The Fat Kitchen: How to Render, Cure & Cook with Lard, Tallow & Poultry Fat

by Andrea Chesman

Animal fats are being welcomed back into the kitchen! Chefs and home cooks alike are rediscovering how fats create amazing texture — from the flakiest lard pie crust to the crispiest fried chicken — and define the flavor of a dish like authentic clam chowder with salt pork or duck fat French fries.

The Fat Kitchen is the comprehensive guide to rendering and using whole animal fats, including lard, tallow, and poultry fat. Cooks will learn the distinctive qualities and best uses of each fat along with methods for curing and storing them. In addition, 100 scrumptious recipes highlight traditional cultural favorites like matzoh ball soup, pasta carbonara, pork tamales, roast beef with Yorkshire pudding, Southern-style collards, confit chicken, New England baked beans, and jelly doughnuts.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking

304 pages, Paperback

Published November 13, 2018

About the author

I write cookbooks. I also edit them. I am grateful that I have found work that I enjoy.

Pickled Pantry is my newest book. I am very excited about it, and it is already generating favorable reviews.

Mostly I have written about vegetables, but I took a break from them to write 250 Treasured Country Dessertswith my co-author Fran Raboff on, which came out in 2009. The book is an update and expanded version of Mom’s Best Desserts, which was an update and expanded version of The Great American Dessert Cookbook. The collection contains everyone’s favorite home desserts—lots of cookies, brownies, layer cakes, pies, old-fashioned fruit desserts, ice cream, and more.

The New Vegetarian Grill is an updated and expanded version of an earlier book about vegetarian grilling. I’ve also written about cooking with the seasons (Recipes from the Root Cellar, Serving Up the Harvest, The Classic Zucchini Cookbook), roasting vegetables (The Roasted Vegetable), and healthy eating (366 Delicious Ways to Cook Rice, Beans, and Grains). Then there is also Mom’s Best Desserts, Mom’s Best One-Dish Suppers, and Mom’s Best Crowd-Pleasers, and a few more that are now out-of-print.

My work has appeared in Edible Green Mountains, Cooking Light, Vegetarian Times, Organic Gardening, Fine Cooking, Food & Wine, The New York Times, Natural Health, and several other magazines and newspapers. I was a Rcontributing editor for Vermont Life for twelve years.

Over the years I have edited hundreds of cookbooks, gardening books and others too varied to classify. I also Americanize cookbooks published in England and index books as well.

I live in an old farmhouse in Ripton, Vermont, a very small town where early and late frosts make gardening challenging. The poet Robert Frost used to rent a cottage across the street and took his meals in our house, in what we now call “the Robert Frost Memorial Dining Room.” I am married to Richard Ruane, a marvelous musician and recipe taster. Our kids, Rory and Sam, are also excellent cooks and enthusiastic recipe tasters. They have served as great inspiration for me.

Reviews

[Literary Redhead · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The Fat Kitchen: How to Render, Cure & Cook with Lard, Tallow & Poultry Fat” by Andrea Chesman demonstrates why cooks of all kinds are rediscovering fats ... for creating amazing texture in the flakiest lard pie crust to the crispiest fried chicken ... to defining the flavor of a dish like super rich clam chowder with salt pork or duck fat French fries.

“The Fat Kitchen” is the most comprehensive guide around for using whole animal fats, including lard, tallow, and poultry fat in cooking. It offers 100 scrumptious recipes such as matzoh ball soup, pasta carbonara, pork tamales, roast beef with Yorkshire pudding, Southern-style collards, confit chicken, New England baked beans, and jelly doughnuts. Cooks will learn the distinctive qualities and best uses of each fat along with methods for curing and storing them. Gosh, each recipe sounds so heavenly I don’t know where to start! But rest assured, I will. But trouble is, will I ever stop? Yummo! 5/5

Pub Date 13 Nov 2018

Thanks to Storey Publishing and NetGalley for the review copy. Opinions are fully mine.

