What is it about grease, anyway? Why does it make things taste so good and at the same time make them so bad for us? Why does the smell make our stomachs rumble and our mouths water?
There were a few times in the past when I finished off a whole box of Chicken-in-a-biscuit crackers, leaving my hands covered in little oil slicks.
My cousin showed me how to deep-fry a Thanksgiving turkey and how the smell spreads around the neighborhood, causing people to arrive from up and down the street because they must find the source of that incredible aroma. Eau de grease, indeed.
A friend of mine devoted a whole page of his first novel to the joys of grease.
I’m sure no one’s really holding their breath waiting for a scientific explanation, but here’s one anyway. We evolved to find fat tasty, because it’s a lot of energy for its weight. Back in the days when we were scraping by on the African plains, fat was awesome for us. Nowadays, not so much, but our biology hasn’t caught up yet.
There’s more to it than just the flavor of the fat itself. If I remember Alton Brown correctly, it helps convey flavor to the tongue. That’s why fat free versions of many snacks are so loaded with sugar - it’s needed to help “make up” the missing flavor.
Deep fried turkeys can be wonderful but greasiness isn’t a problem if they’re cooked correctly. We deep fried a turkey for Father’s day. It was delicious - juicy and flavorful but not at all greasy.
Mmmm… I’m totally with you on this grease thing…
Greasy fries… Mm…
Greasy chicken fingers… Mmmm…
Cuban roast pork soaking in a puddle of grease… Mmmm!!! (Okay I have a bit of an insaturation… I mean, infatuation… with the Cuban roast pork back home in Florida)
On vacation with a friend in Virginia Beach last summer, we ordered in Domino’s pizza and got Cinnastix with it. I think we laid there in a grease-induced coma for a good hour afterward, but damn was it good.
My brother-in-law deep fried a turkey last Thankgiving and measured the amount of oil in the pot before and after cooking. The total difference was about two tablespoons, and a lot of that was due to the splatter.
The heat from the oil causes the water in the turkey to turn into steam. Because the turkey is completely surrounded by oil, the steam has nowhere to go, so you get steam pressing out, which generally keeps the oil out of the turkey. The oil just acts like an all over, full contact oven.
And on top of tasting great, a 14 lb turkey cooks in less than an hour!
I found it interesting when I found out that, despite the fact that the food is surrounded by liquid, deep frying is a considered a “dry” method of cooking.
For cooking the turkey, I highly recommend peanut oil. It has a high smoke point so it takes the heat well and gives the turkey an amazing flavor.
I hope everybody knows that they’re supposed to do this deep frying thing OUTSIDE. Some have attempted to do it indoors and wound up with no house to live in. :smack:
That’s pretty much it–back in the days of when we scavanged, fat was highly prized–it’s got more caloric value than protein or carbohydrate, and it satiates the appetite longer (one of the key points to low-carb diets, such as Atkins).
I still have “FAT IS FLAVOR!” ringing through my head, as I’ve heard said a million times in culinary school. Fat does convey flavors to the palate, and when fat is removed from a dish, usually it’s sugars and other things that need to be added to help the flavor.
Set up several plastic tarps on the ground in the backyard. Invite a half-dozen strippers over. Pour oil over strippers (AFTER the oil’s been cooled! :eek:). Let the games begin.
The oil can be reused if strained and kept in a sterile container in a cool place.
But, a 5-gallon bottle of peanut oil doesn’t cost you more than around $7 at a Smart & Final or Costco. If you want to throw it way, just let it cool down, pour it into the original bottle or old coffee cans, and toss it.
If you can get a five gallon jug of peanut oil for $7.00, I want to know where you’re getting it, unless the prices at Smart and Final vary greatly from location to location. That’s where we got it and we spent a heck of a lot more than that (and our Costco didn’t have any).
As far as the oil is concerned, we strain it and freeze it until we’re ready to reuse it. The trick is remembering to take it out of the freezer in time.
