Fat

Fat : locut.  A fat is an added food fatty substance used in cooking and baking as cooking fat, condiment or seasoning, as a basic or complementary ingredient, or even as a means of preservation.
Types of fat.
- Solids: They include butter, a “noble” fatty substance par excellence but unsuitable for frying, margarine and vegetable fats which, for their part, withstand high temperatures.
Among animal fats, which are also solid, lard and bacon are used above all, in particular as cooking fatty substances; veal fat is used as an ingredient in many fillings and cooking preparations; beef and mutton kidney fats, popular in Great Britain, have more limited uses; goose fat, of regional importance, is suitable for confits, but also for stews, stir-fries and grills. Aside from goose fat, which is high in unsaturated fatty acids, other added fats are high in saturated fat; this is why it is recommended to limit their consumption.
- Liquid fatty substances: They mainly include oils extracted from peanuts, olive, walnut, rapeseed, carnation, sesame, etc. They are rich in fatty acids, except palm or coconut oil. These oils are used either as cooking fat (in particular for fried foods when they support it), or as a condiment, or as a preservative (see Oil).
Finally, crème fraîche is used above all as an ingredient and a condiment.
Choice. Some fats are only used cooked (lard, Vegetalin), others are used raw or cooked (butter, certain oils), and finally others do not support any cooking because of their richness in unsaturated fatty acids which makes fragile (walnut or almond oil).
The choice of a fatty substance of course depends first of all on its taste (walnut oil, goose fat, fresh butter give a particular flavor to the cooked finish), but also on its decomposition temperature. (from 130 ° C for butter up to 220 ° C for peanut oil).
Various fats are linked to very specific culinary traditions: shea butter in Africa, sesame oil in Asia, smeun in North Africa, ghee in India, beef kidney fat in Great Britain. In addition, fats are also important components of certain foods (see Fat). In cooking, the preparations are said to be "fat" when they contain meat elements, and "lean" when they are based on fish or vegetables.