Animal fat

Cafe Society
1

One of the things I picked up from my mother that helped make me the (obese) woman I am today is a profound appreciation of animal fat, both meat and dairy. Especially crisp fat, and top of that list is crisp pork fat.

I’m a serious and committed carnivore, but in most cases I’d rather not eat meat at all if it’s super lean. I seek out the steak with not only the most marbling, but the biggest strips of solid fat, then score or cut them so that the fat becomes crisp.

Chicken skin is heaven when it’s crisp. Genuine nirvana when it’s crisp because it’s been battered and fried. (I LOVE Popeyes spicy chicken wings hot from the fryer…YUM)

But there are soft fats I love too: corned beef fat, pastrami, ham. Lamb fat in Irish stew. (Love to take tiny fatty lamb chops and broil the hell out of them until they are almost like jerky… the smell is vile, though.)

Prime rib is all about the fat.

I do have limits, though. I ate an exquisite meal at the most amazing French restaurant in Vegas once, and I ordered a pork dish that actually exceeded my fat tolerance, which is extremely high. The ratio of soft fat to meat was probably 50/50 or more and that was over the line, especially since it was soft, not crisp.

I also can’t stand the very idea of fish fat, at least, not visible, separate, identifiable. Dispersed through the flesh is fine, but the visible stuff gets scraped away. Cuz I’m not a fish fan to start with and the idea of fat infused with fishiness is just disgusting.

The one saving grace in my love of fat is that even for a fat fan like me, it can overwhelm very quickly. So in the case of fried chicken wings, for instance, three is usually more than enough to satisfy my craving.

How do you feel about it?

2

I like my meat to have some flavor so I am willing to accept a small amount of fat. But, I hate the texture and I refuse to eat it. I will generally end up wasting most of my pork chop in an attempt to get all the fat off.

3

A hunk of soft fat will make me gag, then probably vomit.

4

My two sisters are from a different side of the family gene pool. Every time we have a steak bbq, they insist on boring, thick sirloin with no fat at all. Of course, they also cook it to medium to well. Gag. I opt for the succulent ribeye, bone-in, medium rare beef please.

Don’t even get me started on pork fat…or bacon.

5

I routinely keep duck fat in my fridge to cook with. You can’t believe how great duck fat-fried popcorn is…

6

I eat the fattiest part of my steak last, to end dinner on a high note.

7

Since I don’t eat carbohydrates anymore*, to keep my blood sugar and blood pressure under control, animal meat/fat is one of my main pleasures nowadays. I’ll take it any way I can get it.

  • except the trace/small amounts in vegetables and salads.
8

I like my steaks to be medium-rare. The soft pieces of fat that remain are absolutely disgusting and I will not eat them.

9

Me too! Even when I was a kid, I saved the fat for last on my steak. On my steak I love it when it’s crisp charred on the outside, but still succulent and soft on the inside. I pass up the sirloin for ribeye every time.

10

I love to fat when the outside is crisp and almost burnt and the inside is hot juicy oil goodness. Times when i cook pork chops with a big ring of fat I will start off by cutting off the ring and eat the chops with the idea of being healthy. If I don’t get up from the table right away and clear the plate I will slowly eat all the fat in small pure pork fat bites.

11

You need some fat for the best taste, but I don’t eat solid lumps of fat (a bit of pork fat is ok).

It beats me that the supermarket can charge a premium for Laura’s Lean Beef - you are paying extra to have the flavor removed.

12

I absolutely love it when the fat is cooked properly and has that edge of lovely crispiness, but I restrict the amount of fat I eat - I will allow myself a bite of perfect crispy and toss the rest. Which is a shame, it has amazing flavor and is something that we tend to be hardwired by survival evolution to want to eat to store up fat for a hard winter.

You do have to have a certain amount of fat in foods to carry flavor, something that is thoroughly defatted can end up being very flat tasting.

13

Voted “all ways” because I order/cook the fattiest cuts of meat I can, (and “chew the fat”) and cook in butter. I don’t save bacon fat or anything but I hear sauteing vegetables in it makes them taste awesome, so I guess I should. I just discovered a “real” butcher in town, and am trying to screw up the courage to ask for the fatty bits no one else wants to use in cooking, to expand my repertoire and save money. Someday I might try rendering my own fat from beef or pork - there are how-tos online.
Does that answer your question? :slight_smile:

14

As much as I like fat, I don’t really care for things fried in bacon drippings. Just too much, I guess.

15

I love the stuff, but I can’t really take too much of it, especially chicken fat. Very tasty, and things like stews don’t work without some real meat fat, but over a certain amount it just makes me nauseous.

16

I love animal fat as part of an animal dish (eg steak) when it’s cooked properly. I also keep several different kinds of animal fat in my fridge (all right, just duck and goose) to cook with. I would never make a roast with anything else, unless I had a vegetarian type coming over for dinner.

I don’t eat fatty animal dishes often enough that it’s a health problem for me to eat all the fat, which is good, because it’s delicious.

17

I grew up with bacon fat cooked veggies. It’s hard not to always eat them like that even now. Especially fresh green beans just glistening with fat, with the little crunchy bacon bits mixed in!
Pure delight!

18

Ugh. I HATE the fatty parts of meat – it looks and feels like eating a blister. gag

I know you need it for flavoring, so I understand there needs to be SOME marbling. But actually EATING it? Eeeeeew.

19

I believe that the lipid hypothesis is false and saturated fat is healthy.

I only cook in saturated fats: butter, bacon fat, lard, tallow, coconut oil. These fats can handle high heats without degredation.

We eat a lot of “edges” of meat, and the dogs get the inside bits!

20

I can only stand it crispy, like chicken skin or bacon. I can’t eat fat if it’s along the edges of my pork chop or steak, and I never order prime rib because it’s too much work picking all the fat out. It’s a texture thing - fat is squishy. I can’t eat squishy.