Instructions: A touch of duck fat brings new depth of flavor to dishes

Ive never been shy about using fat in cooking. Indeed, when my sister and I cook together, she cringes every time I lob a pat of butter into the pan, but shes the first to admit the taste is worth every calorie.

These days, my fat of choice is duck fat. When used to brown tender new potatoes or to braise dark leafy greens, duck fat is nothing short of sublime.

Thats not to say I dont have equal respect for a good European sweet butter or a fruity olive oil. While duck fat has a place in my food, I do use it with discrimination. You wont find it spread on my breakfast toast. The fact is, butter, vegetable oils and animal fats all have a place in my kitchen. I just use them in different ways.

Its strange, really, how fat alone tastes relatively mild, yet has such a profound impact on food. As a kid I remember what a simple knob of butter could do to a bowl of oatmeal - it went from ordinary to unctuous. Fat makes food luscious, keeps it moist and improves its texture.

From a practical standpoint,
its useful in keeping food from sticking to the pan. And apart from being just plain satisfying, it fills you up, perhaps because it takes longer to digest than protein or carbohydrates.

In her book The Food of France, Waverly Root devotes the first chapter to butter, oil and lard, and explains how certain fats dominate in certain areas depending on what is locally available. In the south, where the warm sun invites the growth of olive trees, olive oil-rich dishes reign. In villages with an abundance of sweet, creamy milk, youll find all the buttery wonders you could hope for. And naturally, in duck country, chefs and home cooks reach for duck fat to grease the pan and flavor food.

Duck fat is a reliable preservative. Thats one reason why in the days before refrigeration French classics such as confit and cassoulet were covered with a layer of duck fat to keep out bacteria. Homemakers would portion out what theyd need for a meal and store the rest for extended periods of time at cellar temperature.

Today, duck fat continues to be useful because it has a high smoke point, which means you can cook it to very hot temperatures without it smoking or adopting an off flavor. Unlike butter or olive oil, duck fat can be recycled.

Best of all is its taste and richness, a fact well known to some pastry chefs who sneak it into their croissants and tart dough.

No question, we are talking decadence here. Duck fat is not for everyone, nor for every day. But its certainly no worse for you than butter, which most of us use at least occasionally. Though butter has fewer calories than duck fat (100 calories per tablespoon of butter vs. 130 for duck fat), its higher in artery-clogging saturated fat (7 grams per serving vs. 5 grams for duck fat).

The key with any fat is that a little can go a long way, a concept we apply at the Village Pub when we finish certain dishes with a bit of fat, such as drizzling olive oil over a steaming pot of cooked beans or stirring a cold pat of butter into a pureed soup just before it leaves the kitchen.

This potato recipe is a simple introduction to cooking with duck fat. At the Village Pub in Woodside, we brown farmers market-fresh potatoes in a thin layer of fat and embellish the dish with garlic, thyme, shallots and parsley.

For this recipe, youll need to buy rendered duck fat, which looks a little like butter cream frosting. You can find it at Draegers for about $5 a pound.

If youre not ready to add a tub of duck fat to your larder, you can just as easily make the dish with olive oil.

Store any leftover fat in the freezer and pull it out when you want to treat your taste buds. Use it to saute mushrooms, braise cabbage or stir a spoonful right into steamed green beans.

Experiment. Thats when your cooking will really take off.

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