#TheFatKitchen #NetGalley

[Melissa Dee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chesman’s long introduction extolling the virtues of animal fat over vegetable seed oils is laudable and educational. But when it comes right down to it, a diet that is low fat and high fiber just feels better. That being said, when it comes to fat, good tasting fats beat the heck out of nasty tasting fats, making lard, butter, and excellent olive oils the obvious choice for cooking. And that is exactly what Chesman advocates in this excellent cookbook, that works its way through the various animal fat products, detailing rendering methods, and cooking methods for each.

This is a valuable addition to the cookbook shelf for the thinking and experimenting home cook.

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Fat Kitchen advocates and brings back the use of animal fats, lard and tallow to make your dishes much tastier and it would seem healthier. I can think back to the 70s and early 80s, seeing my grandparents and parents use animals fats, often saved from the Sunday roast and used throughout the week. Unfortunately, we were informed and re-educated that these fats weren't good for us and moved onto plant oils, so these animal fats went out of fashion, along with a depth of flavour - though some companies cheat by adding beef flavouring to their french fries to counter that missing taste! Plus, now it appears that animal fats aren't as bad as we were led to believe.

The book starts with a lengthy introduction to understand animal fats, including a little chemistry and biology and the history of the change from animal fats to oils. It also provides pie charts that compares the saturated, polyunsaturated and monounsaturated between the different oil and animal fats - it's quite an eye opener to see what you think is a good healthy oil actually has low levels of the healthiest fat, monounsaturated.

It then moves onto how to buy, render and cure animal fats. It explains where lard and tallow come from in an animal and its different names. Buying for rendering yourself seems to involve getting to know your butcher or a local farmer or you can buy ready made jars from the supermarket. It provides details on how to render your own fats, be it collecting the fat from the inside of your chicken, collecting fats after you have cooked your meat or using what you got from the butcher. Once you have your fat, it explains how to store it and how to cook with it.

There are 5 chapters of recipes including Snacks, Street Foods & Starters, Main Dishes, Side Dishes, Baked Goods & Desserts and Basics. As you can see its not just savoury dishes that use these fats, included are recipes for duck fat popcorn, jam thumbprint cookies using lard, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies or blueberry muffins made with animal fat - there are many recipes to choose from.

This book has most of its measurements in cups and uses Fahrenheit temperatures, though there is a conversion table towards to end to assist. The recipes are easy to follow, but there is very limited colour photography to accompany the recipes. There are useful tips throughout the book such as supermarkets lard not being recommended as it contains preservatives and harmful trans fats along with fat smoke points.

So bring on the flavour of the past, reinvigorate your palettes and get cooking with proper fats again! As always, it's all about moderation. Before I had even read this book I'd already seen a couple of articles that animal fats were being used again, so I already had my pot of saved cooked duck fat in the fridge waiting to be reused on my next batch of roast pot and a jar of goose fat in the cupboard.

I received this book from netgalley & Storey Publishing in return for a honest review.

[Literary Redhead · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The Fat Kitchen: How to Render, Cure & Cook with Lard, Tallow & Poultry Fat” by Andrea Chesman demonstrates why cooks of all kinds are rediscovering fats ... for creating amazing texture from the flakiest lard pie crust to the crispiest fried chicken ... to defining the flavor of a dish like super rich clam chowder with salt pork or duck fat French fries.

“The Fat Kitchen” is the most comprehensive guide around for using whole animal fats, including lard, tallow, and poultry fat in cooking. It offers 100 scrumptious recipes such as matzoh ball soup, pasta carbonara, pork tamales, roast beef with Yorkshire pudding, Southern-style collards, confit chicken, New England baked beans, and jelly doughnuts. Cooks will learn the distinctive qualities and best uses of each fat along with methods for curing and storing them. Gosh, each recipe sounds so heavenly I don’t know where to start! But rest assured, I will. But trouble is, will I ever stop? Yummo! 5/5

Pub Date 13 Nov 2018

Thanks to Storey Publishing and NetGalley for the review copy. Opinions are fully mine.

