In this month’s issue of Australian Gourmet Traveller, columnist Brigitte Hafner writes with enthusiasm in her article, “A fat lot of good” on page 58, about the virtues of using fat when cooking. 

Reading her piece put a satisfied smile on my face and a rumble in my tum, as I remembered memorable meals prepared by my maternal grandparents. Most of these supremely tasty meals included animal fats of some kind; either butter (lots of it!), lard (from pork), or chicken fat, carefully strained from the evening’s roast chook. It hasn’t appeared to adversely affect my grandfather’s health. He is due to turn 91 later this year, has recently passed his driving test (yet again), and is in remarkably good health for a man his age who has always used fat when cooking three course meals for lunch and dinner every day. 

I agree with Brigitte, that fat equals flavour and also results in that golden-brown colour to form on the finished dish, which is appealing to the eye. In addition, fat works its magic on developing a desirable texture in food, ranging from the crunch of pork crackling and twice cooked chips, to the tender mouth melting meat in a marbled roast. 

With my salivary glands working overtime, I decided to make the duck fat roasted potatoes as described in the article and set off to Chilcott’s Butchery to buy rendered duck fat. Ask your local butcher for a tub. Whatever is not used immediately can be frozen. 

Now I’m not suggesting that we all dredge our daily bread in dripping (which is the delicious combination of meat fat and juices produced through roasting). However, when fat is used and eaten in MODERATION as part of a BALANCED diet, it can make the entire cooking and eating process so much more pleasurable. 

Back to those duck fat roasted potatoes… superb! Golden and crispy on the outer, but fluffy and moist inside. Even one of my daughters, who insists on “never eating anything to do with ducks”, reached for seconds. Another satisfied family food critic. 

Duck Fat Roasted Potatoes (to serve 8 people)

Ingredients
1.5 kilograms of potatoes, washed, peeled and left whole. I used the pink skinned Pontiac variety because they were already in the pantry. 

1 heaped teaspoon sea salt. 

2 x 15 cm stalks of fresh rosemary finely chopped

180 grams of duck fat

1 x lemon

Preheat the oven to 220 degrees fan forced. 

Boil the potatoes in salted water for 15 minutes then drain well in a colander. 

Put the duck fat into a heavy roasting pan (I use a cast iron one) and into the oven to melt. This only takes a couple of minutes. Remove the pan carefully, add the rosemary, sea salt, potatoes and gently combine. You should aim to evenly coat each potato with the melted duck fat and other ingredients. 

Pop the entire lot back into the oven for about 30 – 40 minutes or until cooked through and golden. I turned my potatoes over halfway through the roasting process so they would develop that extra crunchy crust. 

Just before serving squeeze over the lemon juice, taste and add more sea salt only if required. 

Best eaten straight from the oven with your favourite hearty roasted meat, a medley of veggies and a crisp green salad.