After I bake chicken thighs in the oven for about an hour until the skin is crisp and all the fat is rendered into the pan, I pour off the fat and drippings into a large glass bowl and put it into the fridge until the fat congeals on top. Then I scoop the fat off the top and put it in a large glass measuring cup and melt it in the microwave, and note how many ounces there are. Place the melted fat in a saucepan, heat until sizzling, and add an equal amount of white flour, and stir until it is the consistancy of pancake batter. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, for 3-4 minutes to remove the raw flour taste. Then add the rest of the chicken drippings from the bowl, and slowly add enough hot water (about twice as much as the amount of fat used), stirring constantly over low heat, until the gravy reaches the desired consistency. Turn off heat immediately! Do not over cook, or the fat will separate.
Vóila! Perfect lump-free chicken gravy with all the flavor and twice the fat!!
I read an article in a magazine one time that said that everyone has either a “fat tooth” or a “sweet tooth.”
I don’t know if this is generally true, but it is for SURE true for me. If I never ate anything sweet again, I would shrug and say “whatever…no problem.” I have a “fat tooth” and I don’t have a problem saying so.
And honey, I live in WA state. Arguably even MORE health conscious than CA.
Prime Rib? My favorite thing. Turkey? I love turkey, and the best part of it is the crunchy fatty skin. Baked potatoes? BUTTER, baby, BUTTER! EXTRA BUTTER!!!
I go easy on the fat in my diet, because I realize (regretfully) that it is not good for me. I don’t like it, though. I will NEVER like it. And when I get old and don’t care about how much longer I hang around, I am going to eat the fattiest things I love and…
Say, how about FRIED PORK RINDS! Especially the ones that are seasoned especially hot…
Actually, ** Scotticher, ** umm… it isn’t either/or on the fat/sweet thing. At least not for everyone. I am cursed with both, almost invariably combined. Virtually all my favorite sweets are very fatty, to boot. Favorite candy? Peanut butter cups. (Reeses, of course) Favorite ice cream? My own, made with less sugar and more cream. Favorite pastry? Pie, with lard crust. Or maybe danish, slathered in butter.
I have a horrible, horrible admission to make. One of my favorite evil sweet things is fresh, warm chocolate cake with butter melted on it. (Runs and hides face in shame.)
Don’t know if this counts but a damn good English Fryup for Breakfast. Bacon - slighty crispy, all the fat on, sausages, eggs, Fried Bread (better deep fried in oil than shallow fried), baked beans, toast - dripping in full fat, heavily salted welsh butter, hash browns (not english I know but…) and finally and most importantly as many slices as I can get of Black pudding - recipe here for those that want it Black Pudding Recipe
I wish I could describe all the noises my stomach has been making during this thread. And I know I’ve got nothing to look forward to at home except for a bunch of sweet stuff, dammit.
I come from the land of biscuits and gravy, and I’ve exiled myself to California, where usually the only fat you can get is from an avocado. Yellch.
I feel like a freak now, I can’t stand fat. I don’t mind a marbelized steak or a greasy burger, but no bacon, chicken skin, or trim. I can’t drink anything but skim, no ice cream, no whipped cream, and no cream filled pastries. Definately no avocados! It’s something about the texture. I’m not picky flavor-wise, but certain textures make me gag.
I freely admit I am a total sugar fiend though, as evidenced by the bag of candy corn I ate today.
You and me, even sven, you and me. I read the OP thinking, “Hell, I don’t even like the meat on the meat!” But isn’t it good to know that it’s not all going to waste?
And am I the only one who’s been hearing the voice of Spike from Buffy, The Vampire Slayer (during a discussion of what demon might be skinning people) saying, “Who doesn’t like skin?”
Now, Sol, don’t be dissing avocados. They are a godly food. And since I’m in California and grew up here, it is evident that we can get the fat…we * just can’t talk about it. *
Yesterday at the butcher’s I was so pleased with my timing…they were cutting up the spencer steaks, so I was able to ask for one untrimmed. YUM, can’t wait to dig in!
And ** Merrin, ** I was with you right up to the blood pudding. Yeecch!
Being a Southerner, I keep bacon grease in a jar in my fridge for cooking. I use it for flavoring greens, green beans, and frying eggs.
Pork fat rules!
Also, I’ve found that eating fat doesn’t make me fat! I went on the Protein Power diet to lose a few pounds and it worked like a charm. When I went off the diet, eating carbs made me gain the weight right back. It stands to reason, because humans didn’t eat many carbs until the advent of agriculture. We’re not designed for them, really.
The various opinions in this thread are a sort of timeline of our family history of fat-eating. As a child, I indoctrinated into Fat-Eating, but over the years have strayed.
Born in the 50’s, American, grew up on both coasts. My mom kept a little can of bacon grease by the kitchen stove. She taught me how to make gravy. Eating steak fat was considered a special treat.
My parents died very young, my mom of a heart attack. Not sure how much was diet-related.
To this day I gag on skim milk, but we drink 1%. My kids gag on any fat. We hardly ever eat bacon, let alone keep a can of grease around. I sadly take the crispy-juicy chicken skin off at dinner,but every now and then I cheat and furtively take a nibble.
