Different Types Of Fats

Which fat is the best to use? Well, this question depends entirely on what the fat is being used for, what outcome is planned to be achieved, cost, storage, nutrition, and a wide variety of other factors. The four main fats I am talking about here are lard, shortening, butter, and margarine. All of these fats contain their own unique characteristics, appearances, and tastes; yet they can all be used for many of the same things.

Lard: Lard is animal fat, usually pig, that has gone through an extensive hydrogenation process. Hydrogenation basically transforms fats into a more solid and shelf-stable state product, and increases the amount of saturated fat and adds high levels of trans fat. This means that lard is quite unhealthy, contains a high amount of fat, including high amounts of saturated and trans fats, is high in calories, and contains little nutritional value. Due to recent increases in health research, lard is not as commonly used anymore due to its unhealthy reputation. Lard is most commonly used in pie crusts, cookies, pastries, basting meats, and deep-frying.

Vegetable Shortening: The word vegetable in this product’s name makes it sound healthy, but that’s actually not true at all. Vegetable shortening is made from plant-derived oils such as palm or soybean, and is hydrogenated just like lard. Again, this causes shortening to be quite unhealthy, but since it is made from plant sources and not animal, it is a slightly better choice than lard. Shortening is commonly used to produce flaky pie crusts, cookies, biscuits, pastries, and cakes.

Butter: Simply put, butter is made by beating or churning cream, the fattiest part of cow’s milk. Butter is completely natural and contains no trans fat, however it does contain a significant amount of saturated fat and is also high in calories. Butter is more nutritious than lard and shortening, as it is a natural product, lower in fat, trans fat free, and provides some nutrition. But butter is by no means a healthy choice. Butter is delicious spread on bread, in buttercream, used to cook vegetables and meats, and in almost every baked good.

Margarine: Margarine is made from plant-based oils such as palm or soybean, just like shortening. However, most margarines are not hydrogenated, leaving them significantly lower in calories, fat, saturated fat, and trans fat free. Because margarine is made from plant-based oils, it often contains healthy unsaturated fats as well as other nutrients. Soft margarine is used as spreads for breads and other baked goods, while hard margarine can be used like butter almost interchangeably.

What I Use: I never, ever, use lard or shortening, as I find they are too unhealthy and processed, and I don’t think they produce results as good as other options anyway. My first choice is butter, because it is a completely natural, simple product that produces very tasty, high-quality baked goods, and it can be used for just about anything. I will, and do, use hard margarine for baking as well. Although not quite as tasty and rich as butter, margarine provides a relatively good flavour and is sometimes the only option for certain recipes where butter browns too quickly. Margarine also keeps some baked goods, especially cookies, from spreading to much, and keeps cakes and loaves together and less crumbly.