“What kind of vegetal or animal fat can I use to cook and season my dishes, beside butter and olive oil?”
Sent by Julie
Editor: It’s always better to use unrefined oils for seasoning and dressings. Choose cold-pressed oils because they are more fragrant: olive oil of course, but also walnut, nuts, pistacchio.
For exotic preparations: use a neutral oil like soja oil or grape-seeds oil that has a high smoke point.
For deep frying, peanut oil is better.
Other alternatives are duck and goose fat. You can buy it in small pots at the delicatessen, or just keep the melted fat next time you make grilled duck breasts. This kind of fat is very fragrant and healthier than cow milk butter, but don’t abuse too much!
Use butter in combination with refined peanut oil or sunflower oil. This allows to raise the smoke point of butter, preventing it to become nocive at high temperature.
If you’re really addicted to butter, use clarified butter or ghee. Ghee is an ordinary butter from which casein and milk have been filtered out. You can prepare it by yourself: melt the butter slowly then when the milk concentrates you can remove it to keep the clarified fat.
You can also use butter to finish a sauce; it increase its shininess and softness.
Readers, do we have forgotten something? Please share your suggestions in the comments below.
