Food Thread: Chicken Fat/Duck Fat -- The Other White Fats [CBD]

Everyone cooks with vegetable oil and olive oil and shortening and butter. But animal fats have tremendous succulence and mouth feel, and used appropriately can add great flavor to a dish. The trick is to make it yourself, because buying it is painful....duck fat runs about $7 a cup around here, but I can make about a pint when I roast a duck, and that adds up to whatever it costs in natural gas to render the excess fat from the raw duck.

The technique is nothing fancy. Just trim the fat and excess skin from the duck or chicken, chop it up into little pieces, heat it very slowly on very low heat until all of the fat melts and the water is driven from the fat. Check the temperature of the fat every now and then, and when it is consistently over about 220 degrees, that means that all of the water has been evaporated, and it's time to stop.

Let it cool slightly, filter it through fine steel mesh, let it cool some more, then put it in small containers in the refrigerator or freezer. It will oxidize if left exposed to air, so fill the containers to the top.

Yeah...that's it.

I usually use it in soups for a bit of meaty zing, but perhaps it's highest and best use is to brown potatoes. There is nothing quite like crispy potatoes in duck fat. Hell, smear it on some toast with a sprinkle of salt!

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6 to 8 large Yukon gold potatoes, cut into bite-sized chunks
4 sprigs fresh rosemary (leaves removed from stems)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Duck fat or chicken fat
6 strips bacon, fried and crumbled
1/4 cup grated Parmesan

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Place the fat in a large bowl and warm in a microwave or on the stove top until the fat is liquid.

Toss the potatoes, Rosemary, salt and pepper in the fat.

Put the potatoes onto a baking sheet and put them in the oven. Remove them after 20 minutes and toss them again. Continue to roast them until they are browned and cooked through, about 15 to 20 minutes more. While hot, top with crumbled bacon and Parmesan.
Serve hot.

posted by Open Blogger at 06:00 PM

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