#TheFatKitchen #NetGalley

[Cheryl Sanders · Rating 4 out of 5]

WOW! I had no idea there was this much information on different types of fat and how to make them into what we use in the kitchen. The information contained in this book is priceless. The stories of how certain products came to be are AMAZING! I am in awe over the delicious recipes contained between these covers. I only wish there were more pictures.

[Kristin Geiger · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this cookbook! I buy 1/2 pigs from my local farmers and have a lot of pork back fat and leaf lard in my freezer. I usually render the back fat and make soap and sometimes use the leaf lard in pie crust. This book is just what I needed to help me plow through the supply of fat I have in the deep freezer! I was experimenting with using lard to caramelize vegetables for soups and fajitas. Now I have so many more ways to use lard.
I really appreciated the graphs on the types of fat in canola, butter, tallow, soybean, etc. I knew vegetable oil wasn't as healthy as touted but didn't really have all the percentages of monosaturated/polyunsatured fat to observe. All that to say animal fat (especially from pasture raised animals) will be better for you (hello vitamin D) and with fewer additives as it's made at home.
I tried a few recipes like beef and mushroom pie with a lard crust, it was really good. I can't wait to try some baked goods with lard like cookies and quick breads. (I will be sure not to serve to vegetarian friends).
I can't wait to try to render poultry fat and maybe salt pork. I feel so inspired!
I will say this is also do able for city folk who don't buy 1/2 pigs or have deep freezers. I started this journey whilst in the city. It really wouldn't be hard to buy some leaf lard from a local farmer and render it in a crock pot.
All in all a great cookbook!

[patrick Lorelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know this might not be a book for all people but it is truly a very useful book. When I was younger we had a container next to the stove for bacon grease or fat. We would save other types as well, for certain foods such as pies my grandmother would use either butter or lard, both give you the taste and texture of that old school look and flavor. Here in this book, the author gives you the proper way to render and store the fat you collect. You also get recipes and I will say that adding fat to some of the dishes actually does make a difference. Whether you are making refried beans, tamales, even wanting to make dough for a pie crust, your crust will be flakier and like your grandmothers at least mine is. The author is giving you ways to cook that are still healthy for the fats are the good fats not all of the bad ones. You are also still cooking with olive oil as well. Really for my family, we went back to this way years ago when we noticed that all of the margarine is made from oil. You also get many recipes to try and they are easy to follow instructions. Overall a very good book. I received this book from Netgalley.com I gave it 4 stars. Follow us at www.1rad-readerreviews.com

[Abby Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't read all of this since it's mostly recipes. I just read the parts of information I was interested in. I'm sure I'll reference it many times.
The only reason I have it 3 stars was that it didn't have very many recipes covering cooking meats like roasts, ribs, and steaks. Most of the recipes cover vegetables, desserts, or such.

[Esther · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book overall. Might be more useful for someone who homesteads and has farm animals and has a lot of meat to butcher or process than me, though. Still, I'm keeping it as an important reference book for my homesteading library.

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting and informative recipe book. The recipes are interesting and the photos are great.
Thanks to netgalley for letting me read this.

[Ashley Twardy · Rating 5 out of 5]

First, I'd like to thank Netgalley, Storey Publishing, and Andrea Chesman for allowing me to have this ARC of The Fat Kitchen.

I LOVE cookbooks, especially ones that have great pictures. The Fat Kitchen was a great read with a lot of information and yummy looking pictures (some of the food pictures had my mouth watering)! I love the that there is history behind the book as well as facts of good fats vs bad fats. The Fat Kitchen teaches what is literally in the title; how to render and cure your own fat. The processes of rendering and curing your own fat are time consuming, but the Fat Kitchen talks about buying already rendered fat.

