Cooking with Fats & Oils

What oils and fats are good to eat and cook with can be a little confusing. You know the theory and that saturated and monounsaturated fats are generally healthy, but how does this apply in practical life?

Here’s a quick lowdown of popular choices:

Ghee (clarified butter): Clarified butter is a great option for cooking. It tastes great with most food and is resistant to heat. It is actually butter with all the water and milk solids removed so ghee is usually well tolerated, even for those who don’t tolerate dairy. You can find it in health food stores or prepare your own from good quality grass-fed butter. 
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Olive oil: Extra­-virgin olive oil is tasty and elevates food with its great flavor. However, it can be rather fragile so it’s best to avoid cooking with it at high heat. Instead, use it for vinaigrettes and to drizzle on greens. Invest in a good quality olive oil and keep it in the refrigerator if you don’t use it often. It’ll become cloudy in the fridge, but will stay fresh longer this way. Avocado oil is another alternative that can be used in place of olive oil for a slightly different flavor profile.

Coconut oil: Coconut oil is mostly composed of saturated fat and has a coco-nutty taste that many people enjoy. It’s great for high heat cooking and goes great with most food, except maybe eggs. Red palm oil can also be used similarly to coconut oil.

Animal fats (lard, tallow, duck fat): These all give great flavor to savory dishes and can be used for cooking at high ­heat. They are not always easy to find, but your local butcher shop should be able to sell you some rendered lard or duck fat easily.