering your own tallow you can get it at US Wellness meats online.

Very nice to know, thanks Marnee and Posy!

[BarbeyGirl]

Coconut oil is better as a face wash/moisturizer in my experience. Just sayin.

Good to know. :) What's better about it, in your view?

[Micke77023]

Bacon Fat = awesome. Oil from a piece of Chorizo = awesomer. Butter = good. Olive Oil for a salad or quick stir fry.