Once you read past how to render and cure, it's time for the recipes! The recipes all look so good, I can't wait to try them! Empanadas, chicken pie, apple streusel coffee cake and so many more!!

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

The recipes make sense, the information seems good, and the instructions are easy to follow. However, this doesn't seem like something the average person could implement. The author talks a few times about how lard or animal fats bought ready-made are of poor quality and it's best to make it at home. While it doesn't seem particularly difficult, it would be very challenging in terms of both space and time. Plus, the amount of finished product seems pretty small compared to the original material and time investment. Most useful for people with lots of time on their hands.

eARC from NetGalley.

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

#TheFatKitchen #NetGalley

From the last century, the wrong message circulated about the fat as the worst enemy of the heart. However, recent studies are against this myth and show the difference between good fats and bad fats. The author takes this approach to teach with good recipes, historical facts and scientific information.

[Lisabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a DIGITAL Advance Reader Copy of this book from #NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
From the publisher.
Animal fats are being welcomed back into the kitchen! Chefs and home cooks alike are rediscovering how fats create amazing texture — from the flakiest lard pie crust to the crispiest fried chicken — and define the flavour of a dish like authentic clam chowder with salt pork or duck fat French fries

[Laura Duffy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an informative cookbook about cooking and preparing lard and other fat products. It has a wide variety of recipes to pair with this. The recipes have detailed and easy to follow instructions and mouth watering pictures.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

More than "just" a cookbook, "The Fat Kitchen" provides an in-depth guide to all manners of animal fat - offering instructions on how to render the fats into goodness that will add an extra level of deliciousness to your cooking and baking. The information and recipes in this book provide a great reference for taking the leap into using more animal fat within your kitchen.

Free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Book is available November 13th.

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

#TheFatKitchen #NetGalley

From the last century, the wrong message circulated about the fat as the worst enemy of the heart. However, recent studies are against this myth and show the difference between good fats and bad fats. The author takes this approach to teach with good recipes, historical facts and scientific information.

[Leyla Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book intriguing, being a child of the 50s from European heritage, most of my early childhood consisted of cooking and eating with olive oil, lard and butter. It wasn't till much later, 1990, that I read about the bad/good fats and tried to follow the media hype regarding these fats - but the food never tasted good and I guiltily went back to butter and lard for special occasions - made no difference to my cholesterol level but the food tasted great.
This book explores the background and facts on fat, it is a very interesting and enlightening book. It's no nonsense and simple approach explains that it is really much better for you when all that stuff that is sold as substitute butter and fat.
I like this book, there are recipes about making pastry, fried and roasted food. It covers the use of beef, chicken, duck and pig fat. Don't know how the young generation, who may never have seen or tasted food with lard or butter, would view this book - but I certainly love it.
Taste with out the guilt.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a DIGITAL Advance Reader Copy of this book from #NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This book explores the background and facts on fat. The author tell us that it is animal fat is better for you than artificial plant fats.
There are tips to help you render fat from different animals (if you’re feeling up for the challenge), there are recipes for pastry, fried and roasted food. It covers the use of beef, chicken, duck pig and even bear fat 😳.
I found it an interesting read. Not sure if I’m up for the challenge of rendering my own fat, but I learned a lot.

[Beth Tabler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley and Storey Publishing, LLC for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

I am an absolute fan of bringing animal fats back into the mainstay diet of American people. The author explored just about every type of cooking fat available as well as how to render, store, and use them in various recipes. The recipes are easy to follow and look yummy. However, I think they may scare the standard home cook a bit. For those willing to branch out of the culinary comfort zone, this is a fun way to do it and a great resource. It's time to bring back those flavors and recipes of history and get back to making better food.

