Duck Fat - Composition & Usage

Mr.Canon

Hi there, roasted a duck the other day. Wow! Now I've got a LOAD of duck fat which has separated into 3 layers over the past 2 days. Bottom layer is dark & caramelized (1%), middle layer is solid white (7%) and the rest is a golden oil.

I'm wondering, how much of it is actually saturated fat? My understanding is that saturated fat is solid at room temperature, and liquid fats are much better for you. So does that mean that just 7% approx of the duck fat i collected is in fact saturated? Just want to know how bad it is for me when I roast my spuds in it, as I've never heard of duck oil.

Thanks

Carawaystick

should be more solid than that. how warm is your room?


don't worry too much about the saturated fat on yer spuds, its tasty. just like ya didn't worry about eating the saturated fat in yer duck. you're supposed to get about 20g of saturated fat or so a day, if you make the roast spuds with 50 or 60g for 3 people, ebven then all the fat won't e taken up in the spuds you eat, a lot will stick to the roasting tin etc - and you won't eat roast spuds every day....

Animal fat is much better than trans fatty or hydrogenated fat, like margarine or dairy "spreads"

sedohre

Could some of this be water from the duck? I used to wonder how to separate the water from the duck fat properly

P. Breathnach

I never got much clear or golden liquid from roasting a duck, and I was surprised at Mr. Canon's report. I don't know what the liquid might be. I don't think it likely to be water from the duck; I'd expect that to be steamed off. Yes, it's the white stuff that makes for tasty roast potatoes.

I generally plan a low-fat diet, but I make an exception for roast potatoes made using duck or goose fat. Once every week or two is reasonable.

[My other exception, also rationed, is blue cheese.]

Mr.Canon

...nah it was fat for def. Could be the room temp itself.

K. n1

P. Breathnach

I suppose it could be fat. I don't know its melting temperature, but it's not much above my idea of a comfortable room temperature. You might have a warmer room.

Does it solidify in the fridge?

The bottom layer is meat juice. All the rest is fat which should be separated from the juice. Scoop all the fat into a clean jam jar and keep it in the fridge. It is most important to make sure you remove all the juice. You can use that to flavour something else you are cooking.