{"id":5114,"date":"2013-07-05T12:38:49","date_gmt":"2013-07-05T11:38:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jameswhelanbutchers.com\/info\/?p=5114"},"modified":"2014-08-06T16:06:04","modified_gmt":"2014-08-06T15:06:04","slug":"sorting-the-fats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jameswhelanbutchers.com\/info\/5114\/sorting-the-fats\/","title":{"rendered":"James Whelan Butchers: Sorting the Fats"},"content":{"rendered":"

Holding hands with traditional fats these days can be a lonely place. \u00a0We 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.\u00a0 Many of them could be found guilty of being all fur coat and no knickers when it comes to nutrition.\u00a0 I\u2019m 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. \u00a0Traditionally Irish fats were lard, dripping and suet.\u00a0 They were the staple cooking fats of yesteryear and, remarkably, during a time when obesity wasn\u2019t a problem.\u00a0\u00a0 Look at old snaps from the 40s, 50s and 60s and you\u2019ll have a hard job finding obese people. As I\u2019ve stated before, fat has been framed, blamed and tried without jury for our weight problems.\u00a0 It is a \u2018catch all\u2019 for everything negative in the food world and has become very, very misunderstood in the process.<\/p>\n

\"Beef<\/a>First things first; the flavour is in the fat and that\u2019s why ridiculously lean meat can be bland and tasteless.\u00a0 Don\u2019t remove all the skin from chicken or poultry before cooking it and wonder why you end up with dry, boring meat.\u00a0 Naturally occurring fat is essential to cooking delicious food.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

If the animal has been fed properly it will be beautifully marbled with thin vein like lines of fat running through it.\u00a0 Sealing beef in sizzling beef dripping will add another rich layer of beefy-ness.\u00a0 Rashers cooked in a little lard are delicious and if you ever try using real suet in dumplings or pudding dough you won\u2019t look back.\u00a0 We need fat to fight disease and protect our organs.\u00a0 You even need fat to absorb certain vitamins. We have largely replaced solid animal fats with salad and cooking oils.\u00a0 The problem with some of these oils is that their constituents change at high temperatures.\u00a0 They are unstable when heated up and in the long term they can make us sick.\u00a0 Eating natural fat as part of a balanced diet does not make you fat.<\/p>\n

So let\u2019s clear up a few things.\u00a0 Lard:<\/strong>\u00a0Real lard can be hard to find and although some supermarkets sell it in blocks, make sure it is 100% lard.\u00a0 Lard is creamy, rendered pig fat.\u00a0 Take note, foods fried in lard become very crisp and absorb less fat than foods cooked in oil.\u00a0 If you are over 35 you may remember those crispy full Irish breakfasts of your childhood.\u00a0 They haven\u2019t gone away they just don\u2019t crisp as well in oil.\u00a0\u00a0 Dripping:<\/strong>\u00a0 This is the fat that drips from meat while it cooks. Beef dripping is the most popular.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 It has a good shelf life and browning beef or lamb in its own dripping will really intensify the flavour.\u00a0\u00a0 Also the waft of cooking beef dripping in a kitchen will literally transport you back in time and it will revolutionise Yorkshire pudding..\u00a0\u00a0 Suet:<\/strong>\u00a0This is the fat that surrounds an animal’s kidneys.\u00a0 You will have to ask your butcher for it.\u00a0 Yes, you can buy it boxed in the supermarket, but if you can get your hands on the real deal then do.\u00a0 If you want to use it in dumplings or pudding dough just grate it for ease of use.\u00a0 Suet is also a hard fat with a high melting point so it works well for deep frying.<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 It is a gross misrepresentation.\u00a0 We need to get re-acquainted with fat.\u00a0 Don\u2019t be afraid, it\u2019s good for your health and much better in the taste steaks.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0online here!<\/a>\u00a0I welcome your feedback to\u00a0Pat@jwb.ie<\/a><\/p>\n

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 \u00a0James Whelan Butchers with shops in Clonmel, the Avoca Handweavers Rathcoole and Kilmacanogue, Dunnes Stores Cornelscourt, Rathmines and Swords in Dublin.\u00a0Sign up to our newsletter for more updates from James Whelan Butchers<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Holding hands with traditional fats these days can be a lonely place. \u00a0We 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.\u00a0 Many of them could be found guilty of being all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[25],"tags":[488,483,490,484,48,485,487,476,47,489,486],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n