Flavors are carried, formed, altered, and enhanced in fat—from butter to olive oil, duck fat to lard. In their pure form, quality fats stand alone in greatness. Their richness and mouthfeel or their bitterness and bite are distinct qualities that draw us to find and use the best. Fats also carry flavor, enrich sauces, and provide a gentle medium in which to cook. We respect fats. While their pleasures are grand, great displeasure comes from the misuse of fat. For instance, the addition of too much butter to a sauce detracts from both the flavors developed in the sauce and the enriching quality of the butter—the sauce becomes cloying. If we overheat oil in a sauté pan, an acrid taste forms, ruining what is to be or already is cooking. When making vinaigrettes, the addition of too much or not enough olive oil detracts or overwhelms the delicate balance of the vinegar and seasonings.
Our relationship with fat is based on a balance in our cooking. Understanding fats and what they are to be used for is important. Duck fat has an intense richness which imparts its character on what is being cooked, from sautéed vegetables to poached fish. In the case of the poached fish, the fish is surrounded in a uniformly warm environment which keeps the fat and moisture in the fish. Olive oil possesses similar characteristics to that of duck fat, from flavor delivery to a uniform cooking medium. Unfortunately, in the case of olive oil, heat eventually destroys its nuances. Thus, for using as a cooking medium, the heat must be kept even lower. Furthermore, in comparing duck fat to olive oil, we find olive oil to be a leaner fat and thus a better partner with richer products. We are looking for a balance between the cooking medium and the product being cooked to highlight the final dish.
Butter is rich and decadent in its emulsified state, but when it is heated, it separates and develops a greasy taste. In order to use butter in a warm state, we must emulsify it with water, stock, or another liquid. In keeping the butter in its emulsified state, we are able to impart butter’s richness and flavor to meats, fish, fruits, and vegetables in the form of a cooking medium or as a light finishing glaze. The butter will then carry the flavor of whatever it coats to the palate quickly and decadently. Butter can also impart a rich, toasty flavor to ingredients if its solids are allowed to caramelize. When roasting ingredients, we add butter to the pan and allow it to foam and slightly caramelize. We then baste our ingredients with this butter.
Fats carry the flavor onto what is being cooked. In the case of butter, either emulsified or browned, it can carry the flavor of herbs and spices added to the pan during the cooking process. The flavors bloom in the fat, and the ingredients benefit from this infusion. Flavored fats do not have to be used during the cooking process. We infuse olive oil with herbs and spices and drizzle it on dishes right before they are served. Here, we have a last-minute flavor delivery system. Similarly, we shave butter flavored with yuzu juice and soy sauce over roasted matsutake mushrooms so that the butter just begins to melt and mingle with the warm juices, enhancing both flavor and aroma. Foie gras fat seasoned with toasted garam masala drizzled over a warm salad of shrimp, turnips, and passion fruit conveys an exotic nature and draws forth the flavors of India and the Orient.
The use of fats also directs us in our preservation of products: the confit of meats and vegetables, potted rock shrimp in butter, lemon confit engulfed in olive oil. These fats allow the preserved product to mature in an oxygen-free environment. No oxidation, no bacteria, only the gentle maturation of flavor.
Fats and their ability to transmute flavors are essential to our cooking. They allow for limitless cooking methods and culinary combinations to be discovered.
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