Holding hands with traditional fats these days can be a lonely place. We have traded our old buddies Lard, Dripping and Suet for olive oil mainly, and while this Mediterranean favourite certainly has its place in our store cupboard, not all olive oils are equal. Many of them could be found guilty of being all fur coat and no knickers when it comes to nutrition. I’m afraid olive oil is a product where you get what you pay for and most people may not be prepared to pay the price for the good stuff. Traditionally Irish fats were lard, dripping and suet. They were the staple cooking fats of yesteryear and, remarkably, during a time when obesity wasn’t a problem. Look at old snaps from the 40s, 50s and 60s and you’ll have a hard job finding obese people. As I’ve stated before, fat has been framed, blamed and tried without jury for our weight problems. It is a ‘catch all’ for everything negative in the food world and has become very, very misunderstood in the process.
First things first; the flavour is in the fat and that’s why ridiculously lean meat can be bland and tasteless. Don’t remove all the skin from chicken or poultry before cooking it and wonder why you end up with dry, boring meat. Naturally occurring fat is essential to cooking delicious food. Even if the fat is removed after cooking the fact that it was present while the meat was in the oven means that the joint is almost self basting and you are guaranteed a better taste.
If the animal has been fed properly it will be beautifully marbled with thin vein like lines of fat running through it. Sealing beef in sizzling beef dripping will add another rich layer of beefy-ness. Rashers cooked in a little lard are delicious and if you ever try using real suet in dumplings or pudding dough you won’t look back. We need fat to fight disease and protect our organs. You even need fat to absorb certain vitamins. We have largely replaced solid animal fats with salad and cooking oils. The problem with some of these oils is that their constituents change at high temperatures. They are unstable when heated up and in the long term they can make us sick. Eating natural fat as part of a balanced diet does not make you fat.
So let’s clear up a few things. Lard: Real lard can be hard to find and although some supermarkets sell it in blocks, make sure it is 100% lard. Lard is creamy, rendered pig fat. Take note, foods fried in lard become very crisp and absorb less fat than foods cooked in oil. If you are over 35 you may remember those crispy full Irish breakfasts of your childhood. They haven’t gone away they just don’t crisp as well in oil. Dripping: This is the fat that drips from meat while it cooks. Beef dripping is the most popular. In years gone by people would render their own dripping and always have it to hand in the kitchen, but most butchers sell it these days. It has a good shelf life and browning beef or lamb in its own dripping will really intensify the flavour. Also the waft of cooking beef dripping in a kitchen will literally transport you back in time and it will revolutionise Yorkshire pudding.. Suet: This is the fat that surrounds an animal’s kidneys. You will have to ask your butcher for it. Yes, you can buy it boxed in the supermarket, but if you can get your hands on the real deal then do. If you want to use it in dumplings or pudding dough just grate it for ease of use. Suet is also a hard fat with a high melting point so it works well for deep frying.
We have such a negative association with fat that if it were a person it would be staring at us from a Wanted poster with a substantial bounty attached for capture. It is a gross misrepresentation. We need to get re-acquainted with fat. Don’t be afraid, it’s good for your health and much better in the taste steaks. At present I am a lonely voice crying in the wilderness with just a few other devotees around the world, but I am confident that very shortly the majority will wake up to the lie we have been overly sold about the health benefits of cooking with oil.
This post was written by me, Pat Whelan, owner of James Whelan Butchers and a passionate advocate of local artisan food. My family have been producing quality Irish Angus beef for generations using a traditional dry aging process. This tradition is one that I continue to practice at our abattoir on our family farm in Garrentemple, Clonmel. These posts aim to impart some of the wisdom to readers and help them get the best out of the meat they eat! Our meat is available online here! I welcome your feedback to Pat@jwb.ie
We hope you enjoyed reading this post by Pat Whelan of James Whelan Butchers. Pat is a 5th generation butcher, cook book author and the director of James Whelan Butchers with shops in Clonmel, the Avoca Handweavers Rathcoole and Kilmacanogue, Dunnes Stores Cornelscourt, Rathmines and Swords in Dublin. Sign up to our newsletter for more updates from James Whelan Butchers
Tags: basting, Drippings, dumplings, Fat, James Whelan Butchers, Lard, natural fats, olive oil, Pat Whelan, rashers, Suet
