Guest guest Posted April 19, 2008 Report Share Posted April 19, 2008 Okay, I think I need a little reassurance or some new direction...I've been feeding my 14-month old " rice pancakes " for lunch as a way to use up the fridge leftovers. DD loves them. I fry them in animal fat (usually leftover bacon fat lately) until they are nicely browned. Yesterday I spooked myself though, as I was using leftover mashed potatoes instead of the rice, and I thought to myself, " OMG, I'm feeding her FRENCH FRIES! " Now I can't seem to shake that freak. Am I doing a healthy thing here? I know kids need fats to grow their brains and nerves, but should I be FRYING?? What concerns me, now that I'm really analyzing it, is that my food never seems to brown unless the fat is smoking a little. Am I causing the fat to denature by heating it to the smoke point? I don't want to feed my daughter rancid fats and/or toxins. Please let me know if I'm on the right track or if I should change something. Thanks, Tamara Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 19, 2008 Report Share Posted April 19, 2008 Frying in animal fat is OK. Not good, but ok. The transfats come from the unsaturated fats and animal fat isn't. The " smoking " might just be steam escaping, which happens before it can brown. > > Okay, I think I need a little reassurance or some new direction...I've > been feeding my 14-month old " rice pancakes " for lunch as a way to use > up the fridge leftovers. DD loves them. I fry them in animal fat > (usually leftover bacon fat lately) until they are nicely browned. > > Yesterday I spooked myself though, as I was using leftover mashed > potatoes instead of the rice, and I thought to myself, " OMG, I'm > feeding her FRENCH FRIES! " > > Now I can't seem to shake that freak. Am I doing a healthy thing here? > I know kids need fats to grow their brains and nerves, but should I be > FRYING?? > > What concerns me, now that I'm really analyzing it, is that my food > never seems to brown unless the fat is smoking a little. Am I causing > the fat to denature by heating it to the smoke point? > > I don't want to feed my daughter rancid fats and/or toxins. Please let > me know if I'm on the right track or if I should change something. > > Thanks, > Tamara > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 20, 2008 Report Share Posted April 20, 2008 Tamara- > I fry them in animal fat > (usually leftover bacon fat lately) until they are nicely browned. > > Yesterday I spooked myself though, as I was using leftover mashed > potatoes instead of the rice, and I thought to myself, " OMG, I'm > feeding her FRENCH FRIES! " Pig fat sadly isn't ideal because of its PUFA content, but is there protein in this lunch? It sounds like you're feeding your toddler a lunch of fried starch... - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 20, 2008 Report Share Posted April 20, 2008 Okay, this is a little different than I thought. So then my next question is...how did the traditional societies use their animal fat if not cooking with it? It seems the traditional livestock have a LOT of fat!! I know about confit meat preservation, so I assume this is probably one of their uses, but if you know more, please do share. Thanks, Tamara --- In , " haecklers " <haecklers@...> wrote: > > Frying in animal fat is OK. Not good, but ok. The transfats come > from the unsaturated fats and animal fat isn't. The " smoking " might > just be steam escaping, which happens before it can brown. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 20, 2008 Report Share Posted April 20, 2008 Okay, maybe I'll stick with tallow. I guess lard is not the " new health food " as the foodies are claiming, huh? I'll have to look into those PUFA's. Thanks for the lead. Yes, there is protein...I mix rice, egg, meat chunks and veggies. thanks for your feedback. -Tamara Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 20, 2008 Report Share Posted April 20, 2008 Lard from healthy pigs is still a very healthy fat, its just not optimum compared to some more saturated animal fats. As long as you trust the source I would use it for cooking. Many traditional societies did use it for cooking, but a lot of fat went into the ground meat to make sausages and possibly other uses...such as on sourdough bread as butter wasn't always available. When I have bacon its great to clean the cast iron with a piece of bread, and tastes incredible. - > > > > Frying in animal fat is OK. Not good, but ok. The transfats come > > from the unsaturated fats and animal fat isn't. The " smoking " might > > just be steam escaping, which happens before it can brown. