No, it doesn’t increase the risk.
Just one more nail in the coffin of the notion that the enemy is fat. What’s important is the type of fat, and lard is actually just fine, at least in terms of either cholesterol or weight gain. The real problem with fried foods is the batter. And the potatoes in the fries.
Right on regarding the batter. Most people don’t realize that a piece of meat (or vegetable, or anything with a decent water content in it) will absorb very little if any cooking oil during frying, and that includes deep frying. The hot oil (which should be between 300-400 degrees F) heats the water in the food, turning it into steam, which then erupts out of the food in tiny steam volcanoes in the surface of the food. There simply is no opportunity for oil to penetrate the food under these conditions.
Only when the food has been removed from the heated pan or fryer can the residual oil start to wick its way into the food (so the food should be dabbed dry with paper towels or allowed to drip dry on a wire rack).
The problem with the batter isn’t that it absorbs the oil — it’s the carbs.
“tiny steam volcanoes.”
Our God is an awesome God.
Also? Batter is evil. For the most part I hate batter. Exceptions: I prefer the “crispy” (i.e., batter-encrusted) chicken sandwich at McDonald’s to their grilled one, which is slimy and has a weird off taste.
What. I haven’t been in McDonald’s in ages. Ages. I swear. (Hide Hardees bag.)
Now while batter might not meet the needs of those striving to eliminate grains or refined carbohydrates from their diets, it sure doesn’t seem evil on onion rings! 😀
I would, however, be surprised if the type of fat/oil matters at all. The Spanish, as the article notes, use olive and sunflower oils. How is that any better than the ubiquitous peanut oil? I tend to use peanut for deep-frying, and grapeseed or safflower oil for pan frying and searing.
David–if you believe the Omega-6 hypotheses, it’s not peanut oil that’s a problem, but the much more common corn and vegetable oils are. Along with the idea that inflammation rather than cholesterol blockage causes heart disease is the idea that omega-6 polyunsaturated fats are inflammatory, and are significantly worse than saturated fats, monounsaturated fats (olive oil), or omega-3 fats (fish and greens). Peanut, canola, grapeseed, and safflower oils are all pretty good on omega-3 to omega-6 ratio. Corn and most vegetable oils are almost entirely omega-6 oils.
This is also a wonderful effect of government nutritional policy; most restaurants used to use saturated fats that were solid at room temperature–solids are easier to store than liquids for obvious reasons. The government then said that saturated fat caused heart disease, so everyone switched to the cheapest fat — corn oil.
Oh, and we’ve been telling pregnant women to avoid fish for the last few decades due to trivial and overwrought fears of mercury. Oops.
Why are potatoes bad? I love potatoes.
I recently tried potato chips cooked in lard (Gibble’s), and find them to be lighter and more delicate than the vegetable oil kind.
I agree with Brian that it’s mainly government policies that have created nutritional havoc. Two more examples are sugar subsidies that caused food processors to switch to high fructose corn syrup, and replacing the “four food groups” with the “food pyramid”.
Why are potatoes bad?
High-glycemic carbs are bad. I love potatoes, too, but I realize that they’re bad for me. They’re a guilty pleasure.
I think to some degree it depends on who you are listening to. Barry Sears certainly would call potatoes (and rice) bad carbs due to the glycemic index issue; but I’m not sure that the people that Gary Taubes listens to would do the same. Also, potatoes have good micronutrients and more protein than you might think, which is why the loss of them was so difficult to bear in the Irish potato famine.
Not a diet book, but I recommend a very interesting and beautifully written book called Hunger: An Unnatural History, by Sharman Apt Russell. Among other fascinating topics, it has a detailed description of the potato famine. You will also be quite moved by the chapter on the Warsaw ghetto hunger study; an extraordinary tale of human dignity in the face of terrible evil. Curious coincidence for aviation and space buffs: Ms Russell is the daughter of rocket pilot Mel Apt, killed in the X-2.
The common line from the Food Nazis is fried foods are ‘greasy’ and therefore bad for you. But if done right, there should be a minimum of oil infiltration.
I fry turkeys. I fry 3 or 4 year all throughout the year. One year we did 8 in a year for various gatherings. On several occasions, I’ve measured or even weighed, the oil before and after the frying. I’ve found that a 16 lb bird at 350 degrees, will hold on to or draw in about 1 cup of oil.
That’s about one tablespoon per pound or a little more than 1/4 teaspoon per serving.
We fry that in Peanut Oil. When I fry fish or fries or onion rings, i.e., normal weekly meal foods, I use canola oil.
I always keep a 3 lb tub of lard in my fridge. Nothing replaces that when making pie crust or biscuits.
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RickL,
I buy the Hanover brand of kettle chips cooked in lard. I’ve no idea how old you are, but those lardy lovelies are what ALL potato chips tasted like once upon a time.
This made me want to dig out my great-grandmothers cookbook that I hung onto for nostalgia. The American Women’s Cookbook copyright 1939 edited by Ruth Berolzheimer, Director of the Culinary Arts Institute. Nearly every mention of butter is always followed with ,”or other fat”. It of course has a number of gelatin mold recipes but Lileks has that covered. Of course what American women of the 1930’s wouldn’t be with worth her salt if she didn’t know how to roast a Opossum (now we’re talking Paleo):
I feel my inner cave man growling already.
Uh uh. I’ve had possums raid my garbage. I’m not eating one.
Well if that doesn’t strike your fancy there is always Pigeon Pie. Just gotta head downtown and round up 6 pigeons. Feather them, gut em, stuff the pigeon with bread stuffing, simmer in a stew pan, then make a gravy with the drippings. Line a pudding pan with pie paste and make alternating layers of slice hard boiled eggs, pigeon, and gravy. So this is whole pigeons stacked on top each other. Top with a pie shell and bake in the oven at 450 for 30 minutes. Sounds like I know what I’m taking to my next pot luck!
Oh wait, it says successive layers not alternating. So must mean, a layer of hard boiled eggs, then nestle the pigeons together, pour the gravy over the top, and then throw on a pie shell.
Anyways, the cookbook has a section of recipes that are fit for a hobo. Then, you go into the back and there is a section about how to throw a party and it assures you that yes, it’s absolutely possible to throw a successful party without a maid. Whew! that’s good to know. Though I’d imagine it would be a lot more work coordinating the ambulance pickup for your guests after they contracted god knows what from the pigeon and possum.
I know what Possums eat……ANYTHING! Including sewage. No Thanks.
I have the later edition, renamed Encyclopedic Cookbook. It was given to me by my mother a”h as a wedding gift, and is one of the few items that I insisted on keeping when I got divorced.
Andrea, does that stop you eating pork?
Generally – Highly unsaturated oils are highly susceptible to cis-trans conversion and oxidation; also to some degree to polymerisation, which is one of the ways that rubbery stuff around the top of a fryer arises. All these processes produce chemicals that are nutritionally useless or even downright toxic.
The Spanish experience is IMHO of limited relevance to the northern USA and British diet. Why? Because the Spanish eat far more garlic and oily fish, both of which are actually protective against heart disease.