#TheFatKitchen #NetGalley

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Fat Kitchen
By Andrea Chesman
What a fabulous book of knowledge for the modern cook who is looking to cook more authentically. When it comes to food and diet we need not leave the past in the past. Looking back to how food was processed, prepared and used is all very relevant today if you are looking for a clean, healthier diet. This book defines what was used and what is currently used in our diets and how they differ. You need not put on a lab coat as she lays out factual evidence on different fats in a very readable manner. Chesman outlines the different fats to use, how to source them, render them and use them. This new information is followed by recipes using the fats discussed.
Overall this is a great resource to your kitchen library. I look forward to purchasing this book as a hard copy to have in my kitchen.
This book was provided by Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion, which I provided.

[Alison · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very interesting book.

The background was well-researched and even though some of the terms in the chapter entitled "A little chemistry, a little biology" are rather complicated, the author explains everything very thoroughly.

There are great tips and explanations throughout the book in the beige and brown information blocks are very handy and add extra, compact knowledge to the book. I especially enjoyed the references to certain things in various European languages and cultures - what something is called in each language; what they used it for; what animal fats each culture traditionally used.

The recipes are well-laid out with an interesting introduction to each recipe - be it a bit of its history or tips to adjust recipe etc. The methods are well set out step by step and even beginners will be able to make sense of what needs to be done.

The photography is beautiful throughout the whole book. I personally would have liked to see a lot more photographs of the dishes in the recipes, I felt there were too few. I like to see photos of what the final dish is more or less supposed to look like.

The resources section at the end is a great inclusion.

The whole book takes me back to my childhood when my gran would fry eggs in sheep fat; we would save the bacon dripping to eat on toast with salt and pepper. As a farmer's wife with access to our own grass-fed cows and sheep, I will definitely be utilizing some of the knowledge I learnt in this book.

[Mary Dickerson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’d like to start by quoting the description given by the publisher because is what got me interested in this book in the first place.



Description by publisher: “Animal fats are being welcomed back into the kitchen! Chefs and home cooks alike are rediscovering how fats create amazing texture — from the flakiest lard pie crust to the crispiest fried chicken — and define the flavor of a dish like authentic clam chowder with salt pork or duck fat French fries.

The Fat Kitchen is the comprehensive guide to rendering and using whole animal fats, including lard, tallow, and poultry fat. Cooks will learn the distinctive qualities and best uses of each fat along with methods for curing and storing them. In addition, 100 scrumptious recipes highlight traditional cultural favorites like matzoh ball soup, pasta carbonara, pork tamales, roast beef with Yorkshire pudding, Southern-style collards, confit chicken, New England baked beans, and jelly doughnuts.”
The reason this description got my attention is that I learned most of my cooking skills thanks to my grandma, and she used to cook with animal fat like lard (pork’s fat).
I terribly miss my grandma’s cooking (and her of course), it was delicious, scrumptious, and just like any grandma’s cooking, it tastes like childhood.
The Fat Kitchen, what’s inside
The recipes are well laid out, with step by step instructions, and even some history or tips are given. The book covers the use of beef, chicken, duck and pig fat and why animal fats belong in a well-balanced diet.

I really like that you don’t only learn the importance of animal fat and recipes to go with them, but also how to render them, store them, and of course how to implement them in recipes.
So overall is a great resource, with a very specific topic. Is a step further beyond the regular cooking books that are only a collection of recipes. (Nothing wrong with a collection of recipes, as I own many myself, but is nice to have learning resources to go along with the recipes too.)
And what a collection of recipes! You can find a total of 5 chapters of recipes divided into snacks, street food and starters, main dishes, side dishes, baking and desserts, and basic recipes.
I simply love the photography in this book. Just beautiful but wished it had more photos, as not all dishes have a photographic representation.
I recommend this book to anyone interested in using animal fat for their recipes.
But of course, this is a very personal book nowadays, since so many people have a restrictive diet, like veganism, low-fat diets, and alike. So I am aware that this book is not made for everyone.

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite educational even for a long time cook as me. Definitely a book I will purchase for others. Really great recipes. I am a huge fan of duck fat now. I will definitely be incorporating much of what I've learned here into my cooking.
Thank you for giving me a chance to review. Really marvelous book.