[Sca-cooks] Revisiting animal fats

[Galefridus Peregrinus]

A few weeks ago, I posted a comparison of animal fats. I have since rendered and tested several more fats. I have not yet explored how these fats compare when used in actual recipes, but that's on the agenda. Below, I've combined both my previous and more recent investigations.

I'll start by again acknowledging and thanking Duke Cariadoc of the Bow for suggesting this project.

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Animal fats commonly used in cooking in the medieval Mediterranean world include clarified butter and rendered body fat from several animals. Some of these fats can be difficult to obtain, while others may not be usable because of dietary restrictions. It then becomes necessary for the cook to substitute a fat that is as close as possible to the one called for. The most important considerations are flavor, texture at several temperatures, and smoke point. I have so far examined two clarified butters (cow ghee and goat ghee) and six body fats (chicken fat, duck fat, beef tallow, lard, lamb internal fat, and lamb tail fat. These fats all have distinct flavors that they will impart to whatever is cooked with them. Of all of them, lamb tail fat is the most difficult to obtain, as fat-tailed sheep breeds are comparatively rare in the United States.

With the possible exception of duck fat, I have found indications that all of these fats were used in recipes from medieval Mediterranean world. Lamb (or sheep) tail fat is very common in Islamic cookery, which also mentions chicken fat. Use of clarified butter, which could come from cows or goats, is also fairly common. Only a few Islamic recipes call for tallow, but they do not specify which kind (beef or sheep). Recipes from the Catalan Book of Sent Sovi frequently call for lard and at least one recipe calls for beef tallow. I found a mention of Platina's comments on cooking fats in the Florilegium, and will be looking at what he had to say in a few days. My understanding is that he includes a section on rendering several animal fats, which would imply that those fats all had some culinary use.

With the exception of the cow ghee, I rendered each of these fats myself, starting from fresh butter or raw fat tissue. After rendering, I determined the smoke point by heating the fats until smoke just began to rise from surface while monitoring temperature. I plan on further experiments testing the performance of these fats in various recipes.

Refrigerator temperature (36°-39°):
Clarified cow butter: Firm, yielded to firm finger pressure.
Clarified goat butter: Firm, yielded to firm finger pressure.
Chicken fat: Firm, yielded to firm finger pressure.
Duck fat: Soft; yielded to gentle to moderate finger pressure.
Beef tallow: Hard; unyielding to firm finger pressure.
Lard: Soft; yielded to gentle to moderate finger pressure.
Lamb internal fat: Hard; unyielding to firm finger pressure.
Lamb tail fat: Firm; yielded to firm finger pressure.

Room temperature (69°-72°):
Clarified butter: Very soft, yielded to touch.
Clarified goat butter: Very soft, yielded to touch.
Chicken fat: Semiliquid.
Duck fat: Semiliquid.
Beef tallow: Very soft, yielded to touch.
Lard: Very soft, yielded to touch.
Lamb internal fat: Very firm; yielding to very firm finger pressure.
Lamb tail fat: Very soft, yielded to touch.

Smoke point:
Clarified cow butter: 440°-460°.
Clarified goat butter: 340°-360°.
Chicken fat: 430°-450°.
Duck fat: 380°-400°.
Beef tallow: 370°-390°.
Lard: 360°-380°.
Lamb internal fat: 425°-445°.
Lamb tail fat: 400°-420°.

Thus far, it appears that beef tallow or duck fat may be good substitutes for lard. I have found nothing so far to indicate the existence of a good substitute for lamb tail fat.