Fat Flashcards
four elemental building blocks of foods
water, fat, protein, carbohydrates
fat’s three cooking roles
as a main ingredient, as a cooking medium, and as seasoning
what is fat
a crucial backup energy source, a way to store energy for future use, it plays a role in nutrient absorption and essential metabolic functions
when choosing a fat
identify the primary role it will play in a dish
fat as a main ingredient
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
butter and flour
butter inhibits the proteins in flour from developing, yielding tender and flaky textures in a pastry
fat as a cooking medium
can be heated to extreme temperatures, crisping the outsides of food (crisp texture). Any fat heated to cook food is a medium
fat as seasoning
used to adjust flavor or enrich the texture at the end of cooking of a dish, just before serving
fat’s effect on flavor
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.
fat and browning
Fat facilitates surface browning, which requires minimum temperatures of 230 F. Browning introduces entirely new flavors like nuttiness, sweetness, meatiness, earthiness, and umami.
olive oil cuisines
Mediterranean: Italian, Spanish, Greek, Turkish, North African, Middle Eastern
rancid olive oil
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
When buying olive oil
Look for pressing date, want 100% Californian or Italian olives
Three types of olive oil
Everyday (general cookery), finishing (applied where the flavor stands out, like in salad dressings, spooned over food, etc), and flavored
agrumato
A flavored olive oil made by the traditional technique of milling whole citrus fruit with the olives as the time of the first press.
Recommended olive oil brands
Sea Hills, Katz, California Olive Ranch, Kirkland Signature Organic extra virgin oil
How to store olive oil
away from temperature fluctuations or direct sunlight. Cool and dark storage.
Butter cuisines
Regions with climates that support pasture for grazing cows: US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Scandinavia, Western Europe (and northern Italy), Russia, Morocco, India
Three types of butter
unsalted, salted, cultured
cultured butter
tangy butter as seasoning, on bread or with hors d’eourves
Butter
Unlike oil, it is not pure fat, containing water, milk protein, and whey solids, which provide much of its flavor
brown butter
gently heated unsalted butter until browned. It’s nutty and sweet, a classic flavor in French and northern Italian cooking.
clarified butter
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.
Indian ghee
Clarified butter that’s been cooked at a higher temperature, allowing the milk solids to brown and lending the finished fat a sweeter flavor.
Smen
Moroccan clarified butter that’s been aged underground up to seven years to develop a cheesy taste.
seed and nut oils
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
where aromatic molecules are found in meat
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.
beef fat
When solid, suet, when liquid, tallow. It’s a crucial component in hamburgers etc, lending beefy flavor and enhancing moistness.