A Cooking Secret I Can No Longer Avoid!
There’s a cooking secret that numerous professional chefs know and adhere to with a death grip. For various reasons, I’ve been avoiding using this trick ever since my chef son, Paul, told me about it.
My avoidance has been purely health-focused. But this trick makes such an incredible difference in the flavor of dishes like mashed potatoes and soups and chowders, that I just can’t dodge it any longer.
I’m referring to the simple step of substituting bacon fat for some or all of the butter recipes call for. It’s a saturated fat like butter, coconut oils, and other animal derived fats, so it can be substituted for any of those.
Most avid cooks know that bacon grease is pure gold. It seasons food like nothing else, and it makes cooking “Southern-style” a piece of cake. It’s not something that you can run to the store and purchase (like butter). This is why saving bacon grease is so important. It’s easy to do, and it pays huge dividends in the kitchen!
It enhances the flavor of recipes by adding a rich, smoky, and savory taste due. This is due to the curing process of bacon. After it’s cooked, the remaining fat acts as a seasoning when used for cooking, making dishes more complex and delicious. “Amen” to delicious!
All this said, there’s still the reason for my prolonged avoidance of using it. It’s bad for you, right? Well, heart doctors think so. But if you’re in good health, then maybe a little now and then is OK.
Here’s what the research shows: Bacon fat is higher in monounsaturated fat (the good fat) than butter. And unlike margarine or shortening, it does NOT contain trans-fat (aka “bad fat”). If you compare a tablespoon of bacon grease, butter, and canola oil, you’ll find that the “evil” bacon fat has slightly less cholesterol than butter and only 2 more milligrams of saturated fat. It has the same number of calories as the oil, but more saturated fat and sodium.
My point is that small amounts, on occasion, may not be as bad as I’ve thought, and the flavor trade-off is very tempting. I’d love to know what you think of this debate: Bacon fat…to use, or not to use…that is the question! Leave us your comments below. Meanwhile, I’ll conclude with a recipe (from www.allrecipes.com) for a chowder that went from “good” to “incredible” with the addition of this little secret chefs have known all along!
Easy Chicken and Corn Chowder
Serving size: 8
Calories per serving: 245
Ingredients:
Calories per serving: 245
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup bacon drippings (aka fat or grease)
1 onion finely diced
1 carrot finely diced
1 stalk celery diced
1 clove garlic minced
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
4 Russet potatoes diced
2 cooked rotisserie chicken breasts shredded
1 1/2 cups white corn kernels
1 1/2 cups yellow corn kernels
4 cups chicken stock divided
2 1/2 cups half and half
1 pinch nutmeg
salt to taste
freshly ground black pepper to taste
Directions:
1. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat; cook and stir onion, carrot, celery, and garlic in hot butter until slightly softened, about 2 minutes.
2. Stir flour into mixture to make a paste; cook until lightly browned and flour gives off a slightly toasted smell, about 5 minutes. Watch carefully as flour burns easily. Remove saucepan from heat and set aside to cool slightly.
3. Meanwhile, stir together potatoes, chicken, white and yellow corn, and 3 cups stock in a large soup pot over medium heat.
4. Whisk remaining 1 cup stock into vegetables and flour mixture until thoroughly combined. Stir mixture into the soup pot; bring to a simmer. Cook and stir until thick, about 5 minutes.
5. Stir half-and-half, nutmeg, salt, and black pepper into chowder. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes.
TIP: To make this recipe in a slow cooker, follow the steps above, then cook on Medium for 5 hours.
2. Stir flour into mixture to make a paste; cook until lightly browned and flour gives off a slightly toasted smell, about 5 minutes. Watch carefully as flour burns easily. Remove saucepan from heat and set aside to cool slightly.
3. Meanwhile, stir together potatoes, chicken, white and yellow corn, and 3 cups stock in a large soup pot over medium heat.
4. Whisk remaining 1 cup stock into vegetables and flour mixture until thoroughly combined. Stir mixture into the soup pot; bring to a simmer. Cook and stir until thick, about 5 minutes.
5. Stir half-and-half, nutmeg, salt, and black pepper into chowder. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes.
TIP: To make this recipe in a slow cooker, follow the steps above, then cook on Medium for 5 hours.
Recipe formatted with the Cook'n Recipe Software from DVO Enterprises.
Alice Osborne
Weekly Newsletter Contributor since 2006
Email the author! alice@dvo.com
