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It is impossible to be a good cook without understanding and effectively using fats as ingredients in daily culinary activity. The category "fats" includes both fats which are solid at room temperature, e.g. butter, margarine, and lard, as well as fats which are liquid at room temperature, usually called oils, (e.g. canola oil, olive oil). Fats have a myriad of functions in the kitchen. They add flavor. They tenderize baked goods. They provide texture and richness. Fats act as a preservative (think of tuna in oil, or goat cheese packed in oil), and are essential in most marinades. Fats are used in almost all cooking techniques, including frying, baking, roasting, pastry making, and sauce making.
When choosing which fat to use, consider four different characteristics. The first is flavor. In general, butter and unrefined oils provide the most flavor. Unrefined oils are oils extracted from the nuts, seeds, etc. without the use of either heat or solvents. Extra virgin olive oil and the nut oils (walnut, hazelnut, etc) are the best known examples. Refined oils are usually bland in taste and are chosen for one of the reasons listed below. The second characteristic is texture. This is especially important in baking, where fats are required to produce a fluffy or flaky and tender product. In baking, the fat (usually either butter or vegetable shortening like Crisco) can act both as a leavening agent (causing the dough to rise) and as a tenderizer. In pastries such as cream puffs, the fat particles melt in the heat of the oven, producing steam that leavens. In pie pastry, the same melting action produces a flaky crust. In cakes, where both steam and often carbon dioxide (produced by baking soda and/or powder) act as joint leaveners, it is necessary to have well-creamed fat to create empty cell pockets. These pockets hold the steam and CO2, allowing the cake to rise. Fats' ability to tenderize comes from dispersing the fat particles, which allows them to coat the starch molecules. This coating prevents too much gluten from forming, thereby keeping the pastry from getting tough, ("gluten" is the protein that provides structure for baked goods). In general, solid fats are almost always used for baking, as oil will tend to collect in one place and not disperse throught the batter, producing a grainy texture. Oils, also, can not be creamed. The only time oil is usually used in lieu of a solid fat in baking is for quick breads or cakes. Here, stirring is kept to a minimum to prevent gluten from forming and denseness is often a desired quality. Go To Page: 1 2
The copyright of the article Fats in Cooking in Cooking Basics is owned by Lindsay W. McSweeney. Permission to republish Fats in Cooking in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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