Little things can make a big difference – animal fats

A couple of days ago I sang the praises of mashed parsnips as a vastly superior offering to your basic mashed potatoes (here).  As I was writing about the pleasures of parsnips, though, I also started thinking that the dish that inspired that post was a bit different from the other two or three dozen times I’ve made mashed parsnips and how one little tweak can make a real difference.

In this case, the difference was bacon.  I nearly always used the fried peels as a garnish on the parsnips (and I often use fried carrot or potato peels as garnishes on something) but I usually use olive or canola oil to fry them.  On this particular occasion, I made some bacon for BLTs for lunch and saved the rendered fat.  I’m not obsessive about it, but I do save bacon fat and chicken fat whenever I can (and whenever I remember to do it).

So on this particular evening, instead of adding canola oil to the skillet I added the bacon fat.  It has a lower smoke point than canola oil, so you have to be careful about the heat, but if you’re not using the oil for searing that shouldn’t be a problem. The smokiness and saltiness of the bacon come through loud and clear in the crunch parsnip peels, adding a couple of big flavor notes to the already flavorful parsnips.

I used the same leftover bacon fat with carrots the next night and again, a minor change in techniques wound up making a noticeable change in flavor.  I have two favorite techniques for carrots – glazing and roasting.  When I roast carrots, I spread them out on a cooking sheet covered with parchment paper (a great invention), sprinkle with olive oil, salt and pepper, and roast.  That’s it.  Maybe some herbs when they’re finished cooking.  I’m also a fan of multi-colored carrots, not because purple, white, or yellow carrots taste different but because the plate looks really cool.

This time, instead of sprinkling the carrots with olive oil, I rolled them in a little bacon fat – a little bit more than a tablespoon warm in a skillet. Then salt, pepper, and into the oven.  A bit of dried tarragon when they come out.  Just like the parsnip peels, the flavor of the bacon adds a big smoky, salty note to the sweetness of the roast carrots.  It also creates a whole new dimension for a dish that I make frequently – in other words, just changing the fat can liven up an everyday dish with almost no extra effort.

By the way, these examples are using bacon fat because I happened to have some bacon fat on hand.  I’ve done similar things with chicken fat (also known as schmaltz) with equally tasty results.  Sautéing potatoes or vegetables in chicken fat works really well.  As with bacon, you do need to be careful about heat and about amounts.  Both chicken fat and bacon fat have low smoke points so if you’re aiming for a temperature as high as canola oil you’ll have a kitchen full of smoke in no time.  Death by smoke inhalation isn’t the only health hazard, though.  Both animal fats have more of the bad stuff you find in fats and oils than vegetable or olive oils.  The good news is that because they pack so much flavor, you can use a lot less and still get great results.

By the way, bacon fat is often a feature of American southern cooking and chicken fat is a hallmark of European Jewish cooking and it’s American immigrant offspring.  Using these is a great way to explore a couple of traditional cuisines and I’ll be writing about this some time in the future.