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 20, 2008 Report Share Posted April 20, 2008 Tamara - I give my 12-month-old eggs fried in butter every day for breakfast. I usually add a little cream as well. Sometimes grated raw cheese. She also gets chicken liver cooked in butter every day for lunch or dinner. I'm pan-frying -- not deep frying. It's on low to medium heat. She gets bacon about once or twice a week. I also fry bananas or other fruits in bacon grease or coconut oil. Those are the fried foods she regularly gets. In addition to that, she gets lots of meats (chicken, beef, sausage, fish, pate), cheese, fruits in raw cream and yogurt, and vegetables in butter and cream and sometimes coconut oil. She gets some raw fruits and vegetables -- bananas, avocado, mango, tomatoes, etc. I also give her homemade pickles and sauerkraut, yogurt or filmjolk, and she gets kefir in a sippy cup. And she gets fish, chicken or beef stock twice a day (lunch and dinner). I think deep-fried foods like French fries are fine on occasion -- but maybe not every day. I have read that lard and tallow are best for frying potatoes. I think variety is key, and plenty of healthy fats. Babies and toddlers are supposed to get 6 TBS (around 3 ounces or 85 grams) of healthy fats per day. Ann Marie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 20, 2008 Report Share Posted April 20, 2008 I grew up on a farm, from which we obtained all our own food, in the midwest. in the FWIW department: From the time I could remember my grandmother for her breakfast melted a quarter cup or so of lard (right out of the cherry can where it was stored) in a heavy skillet, doused 2 slices of heavy bread (ww or ww/rye only thing we ever had), and 'fried' them. Then she fried 2 eggs in the same skillet. Those, with hot water (only thing I ever knew her to drink), were her breakfast. Most of her other meals were equally laced with lard, plus plenty of other products not in vogue at that time (or this time, either, I guess!). None of what she ate came from off the farm, though, except salt and the occasional morel.....which came from down by Fred's orchard, or some years near the creek. Beginning somewhere in the 1950s folks started warning her off the lard, which apparently she had always eaten (that and chicken fat, which we canned when we did chickens, were our 2 main fats), but she ignored what people said to her (her usual behavior; she was not especially accommodating). She ate that way until she died at 104, long after most of her 'warners'. sarah gdawson6 wrote: > Lard from healthy pigs is still a very healthy fat, its just not > optimum compared to some more saturated animal fats. As long as you > trust the source I would use it for cooking. > > Many traditional societies did use it for cooking, but a lot of fat > went into the ground meat to make sausages and possibly other > uses...such as on sourdough bread as butter wasn't always available. > When I have bacon its great to clean the cast iron with a piece of > bread, and tastes incredible. > > - > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 20, 2008 Report Share Posted April 20, 2008 Thank you so much for this detailed reply. I have just one question...why the low heat? I have this idea that God/the Universe made the flavor in food come alive with the Maillard Reactions in the higher heat cooking for a reason. I've gotta think that the traditional societies used browning to add flavor just because they had their tastebuds as their guide rather than the complexities of Nutritionists and Scientists. I appreciate your insights. -Tamara Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 20, 2008 Report Share Posted April 20, 2008 Tamara, > Okay, I think I need a little reassurance or some new direction...I've > been feeding my 14-month old " rice pancakes " for lunch as a way to use > up the fridge leftovers. DD loves them. I fry them in animal fat > (usually leftover bacon fat lately) until they are nicely browned. > If you are going to do this on a regular basis I would suggest organic leaf lard rather than the regular run of the mill stuff. Other fats you might consider is tallow, coconut oil, palm kernel oil, and macadamia oil. In other words any oil that can stand the high heat temperatures without breaking down, and with the exception of the leaf lard all the above are very low in PUFA's. You might also consider that true " french fried " food is done over medium to low heat. You still get the good flavor without the problems of high heat frying. -- " A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it. " Max Planck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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