Remember that scene on Gilligan’s Island where Gilligan is dreaming that he is Dr. Gilligan/Mr. Hyde? And he turns into the monster when people mention lucious food (“Chop Suey Dixie Style!”). Well, I’m sitting here reading this thread, drooling, and feeling like Gilligan. Slowly turning back into a fat-loving monster.
When I was a kid and my mom made pot roast, I would raid other peoples plates for the fat. And chicken skin? Over here please. And the indescribably delicious fatty feast when my mom would make soup and she’d remove the bones and scoop out the fatty marrow, mmmm.
Not now though. Cholesterol tests, waist lines, man-boobs.
I’m not a dietician, so feel free to correct me, but my take on this is that if you’re a fat person it’s not because you eat fat but because your overall diet doesn’t suit your lifestyle - you consume more calories than you metabolise and the surplus is laid down as upholstery.
Surely there aren’t any “poisonous foods”, just bad diets/lifestyles. In the western world - especially the USA but Britain is catching you up - people tend to obesity because we eat too much, because too high a proportion of our diet is highly fatty or calorific, and because we don’t get enough exercise.
I am a fat person. If given the opportunity, I will turn into a glutton without even realizing it. Pepperoni pizza with extra cheese will trigger a shark-like feeding frenzy behavior in me – the more artery-cloggin’ saturated-fatty cheese, the better. Fetuccine alfredo made with full-fat parmesan and heavy cream sauce is marvelous.
Yet … for whatever reason, I don’t like fat on meat. It feels funny when I munch on it. It doesn’t taste “meaty.” It gets in the way of the meat. When I was a kid, I would strip the white parts of the bacon out and eat only the red parts (and I only stopped doing this as I grew up because it was too much work). I like my steak trimmed extra-super-hyper-mega lean. When I buy hamburger for Hamburger Helper, I try to get the leanest variety possible (I know a local store that sells 4% fat hamburger, which as far as I can tell is the lowest hamburger fat content allowable by the laws of physics). Give me chicken, and I’ll dive after the white-meat chicken breast – without the skin – every time.
My French-born wife introduced me to this delicacy, and boy, it’s the tops if you like fat. It’s cooked duck thighs, canned or in a jar, swimming in its own fat. (People always look at me and say “ummm… canned duck?” But believe me, it’s heaven.)
You saute the thighs in some of the fat, just enough to warm it up and make the skin crisp.
Meanwhile, you use the rest of the fat to fry some potatoes in another pan, with a generous portion of chopped garlic. You’ll never have better fried potatoes.
The meal is staggeringly good, best if accompanied by a nice sauterne.
My wife is normally one of those who leaves a plate of fat behind when eating meat, but she’s different about duck confit. She still looks at me a little funny if I eat the not-so-crispy part of the duck skin, but this is a meal made for enjoying the fat.
That’s not a black pudding recipe! Here’s a black pudding recipe: BLACK PUDDING
CLIMATE/TERRAIN: Any underground
FREQUENCY: Uncommon
ORGANIZATION: Solitary
ACTIVITY CYCLE: Any
DIET: Any
INTELLIGENCE: Non- (0)
TREASURE: Nil
ALIGNMENT: Neutral
NO. APPEARING: 1 (1-4)
ARMOR CLASS: 6
MOVEMENT: 6
HIT DICE: 10
THAC0: 11
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 3-24
SPECIAL ATTACKS: See below
SPECIAL DEFENSES: See below
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Nil
SIZE: S-L (3’-8’)
MORALE: Special
XP VALUE: 2,000
Black pudding acid is highly corrosive, inflicting 3-24 points of damage per round to organic matter and dissolving a 2-inch thickness of wood equal to its diameter in one round. Black puddings also dissolve metal. Chain mail dissolves in one round, plate mail in two; each magical “plus” increases the time it takes to dissolve the metal by one round (thus plate mail +3 takes two rounds to dissolve for being plate mail, plus three rounds for having a +3 magical bonus, for a total of five rounds).
::MsRobyn melts into an orgasmic puddle at the thought of chicken skin and steak fat::
I LOVE fat. I raid leftover chicken for the skin. Margarine is banned in Chez Robin, in favor of real butter. I don’t buy chicken breasts; the meat is much too dry for my taste. The only reason to eat steak is for the fat.
I also weigh 245 lbs. and am afraid to have my cholesterol checked. sigh
<hijack>
Oh, you’re no freak. I was a vegetarian for 6 years, now I eat chicken and fish sporadically. For me it was also a taste/texture combination. I grew out of my liking for meat.
I used to like it medium rare as a kid but could never tolerate the “musky” flavour of lamb, venison or liver. By my early teens you almost had to burn any red meat you cooked for me. I stopped eating red meat in highschool. I became a vegetarian (lacto-ovo vegtn) in university. It IS a taste/texture thing – can’t handle the “bouncy” feel of meat fibres being crushed by my molars (Ack! Ack! Ack!)
</hijack>
Still when I was 4 years old, the fat was the best part of the meat. Then again, I also used to eat the white part of Oreos and leave the brown cookie bits behind. I must’ve had the weirdest sense of taste.
Weirdo! ;).
I have the same problem with some textures myself though. Small dried fruits (sultanas are the worst), especially in cakes. I hate the way they squish when I bite down on them. Bigger dried fruits - dates, figs, apricots - or ones that are small enough to be resilient, like currants in cookies, are fine.
