Fat Flashcards

1
Q

four elemental building blocks of foods

A

water, fat, protein, carbohydrates

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2
Q

fat’s three cooking roles

A

as a main ingredient, as a cooking medium, and as seasoning

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3
Q

what is fat

A

a crucial backup energy source, a way to store energy for future use, it plays a role in nutrient absorption and essential metabolic functions

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4
Q

when choosing a fat

A

identify the primary role it will play in a dish

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5
Q

fat as a main ingredient

A

can bind various ingredients together, play a textural role (flaky, creamy, light, and sometimes tender textures), if it’s added at the outset as a flavor role

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6
Q

butter and flour

A

butter inhibits the proteins in flour from developing, yielding tender and flaky textures in a pastry

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7
Q

fat as a cooking medium

A

can be heated to extreme temperatures, crisping the outsides of food (crisp texture). Any fat heated to cook food is a medium

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8
Q

fat as seasoning

A

used to adjust flavor or enrich the texture at the end of cooking of a dish, just before serving

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9
Q

fat’s effect on flavor

A

Fat coats the tongue, allowing various aromatic compounds to stay in contact with our taste buds for longer periods of time, intensifying and prolonging our experience of various flavors. This is why it’s good to add aromatics directly into the cooking fat.

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10
Q

fat and browning

A

Fat facilitates surface browning, which requires minimum temperatures of 230 F. Browning introduces entirely new flavors like nuttiness, sweetness, meatiness, earthiness, and umami.

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11
Q

olive oil cuisines

A

Mediterranean: Italian, Spanish, Greek, Turkish, North African, Middle Eastern

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12
Q

rancid olive oil

A

Olive oil goes bad 12-14 months after pressing. tastes: bitter, overwhelmingly spicy, dirty, rancid. Smells: box of crayons, candle wax, the oil on old peanut butter

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13
Q

When buying olive oil

A

Look for pressing date, want 100% Californian or Italian olives

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14
Q

Three types of olive oil

A

Everyday (general cookery), finishing (applied where the flavor stands out, like in salad dressings, spooned over food, etc), and flavored

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15
Q

agrumato

A

A flavored olive oil made by the traditional technique of milling whole citrus fruit with the olives as the time of the first press.

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16
Q

Recommended olive oil brands

A

Sea Hills, Katz, California Olive Ranch, Kirkland Signature Organic extra virgin oil

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17
Q

How to store olive oil

A

away from temperature fluctuations or direct sunlight. Cool and dark storage.

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18
Q

Butter cuisines

A

Regions with climates that support pasture for grazing cows: US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Scandinavia, Western Europe (and northern Italy), Russia, Morocco, India

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19
Q

Three types of butter

A

unsalted, salted, cultured

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20
Q

cultured butter

A

tangy butter as seasoning, on bread or with hors d’eourves

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21
Q

Butter

A

Unlike oil, it is not pure fat, containing water, milk protein, and whey solids, which provide much of its flavor

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22
Q

brown butter

A

gently heated unsalted butter until browned. It’s nutty and sweet, a classic flavor in French and northern Italian cooking.

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23
Q

clarified butter

A

unsalted butter that has been gently melted over sustained low heat. The whey proteins rise to the top of the clear, yellow fat, and other milk proteins fall to the bottom. The water will evaporate, leaving behind 100% fat. The whey solids are skimmed off and the proteins are left at the bottom of the pot. The rest of the butter is strained through cheesecloth. This clarified butter is excellent for high-heat cooking; with the solids removed, it doesn’t burn.

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24
Q

Indian ghee

A

Clarified butter that’s been cooked at a higher temperature, allowing the milk solids to brown and lending the finished fat a sweeter flavor.

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25
Q

Smen

A

Moroccan clarified butter that’s been aged underground up to seven years to develop a cheesy taste.

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26
Q

seed and nut oils

A

peanut, expeller-pressed canola oil, and grapeseed oil are neutral-tasting, coconut oil adds tropical flavor, vibrantly flavored sesame oil and toasted hazelnut oil can be used as seasonings

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27
Q

where aromatic molecules are found in meat

A

Since they’re mostly repelled by water, they’re predominantly found in an animal’s fat, which will taste more distinctly of the animal than its lean meat.

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28
Q

beef fat

A

When solid, suet, when liquid, tallow. It’s a crucial component in hamburgers etc, lending beefy flavor and enhancing moistness.

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29
Q

pork fat

A

called that when it’s solid, lard when it’s liquid. With it’s high smoke point, lard is a great cooking medium and is commonly used in Mexico, the American south, southern Italy, and the northern Philippines, and it can also be used in savory dough.

30
Q

barding

A

To cover lean meat with slices of pork belly to protect it from the dry heat of roasting and add richness and flavor

31
Q

larding

A

to thread pieces of fat through a lean piece of meat with a long, thick needle to add richness and flavor

32
Q

schmaltz

A

rendered chicken fat, a traditional ingredient in the Jewish kitchen

33
Q

lamb fat

A

also called suet

34
Q

textures fat can be used to make

A

crisp, creamy, flaky, tender, light

35
Q

to crisp food…

A

the water trapped in the food’s cells must evaporate, so the surface temperature of the ingredient must climb beyond 212°. To get this on the entire surface of the food, it needs to be in direct, even contact with a heat source; since cooking fats can be heated to 350° and beyond before smoking, they’re the ideal method.

36
Q

Cooking methods where fat is heated to achieve crispness

A

searing, sautéing, pan-, shallow-, deep-frying.

37
Q

After frying food

A

drain/dab excess oil off the food before serving

38
Q

As oil is heated…

A

it breaks down, leading to flavor degradation and the release of toxic chemicals, so add the oil to a preheated pan and give it time to heat up before adding the ingredients.

39
Q

Before adding oil, the pan should be…

A

hot enough so that oil immediately ripples and shimmers when added. Test with a drop of water, and if it crackles and evaporates, then the pan is ready. The food should sizzle upon adding.

40
Q

exception to the preheating rule

A

butter and garlic. Both will burn if the pan is too hot, so they must be heated gently.

41
Q

rendering fat

A

to cook fat in a minimal amount of water over gentle heat until all the water has evaporated. This process transforms solid fat into a liquid that can be used as a cooking medium.

42
Q

rendering fat to transform meat’s texture

A

Fat can prevent meat from crisping, so cooking it at gentler heat for longer can help the fat to render and so allow the meat to get crisper. (Bacon in the oven v bacon in the pan)

43
Q

animal fat burn temperature

A

about 350°

44
Q

smoke point of fat

A

The temperature at which is decomposes and transforms into a visible, noxious gas. Pure refined vegetable oils begin to smoke around 400°, olive oil and butter burn around 350°

45
Q

The goal with all cooking

A

is to achieve your desired result on the outside and inside of an ingredient at the same time.

46
Q

Once crispness has been achieved…

A

retain it by not covering or piling up crisp foods while they are still hot. Doing that entraps steam and makes it soggy.

47
Q

emulsion

A

When two liquids that normally don’t like to mix together or dissolve give up and join together. In the kitchen, it’s like a temporary treaty between fat and water, the result being tiny droplets of one liquid dispersed in another, resulting in a creamy mixture that’s neither one or the other. Butter, ice cream, mayo, chocolate.

48
Q

emulsifier

A

An emulsifier attracts and connects the two hostile liquids, by coating the oil and allowing it to exist among the vinegar droplets; mustard in vinaigrette, egg yolk in mayo

49
Q

Using emulsions

A

They are efficient tools for enriching plain foods

50
Q

Familiar emulsions

A

mayo and hollandaise, vinaigrettes (often temporary), butter, cream, milk, peanut butter, tahini, Chocolate, crema

51
Q

mayonnaise

A

is an oil-in-water emulsion made by slowly whisking tiny droplets of oil into an egg yolk, which itself is a natural emulsion of fat and water. Lecithin in the yolk, is an emulsifier with one end that likes fat and another that likes water. With vigorous whisking, lecithin connects the minuscule amount of water innate to a yolk to the oil droplets and surrounds tiny air bubbles, integrating them into a rich, unified sauce.

52
Q

breaking an emulsion

A

When the emulsion separates into the hostile groups of oil and water again

53
Q

emulsion temperatures

A

most emulsions are stable in a narrow range of temperatures, some needed to remain cold and others warm

54
Q

butter temperatures

A

butter retains its solid form from freezing (32°) to melting (90°). Butter sweats on a hot day, the water separating from the fat as it melts, as it does when cooked. Melted butter is a broken emulsion, hardening as it cools, never to return to its former state.

55
Q

gluten

A

comprised of two proteins in wheat, glutenin and gliadin. When wheat flour and liquid are combined, the proteins link up with one another into long chains. As dough is kneaded or batter is mixed, the chains develop into strong, extensive webs, the gluten network. The expansion of these webs is called gluten development and it’s what makes a dough chewy and elastic.

56
Q

To make chewy dough

A

High protein flours are used and kneaded for long periods of time. Salt also preserves the strength of the gluten network.

57
Q

Why limit gluten development?

A

To get tender, flaky, and moist textures

58
Q

What discourages gluten development?

A

Low protein flours, avoiding over kneading, sugar and acids like buttermilk or yogurt, fat

59
Q

Fat and gluten

A

Too much fat can inhibit gluten networks from forming by coating individual gluten strands and preventing them from sticking to one another and lengthening. The origin of the term shortening, because the gluten strands remain short.

60
Q

Four variables to determine the texture of a baked good

A

fat, water, yeast, and kneading/mixing/folding/stirring

61
Q

short dough

A

Tender, crumbly, melt in your mouth. Flour and fat are blended together intimately, resulting in smooth, homogeneous dough, often calling for soft or even melted butter, in order to encourage the fluid fat to quickly coat individual flour particles, preventing gluten webs from forming.

62
Q

flaky dough

A

Break into flakes instead of crumbs, sturdy enough to hold fillings but delicate enough to produce thin, uneven flakes when sliced (pies). To create that strength, some of the fat is worked into the flour to develop a minimal amount of gluten. The fat must be very cold so that some of it can remain in distinct pieces. When in the hot oven, the cold pieces of butter, entrapped air, and steam from the water released by the butter, all push apart the layers of dough to create flakes.

63
Q

laminated dough

A

Flakey dough like puff pastry, which breaks into glassy shards. Dough is wrapped around a slab of cold butter, then folded back upon itself in a process called a turn, resulting in hundreds of layers of dough and butter. Each distinct layer of butter durns to steam in the oven, creating the layers of flakes.

64
Q

Yeasted laminated dough

A

Yeasted doughs, kneaded to develop gluten, can be laminated for chewy flakiness, like croissants and Danishes

65
Q

to achieve tender baked good (shortbread)

A

Use any soft or liquid fat or oil to coat flour

66
Q

to achieve flakey dough

A

keep temperatures cold when making dough, to prevent the butter from melting, and either mixing too well and coating the gluten strands, or having the water in the butter separate and over-build the gluten strands. Chilling the diced butter, flour, and tools in the freezer before starting and allowing the dough time to chill in the fridge between steps helps. Get the chilled, assembled pie into the pre-heated oven as quickly as possible to avoid soggy dough.

67
Q

Fat and leavening

A

Fat can entrap air when whipped, which allows it to act as a leaving (raising) agent in cakes, such as pound cake

68
Q

folding

A

The technique of gently combining aerated ingredients into non aerated ingredients

69
Q

creaming

A

aerating fat by whipping butter with sugar to trap air bubbles for leavening. Cool room-temperature butter is beaten together with sugar slowly for 4-7 minutes until the mixture is light and fluffy, the outer entrapping millions of tiny air bubbles throughout the mixture

70
Q

oil v butter cakes

A

oil cakes have oil efficiently coat flour proteins and prevent strong gluten networks from forming, and from absorbing water, making a tender, moister cake. Butter cakes have rich flavor and drier/denser texture.

71
Q

layering fat

A

Most dishes benefit from more than one kind. Consider cultural appropriateness of a fat, and whether it will harmonize with the other ingredients in flavor, or if it will help achieve different textures in a single dish.

72
Q

balancing fat

A

Correct overly fatty food by rebalancing the dish: add more food to increase total volume; add more acid; water it down; add starchy or dense ingredients; chill the dish and skim the fat off the surface; dab the food on a clean towel. Foods that are too dry can be corrected with olive oil or another creaming ingredient to improve the texture and get the flavor right.